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If you are the person who might be abusing a chem, you may find it hard to believe that you may have a serious problem.
Yet you can easily see that someone else is abusing something when its use interferes with school or work, or with family or social life. Sometimes the user endangers self or others.
Do you repeatedly get into hassles on account of drug runs or drinking bouts? Have you tried to slow down or stop, but, for one reason or another, keep using?
Have people hinted, or even told you bluntly, that you might want to slow down? When people talk that way, do you get really, really mad? Do you believe you're too young to be an addict or alcoholic?
Have you missed out on major opportunities because you were partying, crashed
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out or
hung over? And don't forget, many a non-addict has greatly regretted the day she or he took one dose of something or other at a party.
Alcohol and drugs don't care who you are. It's just about impossible to predict who will become an alcoholic or addict. Addiction strikes down every type of person from every walk of life and with every type of childhood and every type of personal philosophy. It's just dumb to take "John Barleycorn" (booze) or his cousin "Delilah" (drugs) for granted.
You may think you can stop using at any time. But
a. Just to be sure, why don't you try stopping?Alcoholics and addicts very frequently use more than one chem, both together and separately, and whether the "drug of choice" is available or not.
b. If you stop, do you pick up something else?
The need to be naughty
We all need to "let off steam" sometimes. We need, in fact, to be naughty.
Think about the kind of entertainment we like. Or what about the jokes that make us laugh out loud? We like to drop the mask and let go of our real feelings a bit. It's sort of a throwback to the play of childhood.
Now some people think that alcoholism or addiction is mostly in the genes. They
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might even think they're immune.Yet they haven't noticed that the lure of most of this stuff is lowered inhibitions and (at first) a ramped-up sense of play and freedom. In fact, some people have such a strong need to be naughty (to tell the universe: F everything), that they get big thrills from the chaos that comes with their usage. They relish throwing the chains of "mature responsibility" out the window.
Anyway,
as we know, abuse of intoxicants can lead to addiction. But what exactly is addiction? In previous decades, addiction meant that the victim suffered from
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obvious physical withdrawal symptoms, a situation that can be very dangerous. That's why in the past such things as nicotine and cocaine were considered non-addictive, in the medical sense. (And cocaine dosages were typically lower then than they usually are now.)
But these days addiction is defined differently, more in accord with how most people use the word: A user finds attempts to stop a particular chem habit very difficult; repeated tries often end in failure. "Will power" is rarely enough.
Addiction can creep up even though you find that not every experience is fun. And some are downright awful. As long as you find strong pleasure or relief from a drug off and on, you can become addicted. In fact, intermittent reinforcement is a very
This sly rewiring happens at different rates in different people. For example,
When you go from fooling around with mind-altering chems now and then to hard-core addiction, you experience some or all of the following signs:
Many chem addicts also deal with other compulsive behavors -- like frenzied gambling and the thrill of foolish risk-taking. And both chem-based and non-chem compulsions alter brain chemistry in similar ways.
But this booklet is focused on drugs and alcohol. Consult other sources for information on other problems.
For more about abuse and addiction, check the pages about specific chems.
Do your friends and your friends' kids a favor, and post one or more Funny Stuff links on social media.
But these days addiction is defined differently, more in accord with how most people use the word: A user finds attempts to stop a particular chem habit very difficult; repeated tries often end in failure. "Will power" is rarely enough.
Addiction can creep up even though you find that not every experience is fun. And some are downright awful. As long as you find strong pleasure or relief from a drug off and on, you can become addicted. In fact, intermittent reinforcement is a very
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effective way of instilling a bad habit.
According to experts, the user has -- without noticing it -- rewired the brain in such a way that brain and body conspire together to keep the alcohol or drug habit going.
This sly rewiring happens at different rates in different people. For example,
✓ Women who drink a lot face the prospect of alcoholic addiction much sooner than a typical adult male.
That may be related to the fact that women's digestive systems don't neutralize alcohol as fast as men's. The situation is similar for barbiturates.
✓ It may take five years of heavy drinking before a typical adult male above age 24 reaches full-blown alcoholism.
✓ People who begin drinking as teenagers face a major risk of reaching alcoholism within only a few months.
That's because young nervous systems are more strongly imprinted by alcohol (or drug) highs than is the case among adults. Also, researchers have found that a few binges can actually short-circuit the "stop" signals inside youthful brains.
✓ Most -- but not all -- alcoholics and addicts started fooling around with substances before age 25.
That even goes for nicotine. And yet...
✓ Aging can also influence vulnerability.
Once you pass age 30, your liver is less and less able to process alcohol and drugs such as sedatives, meaning you may get drunk or stoned faster and faster.
✓ Still, heavy drinkers may find that over time they require more and more alcohol to get the effect they want. Their "tolerance" of alcohol keeps increasing.
Tolerance is a sign that you're far along the road to addiction or are already addicted.
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Linda: Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me
✓ In late-stage alcoholism, some drinkers suddenly experience "reverse tolerance."
Even one drink gets them drunk. Reverse tolerance is a very bad sign: the liver is so badly damaged that alcohol keeps recycling through the body.
✓ Then there is "inverse tolerance." The brain rewires with usage so as to obtain the high faster.
For example, some new users try marijuana or cocaine for months with little effect. But then one day the chem takes hold big time. The new norm could be so strong that health and safety are jeopardized.
✓ Body size is an important issue.
Alcohol or drugs are diluted less -- and concentrated more -- in the bloodstreams of smaller persons than they are in larger persons. So a small person may reach intoxication faster than a large person taking the same dose.
✓ People of all ages and all types can become addicted to crack cocaine after only a very few uses.
The chem spurs a rewiring of the brain that sets up an incessant demand for more, more, more.
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Out of controlWhen you go from fooling around with mind-altering chems now and then to hard-core addiction, you experience some or all of the following signs:
✓ More is your continued attitude to the chem.(The American Psychiatric Association takes a medical approach to the terms "abuse" and "addiction." The view of the doctors is pretty much the same as what's been said so far.)
✓ You can't quit and even cutting down stresses you out.
✓ The chem eats up a lot of your time -- either from hustling to get it or from being out of action after usage, or both.
✓ To placate your chem need, you quit hanging out with certain friends, stop doing some or all of the fun things you once liked doing, and even dodge certain types of work or school goals.
✓ You know the chem is messing up your head and your body, but you keep using it.
✓ You can't start your day without a hit of your favorite chem.
✓ You resent anybody mentioning your chem dependence.
✓ You become unhappy and possibly physically sick when the chem is unavailable.
✓ You keep counteracting your body's attempt to detoxify your system by upping the dosage to get the high you want.
Many chem addicts also deal with other compulsive behavors -- like frenzied gambling and the thrill of foolish risk-taking. And both chem-based and non-chem compulsions alter brain chemistry in similar ways.
But this booklet is focused on drugs and alcohol. Consult other sources for information on other problems.
For more about abuse and addiction, check the pages about specific chems.
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The author of The Funny Stuff Funnies takes sole responsibility for the content of this e-booklet. This booklet has not been sponsored, either directly or indirectly, by any government or non-government organization or fellowship, such as AA or NA.
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Find table of content for Funny Stuff Funnies at this link.
The Lunapic image editor contributed greatly to this booklet's pictorial enhancement. Other image editors used were Palette and Petalica.
Go to NEXT page.
Find table of content for Funny Stuff Funnies at this link.
The Lunapic image editor contributed greatly to this booklet's pictorial enhancement. Other image editors used were Palette and Petalica.
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