Addiction and choice
Commenter “uncleFred” writes about addiction:
“There for the grace of God”¦”
Not so much. Drug abuse is not like getting hit by a meteor, or struck by lightening, it is a choice. Go to an AA meeting. Sit for a couple of hours and listen. Talk with someone who has been sober or clean a while. (AA meetings these days have as many drug addicts as alcoholics because of the high percentage of dual addiction).
The ones who recover, literally to a man or woman, all tell you the same thing. There came a day when they DECIDED to quit, and then they found help to do so. They’ll admit that it was a choice to start, a choice to keep abusing their drug of choice, and it was a choice to stop. Most of them can’t even tell you why they decided to quit or what was different on that day from the day before. The most common answer is “I just got done”.
On the radio someone said that “Whitney lost her battle with ”˜her demons”, as if some evil force reached out and seized control of her life. I bear her no ill will and think her ending is sad, but the tragedy here is that the story that is front and center and larger than life is one spun by a PC media and not focused on the truth of addiction.
UncleFred is correct that it is a choice—unless, of course, someone held Whitney (or any other addict) down and force-fed (or injected) her with drugs in order to get her accustomed to the habit. We can safely assume that didn’t happen to her, and rarely if ever happens in general. So yes, it is most definitely a choice every single step of the way from first use to continuing use to sobriety.
But by far the best choice to make is not to start.
That is because, once the hook is in, the difficulty of choosing to stop—and sticking with that choice, day after day for a lifetime, which is what it takes—requires enormous strength and constant self-control. I am referring to the physical cravings as well as the psychological ones, especially for physically addictive drugs in the initial stages of rehab. In the end, though, the psychological “demons” are the ones that are hardest for most addicted people; after all, life ordinarily presents a host of stresses and problems, and the addict must learn to weather those without the tried-and-true method that has long cushioned the blows.
Not everyone becomes addicted. I’m not so sure that those who do are weaker than others, but they often have an extra physical vulnerability to their drug of choice: for example, alcohol. I have a number of friends who are alcoholics, and I’ve been impressed by how these seemingly strong people can go weak in its presence, and what a powerful pull it exerts for them. For me, on the other hand, it has no pull at all. I don’t even like it, so it takes no strength of character for me to resist it because there’s really nothing to resist.
But for those who become alcoholics or addicts after their initial exposure to the substances and their decision to invite them into their lives, it is at least in some ways as though an evil force comes and takes control of them, and they must battle it with every ounce of their beings. Such people often state that, right from their first ingestion of the substance, they love what it does to them and for them.
And there’s another issue in addiction: over time, drugs and alcohol do not leave people exactly as they found them. They often change the person under their influence, so that making those good choices while still using (and the decision to quit must occur while a person is still using) can be very hard because of those changes. The person is no longer quite in his/ right mind, or at least not in his pre-drug/alcohol mind, but it is necessary to start recovery while in that altered state (unless there’s a forced deprivation of the substance, such as can occur in prison, for example).
Unlike Odysseus, a person in the real world can’t be tied to the mast to resist the siren song:
For some people, that call can be so strong that, in the end, it’s all they hear and all they care about.
[ADDENDUM: There is evidence that, at least for some people, the very first drug experience changes them physiologically, especially if it’s crack . See this:
Crack is inhaled and rapidly absorbed through the lungs, into the blood, and carried swiftly to the brain. The chances of overdosing and poisoning leading to coma, convulsions, and death are greatly increased. Crack’s rapid rush – 5 to 7 minutes of intense pleasure – quickly subsides, leading to depression that needs to be relieved by more crack. This cycle enhances the chances of addiction and dependency. Because of the brief high, users are constantly thinking about, and devising ways to get more crack. Psychologically, the drug reduces concentration, ambition, drive, and increases confusion and irritability, wreaking havoc on users’ professional and personal lives. Habitual use may lead to cocaine psychosis causing, paranoia, hallucinations, and a condition known as formication, in which insects or snakes are perceived to be crawling under the skin…
Once an individual has tried crack, they may be unable to predict or control the extent to which they will continue to use. Crack is probably the most addictive substance that has been devised so far. Crack addicts must have more and more crack to sustain their high and avoid the intense “crash” or depression that follows their binges. They become physically and psychologically dependent on crack, which is often a result of only few doses of the drug taken within a few days. This dependence can lead to addiction.
All to often, the process of crack addiction goes something like this: The “soon to be addict” takes their first hit. Upon inhalation of this powerful drug, the users body instantly begins the addiction process. The individual’s mental and emotional being is soon to follow, but for now just their body suffers from the initial stages of crack addiction. After the first few times using the drug, their mind slowly starts the addiction process. This grows stronger and stronger until, mentally, the addict believes that they cannot live without the drug. They now are entangled in a full fledged crack addiction. Shortly after this occurs, crack takes complete control over their emotions.
Once the individual’s emotions have been overridden by cocaine, they no longer feel normal without being intoxicated. When this occurs they feel the need to use more crack just to feel normal. In order to get high they have to take an immense amount of the drug. Their crack addiction has infiltrated all areas of their life. They can no longer function physically, emotionally, or mentally without crack. This cycle of addiction continues until the individual either quits using or dies…
The use of crack alters the processes of the brain by causing a change in the way neurons in the brain communicate. Nerve cells, called neurons, communicate with each other by supplying the brain with chemicals called neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters allow information in the form of electrical impulses to be passed through the body. This process works by neurotransmitters attaching themselves to certain areas in the brain. One of the neurotransmitters affected by crack is called dopamine. Dopamine is released by neurons in the part of the brain that controls feelings of pleasure and well-being. This area is in the limbic system of the brain. Normally, once dopamine has transferred to a nerve cell’s receptors and caused a reaction in a cell, it is transferred back to the neuron that released it.
Crack cocaine causes damage to this system and blocks the process of transfer. Dopamine then builds up in the gap synapse between neurons. As a result, for crack cocaine users, dopamine keeps affecting a nerve cell after it should have stopped. That’s why someone who uses crack cocaine feels an extra sense of euphoria and pleasure. Although crack cocaine may bring on intense feelings of pleasure while it is being used, crack cocaine can damage the ability to feel pleasure in the long run. Research suggests that long-term crack cocaine use may reduce the amount of dopamine or the number of dopamine receptors in the brain. When this happens, nerve cells must have crack cocaine to communicate properly. Without crack cocaine, the brain can’t send enough dopamine to the receptors to create a feeling of pleasure.
I challenge anyone to read that site and not be almost overwhelmed by how difficult the task of quitting a drug like that must be.]
“But by far the best choice to make is not to start.”
In thinking about things to which I feel compelled or addicted, the thing which I often forget: in the beginning, I willingly give myself over to the behavior. The behavior did not come and get me. Rather, I gave myself to it: willingly, cheerfully, I just gave myself over to it. I thought, “Oh, no big deal, let me see what this is like.”
Seems to me that a big part of the media/liberal mindset is about denying choice and responsibility. Business as usual with the victim mindset.
For those who’ve never had to deal with the reality of severe addiction: the very nature of the malady afflicts the rational mind.
THAT’S its nightmare.
UncleFred is all wet.
—–
Some of the worst psychotrophic drugs PERMANENTLY destroy brain tissue.
Crank is at the top of that list.
—–
Which is all to say that unlike booze, these drugs scramble what amounts to humanity’s BIOS. ( Basic Input/Output Scheme. )
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The SINGLE most unnerving distortion is bizarro paranoia.
It’s truly weird to witness the afflicted jump into near violent agitation WRT conversations/ dressing downs directed at third parties. They’re not even involved — at all — yet they jump in.
This leads to a what-in-hell double take — as the primary parties come to realize they are witnessing an intense excursion from sanity.
——–
When the drugs, themselves, operate directly upon the mind to skew all thought…
You just can’t impute free-will any more.
That’s the rub.
——-
Heroin use is rarely initiated with open knowledge. Instead, it is commonly used to boost/counter other drugs — with the field-pharmacist entrapping another dependent.
Since it can be inhaled, injected, sniffed — the opportunities to administer this drug are effectively unlimited.
Likewise, cocaine starts out pretty dilute… But it’s so addictive that in no time at all the user is doing ‘the Lohan.’
——
One is well served by watching ‘Traffic’, the movie, for the brutal nature of the beast.
There’s no simple moralizing ground to stand on.
One wonders why Freud, as he himself wondered, did not suffer the addiction with cocaine that he observed in others, including a close friend to whom he had recommended the drug. Interestingly, Freud did not attribute it to any strength of his character but to a difference in physiology.
The same explanation is probably true, at least in part, for why some persons can quit easily after many years of smoking and some never manage to quit–or why some can decide to diet and do not have a struggle to maintain the targeted weight once it has been achieved.
Unfortunately, those persons are the exceptions.
My Dad was a research scientist for 50 years and his field was studying the chemical changes on the brain that both drugs and alcohol can have.
In the olden days, there were psychologists who used to poo poo AA’s assertion that once an alcoholic stops he/she must NEVER take another drop…..the “old” common wisdom was that it was all psychological — basically “all in your head,” – a “will power” thing. And that a reformed and recovered alcoholic could, with proper counseling and the right frame of mind, become moderate and non-addicted “social” drinkers again.
My Dad and his research colleagues around the world, in the 60s, 70s and 80s, completely debunked that theory and affirmed AA’s instincts as having a scientifically sound basis. Essentially, and this is of course all way over my head, there is a chemical “trigger” almost like a “switch” that can be flipped — causing the physical and chemical aspect of addiction – to both alcohol and other drugs like Coke.
There is a strong heredity/genetic aspect (at least as far as alcohol is concerned) as the amount of consumption needed, over time, to “trigger the switch.” Therefore, if Frat boy “A” drinks himself comatose every weekend for several years and then comes out of college non-addicted and stops drinking upon graduation, due to growing up/carreer needs; and his house brother Frat boy “B” who does then same thing comes out of college as an alcoholic…..there is a strong likelihood that boy “B” has alcoholism in his family tree — an Uncle, or Grandma, etc., if not Mom or Dad.
Then of course, you do have the psychological component. I believe in such things as “addictive personalities.”
The two aspects can be a deadly combo.
A main part of my point I forgot to add (the only thing I dislike about this blog is the absence of a “preview” pane, for proofing, Neo)…
Once the chemical “switch” in the brain chemistry make-up is “triggered,” it stays flipped on permanantly. No amount of abstinance the rest of your life switches it back. THAT is why AA, in its wisdom, but based on its experience over time and long before the science validated them, advocated never taking another drop, once you are recovered. ONE drink, after years of being dry — and it is like you never stopped at all. Based on your permanently altered physical brain chemistry, you are right back where you were the last time you got drunk, for the last time, all those years ago.
blert and southernjames –
I’m with you guys on this one.
Personal anecdote – I got hooked on cigarettes when I was pretty young. I was certainly addicted (defined as having very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms and corresponding cravings) by the time I left high school. I took a cold, hard look at myself around age 17 and I realized that I was rather prone to getting addicted to things I liked – I saw that I had an addictive, borderline obsessive personality, a certain inclination to monomania, and other wicked little clingy quirks. So I consciously decided before I got to college to be a teetotaler and never go near drugs (notice I didn’t say, “consciously decided to quit smoking” – I knew that would have been pointless, and I would have probably done drugs in that case… tradeoffs, tradeoffs).
It wasn’t exactly hard, but THAT, in turn, was because of my other extreme personality trait, namely pigheaded stubbornness – if I say “I don’t want any,” and someone tries to sway or cajole me (“Awwww, come on man, live a little ….”) it makes me dig in just for the sake of digging in (“Are you telling me I’m not living already, a**hole?”).
I didn’t know if I’d have liked any of it (though I was disinclined to drink because of alkies in the family), but I knew that if I did like any given drug I would never stop, and I’d probably wind up killing myself – and sooner rather than later.
That’s why, ever since, I’ve been that oddly puritanical non-puritan at the gathering, the one who won’t go near a light beer or anything else, but who smokes like a chimney. I was lucky, relatively speaking of course (for it’s not like cigs are harmless), that my first vice wasn’t a harder drug.
But more importantly, it was a combination of personality traits that provided enough “oomph” to take me past all of the Sirens unharmed. On the one hand, an addictive personality (bad) and an almost Luciferian stubbornness (bad, but in this case an advantage); on the other hand, extreme introversion (mostly good, it kept me away from parties) and a willingness to use my own judgment to cut myself to pieces (mostly good, it kept me from telling soothing lies to myself, such as, “Just this once, my dear self, for wine and music warm the heart!”).
I was like an inverse Ovid: I saw the bad and I liked it, but nonetheless I chose the good. Not always, but frequently enough.
The will and relative autonomy came in there somewhere and decisively tipped the scales away from the addictive pole; yet, on occasion, I shiver to think if I’d been less of a stubborn bastard, or less ruthless with my introspection…
In other words, I was able to resist my temptations precisely because I knew that if I gave into them even once and felt the sweetness of relief, I would be well and truly finished. All of my will and stubbornness – so much wax in the sun.
One thing I’m sure of: Socrates was right about that self-knowledge recommendation – my willingness to be honest with myself probably saved my life (at least for now).
I talked with people in the Meth Belt who have had relatives who quit meth. They say their impression is the ex-addict’s brain is never the same.
I’m pretty libertarian, but when people ask me about my feelings on drug legalization, I ask them how bad can it get before society feels it has to act? In the US (and other countries) alcohol prohibition was seen as a last ditch remedy. Think about how few Constitutional Amendments we have had in 250 years and one of these was to prohibit alcoholic drinks. Congress plus 3/4 of the states had to go along! Henry Ford paid record wages to attract sober workers who would put up with his company sobriety snoops. Much of the US population seems to have been pounding it down most days.
Discouragement of Drunkenness as opposed to drinking may be the key. Drugs which don’t really have a “low” setting may be immune to this approach.
This probably comes as no surprise, but I line up with Thomas Szasz. Addiction is a construct used to turn a habit into a disease and/or crime.
Every human has tendencies, habits and dependencies. The issue is whether they’re an obstacle to fulfilling other desires. Recognizing one’s self and taking control is among the most laudable accomplishments.
“…Freud did not attribute it to any strength of his character but to a difference in physiology. The same explanation is probably true, at least in part, for why some persons can quit easily after many years of smoking and some never manage to quit…”
Personal testimony on this one: I started smoking as a stupid 15-year-old for the usual stupid reasons. Smoked fairly heavily for 10 years or so, and certainly felt it to be a pretty strong habit. Ca. age 25 I made a conscious effort to cut back, and found it wasn’t that difficult. Got down to half a pack a day and decided I really ought to stop altogether. I had a month or so of having to resist a moderately strong temptation, but it just wasn’t that big a deal. I remember telling people that it was like my body didn’t really want it anymore.
A close friend, on the other hand, who quit about the same time, found it extremely difficult. He had actual physical symptoms from the withdrawal. There was clearly a physiological component to his habit that wasn’t present in mine.
So I don’t pride myself on strength of will for having quit, or look down on those who have tried but not been able to.
“”There was clearly a physiological component to his habit that wasn’t present in mine.””
Mac
Exactly. I love to have a stiff drink sometimes but have no idea why i can put it down for weeks or even months at a time while i have friends who can’t.
One of the times my father was in an Army hospital, a doctor came through the ward with a blackened foot–dead of trench foot and amputated–insisting that the guys give up smoking (which shrinks the capillaries and exaggerates the effects of prolonged cold and wet to create trench foot earlier).
Yeah, quit smoking. It’s bad for your health. The Germans are trying to shoot your brains out, but you should not be smoking before they succeed.
At the same time, there are people who have lost many extremities to horrendously exaggerated capillary shrinkage and need a smoke the day they come from the last surgery.
Unlike other drugs, it appears cigs’ effect on people seems to vary widely from individual to individual.
As to drug legalization, when jr hi schools have protocols for drug dog sweeps, the availability issue seems to be moot. So the question is whether the costs of increased usage which may occur would be large, small, or miniscule. Versus the huge costs of the drug war–see Mexico.
A big problem with addiction to alcohol is that it is socially acceptable, even almost socially required in some circles to have a drink…a cocktail, wine with dinner, a cold beer while BBQing on the 4th of July, etc.
And trust me…I know from personal experience that there are some people who, for whatever reason, are susceptible to those first, early exposures to it leading to addiction.
I had a problem with drinking when I was young but with help from others who had a similar problem and who could talk with me about it without being judgmental, I was able to stop. Period. No drinking alcohol at all. Ever. I haven’t had a drink for 34 years.
“Will Power”? He’s a guy who owns a drug store in North Houston. Has nothing to do with getting addicted or not being able to stop drinking.
I beg to differ…
Crack cocaine, a lipid soluble freebase form was bad… but what if someone came up with a version of said thing for heroin?
see Krokodil: The drug that eats junkies
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/krokodil-the-drug-that-eats-junkies-2300787.html
desomorphine, a synthetic opiate many times more powerful than heroin…
It is a drug for the poor, and its effects are horrific. It was given its reptilian name because its poisonous ingredients quickly turn the skin scaly.
Photographs of late-stage krokodil addicts are disturbing in the extreme. Flesh goes grey and peels away to leave bones exposed. People literally rot to death.
In addition to krokodil, there are reports of drug users injecting other artificial mixes, and the latest street drug is tropicamide. Used as eye drops by ophthalmologists to dilate the pupils during eye examinations
A chill went up my spine when I saw that Neo had put up that painting of Odysseus tied to the mast.
As a younger man I was addicted to nicotine for many years and although I quit it years ago, will never forget those first few hellish days of my quit, living minute-to-minute then hour-to-hour. Even today, I remember trying to express what I was going through by writing out a passage from that song by Eric Clapton/Blind Faith, “Tales of Brave Ullysses”:
“And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses:
How his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing,
For the sparkling waves are calling you to kiss their white laced lips….”
[Looking at those lyrics now, I see that they’re a bit pale without Clapton’s Stratocaster screaming at you- – just like a like a siren — at 130db; only someone who can bring that old song to mind will appreciate its primal power and understand what I mean]
I can’t really explain it, but for the first few days of quiting my “mere” nicotine addiction, it was just like being tied to that mast. Or being held underwater and being unable to breath. I can’t imagine what torment it must be to quit stronger stuff.
May Whitney Houston rest in peace; what a beautiful, powerful voice she had!
And to Neo: How did you know to post that painting?
drugs are to the human mind what a chew block is to a captive rat…
Wow. Artfldgr, you just summarized, brilliantly, the whole schmeal.
Pooooo et rie.
Carl, you can stand tall, because quitting nicotine ranks up there with any of them! And I like your RIP to WH.
When the Bible tells us not to judge, it, of course, does not mean to negate every commandment it has expressed, but to hold that given each of our’s lack of total information of why one person may act the way they do, we leave to God the summation of whether or not that person deserves existence.
I added this as an addendum to the post, but I’m also putting it here in the comments for those who’ve already read the post without it:
There is evidence that at least for some people the very first drug experience changes them physiologically, especially if it’s crack . See this:
I challenge anyone to read that site and not be almost overwhelmed by how difficult the task of quitting a drug like that must be.
carl in atlanta: I just went to YouTube and listened to that song you mentioned. I was surprised to find that I remember it from the 60s. I hadn’t heard it in all that time.
But to me, the sirens are the obvious analogy to make. The thing about the sirens was that the draw of their song was so powerful as to be nearly irresistible.
I was once addicted to working out. Yes, no kidding. Loved it. Strontium 53. I don’t know what that means, but it works. Radiation poisoning in the form of over testosterone. I remember working out so hard I could not ride my bike home because my hands could not grasp anything.
And then alcohol. Loved it. And think I was much more social and appreciated as that addict than the aforementioned . But whether or not there was an addiction in either case, I still don’t know. They both just kind of dropped off.
Many young people are introduced to drugs by friends and sometimes by those who would take advantage of them. Some people truely cannot help themselves once they use drugs. If they had never started and it was not generally available they would probably live a normal life. But they are genetically predisposed to become hooked and they no longer have a choice. Others can take it or leave it and their attraction to drugs is more about the social part of drugs and they will generally not get hooked”
I know nothing about the physiology of drug use, but I firmly believe that long term drug abuse, particularly of cocaine in any form, causes permanent changes in the brain. People are always better off if they quit, but they rarely recover the person they were (and would have been) without the addiction.
Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born.
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.
Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.
In January of 1982 a doctor told my dad that he would have to stop drinking or die. My dad replied that he’d risk it and if need be he’d hire someone to give him a drink on his sickbed. In April 1982 he died leaving my mother a widow and me fatherless. Addiction is a horrible thing. Since you probably won’t stop until something stops you, just don’t start. It was hell when he was drinking. It was hell when he died and there is no closure.
For anyone who wants to quit smoking but hasn’t been able to – I recommend looking into trying e-cigarettes.
I started using them about 3 months ago. And went from being a 2 pack a day smoker for 40 yrs to not smoking regular cigarettes at all, pretty much immediately.
I’m still ingesting nicotine but none of the tar and other carcinogens.
It’s not quitting but it’s the next best thing. And I certainly wouldn’t recommend for them anyone who’s not already addicted to nicotine.
Late to this topic, but kolnai, your experience rings so true to me…. After having watched alcoholism / prescription pill addiction basically destroy my mother’s life, and realizing that a.) addictions run in families and probably have a genetic basis, and b.) I myself had an “addictive personality” if ever there was one (just looking at my tendency to get sucked into obsessions; the way I drank cola like it was going out of style), I swore to myself I would never drink a drop. *Never.* And by and large, I haven’t. In thirty-four years, I can count the number of times I’ve had an alcoholic drink on one hand and still have fingers left over.
But it scares me a lot to think about what would have happened to me if I hadn’t had the extremely graphic and instructive example of my mother’s trainwreck of a life in front of me, or if I hadn’t been able to realize that, given my personality makeup alone I was at high risk for addiction if I ever started down that road. It’s been said that for some people, their entire purpose in life is to provide an example to others…..