The most important thing to understand about addiction
People who have never experienced addiction struggle to understand one concept more than any other. But it is this very concept that one must understand to make a mere beginning at comprehending addiction.
Addicts use when they don’t want to.
It is easy to assume that when someone shoots dope, they want to. I mean, it makes sense — since they go to unimaginable extremes to acquire this poison. They must want to use it, right?
Wrong. Very, very wrong. This common assumption about addiction could not be more wrong. You see, that is the difference between addicts and non-addicts, aka normies — addicts use when they don’t want to and so-called normal people do not.
Are there people out there who are addicted and have never wanted to stop? Absolutely. But unless they are comfortable selling their soul daily, for decades, there will come a day when they don’t want to use. The addict will use anyway.
The addict uses when they want nothing more in the world than not to use. They use when they would rather die than use. And many do die.
In order to understand addiction and the way it has been allowed to consume so many American lives, you must understand that addicts use when they don’t want to.
Those who want to stop using and cannot are sometimes granted with what we call, the gift of desperation. When the gift of desperation is given to those who cannot stop using, they become willing to do anything in order to stop using — willing to go to any lengths for their recovery. These are people who know they will likely die and surely destroy themselves if they do not recover.
A bunch of people who wish to stop using against all odds — that is what makes up the world of recovery. And if you have never been a part of that world, there is one thing you must understand before you can understand anything else about addiction — addicts use when they don’t want to.
Written by Holly Kellums
originally published on Medium
Full series
The Opiate Crisis — Death and DeregulationThe Opiate Crisis — Death and Deregulation
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