I had an interesting conversation at work the other day.
Someone asked my opinion on two positions regarding drug addiction.
First
Some people are genetically predisposed to addictions, and it is generally beyond their control if they get addicted. The further assumption from this statement is that we should provide as much help and support for these people but understand that they may never be able to beat their addictions
Second
Drug addiction is a choice. It is considered common knowledge that drugs are addictive and by the very act of using a drug once you are accepting responsibility for your actions and are choosing to become addicted. The further assumption from this argument is that we don’t need to help these people because they are aware of their situation and can choose to change their circumstances.
I was very quick to point out that both of these statements are drastic oversimplifications of reality, and that neither of them take into account the more important, in my opinion, conditions of human behavior.
The first statement regarding the genetic predisposition of certain individuals to addiction may be true. Some people may find it easier to become addicted to substances than others but there has to be more at work than just pure genetics. I would suggest that no human can become addicted to nicotine after having only one cigarette, or become alcoholic after having one drink, regardless of their individual genetic structure. There have to be other forces at work that would drive someone to have the 2nd 5th 10th drink or smoke. I would also suggest that many of these forces could be considered behaviors.
Behaviors stemming from low self esteem would play into social situations where someone would use substances because of peer pressure. Or the inability to cope with the situations that one faces would allow them to turn to substance abuse to “escape” their world. Without these wounded sub parts of our personalities many addicts would never progress past the casual use of substances regardless of any predisposition.
The second statement regarding the choice to become addicted is a complicated one. I’m sure if you were to poll a substantial number of addicts, none of them would declare that they set out to become addicted even though the vast majority of them would have a full understanding before they used their substance of choice that these substances do lead to addiction. I would suggest that most people that become addicted had another reason for using, and that, similar to above, many of those reasons stem from a wounded sub personality.
Now I do understand that some substances such as heroine and crystal meth can be considered much more addictive than alcohol or nicotine, and that in some cases a single use of these more potent substances can trigger an addiction, but again I think that those who use theses more powerful substances are not doing so in the attempt to become addicted. Furthermore I would say that their sense of wholeness and happiness would have been degraded to such a point, that by the time they would be willing to use these substances they may consider its use as an imorovement in their lives.
I think the actual way to prevent and help substance abuse lies in early childhood. Only through preventing the trauma that causes personal believes such as “I’m not good enough”, “no one likes me”, or “I’m not lovable”, or through healing the trauma that has caused these believes can we give individuals the proper tools to overcome their addictions. There is always more going on in a human being than a simple black and white analogy and it is only when we attempt to treat the whole person that we can have the most success.
