Why would someone do something so risky? Its because most people believe they are too strong to become addicted, or believe that they are literally invulnerable. They believe that they have enough self-control and strength of conviction or just are to smart, to become a slave to a drug. "I'm not like those people" one might say. Surely not everyone who tries drugs gets addicted, and for those who do, it is not equally easy. It is an unbelievable risk to take when you first try a “psychoactive” drug.

Just who, is it that becomes addicted?

There is really no way to know if you are or are not that person who will become easily addicted. No matter what you may think, you just cannot know! Many people think that they wouldn’t like being under the influence of drugs, anyway. This is not true. They are called psychoactive for a reason. Pretty much everyone enjoys having his or her Dopamine levels shoot up dramatically. What do you think that amusement parks, with their “thrill” rides, are all about? It’s all about the “Dopamine”. People even become addicted to these rides. What do you think sexual orgasm is? It's all about Dopamine! How many people don’t like sex? Of course, this doesn’t mean sex has to consume them. Watch a modern day movie, and see how many of them do not include an explicit sexual scene.

Treatment is a subject of its own, when it comes to those who see Addiction as just a bunch of drug use. You need to know, above all, that treatment for drug addiction is possible, and it is effective! It is complicated to the outsider. These days most people are learning to understand that the brain is treatable with chemical interventions such as Prozac. Other drugs can help with things like craving, but most often behavior modification and education have the longest lasting effect. The important goal is the returning of the addict to normal functioning in society. Being an addict ruins your life! It takes time and patience to help someone learn how to function acceptably in the family, on the job and in the community, after living in the drug subculture. They have to learn or relearn normal social skills. Often, they will have to learn work skills for the first time, because they were never acquired to start with. If these things are not addressed, we can find ourselves setting them up for failure. If these basic needs are not addressed, how can we expect that they will not return to drug use? To advance effective Treatment, in reality we need a very realistic set of expectations. For example: Relapse is part of recovery. Oh, a lot of people have a hard time with that one.

“We need to have a very realistic set of expectations!”

“Anyone might become addicted, because none of us are perfect.” Some of us just choose not to become part of illegal, immoral conduct, thus they never try drugs and never find out if they are prone to addiction. A lot of people want to make drug use/abuse a question of morality or self control. This is bothersome, in that it denies all that we have learned about addiction. This kind of thinking promotes institutionalization, rather than treatment of what we have come to know as, a legitimate disease that can be treated. Besides treatment is more cost effective than incarceration!

People who think about addiction as I have just stated, do not or will not see it as a disease. They see it as a sin, or a crime, or a weakness. Yes it’s true that was originally a choice made, but as we have come to know, we cannot determine just who will become addicted. Most in generally, when someone first tries a drug they are convinced that they are not one of those who will fall prey to the insane world of addiction. People voluntarily choose to smoke, but they don’t voluntarily choose to get lung cancer. When so many people try drugs (as we know very many do), and some become addicted and others don’t, does this not suggest that those who do become addicted aren’t choosing it? Who would choose that? People have trouble understanding that it’s not about choice, morality, or will. When you enter an addicted state, it has become a Disease. If we want to deal with addiction, and expect to achieve positive results, we must deal with it as a disease. We have proven results taking place every day, everywhere on this planet in drug rehabilitation programs and 12-Step meeting rooms.

We ask, "What about moral accountability?" The number of people addicted to, both illicit, and prescribed drugs is staggering. We know this to be true, and have known it for decades. California prisons have an 80% rate of recidivism on 1st terms, and “coincidentally” 80% of the inmates are there on drug charges. Draw your own conclusion on that one! Socially our problem is that we need for these people to be productive members of society; not the financial burden that they now are, using prison as a solution. We can focus on their moral failure and punish them, but that return rate tells us that it doesn’t work. That is not, by any means, productive use of our resources and effort. We know that we can change the brain state. If we truly want to achieve positive results, only by focusing on what we “know” works, and changes that “can” be made, will we be able to provide Treatment Treatment that will help people survive their addiction, and return to a full productive life in society.