MY DRUG ADDICTION!

 

Today was truly a day of expanding my knowledge about what life consists of and whats its all about.

To further our understanding of young people I was sent on a DRUG AWARENESS course by my workplace, ..anyone who knows about training days knows it usually consists of a day full of POWERPOINT SLIDES , BISCUITS and TALKING!….

I was in for a big surprise!!!

The first half of the day was spent looking at the mechanics of what drugs are,being able to determine your CANNABIS from you VALIUM, your CRYSTAL METH from your CODEINE….anyhoooo..it was when we addressed COCAINE that our tutor mentioned that this was his favourite because it EXPLAINS the purpose of all drugs …alright stay with me!….im going in..

Whenever we are excited or happy about something our body produces two chemicals called : DOPAMINE and SEROTONIN -now these chemicals are what you feel when you were first in line and bought the JIMMY CHOOS when they were in H&M or when you found out you won the lottery, they make us feel good and delightful.

Now what COCAINE comes to do is to raise the levels of these chemicals in our body to breaking point, to give us a MAXIMUM high..INSTANTLY!

Another disposition while taking cocaine is the notion of ADRENALIN, a feeling of  ‘flight or fight’ that arises in us  whenever we are posed with a percieved threat-(so when a person runs at us with a knife,enhanced energy and angst rises up within us to carry out the decision made)-run from the scene or confront the attacker.

STILL WITH ME? ..right….

Now after your FIRST ever hit from COCAINE there is a HIGH that you experience that is beyond anything you have ever encountered …the problem is ..YOU NEVER EVER reach that same high again as the body cannot produce chemicals beyond its capped amount .And so begins a never-ending cycle to reach that same HIGH over and over again …MORE and MORE amounts to regain a feeling lost forever …it gets worse…

Once your body gets used to COCAINE in its system it begins to depend on it for its SEROTONIN and DOPAMINE, so without it users  feel depressed and lost, because it is the COCAINE that has replaced the natural highs the body is used to producing.

Once the body stops producing those chemicals all you are left with is HIGHTENED ADRENALN!! DANGEROUS!!!!!

Why?…because it means you are constantly paronoid and jumpy ready to FLIGHT or FIGHT…. all the time!!Even when your just sitting down drinking a coffee you are anxious and untrusting ..ready to use up that adrenalin at the drop of a hat.

Now once the science bit was over ….the REAL TALK began!

A gentleman by the name of Robert Hickson came to speak to us about his experiences of being hooked on cocaine for 21years, he spoke of the length users go to to fund their  £600 – a-day habit ranging from bank robberies to illegal cab driving. He spoke about the pains of recovery and how hard it is to even see outside your drug bubble for help, but that change is possible. He spoke on how it is to live in a crackhouse and witness a whole host of human depravity on a level beyond description.

However what was KEY in his talk was not WHAT drugs are or what they do ..but moreso WHY drugs are ?

When life gets hectic EVERYONE including myself ,seeks out their own personal cocaine their own form of  heroin-whether it be going to the cinema,trips abroad,a new  Paul’s Boutique handbag…. on a deeper level …we may seek HIGHS or forms of escapism to block out painful childhood memories or events from our past that cause sooooooooooooo much hurt! Our way of dealing with it is to self-prescribe ourself with our own medicine….making our own choice of drug.

Robert continued to stress that underlining ALLLL drug use is  an issue  that someone is desperately seeking to escape from. His personally was concerning the pain of his mother dying which he never got over or addressed until he had counselling,but it varies and has devastating repurcussions as we seek pain relief .

This fact made realise that we all have  drug addictions-something that we continually turn to to alleviate pain from the past or present , to forget about now… temporarily.

I realised that for me personally one solution I have found over time is trying  to make GOD one of my ADDICTIONS….(alongside music,retail therapy and cinema ..lol!!)…Running to him for those HIGHS and feelings of peace and calm in the midst of tremendous storms….its hard because you get used to activating your default mechanisms.

But I beleive REHAB can be achieved sucessfully the more those issues are overturned to him working hand in hand to address those things that turn us to the drugs in the first place…hmmmm…let me know your thoughts…????

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

7Casting the whole of your care all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.

 1 PETER 5:7 (AMPLIFIED VERSION)