Why, Do People Become Addicted?

[cmdline]

this thread is old,but addiction isnt one reason,you could have two same people one come out success another total failure in life.since speaking of drugs its down to personality of each person,since once could be grown in happy family told about all bad and still end up on drugs,or someone living in ghetto making better themselves by life choices.
Also drugs play major role,while benzos are the one to look out for,but sh A/B are ones that break lives,and everything around people that they end up at the bottom.

Think in majority cases its personal choice one makes,while peer pressure or say getting some strong meds for long periods are often case.but when you see many people down its not because they had it bad,but because in most cases life they had ran its limit,where some booze wasnt enough to relax,parties seemed dull,or just needed to stay awake that bit longer.

Only thing can agree from article on first page that war on drugs was total failure,and just fuel to making it worse,since its in people's nature to always seek forbiden fruit.Now not saying because heroin or coke is illegal someone will crave to get it,but it creates market where people want to experience less dangerous alternatives where quality isnt contolled and dealing with people who will cut product with anything or sell alternative is wide spread,just because of prohibition and lack of support and research.

[Caver]

It has to do with genetic makeup and will power. Your genes dictate how many receptors in your liver to make enzymes to convert an active substance to an inactive one. So low receptors you will take longer and process stuff in other ways.

[dynalift]

Caver, I have to respectfully disagree with the idea of will power. All that has been said in this thread and the brilliant work by Dr. Mate' and others tells me this is just another overused term from a fear-mongering culture/media designed to further isolate/punish and increase the suffering of addicts. I mean, I can't think of anything I've ever accomplished by "will". The very idea just glosses over the practical mundane reality of everyday existence.

The liver processing thing I can relate to though. I think it particularly relates to benzos, hence the monumental amount of variation in reactions we read about on here and other forums. Some with horrid life-threatening w/d and others with little or none at all. Some able to control intake, others constantly needing to go higher and higher in dose.

[mr nobody]

Why do people become addicted? I honestly believe that they are dealing with some emotional trauma and yes many things will become "physical addictions" in time.

Now for the rant:

Alcohol, tobacco, lotto ticket/casinos are everywhere not good for you but Governments do not care because of tax revenue.

I could probably find H and cr@ck in my city and in most cities.

I wish people would stop putting legitimate use of pk's and benzos as "addictive"-not to me they are not.  Use them wrong and you will pay use them right and your life improves.  Personally believe that the need to up dosages is total BS.  Mine has not changed in a long time and as a benefit my blood pressure improves as well.

Eating zannies like m+m's? Get help-don't blame the pills.

[Cricket]

mr body, you are correct that when used only when needed, Benzos are a very useful medication! I used responsibly for 3 years under Doc supervision and it was a lifesaver, but not everyone can stick with this regimen. Marijuana,Tobacco, alcohol, and Benzos, all but the MJ are still a part of my daily life and I have reduced alcohol and Benzos but am getting to the point where "I am sick and tired of feeling sick and tired" I don't even come from a family with a history of addiction? Best to all of you who struggle as I have-FF

The way I see it is, there's addiction and dependence. To me an addict is someone who has no medical need for the med, but takes it to get "high". A person with medical need becomes dependent on it to be able to function daily. Most people that are dependent can control how much they take and can use "will power" in most cases to use as directed. Not saying that everyone can control how much they use, but when you've been on these addictive meds for a long time, there is no "high". At least in my case. To just take more and more to look for that high is a waste of the med for which you will only suffer when you run out early.
The only thing I believe addiction and dependence have in common is that both will suffer w/d's when stopped abruptly. It's an unfortunate side effect, but w/d's can be avoided with using self control. You have to decide for yourself what's more important to you. Have fun now and pay later, or slow down and make sure you won't run short. I know it's not easy to say no when you have them in front of you, but we have to be responsible or suffer the consequences. JMO

Cricket

[Linville]

wow.
It was just something to stimulate convo. And I think that some people are predisposed to becoming addicts, like things run in families.
Then there are the causes of escapism where maybe it is hard to toe the line and get ur stuff together.
Maybe a life hurt causes the desire to numb the pain, I have felt like that.
Could have been even a family member causing the emotional pain .

I was asked in a class course one time what makes us who we are?
Genetics or our environment growing up.
I think this gets to a lot of the root of the why do some become addicted.
So I ended up with the asked for percentages of 70/30.

Do you want to know which one is which.?
Maybe not .Maybe so.
well it was genes 70 and our exposure to life things 30
just saying, thats all. cause who can really know maybe a scientist who collects data, maybe not.
liers figure and figures dont lie
facts can me manipulated so one has to study things for their self and well..

[mboxfrogger]

Boxfrogger-seriously, you need to chill dude.
As Linville said, the article was meant to start a conversation with forum members about their thoughts and experiences. Not critique and slander the author. If you don't agree with him, that is fine. However you are coming out here posting rather aggressively with a Pioneer Member. Obviously you didn't take my advice and do enough reading to get a feel for how we post.  Acting like a jerk will not be tolerated.  Debating in an adult manner, and stating your opinions with respect to other members will.

If we are going after one's writing style, what stops me from saying that reposting a story from over a year ago, and continuing to quote it with every agressive post, is beyond annoying and not necessary.

See, it's not so nice, is it.

i dont suppose so. it is a flaw of mine i get worked up over this particular topic and i'm sorry if i offended anyone. it wasn't my intention. i've just seen a lot of lives ruined and snuffed out.people i cared a lot about. i guess under the anger it actually hurts.
this was clearly the wrong venue. i really guess i don't understand.

[Linville]

Hmm, I am just reading most of your responses frog.

I see some your adjectives are curse words. Not good . Not good at all.

Who are you calling MF'er and RB's BTW ? 

Don't answer just a rhetorical question !

Ur rant, without any paragraph markers, is hard to follow. 
Did you take English in school BTW ?
Or do you always just take a deep breath and blurt it all out.

So in the future would you be able to hit the enter button every now and then so that if one choses to read ur rant it is easier.

I have worked with people before that thought in a meeting if they screamed louder than others were talking then their decision was the right one, because they were loudest.

Sound familiar, frog?

So you are an addict too but struggle with it. Still gives you no right to come on here and act like a horses behind.

Hmm you have some percentages as well, 10% of population is addictive prone, just might be true, maybe higher.

Some get it under control and some do not . I think those that need help should get it.

Oh, I could not have said it any better than Audrey Hepburn said it to you.
I would take member Hepburn's advice and chill.

Learn how we post like someone else also asked of you.

We do not like flame wars here. 
Of course it is fully acceptable to disagree but NOT in the belligerent and aggressive way using MF this and RB that and also you did in another thread act rather jacked and crazy when you complained of someone a senior member dressing you down.

So listen to Audrey Hepburn's advice is what I say to you.

BTW This post to you is for informational purposes only and it is not intended to or does it need a reply.

In other words Do Not Reply, to this if you are wanting to let it die.

If you are wanting to fight and start flame wars then respond. 

It is up to you.

Which will it be ?

See how much easier this is to read when you separate the thoughts and make paragraphs ! 

(Meant as a declarative statement not a question.)

---

---

---

This thread had been a source of dialog but now I am thinking of asking a MOD to close it.

I do not like this sort of thing going on.

Maybe at least temporally anyway have it locked. 

[Cricket]

Hmm, I am just reading most of your responses frog.

I see some your adjectives are curse words. Not good . Not good at all.

Who are you calling MF'er and RB's BTW ? 

Don't answer just a rhetorical question !

Ur rant, without any paragraph markers, is hard to follow. 
Did you take English in school BTW ?
Or do you always just take a deep breath and blurt it all out.

So in the future would you be able to hit the enter button every now and then so that if one choses to read ur rant it is easier.

I have worked with people before that thought in a meeting if they screamed louder than others were talking then their decision was the right one, because they were loudest.

Sound familiar, frog?

So you are an addict too but struggle with it. Still gives you no right to come on here and act like a horses behind.

Hmm you have some percentages as well, 10% of population is addictive prone, just might be true, maybe higher.

Some get it under control and some do not . I think those that need help should get it.

Oh, I could not have said it any better than Audrey Hepburn said it to you.
I would take member Hepburn's advice and chill.

Learn how we post like someone else also asked of you.

We do not like flame wars here. 
Of course it is fully acceptable to disagree but in the belligerent and aggressive way using MF this and RB that and also you did in another thread act rather jacked and crazy when you complained of someone a senior member dressing you down.

So listen to Audrey Hepburn's advice is what I say to you.

BTW This post to you is for informational purposes only and it is not intended to or does it need a reply.

In other words Do Not Reply, to this if you are wanting to let it die.

If you are wanting to fight and start flame wars then respond. 

It is up to you.

Which will it be ?

See how much easier this is to read when you separate the thoughts and make paragraphs ! 

(Meant as a declarative statement not a question.)

---

---

---

This thread had been a source of dialog but now I am thinking of asking a MOD to close it.

I do not like this sort of thing going on.

Maybe at least temporally anyway have it locked. 

One more thing about addiction. I truly believe genetics plays a big part in it. It's been shown that children of parents with addictions are prone to have the problem.
I myself had this in my family. My dad's mom was an alcoholic, my dad was an alcoholic, my younger brother was a closet alcoholic and in my younger days, I was well on my way to the same. It was because of alcohol that I had my accident that has me so beat up today.

After my accident, I had to quit drinkin' because of the strong PK's I was on. Even with that, I found myself goin' "hog wild" on that. For many yrs. I went from doc to doc to get more. I really enjoyed the feelin' the PK's gave me and without the hangover the next day. My pain back then was bad, but nowhere as bad as it is now. After gettin' caught by the PMP system, I learned to slow my roll and see only 1 doc and use the meds as prescribed. It's not easy by any means, but my fear of w/d's and running out early, far outweigh my desire to take more than I need. Sure, I still order some online from time to time for the days that are REALLY bad.

I've posted this here before, the reason I was seeing so many doc's to get meds. The main reason for stocking up was hurricane Katrina. I had to go 7 months without my meds because I wasn't able to find my doc and no other doc would prescribe it for me, even tho I showed them all of my medical records and prescription records. They wouldn't even look at them, just NO was the answer. It was the most horrible 7 months of my life and I swore to myself I wouldn't go thru that again. I kept seeing doc's to be able to stock up just in case.

So now, I've learned to play by the rules. It's by no means fun, but it's what I have to do to survive. I guess that the older you get, the more you wise up. Each day is hard, but it's much better than the alternative in my opinion.

Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. All true.

Cricket

[Linville]

Cricket I am glad you survived such an ordeal.  

Good for you.

We all have, it seems to me, things we deal with in various ways.

Thank you for sharing.