Drug Addiction Stories & Info

Addiction never affects just the addict. It affects their friends, loved ones, co workers, neighbors and community. Josh was a promising young man fresh out of high school with ambitions of becoming an international interpreter. He was popular, fun to be around and had a bright future ahead of him.

It was Oxycontin, an opiate in the same line as Heroin and Morphine.

College was about to start for Josh and he was making his party rounds before he left. Normally, Josh would have a soda and pass on the drinking and drugs. Everyone still loved it when he came to their party. That night, though, Josh ignored his better judgment. He didn’t drink and he didn’t do any of the cocaine that was laid out on the table.

Someone handed him a pill.

“It’s a pain pill…a harmless little pain pill but it’ll make you feel great!” said his friend.

It was Oxycontin, an opiate in the same line as Heroin and Morphine. Josh didn’t know that part though. As he popped the pills into his mouth, his friend told him to chew them and not just swallow them, so Josh did. Within a few minutes, he felt as he never had before in his life. He felt warm and fuzzy and felt a total connection with the universe. He had never felt this good before in his life. It was almost a cosmic sort of feeling and he would not had believed it if he weren’t experiencing it.

Josh asked his friend what those pills were and if he could get some. This was the second mistake Josh made. Of course his friend could hook him up, no problem. It would cost a few (many) dollars, though. Josh handed over the money and took the bag of magic pills with him as he left the party. What a night to remember this would be! When he got home, he fell into a peaceful sleep and when he woke the next morning, the first thing he thought of was those pills.

“Ah,” he said to himself, “it can wait until tonight. I have things I need to get done.”

Josh went about his day but he thought about those pills more than once. He told himself he would try more tonight when Jennifer came over to watch television. The day passed and that evening, Jennifer showed up for their evening together watching movies.

It happened so slowly that things were out of control before I realized.  I found myself in a new town after accepting a promotion for the company I worked for.  I didn’t know anyone, and have always found it difficult to be social the way others seem to do so with ease, which is possibly one of the reasons that I was hesitant when a group from work invited me for a ‘night on the town’.

I found myself in a new town after accepting a promotion for the company I worked for. That was the beginning of this path of destruction I’ve been on.

That was the beginning of this path of destruction I’ve been on.  It began with late nights at the local club scene, and in the beginning, even when I knew I should call it a night and head home for the evening, the urgings from my colleagues had me following along behind them simply because it actually felt good to be accepted.

Several months later, we attended a private party – one of those friend of a friend situations, where everything seemed like the typical party, until one of my friends grabbed my hand and led me to a room filled with people, and drugs.

My immediate response was to run, but again, having the desire to be accepted by my ‘friends’, I thought it couldn’t hurt to try it just this once.   In hindsight, that was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.

That ‘one’ time, turned into another, and another, and I found myself sneaking into the bathroom at work to get my next fix.  I was convinced that I was on top of my game, even when my family started calling and asking if something was wrong, because my contact with them had become non-existent.    I shrugged it off, assuring them I was busy, but that life was grand.  Reality was, I was on a downward spiral, one that I couldn’t recognize through the drug induced haze that had become my life.

The turning point was several weeks ago when my supervisor, who had always been more than pleased with my job performance, said they were concerned.   They’d noticed an increase of absences, a lack of productivity, and that my physical appearance was lacking.  I made several feeble excuses, promised myself I’d clean up my act, but it wasn’t as simple as it sounded.

I assured myself I could quit anytime I wanted, that I didn’t have a problem, but today – my boss, who I’ve always had a great relationship with, expressed his concern.  He said that my job was on the line, and he knew what kind of work I was capable of, and without wanting to step on my toes, made the suggestion that I should possibly seek rehab to get my life together.   I thanked him for his concern, and assured him I was fine.

But here I sit, reflecting on how much my life has changed in the past six months, and realizing he’s right – I am a drug addict and I want to quit.

They say that admitting you have a problem is the first step, so I suppose I’ve taken the first step to recovery, but where do I go from here?  I want to believe that I can do it myself, with sheer willpower, but I had fooled myself into believing that I could stop whenever I wanted, and obviously that wasn’t true.

Even now, I have the overwhelming urge to hit the streets to score my next fix, but I don’t want this life, not anymore.

My first step, call my parents and explain to them that I have a drug problem and then call my boss and get the information on the drug addiction rehab he mentioned.

It’s going to be a long, challenging road, but I can do this with the help and support of my family and friends.