Drug Addiction Stories & Info

Throughout the world people have heard of self help alcoholic recovery group - Alcoholic’s Anonymous, and its founder Bill Wilson. Not as many people are aware that Bill Wilson promoted as a cure for alcoholism, the use of LSD.

The main limitation of Alcoholic’s Anonymous is that it is not primarily recovery focused. Alcoholics are considered to have a long term and incurable “condition” that means abstinence and intended recovery from alcohol dependence will at all times be a respite, the program providing mentoring and support to help people to deal with continued cravings for alcohol, even after having been with the AA program for many years.

The tension and frustration that can emerge in the life of the “dry” alcoholic, denied his usual refuge in alcohol drinking, can lead to abusive behavior in the home, problems in the work place.

Driving a path of sobriety through the minefield of triggers and temptations to relapse into alcohol use is extremely hard work, and the reason why many AA members accept the occasional relapse as being par for the course.

Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, and The Doors of Perception is said to have introduced Bill Wilson to the potential of LSD as a means to alcoholism recovery. Wilson took up with LSD as a “miracle cure” for the ailments of the soul, using LSD regularly during the 1960′s, developing a plan as he reached his 70th year to have LSD made available to all AA members.

Fortunately more sensible heads prevailed, and when the FDA declared LSD to be illegal some years later, that was the end of any plan to make LSD a part of the AA program.

The life and times of Bill Wilson, born in 1895, is recorded in an article in the Modern Drunkard Magazine – that sets out the highs and the lows of his chronic alcoholism, and the work that Bill Wilson did to promote alcohol recovery by developing the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 step program.

see article:

Although many people have gained help and support by joining Alcoholic’s Anonymous, upon reading about the life of Bill Wilson, it’s founder, it is clear that following the precepts of AA, did not in fact bring him the peace, the tranquility, and contentment that he craved.

It is interesting to note that although Bill Wilson successfully stopped his alcohol drinking, he never quite resolved the issue of what should stand in its place. Although espousing a spiritual basis for ultimate recovery from alcoholism, the acknowledgement of and “surrender” to a higher power, Wilson himself professed no formal religious beliefs, dabbled in the occult, and continued to be a substance abuser, including use of psychedelic drugs.

 When alcoholism is defined as the symptom of a problem, rather than the primary issue, it becomes possible to look “behind” the drinking to see what might be its causes. It is in the resolution of it’s causes that alcoholism can be treated, otherwise, like Wilson, a person is essentially looking for an alcohol substitute, an antidote to feelings of negativity.

Perhaps the key to Wilson’s life long battle with alcohol is in the depression that came upon him in 1912, when his school friend and soulmate Bertha Bamford died unexpectedly following a routine operation.

 For three years Bill battled depression, and then when he injured an elbow, he sought refuge with his mother – who promptly sent him back to school – causing Bill to have panic attacks and an inability to do any physical education.

Doctors examined him and could find no reason for his general incapacity. He had earlier been abandoned by his father, who said he was going away on a business trip, but never returned home. Bill was brought up by his grandparents.

Born to a military/ business background, Bill found recovery in selling cars at his grandfather’s automobile agency – attempting to sell one of the cars to the parent’s of his lost love. It would seem that Bill never recognized the severity of his depression, his grief, and loss - a lonely, isolation that remained a motif in Wilson’s life.

Many years after AA was established Bill Wilson would complain that he did so much for everyone else – no one ever did anything for him.

AA was for Bill a means to recovery from severe emotional depression, and from losing all but the shirt on his back at the onset of the 1930”s financial depression.

 Clark Carr, the director of Narconon International, an alternative program for recovery from alcohol and drug abuse says that, in his experience, and most profoundly, drug addiction is a result of people lacking the skills in life to otherwise resolve their conflicts and frustrations.

Bill Wilson, unsupported in his early grief, seems to have carried the burden of his un-mourned loss, for the rest of his life.

In his later years, Bill Wilson sought therapy for his depression, and before his death was investigating nutrition as a possible cure for depression, including the now widely accepted niacin (Vitamin B supplement) treatment that helps to dissipate lethargy, and restores the nervous functioning that is very much depleted by chronic alcohollsm.

 Bill Wilson is a case study for a depression based theory of alcoholism, an addiction that could easily be resolved by the comprehensive methods, available today which see addiction recovery  as a voyage of personal discovery, in which we learn how to better communicate with others, to get our real needs met, to develop social skills for self improvement and the benefit of the community.

By resolving, and putting behind us, the baggage of our past, we are enabled to move on to a happy, contented drug free way of life.

Comprehensive programs provide drug detox, social and nutritional support, to enable complete addiction recovery.

 see article:

Narconon residential drug treatment programs  breathe new life, and purpose into depressive feelings from the past.

Bill Wilson died  1971, still reaching out for answers to the problem of alcoholism.

People often wonder why are drugs addictive and why an addictive substance is hard to give up, particularly when we have lost that “honeymoon” feeling with our substance of choice and know that we would be far better off – if only we could kick the habit.

 Ultimately it us who make the choice to use drugs addictively, and it is our responsibility to resolve the problem.

No one can be free of addiction to drugs while they continue to see in the use of drugs the answer to life’s issues.

Drugs don’t help us to resolve our problems - drugs are toxic and bring us down.

The more we use drugs, the less capacity we gradually have to get back on top of our problems. 

When we pump chemicals into the body it is as if pushing ourselves upwards on a swing, we cannot stay there forever, we have to come down again. And when we come down we don’t settle back to our original resting position – we swing back and forth until the swing slows down and eventually stops. 

The roller coaster of pain and emotions that we go through with drug withdrawal is something like what happens with the swing, when we are no longer putting in the effort to create a forward momentum, no longer focused on our purpose, no longer “high” on our drugs.

 The downswing after a drug high is partly a reversion back to our former depressed or anxious way of being, and partly caused by a physical reaction to the drug. We can expect symptoms of drug withdrawal to fluctuate, with increased levels of depression after use of a stimulant drug, and increased agitation and irritability after use of a sedative.

 Many people think that it is the suffering of mood swings and the pain of withdrawal that controls drug seeking behavior, that drug addiction is chemically based, and withdrawal-driven.

 The experience of addict’s does not appear to support this.

Addict’s suffer withdrawal symptoms after using drugs. They might simply suffer in silence, or perhaps use other drugs to help reduce withdrawal effects. They might not use again perhaps for days or weeks.

Triggers for compulsive drug use appear to be more complex than a reactive response to the experience of withdrawal effects. 

see article:  

Cocaine is an example of a drug that is extremely addictive, but which generally does not cause any major physical symptoms during withdrawal. The main withdrawal effect of cocaine is that it intensifies and prevents users from getting out of feelings of severe depression.

Cocaine users express their surprise that they feel driven to drug use again, compulsively and addictively, despite the fact that they are not experiencing physical pain.

 Cocaine users will use the drug because cocaine makes them feel positive, strong, empowered - without it they feel lost and unhappy. What drives cocaine addiction, and all drug use, is feelings of stress and tension, that have an emotional basis.

Drug use is about getting relief from negative emotional feelings.

 If we used a substance that only made us feel bad, not only would we not become addicted to it, we would not use it again. The attraction of drug use, it’s purpose, is to give us a fleeting glimpse of nirvana, eliminating, at least for a while, all of our physical and emotional pain.

 Drugs that we use don’t do anything good for our mind or our body. All drugs imitate natural substances that our body can produce by natural means given the chance and the opportunity. Natural endogenous “drugs” are cheaper to use, more potent in their actions, and come with no side effects. 

 Drug use is only a particular way of letting our burdens go, casting off the negative, so as to enjoy the relative freedom of the moment.The reason for us feeling burdened is persistent stress.

Stress is like a prevailing wind that causes young saplings and trees to grow bent over and flattened to the ground. Plants retain a capacity to grow straight, upright and tall, if and when environmental conditions improve. Drug use makes us feel as if we have suddenly sprung up, free of our pain and emotional burdens.

It is the attempted recapturing of this experience that drives drug use – some might call it the pursuit of illusion.

 Once we begin to associate drug use with the relief of pain, it can become like a knot.

We feel the stress, experience pain and immediately turn to our drugs.

The more we make this  a habit, the less we will rely on other relationships as a potential solution to our problems.

 The key to recovery from addiction is to give up drug use, and to regard the downswing as a positive step on the road to addiction recovery.

 Comprehensive alcohol and drug addiction recovery programs

provide complete and effective detox, to help eliminate triggers and cravings,

in a supportive, contained and nurturing environment,

and also promote the development of better life skills so that we no longer feel stressed and threatened, by our lifestyle and environment.

When people no longer feel fearful, stressed and depressed, they can give up their addiction to drugs.

Comprehensive programs offer drug addicts their freedom – to live a happy and contented life – without any need to use drugs.

When we have the sense of purpose and resilience to stand on our own two feet, it really is very easy to see through the illusion that all drug use is, and simply say no to drugs, without cravings or regret.