KCI The Anti_Meth Site

Why do people take drugs

lynne	Why do people take drugs? i know the reasons why people take drugs are many and varied: loneliness, recreation, fun, to improve sex, to relax, be in a better mood, to take away pain. but i wonder: why do people get so deep into drugs? is it because they are feeling so bad and lonely and miserable that taking drugs GIVES THEM A LIFE? is it because they haven't got full productive happy lives that occasional use becomes a full-blown obsession/addiction? IF YOU HAVEN'T GOT A LIFE DOES DRUG ADDICTION GIVE ONE ONE?
BentBut Not Broken1	Re: Why do people take drugs? Lynne- Short and simple: much inner turmoil, undealt with, that I wanted to escape from...undealt with since age 15 and I'm 42 now. Meth gave me false energy and an improved self- esteem..."new" people to discover being friends with. I could do my college studies, work my job, enjoy family, friends...at first there was more of me. In hindsight, my life was far better before I did that second hit of meth even with my inner turmoil and undealt with issues. As fast as meth gave...meth took also. I have had to take leave from work for health reasons and family and personal reasons...lost my ability to stay in college going for my second major...lost trust from my family and few friends...and I added to my own prior load of things I wanted to escape from. I saw you mention the "thought" of trying meth to understand your loved one. At all costs-Don't please? That's why I took that second hit of meth and what has led me to this place of re-learning and recovery in my life. Addicts may share similar reasons for starting/continuing & stopping use...but just as each human being is unique...so is each addicts'/recovering addicts experience at the same time.
vctry7	Re: Why do people take drugs? *Quote:* but i wonder: why do people get so deep into drugs? I don't think most people mean to. It's just what happens when you play with fire. I thought I could have some "fun" and do what I wanted. I thought I would still grow up to have a good job, a great husband, house, cars, ect and still be able to have "fun". I didn't think I would end up shattered, broken, physically, and mentally ill with NOTHING. For others, I think they just don't know any other way of life. For example - a girl that has been taught to lie to the police when they show up her house from the time she could speak, to hide the drugs when she hears the police are coming on the scanner, to know what weighs what and how much it goes for, and helps to "cook" meth when she is ten and doesn't go to school anymore after the 8th grade is not going to know any other life.
Loraura	Re: Why do people take drugs? Drugs are simply a chemical solution to an emotional problem. Feeling uncomfortable. Irritable, restless, and discontent. Some people tolerate feeling uncomfortable better than others. Drugs, at first, are extremely powerful at changing the emotional state of the user. But dependance develops quickly. Healthy coping mechanisms are replaced by what the brain percieves as a quick fix.
LLounge	Re: Why do people take drugs? I was looking for confidence and a sense of belonging upon my peers. I didn't find it until after I quit all the drugs I was using. Plus, I was curious about what all the "hype" was about. Stupidly I thought "If everyone's telling me not to use it, it MUST be good chit"! How absurd!!!
FSOAB	Re: Why do people take drugs? I'm guessing people get deep into drugs because they got it under control.. Don't ya know? Hi Lynne.. I don't think I will ever understand.. When I look at someone on a drug, it just don't look so appealing to me.. I have a bunch of problems and I want to figure them out.. How is getting all messed up going to help me? Looking back at reasons I did any drug, I would have to say, I was bored.. My ex would do any kind and all kinds of drugs... He even zapped himself with a stun gun! Top it off with, do some, do some.... Of course I was ignorant and did.. Just never floated my boat.. I was the exact opposite of him... I have a addiction for life and a strive to make it through.. Least amount of drugs the better.. When my time is ending, I want to look back and be proud of the mistakes I learned from, the life I built and fought for... Meth just don't fit into my picture... I don't ever see it fitting good into anyone else's picture either..
SOS1988	Re: Why do people take drugs? Yes, actually thats pretty much why i started using drugs, a lot of people have a lot of different reasons. I had low self esteem, not many friends, and when i was 13 i started smoking weed. Became a pothead overnight. Started smoking meth whwen i was 15....i wanted a better high
Chele	Re: Why do people take drugs? Escapism. No Self Esteem. Didn't have the proper tools to deal with life. I prefered to hide from it. Hide behind a smile and a mask that drugs and booze help me create. Party girl. Fun, fun, fun! Then it becomes anything but REALLY fast. It is a lifestyle. But it's not only a way of life but a way to death. The drugs lie, the booze lies, your "buddies" lie. It's all just a bunch of living zombies. Wake up one day and you're one of 'em. That's how I felt. Being sober means facing fears, finding myself, and finally living and having a desire to live. Many of my Buddies have had very bad things happen to them in their lives when they were kids. I too was ashamed as a child, for reasons that were not my own though. At least for myself and my friends...seems everyone was hiding some emotional stuff. Stuffing it. Drugs and alcohol help you forget...for awhile. Hope that helps.
nine years clean	Re: Why do people take drugs? I had a professor last semester in one of my chemical dependency classes who asserts that the root cause of alcohol/drug addiction, domestic violence, and non-biological mental illnesses is shame. I don't think this is a far stretch. It rang true for me when listening to his lectures. I was never good enough as a kid. I'm still not, if you ask my mom, and if she had the ability to answer honestly. I was never good enough; I was the remnant from her former marriage; and that put a blanket of shame over me that I carried into my adulthood, without realizing it. Meth's initial attraction to me was that it allowed me to feel no emotional pain whatsoever. It was as if I were magically healed of my oppressive self loathing and lower than low self esteem. I was suddenly confident and brave and in complete control of my heart, which I had always worn on my sleeve. Now, I was a pillar of strength. Next, you must consider the highly addictive qualities of methamphetamine. It is almost unprecedented. It takes little or no time at all for your brain to become chemically dependent on meth's insurmountable influx of dopamine. And it does not let go. So now, we are living under the delusion that this drug has somehow healed all of our old wounds, will keep us safe from any new wounds, and, we cannot feel good without it. It doesn't take a brain surgeon, pun intended, to figure out the impact these results would have on someone who has forever been uncomfortable in their own skin. Sadly, by the time we realize that what we thought was a cure all is actually killing us, emotionally, physically, and mentally, it is too late. Meth has his hooks into us so deep that we must wage an all out war against it in order to take our lives back. Hope this helps you understand better. It's a terrible, terrible thing. And it can happen to anyone. Meth does not discriminate, and it does not want just part of us; it wants all of us; it wants everything that we ever held dear. And we will give it; we will become a slave to this master; we will give our very lives. That's how sick and insane this disease is. Never in my right mind would I have done some of the things I did when I was using. Never. Ever. I became a wretch of a woman; a hollow human being; one of the walking dead.