Addiction is everywhere, from celebrity tabloids, to television, and possibly to a family member or close friend. There is alcoholism, drug abuse, and gambling addiction; the effects of such are devastating. For example, the following excerpt is from the harrowing Leaving Dirty Jersey: A Crystal Meth Memoir by James Salant:
“I gave Doug the spoon and I tried to pull thirty units of water into the syringe. Doug hit me on the side of my head and said, ‘Your shaking too much, let me do that.’ I pulled away from the faucet and let the syringe fall into the sink. Then I rolled up the shirtsleeve on my right arm. I looked at my arm. I had tracks, needle marks, up and down my arm. My shirtsleeve had bloodstains on it from the day before. I held out my arm and demanded, ‘I get the first one and I want coke not watered down coke!’ Doug pulled my arm close to him and inserted the needle in my arm. As I was shaking, he told me ‘Make this last for a while.’ I felt the dope hit me and ran out of the restroom. I was shaking and could not get my breath...All my senses were focused on the feeling I was getting from the shot of cocaine…” [4]
Salant presents a saddening stereotypical addiction story: the drug user. The excerpt from his book shows the depths to which the victims of addiction will stoop to get their “fix”, or the substance or device that the addicted desire. This excerpt can be considered “stereotypical” due to several reasons. The illegal and legal drug addiction is, unfortunately, the most popular and most well known of addictions because of its presence within modern day pop culture (movies, tabloids, etc), and due to its “popularity” within our culture, the use and abuse of drugs is one of the only kinds of addiction because no...
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Prentiss, Chris. The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure: A Holistic Approach to Total Recovery. New York, NY: Powerpress, 2005. Print. [3]
Salant, James. Leaving Dirty Jersey: A Crystal Meth Memoir. New York, NY: Gallery, 2008. Print. [4]
Science of Addiciton: Treatment and Recovery. National Institute of Drug Abuse. Web. . [5]
Williams, Ian. "Chinese gamer dies after 15-day session." London Times [London] 1 Mar. 2007. Print. [6]
How Addiction Affects You and Your Family. Family Intervention Center of Virginia. Web. . [7]
1 (2008): 1-3. Prevalence and Correlates of Excessive Internet Use among Youth in Singapore and China. Annals, Jan. 2008. Web. Feb. 2010. http://www.annals.edu.sg/PDF/37VolNo1Jan2008/V37N1p9.pdf [8]
Bob Probert was a 45 year old man with 4 kids and a wife when he passed away from CTE. He drank, did drugs, and was a womanizer but he didn’t want his kids to find out. He knew they eventually would though and he said that when they did find out, he wanted it to be “straight from the source” (1.). He used to snort cocaine. Once when he was caught while smuggling drugs over the Detroit-Windsor border, he dumped it in the toilet. The first time he tried cocaine was in 1983. It was post-game and before long he was buying an ounce a week which was $800 so it was about $42,000 a year. His work permit was revoked by the US government. He met his wife in Relax Plaza in Windsor and even after he was caught on the border she still stayed with him. To pass drug tests, he would microwave his urine so it would come up clean.
Charles McDuffie is serving a five-year sentence for burglary. He feels as if he has to turn to drugs for help. McDuffie’s drinking and drug addiction began
The term addiction can be interpreted in many ways, concering both illegal and legal substances. Not only can one become addicted to a substance, but also activities like gambling, shoplifting, and sex. Prior to considering addiction, one must first understand what constitutes a substance. Levinthal (2002) describes a drug as a chemical substance that changes the functioning of the body when ingested (4). Although illegal drugs may come to mind when hearing this definition, alcohol and tobacco fit under this criteria as well. For the purpose of this essay, controlled and regulated (licit/legal) substances will be focused upon. Alcohol is a regulated substance that can be thought of as a social drug (Levinthal, 2002, p.192) and arguably tobacco
In the reality of the postmodern world, where nature is gone and has been replaced by technology, where the world and humankind have become fused with the machine, and the existence of morality and reality are uncertain, it is difficult to find hope for a better existence or motivation to attempt to change one's existence. Addiction then becomes a logical avenue of escape from these bleak circumstances--not affecting reality, but transforming it into something bearable. The addictions that Case turns to allow him to escape from the hard reality of his life th...
Gorski, T. T., & Miller, M. (1986). Staying Sober: A Guide for Relapse Prevention. New
First up were the abusers of the alkaloid cocaine, buried in mounds of it, some with their heads sticking out others only their feet. All lashed furiously with bloodshot eyes and hair matted to their sweaty faces, all caught in eternal withdrawal. Among them I spotted Scarface himself, Tony Montana.
This is then followed by insightfully examining the treatment process, specifically through grace as a key focus of overcoming addiction. May focus heavily on desire as the main cause of addiction. He sees addiction as a way to fulfill a universal need that all people have. The text focuses on how we all have this need we want met and that we desire to have more in life. The author looks at how through our desire we all fall victims to addiction because of the fall.
EASLEY, J. (2011, June 19). The day the drug war really started. Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/: http://www.salon.com/2011/06/19/len_bias_cocaine_tragedy_still_affecting_us_drug_law/
Eugene Richards stays faithful to the amalgamation of photographs and words like that of How the Other Half Lives. In Cocaine, Richards, along with the additional reportage of Time magazine correspondent Edward Barnes, not only gives a running commentary of the horrors that his subjects face, but gives a voice to the voiceless by letting the people tell their own story. This proves to be a greatly effective means of objectively educating the public on the plight of the people that the images present. Therefore, the viewer is not looking at just another junkie cooking up, but a person with a name and a history: i.e. Kerrie, a girl that has prostituted her body since the age of fifteen to support herself.
...liams (in person) First hand account of drug trafficking, use, abuse, effects, and treatment in a Washington State male correctional facility.
Every single person in an addict’s immediate family is affected in some way by the individual’s substance abuse. In recent years, our society has moved further away from the traditional nuclear family. There are single-parent homes and blended family homes. Each of these family structures and more will affect the addict’s overall impact on the family. If young children are a part of the family, their
Main Point: What defines an addiction? According to Psychology Today, “Addiction is a condition that results when a person ingests a substance…. or engages in an activity….that can be pleasurable but the continued use/act of which becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilities, such as work, relationships, or health.” This can range anywhere from drug use to eating disorders, to gambling, to even texting in today’s generation. Shocking to say the least, especially when most people do not even know they are addicted or are an addict until they realize this definition.
So, it is clear that addiction is all around us and can attack anyone of us at any given time. Even studies conducted show that people neglect to speak around their dependency for two primary reasons. Foremost, because people do not comprehend, or they bear a total misconception to their addiction, that they do not realize that addictions can be critical to their overall wellness. Moreover, second, many people believe being an addict will never happen to them, but, in reality, most addictions start off as simple little habits. Such as starting with one drink after dinner and before you know it you are drinking several drinks a day. However, one does not opt to be addicted to a substance, because addictions are physical defects in the brain, a disease, and not one’s choice.
Addiction is something that may seem inevitable but at the end it’s entirely the fault of a person who is addicted. In the article by Charles Duhigg ‘the power of habit’ Angie Bachmann got addicted to gambling, it was because of her fault as she kept accepting the offers from cassino and many other reasons.. Both knew what they were doing but still Angie let herself get into the situation, and the casino encouraged it. She was a well settled housewife, when everybody used to leave the house she was all alone. One fine day, while passing through the street she took a visit to casino just for a change.
Drug addiction is a very big problem in today’s society. Many people have had their lives ruined due to drug addiction. The people that use the drugs don’t even realize that they have an addiction. They continue to use the drug not even realizing that their whole world is crashing down around them. Drug addicts normally lose their family and friends due to drug addiction.