Sniffing crack in club bathrooms, smoking marijuana to the soothing sounds of reggae music and drinking alcohol to wash away all the pain were Mr. Kelvin Fahie’s favourite past times. Using a baseball bat, he was severely beaten and felt nothing because he was too high. He experienced two seizures, vaguely remembering the first and didn’t know he had a second. During his hallucination from 1992 to 1995, finally arrived to his turning point was when he hallucinated seeing his mother jumping off of his neighbour’s roof. Standing at about six feet tall and weighing only ninety eight pounds, Mr. Kelvin Fahie marched into the BVI’s Sandy Lane Centre on August 13th 1995 in order to end his quest of drug and alcohol addiction. In only six weeks, he fully overcame his addiction of 20 years. This was a joyous event and it was even more special since he was the first person to recover through the Sandy Lane Centre. Today, he has been drug and alcohol free for nineteen years and made a promise to himself to never return to such a low place in his life ever again.
“Their first love might be the rum or vodka or gin and juice that are going around the bonfire. Or maybe the smoke, the potent marijuana that grows in the misted hills here like moss on a wet stone”, Benedict Carey. Drug or alcohol addiction can be a scary path for both the addict and his family. Trying to overcome this addiction independently will most likely be the first option, but having a prolonged exposure to alcohol and drugs alters the brain in ways that result in powerful cravings and a compulsion to use. When self-treatment fails, enrolling in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre will be the next best resort. The rehabilitation centres would be equipped with medical p...
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...e. Addiction does not depend on the rehab centre, it depends on the person. Rehabs offer a wide range of various Treatments, inpatient, outpatient, residential and partial hospitalization, and counselling. When an addict relapses and returns to his or hers old ways which can eventually kill them, the rehab centre is not at fault. It is actually the addicts own fault. The prime reasons for relapse are the facts that the addict wasn’t open in counselling, didn’t accept his addiction, wasn’t receptive or just wasn’t ready to confront his problems. Mr. Fahie is a prime example that rehab centres work. He was addicted to alcohol, crack cocaine and marijuana and still managed to be recover from his addiction of twenty years in only six weeks. Applying the information learnt in treatment and revealing emotions and problems in counselling helps in addiction recovery.
Once these individuals in rehab serve there sentence the majority of them, won’t look straight to the next opportunity to get high, but the next opportunity for a better future after being encouraged in rehab to accomplish something in life, compared to someone’s attitude coming out of prison. One story involved a man named Richard with his wife Marcia. She was an addict who was often jailed for it, but Anthony believed like many others that “addiction can be overcome with proper help. He believed that the solution was to get her into a mental hospital [and] get her whatever she needs – Xanax, morphine, to get her chemical imbalance right. Show her some respect. (114)” Give her some working skills, so once she gets out she is capable of being successful but instead she kept getting “kicked down the steps” by the criminal justice system. The jailing and torture of addicts is routine to people serving cases for drug related offenses, who are often not built to endure prison, let alone jail. “The Justice Department estimates that 216,000 people are raped in these prisons every year. (This is the number of rapes, not the number of rapes – that is much higher.) (109)” This is ultimately shows the simple fact that many people are not built to endure
Some of the local and nearby drug rehab programs include Drug and Alcohol Treatment, Detoxification, Buprenorphine Used in Treatment, Naltrexone (oral), Vivitrol (injectable Naltrexone), Community Mental Health Center, Hospital Inpatient, and Partial Hospitalization/Day Treatment. Drug and alcohol rehab programs in the area provide residents with treatment methods ranging from “traditional” recovery options to those that offer alternative styles (e.g. holistic medicine). While the decision to get help with drug or alcohol addiction problems is often a personal choice, many people include their loved ones in the process in order to obtain insight and a different perspective. Ultimately, it is up to the addicted individual to make the effort and changes necessary to overcome their addiction
"The message of this book is that recovery from addiction is possible."(Shumway.pg 2). Recovery is an ongoing journey that requires a lot of attention and constant dedication and being sober is only the beginning. In this book experts Sterling Shumway and Thomas Kimball have laid out six principles that help along the journey, which are: Hope, Healthy Coping skills, Achievement and Accomplishment, Maintaining Meaningful Relationships, Unique Identity development, and Reclamation of agency. Using the two 's gathered research, personal stories and various exercises they unlock these principles and explain there complexity at a level of understanding for all the parties in an addicts life. Those who complete these principles become more
Alcoholism is a deadly addiction that affects the main organs of the human body and upturns chances of developing cancer. Vital organs such as the heart and brain are affected and also the liver and pancreas. The immune system becomes weaker as the risk of cancer increases. My grandmother on my dad’s side was an alcoholic, as is my mother’s sister. Alcoholism runs in families making my risk of becoming an alcoholic high. Being an alcoholic also affects those around you.
Furthermore, each alternative has its advantages and disadvantages. Trying to solve this problem completely alone is probably the worst solution. A person receives no outside support or help. A rehabilitation/recovery center is expensive but provides strict daily routine and continuous professional guidance and support. The patient is away from family and his normal life; therefore, he may resort back to alcohol when he is back in the "real world".
Alcoholism and drug addiction have obvious and well documented effects on the substance abusers. Prolonged abuse of drugs and/or alcohol will damage a person’s physical health, impair his or her mental functioning and damage the spirit. But how will these adverse effects impact the addict’s immediate family, and how will the damage manifest itself?
Drug and alcohol abuse has become a worldwide epidemic within today’s society. The battle against drugs and alcohol is not going to diminish. Therefore, we as a society need to work together to address these problems while incorporating successful treatment plans and services for these individuals. The addiction to these substances does not only effect oneself, but can also have profound consequences for the children and families.
Main Point: The effects on a person after they become addicted to something can be small, or they can be great, depending on the length of time they are exposed to the addictive behavior or substance and what caused it. The addiction affects the addict’s health, career and relationships. I can tell you from personal experience with having family members who were addicts, that I was traumatized growing up. (Personal story about couple arguing here.) According to Roxanne Edwards of Medicine.net, “In terms of effects on the body, intoxication with a substance can cause physical effects that range from marked sleepiness and slowed breathing …to the rapid heart rate...” In addition, psychologically they can have suicidal thoughts or elation depending on the addictive substance or behavior. This is why it is important for the addict to seek help because they cannot get rid of the issue on their own. Most of the time, addicts go through some sort of rehab treatment and when they are released they are instructed to go to meetings that help with the aftermath of addiction. Just a few of these groups are places like Alcoholics/Narcotics Anonymous, or even Celebrate Recovery. Although some places believe that these programs do not work, it is well worth mentioning that the success rates depend on the want to of the person working them. They have to want to remain sober or free from the addiction or they will go right back to it. Alcohol Rehab.com puts it this way, “Failure to
Addiction is a very strong word that brings along many negative connotations. When we think of an addiction we imagine someone who depends on a certain substance, most likely alcohol to have their needs met. Addiction is defined by the Webster dictionary as, "a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal." Even though our society sees addiction and only applies the word to drug addicts and alcoholics, there is a much wider range of subjects that fall under the umbrella of what an addiction truly is. An addiction is a dependency on any kind of materialistic object that you use on a day to day basis that brings
Alcohol use and abuse is a well-‐documented issue in contemporary Ireland. In fact, when we look at our nation’s historical identity, it is tied to our culture so intrinsically that it springs to mind like the Catholic Church, British Rule and rebellion. The modern landscape however, is one in which action is being demanded, as the health risks and costs become apparent and publicised.
The chances are that we all know or have loved ones with an addictions to either drugs or alcohol. Still today, one of the biggest challenges is being able to talk to that person about their addiction. Even though I personally have not had the opportunity to speak to a loved one or acquaintance about an addiction. Research shows when confronting a person with a problem; it takes preparation, patience, and being totally honest with that individual. Talking to someone with a dependency is something that most people avoid because people like myself would not want others mending in our lives; we, even, tend to believe that it is not our problem how much our f...
There are many different views of drugs, some find drugs fun, stress relieving, however nearly most of the time people never really consider the consequences. Alcohol and cocaine are some of the most used drugs that affects many old and young users. A reason that alcohol is abused is because the fact that it is accepted in society. People drink to be socialize, it is included in parties or celebrations. One reason for individuals using cocaine is because of movies and musics promoting the use of cocaine as a kind of entertainment nowadays.
According to National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, more than 1,800 college students die from alcohol-related causes every year, while about 800,000 are being assaulted by other students because of drinking. About one in every four college students who binge drink also admit that they have experienced academic problems. Binge drinking is drinking multiple drinks in just a few hours to get drunk. Despite the fact that college drinking has caused many issues, it has not been stopped, yet. In article, “Why Colleges Haven’t Stopped Binge Drinking,” McMurtrie (2014) explains that this issue has not been resolved yet because many people still see alcohol abuse as general issue instead of seeing it an individual behavior. Because colleges
The problem of alcohol use is very relevant nowadays. Today alcohol consumption characterized by vast numbers in the world. All of society is suffering from this, but primarily jeopardized the younger generation: children, teenagers, young people, and the health of future mothers. Because alcohol is particularly active effect on the body that are not formed, gradually destroying it. The harm of alcohol abuse is evident. It is proved that when alcohol is ingested inside the body, it is carried by blood to all organs and has harmful effect on them until destruction. Systematic use of alcohol develops a dangerous disease such as alcoholism. Alcoholism is dangerous to human health, but it is curable as other diseases. The big problem is that most of the alcohol products which are made in private places contain many toxic substances, defective products often leads to poisoning and even death. All this has negative impact on society and its cultural values.
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.