Addiction - Count the Cost before You Start
What do nearly all drug addicts and alcoholics have in common? They did not start out with a desire to become addicted. Rather, addiction is a gradual process that occurs without the individual even understanding what happening. The truth is that any of us could end up being the next client to check into the local drug rehab clinic if we are not careful.
Before you take that next drink or swallow that next pill, count the cost associated with addiction. If that cost is too high, and it is, do not use. Find something more productive to do with your time than taking drugs or drinking. If you need help coping with your problems, it is available all across the UK.
So, what is the cost of addiction? Consider the following:
1. Poor Health – Even the most socially acceptable drugs, like alcohol, can have devastating effects on personal health. Long-term alcoholics are likely to wind up with liver damage. Long-term cannabis users are at a higher risk for depression, memory loss, and cognitive issues. Cocaine users have a higher propensity for heart attack, stroke, and respiratory failure.
2. Premature Death – Along with all of the health issues of substance abuse comes the very real possibility of premature death. How many beds at UK rehab clinics remain empty because alcoholics and drug abusers die before they get treatment? The fact is that premature death associated with drug and alcohol use is a greater risk the longer you use.
3. Financial Ruin – The dirty little secret about addiction is that users can never get enough. They constantly need a higher volume of drugs or alcohol to feel satisfied. Moreover, more drugs or alcohol means more money. Addiction could mean the loss of your job; it could mean a total financial ruin that destroyers everything you worked so hard to build. You might even have to resort to stealing to supply your habit.
4. Broken Relationships – The worst of the consequences is that of broken relationships. Be mindful of the fact that addiction does not just affect the individual using drugs or alcohol; it affects the entire family. That is why drug and alcohol rehab clinics tend to offer family counselling services. Without treatment, you could destroy every personal relationship that is important to you. You could lose your spouse, your children, your extended family and every friend you have ever had.
Now that you know the cost of addiction, you must ask yourself whether it is truly worth taking the risk. We suggest it's not. Do not fool yourself into thinking you are the type of person who can drink or use drugs indiscriminately without ever becoming an addict. Lots of others have thought the same thing – and they were wrong.
