Addiction: What can I do?

Addiction: What can I do?

When someone you know is slowly dying from their drug addiction or alcohol abuse, what is your responsibility? What can you do about it? There are hundreds of questions, just like those above, and each one has its own answer. But the main thing to realize is that something can be done about it if you are close to someone with a drug or alcohol addiction. The wrong thing to do is nothing. Just because you are not a trained counsellor in addiction or a psychologist or a medical physician does not make you incapable of doing something to help this person out.

There are some actions you can do; the main one is not to enable the addict with their consumption no matter how much they beg, cry, kick and call you names. The one thing the user will remember is you actually want to help them. In a very calm and determined manner, the other simple action you can do is keep repeating that you want to help them get the needed assistance to kick their addiction. It doesn’t matter what words you use but keep it simple and always the same message. It will sink in sooner or later. The addict may stop talking to you for a while or try to make you feel guilty, but these are simply efforts to rise to the point of being able to ask for help, and he or she will.

When a person has been abusing drugs or alcohol for months or years, it’s imperative to act fast when they reach out for help. The method to ask for help can come in many forms; they will not usually say, “I need help with my addiction.” But the person can express it with messages like: “I am so fed up with this lifestyle,” “I need to get my shit together,” or “I can’t keep this up,” and any other similar message. In many cases, this is just after a terrible “binge” of sorts, a daily and intensive drug or alcohol usage that can get up to a full week of non-stop drug use. When this happens, it is your sign to ACT and act fast. You can call a drug counsellor; you can get the individual on the phone with the counsellor, put the person in a car, and drive him to a facility right there then.

This small window of a vulnerable cry for help will not last long, so you need to act fast. Otherwise, the person will sink back into the physical withdrawal and crave more drugs or alcohol and bolt on you before knowing it. It could then take months, even years before they return for help again.

Don’t lose this chance to help a loved one or a close friend to drugs or alcohol addiction contact one of our professional addiction counsellors. Please don’t feel helpless about someone’s addiction; something can be done about it. If someone close to you is suffering from an addiction, call us for immediate assistance in resolving their addiction.