Drug abuse refers to the availing of a drug for purposes which the drugs are not intended to, or using a drug in excessive quantities. Drug addiction is a state of physical and psychological dependence on a drug. The physical addiction is often characterized by the presence of tolerance, such as needing more and more of the drug to achieve the same effect, and withdrawal symptoms that disappear when further medication is taken.Almost all sorts of different drugs can be abused, including illegal drugs, such as heroin or cannabis, prescription medicines such as tranquilizers or painkillers and other medications that can be availed [...] Continue Reading…
What’s the difference between an alcoholic and a heavy drinker? I have a friend who is an alcoholism counselor here in the good ole USA, who says that if you have to ask the question, you are probably in trouble.Is this a question that has been lurking at the back of your mind lately? If so, here are some facts that might interest you.
Most people don’t think about such things. In fact a stunning 48% of the adult American population drinks zero, zip, nada, or at most has a glass of champagne at a wedding or a spiked eggnog at the annual office [...] Continue Reading…
After spending numerous amount of years with teenagers I can’t remember a time when there has not been at least one teen who has flirted with the idea of suicide. It seems there is always a teen struggling with suicide and even the extremes of cutting themselves or some sort of self mutilation.
Because of this I decided to take a look at how drug addiction can lead to teen suicide.
Something that we don’t think of is the connection between teen drug abuse and suicide. There are some studies that would suggest that teens who use drugs regularly are more likely to consider suicide [...] Continue Reading…
In the first portion of this series I talked about the danger of living in a co-dependant relationship with your teenager who is using drugs. In this part of the series I want to talk a little about what that relationship looks like and how it plays out in the family when you have a teenager who is using drugs.
Some may not even know that they are in a co-dependant relationship with their teenagers who are using drugs. For instance I’m the leader in a recovery program. When we were starting the recovery program a man approached me to let me know how he responded to the use of drugs with [...] Continue Reading…