– urges recovering drug addict

By Gabriella Chapman
THERE are many social ills that are plaguing society, and there are many organisations and members of society who make an effort to combat these ills.

However, there are some issues which are prevalent in society, of which emphasis on combating is lacking. One such issue is that of alcohol and drug addiction.
Many persons are of the opinion that addicts’ conditions are self-inflicted and they often lose the support of family and friends, and much more the wider society. But in an interview with a recovering addict at Salvation Army, it was explained that there are many underlying factors and several stages of progression which leads to misuse and dependency.

To maintain anonymity, we will refer to this individual as ‘Genesis’.
Genesis shared his story of how he ended up having to live in a men’s centre, away from all his family and friends and enrolled in a Narcotics Anonymous programme.

He said he has been battling with addiction on and off for 30 years and it started out with just one cigarette. Many persons in society, he said, think that persons just decide to become chemical dependents, and those who use minor substances believe that they can never graduate to the crack cocaine.

But Genesis said as long as a person is using a drug, that person becomes susceptible to trying other substances.

“There are people who have the willpower to stop, and some don’t. And from my experience, you would always tell yourself ‘that isn’t going to happen to me’. Kids don’t really be aware that when you get into this thing, in the beginning it will be nice, the feeling and everything will be nice, but after a while, it becomes hell. It becomes like you’re living in hell… I started out with cigarette, then alcohol, then marijuana, then cocaine. Once you hit cocaine is like you open a Pandora’s Box and no matter how hard you try to dress it down back to cigarette, it always end up back to crack. So even if you’re not yet on cocaine, but you are using, alcohol or marijuana, or even cigarette, at the end of the day you’re leaning on a substance for your survival, to give you that ease and gratification; when God gave you natural highs, we don’t give ourselves the chance to tap into these things, we’re always using some outward source, and you end up losing,” he said.

ONE CIGARETTE
He told the Guyana Chronicle that just because of that one cigarette he started out with, he climbed the ladder of progression and he is now divorced, and has not seen his son in over 16 years.

“Recovery is a lifelong process because you can relapse after 30 years. This is my fourth time here in this recovery centre; second time for the year. And I’m not stupid. Not putting myself on a pedestal or anything, but I went to Saints Stanislaus College. But that has nothing to do with willpower. Knowledge has nothing to do with willpower. So addiction is a disease,” Genesis lamented.

To further validate his stance, he said “no human being would choose to have a house, a family, a car, a wife, and then over a period of years, ends up eating from the garbage. That in its self can tell you that it is more than a choice. No one makes that as a conscious choice. It’s such a powerful pull that it is very hard. When you get up every day trying to do the right thing and you can’t do it, it is torture. And it even came to a point when I tried to commit suicide because I couldn’t handle the things I was doing. That’s not who I am, that’s not what I was born as, but yet I couldn’t stop.”
On this note, he advises that persons, especially the youths, should stay away from using harmful and addictive substances.

“The first thing I would say is don’t let anybody start. Cause when you start it becomes harder to stop. Abstinence, educating people prior to using is the more important thing to advocate for. To not get into it because once they start to use, it becomes very challenging to stop,” he posited.

ALL IS NOT LOST
There is still hope however, for those who are already chemical dependents. Genesis explained the programme that he is privileged to be enrolled in at Salvation Army, helps to keep him and other addicts, clean and sober.

“The programme is an NA based programme – Narcotics Anonymous. There is also AA – Alcohol Anonymous. It basically teaches us about our reasons for using, and it also makes us aware of the things we need to do, not to use anymore,” he said.

He added: The bigger part of the picture is that it is something internally that is going on with us that will cause us to use. Because people face the same issues we face in life, but they do not use. Somewhere in the NA literature it is written that ‘we are addicts before we even picked up’. There’s a book called ‘Just for Today’ and that goes along with the NA blue book. It is God centred but it’s a God of your understanding. It’s not a religious thing. Salvation Army is the institution that houses us, but the programme is not Salvation Army-based. It is a spiritually-based programme but not a religious-based programme.”
He said this programme has taught him self-control, focus and understanding.

“It is a very empowering thing knowing that I chose to be in this building, because that gate is open and I can walk out anytime I feel. But the first thing you get back is choice, you get back self-control, you get back power in your own life. You still have trials and tribulations in the location itself, because it’s humans you live amongst. But having that understanding that God is in charge, gives you that solace. Even in what we might say are negative things, we still look to how we can grow or learn from it. It makes you focus on life in a more positive way. Even with negativities coming at you. From my education while being here, even in the negatives, I’d find a lesson; I’d find something to grow. In the end, even though you might not get the immediate impact, in the long run, you learn something,” he said.

Genesis, however, stressed on educating the youths to deter them from using mood and mind-altering substances.

“Educating kids is the best option. With the music and the movies these days, they kinda promote these things, and they think it’s cool. There is this thing called ‘obsessive compulsion’ when you’re active, but at the end of the day, it becomes your own responsibility for your own life. At some point, you have to become responsible,” he said.