Q & A with a recovering addict

Q+%26+A++with+a+recovering+addict

Since 2000, the U.S. drug overdose death rate has gone from 6.2 per 100,000 people in the year 2000, to 14.7 per 100,000 in 2014. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 19.7 million Americans (aged 12 and older) battled a substance use disorder in 2017. But what about those who have recovered? Here, I have interviewed someone who went down the ‘drug road’ and turned their life around. 

 

 

  • When did you discover drugs? 

When I was 13 years old, I went to the creek and I smoked a blunt.

 

  • What encouraged you to commence this down hill journey?

Well, I didn’t know what it was at first but then I started to feel this very great feeling and that was it. 

 

  • What were the consequences that YOU went through?

Punishment by parents, lack of effort in life, kicked out of football, made me very lazy and not want to do anything at all. 

 

  • What was the first narcotic you discovered? 

Marijuana and cocaine

 

  • Have you ever been addicted? What does it feel like? 

Yes I have. It’s very sad because in the long run you know you’re going to be financially unstable and makes you feel like you constantly need this to live life. 

 

  • Could you have seen the bad effects the drugs took on you physically during the time of use? 

I definitely could feel it because I knew it wasn’t doing me no good. It was draining my energy. Made me a negative person

 

  • In what ways, if any, has drugs affected your relationship with friends and family? (negatively or positively) 

It definitely affected the relationship with my mom, we were arguing constantly and it caused a lot of tension between me and my family because they just wanted the best for me but I just wanted to smoke. 

 

  • Have drugs affected how you feel physically and mentally to this day? 

You know, it has it really has. Because physically I used to be skinny but now I lost myself. Emotionally it made me sad a lot. Depression maybe. 

 

  • Do you regret the experience? Why?

I do regret the decision because I used to be an athlete, and as soon as I made this decision my life has gone down hill. 

 

  •  What made you want to quit? 

Through the grace of God, I ended up going to rehab and conquered my addictions and now I’m drug free and happy. 

 

  •  What is life like for you now that these substances aren’t present anymore?

I’m happier, I have more money to spend and I no longer feel sad or upset at myself because I know I can still succeed. I’m glad I get to live a drug free life. It feels amazing.