Drug Addiction Treatment Depends on the Friends you Keep
May 3, 2008
In most cases, drug addiction begins because of the peer group a person is subjected to. People have a natural tendency to emulate what they see their friends doing around them. Most people smoke the first cigarette or have their first drink of booze when they are in company of their peers. The same applies for drug addiction too. Down through the ages, a person is known by the company he or she keeps. This cannot be truer in the case of substance addiction.
The biggest area where drug abuse begins today is in the schools and colleges. Among other factors, the primary factor that influences why a person picks up drugs in learning institutions is that there he or she can get easy access to the substance through friends. Not just that; friends can also induce people into graduating from abusers to addicts. Accessibility does play a big role in creating drug addiction.
That is why substance abuse resources for creating awareness of the problem exhort parents to keep a vigil on what kinds of friends their children have. There are counseling sessions for parents that train them on noticing the signs and signals in their children’s behavior that can tell them if something is amiss. A lot of this counseling depends on being particular about the child’s friends.
Even in adults who have undergone a drug addiction treatment program, the counseling is mainly targeted at keeping away from familiar situations that can cause a relapse. This includes keeping contact with people who introduced the person to substance abuse. In The Big Book for addiction, the quote “I shall have friends instead of drinking buddies” is very prominently emphasized.
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