Life After Drugs, Essay Example

Albert Einstein said: “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” This quote very carefully defines the story of my life. I had a complicated path with some successes and big drawbacks but what I have clearly learnt along the way is that no matter how hard you fall, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. There are always people, events and clues that help you raise your head up, clear your mind and re-evaluate the mistake you’ve done in order to select a new path that will lead you towards becoming a better individual and a great parent.

I am a 37 year old woman and I am a mother of three beautiful children. My kids are all two years apart. We come from a middle-class income. It is today that I realize how lucky I am to have such family but when I was younger I faced the greatest challenge of my life called drugs.

Production and sale of drugs today is one of the biggest problems of world importance that threatens people, their families and relatives. The ongoing fight with this particular social evil requires strong and effective actions because it is one of the major obstacles for individual realization, peace, development and well-being. It is clear that to solve the existing problem of drugs is not possible with just repressive actions. The solution lies in the complex and effective approach combined of numerous factors and stages.

Currently addiction to drugs is viewed as a separate social pathology. Drugs are like epidemics. It embraces hundreds of thousands of people, trapping them in its nets and strongly influencing their lives. Drugs affect social, psychological, economic, political aspects not only of an individual but also of the whole community and country. The economic factors testify widely to the urgency of the problem. The drug consumption redirects big material resources from the area of economic activity. Money laundering is today of the most illegal problems.

Addiction to drugs infringes upon the manpower reproduction. With each year more and more teenagers are drawn into the cycle that is very hard to leave. People who consume drugs have a tendency that sooner or later their behavior might lead to the unlawful violations and crime. According to the findings of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, drugs and addiction are a strong burden to our society. Annually the estimate of overall costs of drug abuse in the US makes more than half a trillion dollars including crime and health-related costs.

Abuse of drugs is a problem that is not solely affecting the person who consumes the substance but their family, loved ones and friends. Addiction to drugs has a big social impact that is hard to define. Family is the main source of person’s strength that supports and provides nurturance. Family protects and maintains strong and weak its members. And when trouble enters your home, it brings about terrible results and sufferings.

Being a recovering addict, I know that the use of drugs within the family creates big risks. Not only it can result into the children following the pattern of the parent but also in the general disaster that drugs bring to your house. I’ve lost my children when they were teenagers. It was a painful experience for me as well as my family members. The costs of family were too high and it resulted into the limitation of contact with my kids. I was lost, angry and disappointed with myself because drugs were destroying my family. My family response to my drug problem was withdrawal. My addiction has greatly changed the dynamics and functioning of my family members. It was a constant fight. Nowadays when I look back at my past, I understand that maybe it was the best decision for my husband to limit my contact with children because they being teenagers had a great chance to be influenced by my personal behavior. It was a great stress that caused anxiety and conflict.

Not only were drugs affecting my personal life and my family but also they were costing great financial expenditures. Being a middle-class family, it was a mess. Lots of money I’ve spent on drugs and back then it was not so clear to me how harmful are my actions to my family members. My problem was putting limits on my children. But when you are addicted to the substance, you do not have a chance to look clearly at your actions. You do not have a rationale to understand that what you are doing is wrong. I’ve started secretly taking money from our bank account. I even sold several things from the house in order to make sure I have the drugs when I need them. Seeing this, my children and my husband made a decision to withdraw. Of course, they tried to help me, tried to persuade me that what I was doing was wrong. But back then, I did not see it. I was blind!

Fighting drug addiction is a long process. It is very lengthy, complex and requires strong will and patience. When I think and try to evaluate why I started doing drugs in the first place, I run though various reasons. Was it the influence of not so good friends? Or was it my own personal weakness? Was it the influence of my parents? Was it my dissatisfaction with life? Questions are many but the conclusion is only one that the path I’ve selected was wrong and I heavily paid for it. I lost my family, my friends and my children.

My children moved on with their lives. They’ve made right decisions and proved to be very smart kids. My oldest daughter is happily married. My middle son is living with his girlfriend. When I think of my youngest son and how close he is to his father, it makes me a little sad that I could have been near him. I could have had the same beautiful relationship with my child being able to support, guide him and be his very close friend. Now having evaluated the advantages of being healthy and living a normal life, I can say that my fight to overcome drugs is clear and strong. I am happy my children were not influenced by my example. No matter how hard it was for me to let them go when they were teenagers, I now understand that if I was still around them every single day, I would have created strong influence and tension.

Not only have I lost my own family that I’ve created, but also I limited myself from contacting my close friends and relatives. I became a social outcast. After numerous attempts for several years to put me back on the right track, people started to turn their backs on me. People who I greatly cared about before simply left my life. My work situation was also a disaster because drugs were influencing every social aspect of my life. All the money I made was solely spent on drugs.

In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity and I believe in that. Drug abuse is a social problem that affects all aspects of our life. It primarily influences family. It limits person’s professional development and education. It greatly increases the risk of health problems. “Recent informal estimates are that perhaps 200,000 drug-injecting-related deaths may occur per annum based on the estimated size of the current world population of injecting drug abusers of approximately 5.3 million.” (Frischer, p. 14) These numbers are shocking. Last but not least it even causes people to commit crime.

I had a difficult life and I have made mistakes. But as every single human being on the planet, I deserve a second chance. It is never too late to go back on the right track and start all over. It’s never late to re-unite with your family, to win back your friends and your life. I am trying very hard to make it happen. And with every little step I take I move closer and closer to my goal.

If I were given a second chance to live my life from scratch, I think I would make things differently. From my experience I realize that my life today could have had a much worse scenario. I thank God for not letting me and my family to hit the bottom of this evil disease. I could have ruined the lives of my husband and my children. I could have become a terrible example to follow by my beloved ones. I could have engaged in criminal activities in order to get drugs. But I did not. The worse never happened and I am thankful for that.

There is always a hope and there is a life after drugs. It is a very complicated recovering period but with strong will and persistence, everything is possible. I am willingly letting my terrible past go away. I receive substantial treatment, I stop communicating with the people who do drugs and I develop new hobbies.

There is a saying that says apples do not fall far from the apple tree. But my children fell further. They became good individuals who were able to make correct decisions and get the most out of their own lives. I honestly think that this is the biggest miracle. I’ve lost them when they were teenagers and now that I am slowly going back to their lives, I hope that there is a room in their hearts to take me back. I dream that when my daughter, who is already married, has her child, I will be able to become a great grandmother who is willing to provide all the love and care that my own children lacked.

Works Cited

Frischer, M., Green, S. T., Goldberg, D. “Substance Abuse Related Mortality: A

Woldwide Review.” Complied for UNGCP, March 1994: 14