How to Get Help for Drug Abuse

Drug abuse and drug addition are serious problems. If left unchecked, they can destroy everything worthwhile in your life--job, family, friends, finances--and that's not the worst of it. Thousands of people die from drug-related afflictions every year, and many thousands more are left with long-term health problems. Quitting drugs isn't easy, but if you're committed to getting them out of your life, there are numerous organizations that can help.

Instructions

• 1

  Admit that you are addicted and cannot treat your drug abuse on your own. The first step is often the hardest. Many drug abusers are in deep denial about their problem, and refuse to acknowledge that it even exists. If you can confront that truth about yourself, or your friends and family stage an intervention that gets through to you, you've opened yourself to the possibility of a cure.

• 2

  Speak to your doctor and get his advice about a good detox program in your area. Once you've resolved to quit, the next step is to get the drugs out of your system safely. Some detox programs require you to stay in their facility for a certain time, while others allow you to do it at home surrounded by your family. It may involve setting a schedule for gradually taking you off the drugs or using a suppository, such as methadone. Whatever your circumstances, a trained physician familiar with your case can make the best recommendation for you.

• 3

  Seek counseling or join a treatment program to help you stay straight after you have gone through detoxification. Kicking the habit is more than just clearing the drugs out of your system. Drug abuse often entails chemical changes to the brain, leading to physical cravings as much as emotional desires. Drug counseling and treatment programs can help you find ways of dealing with them and reduce your physical need as much as your mental and emotional addiction.

• 4

  Work with a therapist or counselor to develop coping mechanisms that keep you from falling back into your old habits. This can include starting an exercise program, learning a new hobby and identifying/avoiding dangerous times and places where you might be tempted to use. A solid life structure filled with activity--including regular counseling sessions and meeting groups, such as Narcotics Anonymous--provides a foundation to help you address the inevitable cravings and urges to relapse.

• 5

  Solicit the help of your family and friends in kicking the habit. Ask them to be supportive and to provide help in any way they can. It can include give you a place to stay while you address your addiction, providing you with work opportunities or just helping you stay strong when you're tempted to use. If you have friends or family members who enable you--who encourage you to use or who don't treat seriously your efforts to go straight--stress the need for them to respect and support your decision, or else cut them out of your life.