Drug and alcohol addictions are severe faults in a human’s connection with the outside world. For many people it’s a way to cope with the things in their life that they typically think cannot be resolved unless they withdraw themselves for reality entirely. It is a way to feel totally at ease, that place inside your own being that is the most comfortable, that no one else can pierce no matter how hard they try. My understanding of it stems from an understanding of why it would be done. For me, it makes complete sense why someone would subjugate themselves to a completely destructive lifestyle. Truthfully and unfortunately the way I understand it is that it is beyond just black and white, it is also a gray area that can’t fully be understood because there are people who have acquired these problems and it actually benefits them in the artistic manner. By no means do I condone or accept such behavior but there is a thin line between crazy and genius. To fully understand everything behind addictions you must look deep within and see how it is caused and who is more likely to develop a problem, the consequences due to it and the best solutions to fix it.

Addiction itself is basically an unwanted need for a substance that stimulates you in a certain way whether it be up, down, sideways or long ways. It is a pill, drink, a snort, injections, and/or smoke. It is something that takes you completely out of what people call “reality” and gives us a way to forget the here and now and drift off into a fantasy world that ultimately is yours and yours alone. Some people also start using because they simply want to prove to other people that they are in with the crowd and that they can hang with the “cool” kids. For example drinking usually starts when you get into high school because that is when kids start to push the limit and want to explore the world around them, regardless of what their parents say or anything of the sort. Statistics even prove that people in a social setting, typically colleges, have a higher rate of drinkers that may lead to a problem in the future because it is the culture of college as well as high school to drink high volumes of alcohol. However, addictions not only require you to harm yourself with stimulants such as alcohol or drugs but it can also be something that stimulates you in a different way, but gives you the same euphoria effect. Things such as gambling or something as simple as sex can be just as dangerous when done too much. They, just like drugs, give you a high that really nothing else can replace and you say to yourself “this is the best” and you never want that feeling to go away and it doesn’t have to if you want to keep it that way.

When someone begins to abuse a substance no matter what it is they start losing control over their everyday life. They start to be concerned with obtaining and using more than they are with normal day-to-day events. People start putting substance in front of things that once really mattered in their life because it is clear the substance gives them a better feeling then if they were to, for example, pass high school or even go to work. They begin to steal and go at any length to get what they need to get and screwing people over does not matter to them at all as long as they get their fix. For example, people who acquire a drinking problem to the point that when they go out and start binge drinking, they start to lose the connection between the false-reality of drinking and the bitter realities of real life. People who binge drink are trying to feel better as fast as they can no matter what harm they are ultimately doing to their precious bodies. Women who binge drink need to take in 4 or more drinks in a row while men need to take in 5 or more drinks in a row. Binge drinking is predominantly found in college where the drinking culture is at its highpoint. Typically college students are 44 percent more likely to binge drink and an extraordinary 88 percent of fraternities and sororities are more likely to binge. The numbers, although staggering, aren’t very startling.

The best solution in my eyes is to never start in the first place, much like the safest sex is no sex. For many people they do not understand the consequences of their actions until it is far too late to change anything without a major overhaul. One must understand that if they start drinking and they already are dealing with a problem that makes them more prone to becoming addicted, then they shouldn’t even touch the stuff all. People need to start thinking before they act because you only get one chance to live and what’s the use in destroying something as beautiful as life? However, if the problem sneaks up on you the first thing you should do is commit yourself to a rehab facility that meets your needs and really try and find the help and support you deserve. You have to start diving deep within yourself and try to extract the good things out of life. Even though it is a disease just as much as cancer is, you can’t help but to think that people should be more self-aware of themselves and understand that if that’s their personality type, then they more times than none will inevitably develop a problem that will take help to get rid of. Yet, there is always a bright light ahead because there is so much help out there that an individual can always get, no matter what their circumstance is.

Addiction itself is a problem that has plagued mankind from the very beginning; it is a short circuit in the brain that can’t help but to crave the feeling of euphoria no matter how it is achieved. Addictions do not only consist of drugs and alcohol but they also can be things that you could never imagine because they are a part of our everyday lives, like sex or even shopping. Even with addiction there is always a solution, there is always a way out of the darkness and into the light. “Ain’t nothing dark till something shine, I’m bound to leave this dark behind”