How To Find Help For A Drug Addiction Problem

If you look to your family friends, including your extended family and acquaintances, chances are there is someone among them who is struggling with drug abuse or alcoholism. This can be difficult to watch, and even more difficult to confront. However hard it may seem, you cannot sit by and watch a person destroy their life. Do the necessary research you need to feel confident on how to approach a drug addict to get help, and act fast.

That’s easy enough said but how? Where do you start and how do you even approach an addict about getting help?

The Consequences of Substance Abuse Are Everywhere

Even if you are not a drug abuser or an alcoholic yourself, you cannot deny that the consequences of such substance abuse are everywhere in America and across the globe. You seen signs of early drug use amongst children and teens in high school, violence and drug-related crime in all neighborhoods, not just the “bad parts of town”, and indications of prescription drug addiction in the industrial sector.

Some shocking facts to consider:

-Up to 60% of violent crimes (such as rape, murder and child abuse) are attributed to excessive alcohol consumption.

-Over 50% of American prison inmates currently serving sentences for serious felonies admit that they were under the influence of (or tested positive for) drugs and/or alcohol.

-Nearly half of American traffic accidents and fatalities are substance abuse or alcohol-related.

Drug and alcohol-related deaths have more than doubled in the past two decades, and illegal drug use now claims thousands of lives each year. A staggering 95% of untreated addicts die from their condition. Although you may not feel that this rampant public health issue is relevant to you, rest assured: it most definitely is.

Important Points Finding Help

Sadly, untreated addiction to drugs and alcohol only has one possible end: fatality.

Substance abuse is America’s most powerful, insidious and dangerous public health issue to-date. Through the effects of physical (cellular-level) dependency, even the most unsuspecting individuals can find themselves completely wrapped up in an addiction to prescription painkillers, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, etc. Not unlike a carousel ride, a habitual substance abuser will go around in circles battling the physical and mental dependency that has formed until effective treatment is allowed to intervene.

In finding help, remember these few key points:

1. Ask Those You Know – Even though it may be embarrassing many people deal with addiction whether themselves or with a family member or friend. If you know someone who has recovered from the problem talk to them about what types of treatment and approaches are most successful.                  
2. Take Advantage Of Resources – There are many different drug rehabilitation consulting groups over the Internet that can lead you in the right direction to finding help. Most have worked with several hundred different facilities and can tell you what centers get the highest success rates for rehabilitation from drugs or alcohol.
3.  Use The Internet – Read over various Internet sites and types of programs. Learn about treatment and the different types available. Read reviews, client testimonials and even updates from local enforcement and substance abuse groups on different treatment programs.
4. Don’t Give Up – In many instances a drug addict will say that they are not interested help or going into a facility. Solicit the help of friends and family members to get the person to agree to get help. Hire professional interventionists if necessary.
5. Set a good example and be a positive, drug and alcohol-free role model for your loved one. If you are trying to talk your friend out of drinking heavily, yet you were at a party last night doing the same thing, your conversation is less likely to go smoothly. Don’t accuse or get angry. Continue to try to help.

 Become competent and confident in the principles concerning how to approach a drug addict to get help. Doing so may be hard, but watching them die will be much harder. Get involved and lend your support to programs that promote drug free living.