Tough Love

"It causes parents to outlive their children. It causes jail time and homelessness. It causes sisters to mourn their siblings. It causes nieces to never meet their aunts," says a recent article on Elite Daily. The "it" the article is referring to is drug addiction. Often times drugs do so much more than affect the person using them. They affect their families. Anyone who has ever loved a drug addict knows the pain and suffering addiction can cause not just the person addict but the ones closest to the addict as well. Obsession If you have ever loved someone addicted to drugs, you yourself will become consumed with the drug as well. But in an entirely different way. You will become addicted to trying to fix the person you love. To rid them of drugs. To just get back the person you met before they were addicted. It can easily tear your world apart. Drugs affect so much more than just the user. They will consume you as well. Anger As much as you want to scream, to push, to shove, you cannot allow yourself to become angry with the user. They don't know the pain they are causing you. They don't understand the pain they are causing themselves. As the article says, "It is not the person who uses, but the addict. It is not the person who steals to support his habit, but the addict. It is not the person who spews obscenities at his family, but the addict. It is not the person who lies, but the addict." You must remember it's the drug talking. It's always the drug talking. Fear When someone you love is addicted to drugs, living in a state of fear becomes your everyday. Each phone call, each knock at the door, they could all contain exactly what you do not want to hear. As the article states: "What if you wake up every day and wonder if today was the day your loved one was going to die?" For those who suffer thought someone's addiction, that is a very valid and reoccurring question. The article goes on to say: "'Dies suddenly' has officially become obituary speak for 'another person was found dead from a drug overdose.' Drug addiction causes bedrooms and social media sites to become memorials. It causes the 'yesterdays' to outnumber the 'tomorrows.' It causes things like the law and trust and homes to break." But know the user does not know the fear they are causing. They have succumb to the drug. The truth is drug cause addicts of many different varieties. While the user is the addict of the drug, you become the addict of the user, obsessing over the things they have neglected, mainly themselves. Help is available for both of you. The user must seek rehabilitation. And you must seek support. Without both, neither you nor the user will recover.