Addiction vs. “Recreational” Use.
I often have people ask me about the difference between someone who is an addict and someone who just uses casually. Usually it’s addicts who wish they could become someone who uses casually. 🙂
The primary difference between an alcoholic, drug addict, meth addict, or other addict and a “normal” person is that for someone who is not addicted drug and alcohol use is something that is seen as a problem. For the addict their drug of choice is the solution. See the difference?
What’s interesting is that for most addicts their drug of choice starts out as one of their primary repositories of hope. “When I drink, I feel like I am someone.” “When I’m on meth, I’m sexy and so is everyone else.” “I was just shooting heroin because it made me feel ok.” The great fantasy of every addict is that they will someday be able to control their use, because their use is often the only thing in their lives that gives them a sense of hope, a sense of that they can make it and belong in this world.
Of course we know the end of the story. It’s a false hope; in fact it’s hopeless. When methamphetamines, marijuana, alcohol, heroin or any other drug becomes the center of my world, I find it gradually starts asking more and more for less and less. When I stick with it anyway, hoping in that which is becoming more and more hopeless, that’s when I know I’ve crossed the line between addict and recreational user.