It’s difficult to overstate just how much damage drug or alcohol addiction can cause in a person’s life.
If you’ve tried to stop using drugs or stop using alcohol in the past and haven’t been able to do so, this is not a sign of weakness or a lack of willpower, but of addiction. The longer uncontrollable substance use continues, the worse the addiction and its effects tend to become. By seeking treatment as soon as possible, you can limit the damage and finally allow your body, mind, and spirit to heal.
Here are seven reasons to consider asking for help today.
1. Addiction Can Kill You
As one person with firsthand experience with painkiller addiction put it, “You’ve got two options. Either you quit, or it kills you. That’s it. Those are the only two ways this goes.”
Data from the CDC and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) supports this statement. Drug and alcohol abuse are among the leading causes of death and disability in the United States today, killing tens of thousands of Americans outright each year and cutting short the lives of thousands upon thousands more:
- In 2022 alone, 107,941 drug overdose deaths were reported in the U.S., with synthetic opioids being the deadliest class of drug overall, involved in 73,838 deaths, followed by amphetamines/methamphetamine and cocaine, causing 34,022 deaths and 27,569 deaths each.
- Overdose deaths, accounting for more than one third of all accidental deaths in the U.S., have risen five-fold over the past two decades as drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine have become more common, more potent, and therefore more lethal.
- More than 178,000 Americans die from excessive alcohol use each year, predominantly due to chronic health conditions resulting from alcohol’s toxic long-term effects, e.g., cirrhosis of the liver, cancer, and heart disease.
- People who die from causes linked with excessive alcohol consumption lose, on average, 29 years of expected lifespan each.
- In 2020, 11,654 people were killed in U.S. motor vehicle crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers, accounting for 30% of all driving-related deaths in the U.S.
Even if you avoid overdoses, accidents, or chronic health issues related to substance use and addiction, or you use a substance like cannabis that isn’t known for causing life-threatening overdoses, untreated addiction will only degrade the quality of your life for the rest of your life.
2. Addiction Steals Your Joy
When someone gets high, they may experience a level of pleasure, relaxation, tranquility, belonging, confidence, or energy far greater than what they experience in their daily life otherwise. In fact, this intensity of experience can be so much greater than what someone experiences in normal life that other natural sources of joy will no longer measure up, leading to an inability to feel pleasure, or anhedonia.
Romance, music, food, reading, sports, hobbies, friends, family … as long as your body remains trained and bound by the euphoria of substance use, no healthy source of pleasure or connection may ever feel as good as it used to. None of it will satisfy. And it can take a long time after recovering from addiction to feel authentic joy and pleasure again.
Also keep in mind that anxiety disorders, depression, and other mental illnesses occur alongside substance use disorder (SUD) at alarming rates. They may develop in response to shared risk factors with SUD, changes in a person’s brain chemistry and structure related to long-term substance use, or as a consequence of the harmful effects of substance use in one’s life overall.
3. Addiction Is Expensive
No matter the situation, substance use is expensive. And when one’s substance use escalates into a full-blown SUD/drug or alcohol addiction, this chronic and daily use of drugs or alcohol will begin to take a financial toll on individuals and the families they may support. But these costs, while in many cases ruinous on their own, are only the beginning.
Because different substances work in different ways, they all come with their own risks. And these risks are expressed in different long-term expenses, often including:
- medical bills for either substance-related medical emergencies or chronic health conditions
- job loss, unemployment, and underemployment due to absenteeism, poor performance, or poor motivation caused by substance use
- legal fines and penalties related to arrest or DUIs
- divorce costs and estrangement from one’s loved ones and support system
These costs are not hypothetical. In fact, the annual economic impact of preventable substance use is estimated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to be over $249 billion for alcohol misuse and $193 billion for illicit drug use. Meanwhile, addiction is strongly linked with homelessness, bankruptcy, reliance on public support programs, and criminal activity.
4. Addiction Ruins Relationships
It can be very hard for someone to watch a friend, family member, or spouse continue to use drugs or alcohol day after day, month after month, even when it is clearly changing and harming them. Many people simply will not understand why this is happening, or why their loved one cannot simply stop. And even if a person does develop this knowledge and understanding, they may not have the patience to maintain the relationship, or it may not even be safe to do so.
Addiction is strongly linked with compulsive high-risk behavior (e.g., driving under the influence or providing care to children while under the influence), as well as deceit and secretiveness, loss of emotional intimacy, domestic abuse (including both physical and emotional abuse), financial insecurity, and incarceration. All of these factors and more can contribute to a person’s relationships breaking down as they become increasingly isolated and estranged in the midst of unmanageable alcohol addiction or drug addiction.
This means that the sooner you reach out and get help, the stronger your relationships can be and the more love and emotional support you may have from your loved ones as you put in the hard work of recovery.
5. Addiction Ruins Careers
Many Americans go to work under the influence of illicit drugs or alcohol, or reflexively return to substance use as soon as their shift is over. If detected, being under the influence at work puts people at a very high risk for discipline, including termination.
Employers may find out about substance use through random drug testing, changes in an employee’s behavior and appearance, or a workplace accident or incident like a DUI that occurs in a company vehicle. Other employees have had mind-altering substances, including alcohol and drugs that may be considered legal in their area, discovered in their offices or lockers, leading to job loss or other discipline.
However, the problem that substance use poses for your career runs even deeper than this. Drugs and alcohol are toxic substances that blunt and degrade mental function, creativity, concentration, performance, and memory, both while they are in the body and as they are used over time. This can cause brain damage that will eventually impact your productivity, passion, and presence in the workplace.
6. Drugs & Alcohol Leave Physical Signs Of Abuse
Even if you drink or use drugs only in private, it will still have an impact on your body and behavior that other people will eventually notice.
What exactly this impact looks like depends on the particular substances you use and how you use them. “Hard drugs” like heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine are known for rapidly degrading a person’s physical body, producing premature aging, extreme weight loss/wasting, major dental problems and tooth loss (“meth mouth”), and mental changes like paranoid psychosis. The damage is even more severe when these drugs are injected, as well as smoked or snorted.
However, the use of “softer drugs” like alcohol, cannabis, and psychedelics can also show, leaving behind telltale odors and changes in one’s behavior, skin, eyes, expressions, emotions, sleep, and habits over time. Ultimately, the longer you keep dosing your body with addictive, toxic substances, the worse you will look and the worse you will feel.
7. Treatment Works
Most people who develop some form of substance use disorder do recover and go on to live happy, healthy lives in recovery. This includes those who struggle to stop using drugs or alcohol on their own but who make the brave choice to reach out and get help.
In addiction rehabilitation programs, you’ll find many different levels of care available as well as a wide range of options that your treatment team can use to personalize your care and give you the tools and support you need to continue strengthening your recovery. This includes specialized services like medical detox for difficult withdrawal symptoms, medication-assisted treatment options to help you manage cravings, dual diagnosis care for co-occurring mental health problems, and holistic treatment options for developing physical, mental, and spiritual health.
You may also be surprised at just how accepting and supportive people are of those who are in recovery. While stigma still exists, many people have experienced SUDs themselves or seen a close friend or family member grapple with a drug or alcohol problem. And most are more than willing to accept, accommodate, and support someone who is willing to work towards their own recovery and self-improvement and share both their successes and struggles.