9781422274330

Luckily, Joey finally got some real help. He moved out of the state and away from the places and people that had fueled his addiction. First, he checked himself into a detoxification center and flushed the drugs from his body. Then, with his mother’s financial help, he was able to enroll at a longer-term drug treatment center. It took months of treatment, which cost tens of thousands of dollars, but Joey finally got clean. Today he is trying to amend his life. Joey lives in a home with other sober addicts, attends meetings to stay accountable, and holds a steady job. His drug addiction caused physical, emotional, and mental damage to himself and his family. Joey can never get those years back or make up for all the hurt and suffering that came along with his addiction to painkillers and heroin. The physical signs of addiction can never be erased from his body and the hurt and pain his mom suffered for many years will never be forgotten. Joey’s story is just one of millions of addicts all across the country. Some started off with prescription drugs, taking them with family or friends, and others found drugs on the streets through dealers. Understanding Drug Abuse and Addiction Scientists and researchers have been studying drug abuse and addiction for decades. At one time, drug addiction was seen as a choice, or decision, that people made. From this perspective, getting better and staying sober is also a choice. Many people believed that if a person continued using drugs, it was because that person did not want to stop. As a result, people like Joey were often looked down upon because of their addiction, and forced to figure things out on their own. Today, because of scientific advances and discoveries, drug addiction is widely accepted as a medical disorder that has both

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Drug Abuse and Addiction