By Cody Daniels/reporter
I can remember the exact time when I realized I was losing control.
I had gone about eight hours without using any type of opioid-based drug, I began to be frightened as my heart rate began to rise, bones began to ache, stomach become increasingly nauseous, and all thoughts of inspiration and motivation began to flee from my existence to a dark and locked place in my mind.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics on drug use, 90 percent of teens by college age have tried at least one variation of mood-altering drugs. Most of them probably do not even realize how easily these drugs take over.
My father always said exactly how much he hated his job and how important it was to love what you do for a living. Drugs, opioids in particular such as Oxycodone, hydrocodone, heroin and Opana ruined this plan for me. Not until my old, productive self began to return did I realize exactly how many years had been wasted.
Children become weary of parents’ warnings of drug use as they get older. They don’t realize it is the most important subject peers can relate to them as impressionable people.
Addictive personalities are present in people with an imbalance of dopamine in the brain. When they use drugs, they will battle those urges for the rest of their lives.
Opioids and probably most drugs make you feel like you are performing at 100 percent. They mess with the chemistry in your brain making you believe you must have them to perform at all. Eventually, they trick you into believing you need them to get out of bed. Mood changes as does behavior. Perspective changes. The beauty of innocence is lost in a truly tragic way, and more quickly than could ever be imagined, you are no longer yourself.
From someone with experience in the world of drugs, it feels like it is better to be killed entirely than to have your personality killed. The realization that you lost yourself is usually the point that it is too late. That realization is the real you making one last attempt to uncover the veil.
Do not be afraid to seek help. Being aware that you have become someone else because of drug or opioid use comes rarely, and one should listen to that tiny little voice. That voice means you are still there somewhere. Recovery is possible. However, it will take the rest of your life, and the saddest part is understanding that all the aspirations you once had must at least for now be put on hold until you are strong enough to be as disgusted with the substances as I am now.
Only you can say no.
Only you can realize how beautiful you are and how big a deal it would be to replace you with drugs.
