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The long-term effects of illegal drug use will imprison your body and your brain in ways that are permanently damaging. Just because street drugs are illegal doesn’t mean they aren’t readily available if you’re looking to buy.
Drug users hang out with other users - and you can bet there’s a drug dealer nearby. Drug users like to argue about what is and isn’t a drug. Some say that marijuana isn’t really a drug, but that’s not what the law and medical research says.
Even though some states allow physician-directed use of marijuana for certain well-documented illnesses, that doesn’t change the status of marijuana as an illegal drug. Substantial behavioral research has shown that most users of drugs like cocaine, LSD or heroin became drug users with marijuana as their entry point into the drug world, working their way up to harder illegal drugs to achieve a substantial high.
No one starts out with the intent to become hooked on illegal drugs. Many drug users started using illegal drugs with friends. They wanted to be accepted by the group or took a dangerous dare to try the drug.
Some illegal drugs have an almost instantaneous ability to enslave the user while others have a slower, creeping hold. The excitement of the drugs and the “high” helps them forget about problems, but that escape is short lived.
Once the user comes down from the drug’s effects, it’s like slamming your car into a concrete barrier at 80 mph. The high is gone, a lot of money is spent and you’re left feeling more depressed than before.
As a result of what you did or didn’t do during the drug high, you may also get kicked out of school, lose a job, wreck the car or suffer plenty of other consequences. Instead of dealing with the problem that you tried to forget by doing drugs, now you have more problems.
You not only want more drugs, but you want stronger drugs. It’s no surprise that the progression moves fast among the illegal drugs marijuana, cocaine, crack, crystal meth, heroin and LSD.
Whether you take one or more illegal drugs, your body gets hooked on them. Even though drug use causes horrible damage to the heart and brain, there’s a painful process of withdrawal to get the body back to functioning in a non-drugged state.
Drug withdrawal can be even worse than alcohol withdrawal with tremors, vomiting, sweating and hallucinations. The drugs don’t let go easily and neither does the illegal drug circle.
Naturally, the drug dealer wants to get back a profitable customer, so you have to completely stay away from the places you went while buying and taking drugs. That means you have to build new friendships with sober people who don’t just hang around hoping you’ll buy drugs.
If your detox was done as part of a drug-rehab program, then complete that program. Stay involved in community groups like Narcotics Anonymous. Don’t stop with counseling once you leave the rehab program. Find a counselor or life coach who can help you redefine your life as a drug-free person, return to school or work and discover new ways to enjoy life.