Someone who was once addicted in Kentucky
When a person is heavily engrossed in the cycle of addiction the notion that most loved ones seem to not be able to comprehend is that of -- "why can't you just stop." This is not a rational thought for an addict. There, within this vicious cycle of lies, pain and remorse that encompasses and takes over a person's thought process one axiom is ever present; that is the complete lack of the ability to say "no."
I know it is hard to comprehend but just imagine waking up in the morning and your first thought being of heroin. The ways and means of how you will get this one thing into your body to make life worth living. Now imagine the person doing these things despite any and all responsibilities that they may have. Children will take a back seat. Basic morality never comes into play when it comes to the end goal of putting this substance into your body. That is what it does to you mentally -- it is an ever present thought. Physically, imagine the worst flu-like sickness you have ever had then factor it by ten. So you have a mentally and physically tortured person who knows that if they obtain this one thing "all will be well." Would you have a choice? It's as if a tortured prisoner were offered the key to their cell door, they are going to take it, there would be no choice. This is the short, short example I have of the cycle. Something drastic has to happen to break it. For some, a stint in rehab works. Others may just experience enough pain and be ready.
But like anything addiction is progressive, I used heroin for over six years, things were bad, very bad, I felt I had no way out. It was either continue using to numb the pain or kill myself. Eventually I was arrested and spent a few months in jail, after my physical symptoms were gone I was able to reflect on my life and at that point I had a choice. Continue to use and die or go to prison, or to do something with my life for a change. I was given Drug Court and the structure of this intensive probation has worked for me. Today, I have not used. Tomorrow morning, I am going to get up, iron some cloths, put on my tie and go to work. This was an impossible task when I was using. But tomorrow I have a choice. I see so many news reports on the heroin epidemic that is widespread and all the fear it must put into every parent. But I see almost nothing about the stories of the people who have battled this thing and won. There is so much hope out there and it was the knowledge that someone else got out of the living hell I was in gave me the motivation to do it too. If you are reading this as someone who is in that cycle right now seemingly without HOPE, know that there is a way out.