Many people think the dangers of drug use should help get users off drug abuse and keep them off. This may be true for rational people, but for drug users there is more going on. There are a lot of dangers involved with drug abuse, namely deHath from overdose but many other types of medical issues arise. It is estimated that nearly 70 percent of people in Methadone treatment have contracted hepititis B, and incurable form that will eventually destroy the liver. There is also other blood borne pathogens like HIV which come from sharing needles among narcotic users.
So why doesn’t this scare these people straight? The answer is the addictiveness of drugs. For someone with a drug addiction the need (cravings) that are produced replace all rational sense and thought. Most people have all the dangers on their mind but the physical need is so great their minds rationalize it off that they can’t get ill. This is highly unlikely but this is what drugs do.
The best course of action is for a drug user to seek treatment as soon as possible. Not only will that reduce the risk of contracting diseases but will improve the chances of treating what diseases the user may have contracted. It is like cancer, the early the detection, the better the success of treating the disease.
This is also true of drug addiction. The earlier the detection the less the users body has built up a tolerance level to the drugs. The lower the tolerance level the easier it is to treat a user in methadone maintenance therapy. This has been proven to be true with methadone. The highly addictive users may need the methadone maintenance treatment for life because of the chemical dependency but many other users can slowly end treatment over a period of time.
