Posted by Tony Bylsma on March 24, 2011 under How to Help a Drug Addict | 
What is the difference between an addicted individual and one who has stopped their drug taking? If we examine this, we can learn something useful about drug addiction.
Let’s stand them together. Someone who has ceased consuming dangerous and addictive drugs stands right next to a fully strung-out, stoned, blurry eyed drug addict. We should try to pick out the differences, the user from the ex-user.
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Posted by Tony Bylsma on March 14, 2011 under Drug Abuse Prevention Education |
Obviously, Alcohol and Marijuana are both mind altering drugs. And obviously there are people who drink once in a while and people 
who smoke once in a while. So, is there a difference? Well, yes. And the difference is not small.
When a person has a drink at a party, or a beer at a ball game or picnic, their purpose for doing that is not necessarily to get drunk. If becoming ‘high’ is the goal, they won’t stop at one. Having a glass of wine with dinner is another example. One glass of wine is more like a food than a Drug. The reason for having it is most certainly for the taste or to enhance the food.
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Posted by Tony Bylsma on March 13, 2011 under How to Help a Drug Addict |
Reason one: The Drug Abuser Is Now in a New Group
Who don’t drug addicts listen? Druggies tend to pay most attention to the thoughts and feelings of their drugged peer group. As a young (new) drug abuser works to fit into his or her new group, they are learning how to behave all over again. There are conflicts with the new beliefs and codes of conduct of the new group and the ways of the existing group, i.e. the family. What is expected of them in the new group is in complete opposition to the expectations of the existing group.
Some new drug users solve this dilemma by donning two personalities, one for the family and one for the druggie group. Keeping these two avatars separate can be a real juggling act, especially when it involves significant changes in appearance.
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Posted by Tony Bylsma on March 9, 2011 under Drug Abuse Prevention Education |
Mike Starr, former bassist in the rock group Alice in Chains was found dead of unknown causes. He was 44 years old and had a history of 
addiction and drug abuse.
Recently, February 18, Starr was arrested on two felony counts of possession of 6 pills of a painkiller called Opana and 6 pills of Xanax without a legal prescription.
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Posted by Tony Bylsma on March 2, 2011 under Drug Abuse Prevention Education |
The US Drug Enforcement Administration today exercised its emergency scheduling authority to control five psychoactive ingredients used to make Spice and K-2 and a variety of other “fake pot” products currently being sold in various areas of the country.
This changes existing statutes of these drugs to schedule 1 under the US Controlled Substances Act. Schedule 1 is the most restrictive level of control and is reserved for “substances with a high potential for abuse, no accepted medical use for treatment in the United States and a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug under medical supervision.”
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