The Addiction Monster - Beware!

He came creeping into our lives, slowly, stealthily,stereotypical image of the dysfunctional drug addict
insidiously, with no advance warning. No triumphalcloaked in the darkness of despair on the streets,
heraldry alerting us to his imminent arrival. No fanfare.quickly gives way to the boy and girl next door, the
No clues. Okay, well maybe there were some subtleathlete, the musician, the smart kids, the good kids.
clues but we were too busy with our perfect little livesThese are your kids. These are my kids. These are
to pay much notice to them.everybody's kids. And they're dying in unprecedented
He counted on that! He thrives on secrecy andnumbers leaving sorrow and mass destruction in their
subterfuge. He knew that if he alerted us to hiswake.
presence we would call on all our resources andParents are not supposed to survive their children. It is
strengths to defeat him, to slay him, to banish him fromnot the natural order of things, but life takes strange
our lives and yes, from the very earth where he livesand twisting turns along its path like a maze that we
and thrives, and grows more menacing and powerfulenter and have no idea where the end is or how to
with each passing day.get there unscathed.
He counts on society's lackadaisical attitude towardMany children succumb to the charms of the Addiction
him, believing that he cannot sneak into their homes. HeMonster because there is something lacking within
depends on us ignoring his presence or believing thatthem. Some have very low levels of dopamine, the
he lives on the other side of the tracks, surely not in"feel good" property of our brain. Some shake hands
our ideal communities.with the Addiction Monster because they think it's cool
He knew we would divest ourselves of every pennyor because their friends entice them into doing so.
we had to expose him, to cripple him and kill him, thatBut nobody welcomes the Addiction Monster into their
we would do anything within our power to stop hislife knowing how cruel and deadly this master is.
onslaught.Nobody thinks they will become addicted. Nobody
He attacks the most vulnerable of our society: ourwakes up one day and decides to be an addict. Who
children. He preys on them, luring them into his graspin their right mind would do that? The Addiction
with promises of ecstasy and escape from theirMonster just smiles and adds another name to his list
humdrum lives, while parents go blithely about their dailyof victims, nay, for each addicted person, he also adds
routine, unaware of the chaos, heartbreak andthe names of those other unwilling victims.
destruction of the family unit that awaits them.Nancy Reagan almost had it right with her "Just Say
He is the most hideous of all monsters, yet he exhibitsNo" campaign during her husband, Ronnie Reagan's
no external evidence of his cruelty, no demonic hornspresidency. A better mantra would have been "Just
on his head, no red flashing eyes, no mien any differentSay Know." Know what the Addiction Monster is really
from anyone else's in the communities where he plieslike. Know the havoc that he wreaks in everybody's
his vicious trade. He shows us nothing to forewarn uslives. Know how he will enslave you, daring you to
of the monumental destruction of which he is soescape his death grip on you and laughing at each
capable of inflicting upon us, and in which he takesfeeble attempt you make to free yourself from his
such absolute delight.choke hold.
No, he is far too clever to expose himself, to let us seeThe outlook for addicted people is very bleak. Nobody
him for what he truly is until it is too late, until he haswants to hear that. It's too disheartening. But the
consumed us all and engulfed us in his wickedness andrecidivism rate for heroin addicted people is an
destroyed our once peaceful lives.astounding 98%!! The Addiction Monster just revels in
He takes our children's and the parents' present andthese statistics.
future. He destroys our communities. He robs us of ourSo what can you do to destroy this monster? This
money and jobs. He steals our self-esteem and dignity.monster who is more vicious and cruel than any of the
He keeps us on a rollercoaster of emotions, of hopeChuckys or Freddys or Michael Myers' or Hannibal
and fear.Lecters? How can you make sure he never seizes
Don't think for a second that he can't or won't invadeyou in his grip and holds your head under water until
your home. Don't think that you've locked all the doorsyour eyes start to bulge and you can't hold your
and fastened all the windows and done everythingbreath any longer and then he releases you
you're supposed to do to prevent his unwelcomemomentarily, only to plunge you into absolute fear and
entrance into your lives. Oh no, he's already there,hopelessness again?
waiting to pounce. He stalks unrelentingly. He strikesThere is only one way, one sure, proven way to
when we're at our most vulnerable.escape this horror and that is, of course, to never take
He is the Addiction Monster! And he comes in manythat first step down that slippery slope!! The Addiction
forms. He befriends our children slowly and carefully,Monster doesn't want you to know this. He wants you
enticing them with empty promises of exciting highs.to think he's your friend, someone who will make you
He depends on children's sense of invincibility and belieffeel good and take you away from whatever miseries
in their own immortality that they can trifle with him andyou think you have.
remain untouched by his poison.But you won't know true misery, true hell, or true
The Addiction Monster is an equal opportunityhopelessness, until you have become a slave to the
destroyer of lives. And not just the addicted people'sAddiction Monster. Once you've joined his legions, your
lives. But the lives of everyone with whom he islife as you knew it, will have evaporated into a dark,
intertwined, be it parents, spouse, children, siblings,swirling mass of regrets and despair.
friends, relatives or co-workers. Nobody is immune.The choice is ours! Our future is in our hands.
Nobody can escape the tentacles of the AddictionDon't let our present and our future be held captive by
Monster. Like an octopus it wraps its deadly armsthe Addiction Monster, for once he gains control over
around us and consumes us all, either wittingly orus, our chances of slaying him are a mere 2%. Think
unwittingly.about it.
Children from the right side of the tracks can beBe smart - Don't start!
derailed by drugs. It happens all the time. The