Drug Addiction has always been a problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed in a 2018 study that opioids claim the lives of 115 Americans each day.
The deaths of celebrities like Mac Miller, Lil Peep and Tom Petty have brought the problem of drug addiction back to the forefront.
Justin Bieber’s manager, Scott Braun, revealed that he once feared Bieber would’ve died of drug overdose. Braun stated in an interview with The Red Pill Podcast that Bieber “had been suffering from a mild depression because of all the public arrests and charges he had received.” However, Bieber chose to seek help and get healthy before he could’ve suffered.
The question then is: why are so many people choosing drugs for quick happiness?
The link between mental illness and drug abuse has resurged in the media, but will it make a lasting impact on society to want to take mental illness seriously?
Depression (a form of mental illness), leads people to drink or abuse drugs so they can escape feelings of emotions like anxiety or despair. Mental illness accounts for 84 percent of the national cocaine abuse statistics, according to The National Bureau of Economic Research.
Celebs, like Demi Lovato, have openly spoken out about their drug abuse, and the public was fine with listening because they thought she was 100 percent clean. When she experienced a relapse earlier this year, many fans became outraged and chose to speak out against her and her music/brand on social media.
While one can expect the hurt Lovato fans feel, it is also important to remember that she is a human as well. The American Addiction Centers noted that relapse is very common in addictive treatment. Around 60 percent of people addicted to a drug, experience a form of relapse after or during a rehab process.
Judging Lovato for a relapse is the last thing any soulful human being should do. Judging anybody for a relapse or their addiction is unacceptable. Often, people only become concerned and teary-eyed when the person suffering from the drug addiction is someone of prominence. News outlets show stories about celebs who have suffered from an overdose, but not average citizens. This is because news outlets are only reporting on what and who society knows and cares about; it’s not their job to cover every drug addiction story in the country because that would take months.
It is our job, however, to report these stories to someone who can help. If you know someone who is suffering from addiction, don’t hide it and pray for them to quit. Become involved. Encourage them, but do not shame the, and tell somebody who can help them.
The Addiction Network noted that four out of five college students drink alcohol and about half of the students who do, report participating in binge drinking.
Alcohol is a drug. Look at your friend group- who is addicted? Is it you? How can you help?
Be the change you want to see in the world. Check your mental health. Fight Addiction.