Please, let me ask you: How a person becomes an addict? And I am not talking about the ones whose prescriptions made them addicts.

@DUCHESSA It's a very loaded question. In short, I don't know. There is no one mechanism of how the addiction forms, there are many variables, from genetic predisposition, to nurture, to mental and other co-morbidities that put one at risk. @icolan provided you with some links. If you noticed, I specified which part of the problem I am currently working with, and it's tolerance development.

Addiction is far too broad of a term. I am only focusing on tolerance, and boy, it in itself is so complicated. My work can be more applied to people with chronic pain who have to take medications. They start developing tolerance after first dose of an opioid. Then tolerance builds, especially if the pain is chronic and/or severe, they require more and more, they also start experiencing hyperalgesia, which sometimes prompts them to take more medications. It's a vicious circle that spirals out of control.

How people develop addictions outside of prescription drugs, is a somewhat different story, but the main mechanisms are still there: tolerance, cravings, psychological and physical dependence, underlying causes (emotional or physiological); all that requires a lot of work, treatment, and support.

The problem with addiction is normally it starts before one is even conscious of it happening (nature vs nurture thing). In a family of alcoholics or drug abusers, children experience trauma, sometimes so severe, the only way they know how to deal with it, they go down the same road as their parents. they try to combat the pain, isolation, depression, etc. It's rare for them to escape this life and become fully opposed to substance abuse. Few know of the risks, especially if tendency to develop addiction (to gambling, or drinking, or anything else) and just avoid the potential triggers altogether.

an anecdote from me: I grew up at a very shitty time in a very shitty place, in very unhealthy household (alcoholism). I don't drink; I sometimes allow myself a little in social situations. I am terrified I will become addicted. If I went to parties, I would not drink more than one glass, if any at all. I don't keep booze in my house. I freak out, if on particularly rough days I find myself thinking about a glass of wine to unwind like many people do without crossing lines. I have a predisposition to develop alcoholism. In fact, binge behaviours are very well known to me, except I binge on books, food, projects.. I try to make it somewhat beneficial, but it doesn't excuse the underlying cause. If I were to drink, I'd binge, I am sure of it. Sad problem here is, not many can externalize this. Most of the times, people born and raised in destructive households are not helped in time to realize, that this is not the way.

Edits: spacing and grammar

@DUCHESSA addiction usually has alot to do with the way a person is raised in those first few years and even in the womb

@Blizzard I have a very short answer for my loaded question: We know the chances of becoming addicted are very high....why, then, people take the first "dosage"?

@icolan My question was a sarcastic one.

@DUCHESSA i would artificially divide them into 1) they are numb and want to feel (something, anything) 2) they are in pain and want to numb it 3) they are peer pressured and don't have enough reasoning skills to refuse and/or not enough knowledge on the subject

@DUCHESSA I see you stated that your question was sarcastic. Then OK, what should we do with babies born to addicted mothers and are addicted themselves? I see your point on "no one made you take it", but it's not always true. There are circumstances in which people reach for the substances that they in that state of mind see as the only way "out". I would compare it to suicide; often people commit suicides because they are so depressed, their minds convince them this is the only way. Being in that state can do terrible things, and that's the problem with severe depression and other mental health issues.

@markdevenish Dear, I am not talking about a baby born to an addict. OK?

@icolan 1. I am talking about those who take the first dose.
2. The reason why they take the first dose is very relevant...specially when knowing what drugs do to a brain. They don't have the strength to face life w/o toxic help.

@icolan Sure, they take the "first dose" because they are convinced they won't become addicts. They can't afford prescribed medication? The Dept. of Social Services will help...and don't tell me I am mistaken because before becoming a teacher I was a Bilingual Social Caseworker.
I won't go about telling you why addiction takes place...only that nine out of ten people become addict after the first dose.
A person has to be very short minded to think he/she can fight a substance that is prepared exactly to get people hooked.
Bye...bye.

@DUCHESSA I am really glad you are not a social worker anymore. Now my concern is about the kids you teach. Bye bye

There are a lot of Christian based rehabs that don't cost $ and some i've heard of make you work while you recover .

I really think addiction has a large genetic component. I have had chronic pain issues for the last 15+ years. I have a love/hate relationship with opioids. I hate the way many of them make me feel. I dislike the "high" feeling, but they give me greater mobility and better quality of life. I have started and stopped them several without issue or withdrawal. Last year the health system my PCP belongs to took the hard line of no longer scripting out opioids medications for all but a few terminal diseases. I had been been taking an effective managing dose of 100mcg of Fentanyl for the last few years. I tapered off the dose without incident. What I am able to do has diminished markedly and my quality of life as such, but I don't crave opiods. It's sad and frustrating that the opioid epidemic has put the people who do benefit from it in a bad position. I continue to seek out alternative methods to control pain, but I did that even on opioids.

@AdorkableMe I know your pain. It took me years to find a specialist who would actually treat my pain. I jumped through every hoop, did every expensive treatment and procedure they could come up with from healing crystals to surgery without luck all because I'm 27 and there's an addiction problem they are completely mishandling. The only thing that keeps me able to move is my opioids, and luckily I have a nationally recognized specialist in rare pain disorders helping me. I also have no trouble getting off them when I need to, but my mom has been addicted for many years from the same pain, so it's only a matter of time. I keep my doses low enough I don't get the high, and back them up with prescription NSAIDS, but I'm still teetering on the edge with my pain. It's BARELY dented but enough that I can survive.

The war on opioids is being done the wrong way. They're treating us, the people whose lives depend on this stuff, like we are the ones abusing it instead of the people on the street.