Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Alice Sirasari and I'm Colin Lalva. Spotlight uses a
special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter
where in the world they live. Every day, Larry Harrison gets into a
white fan that will take him to the Potomac Street Health Clinic. There,
doctors give him a small cup of rose colored liquid. Drinking this liquid is
the most important part of Harrison's day. In it is a substance called methadone,
a drug that helps manage pain, but methadone also helps people who are
addicted to opioids like heroin and fentanyl. For more than ten years used heroine.
Heroin, a powerful painkiller, also causes intense feelings of pleasure. He
could not stop taking it, and he used too much. His addiction ruined
his life. It cost him his family, his friends, and his health.
Harrison's path toward recovery has been a long one. He has not taken
heroine in two years, but he still longs for it, and his story
is common. Fighting addiction is a struggle. It can take many years and
much help. Some people never fully recover. The good news, though,
is that recovery is possible. Today's spotlight is on the science of addiction,
but it is also on how people can recover. Addiction, also called substance
use disorder, is a disease of the mind and body. It is when
a person depends too much on something, either physically or mentally. If people
are addicted to something, it feels like they cannot live without it, and
it is very difficult to persuade them otherwise. Larry Harrison is a good example
of addiction. When Harrison first started taking heroine, it was to help with
his pain, but as time went on, he felt like he needed it.
He was no longer trying to reduce pain. He felt like he needed
the heroine to survive. He did not care how he got it or where
it came from. Before being addicted, he had a wife, two children,
and a good life, but his addiction stopped him from thinking clearly about
these things. His family life fell apart, he became homeless, and he
spent most of his days searching for more heroin. It did not seem like
there was anything else he could do. Doctor Tyler Cole is a doctor with
the Colorado University Hospital. He treats people like Harrison. He spoke to University
of Colorado Health about what drugs like heroine do to the brain. Your brain
just becomes a slave to the drug. You cannot break free. It does
not matter if you have children, It does not matter if you have willpower
like iron. You cannot do it on your own. You need a whole
team. Heroin was unhealthy for Harrison. It changed how his mind understood the
world, but addiction with many other related health issues. For Harrison, there
was the fear of overdosing, or taking more heroine than his body could manage.
It is easy to die from heroin overdose if it is not treated correctly.
The drug can cause a person's heart to slow so much that their blood
stops flowing. But there are many other health related issues with heroine. Many
heroin users inject the drug but do not use clean needles. This leads to
infection and serious diseases like HIV. According to the World Health Organization, eighty
percent of drug related deaths are from drugs like heroin. That amounts to more
than four hundred and eighty thousand deaths each year. Still, people like Harrison
continue to risk their lives for drugs. Sometimes this is because drugs are pleasurable,
but more often it is because they change how the brain works. Addictive
drugs can replace chemicals in a person's brain. These take the place of something
the brain is already doing. When a person becomes addicted, the brain stops
producing these chemicals, so the person needs the drug to feel normal. Being
without a drug a person is addicted to can also cause sickness. This sickness
is called withdrawal. Withdrawal signs are different depending on the drug, but these
can be very serious. These can be painful, terrifying, and in some
cases, can lead to death. Christy Huff is a doctor who became addicted
to the drug xanax. She did not take it because she liked the drug.
She took it to help recover from a surgery, but her body became
dependent on the drug very quickly. She tried to stop taking it on her
own, but her withdrawal was very difficult. In twenty seventeen, she wrote
about her experiences on the website Benzo Diazepine Information Coalition. I have developed new
and worsening feelings. I often awake early in the morning with my heart beating
hard. I shake all over with pure terror. Sometimes it is so bad.
I shout for God to help me, but there is only silence.
Some days I'm too weak to do much more than lye in bed. Doctor
Hoff took years to fully recover from her addiction. Her withdrawal made it impossible
for her to work. Often she was too tired to care for her children.
Each week, she would try to take less and less of her medication,
but even the smallest changes would make her very sick. To recover from
addiction, people must recognize their addiction is harmful, but they must also make
it through withdrawal. Even then, addiction is not fully over. Many addicts
still want their drug even if they do not need it anymore. This desire
never really goes away. This is one reason doctors call addiction a disease.
It damages the structure of the brain to make an addicted person want more.
If you are fighting an addiction, you do not have to fight alone.
Getting help is the most important part of fighting addiction, from a doctor,
a social worker, a religious leader, or even an addiction group. There
are many resources to help. Doctors can help you deal with the physical and
mental effects of addiction, and counselors and religious leaders can help you deal with
the emotional and spiritual effects addiction. Support groups can help you feel less alone.
Fighting an addiction can feel hopeless, but there is hope. Many people
have successfully fought against their addictions. This fight does not happen all at one
time. Instead, it happens one step at a time. Admitting the addiction
is the first step. Getting help is the next step, and every step
brings you into a new and better life. Have you ever dealt with addiction?
How did you fight against it? We want to hear your thoughts.
You can leave a comment on our website or on YouTube. You can also
comment on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash Spotlight Radio. The writer and producer
of this program was Dan Christman. The voices you heard were from the United
States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced
by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again and read it on the
internet at www dot Spotlight English dot com. This program is called Recovering from
Addiction. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye,