It’s September, and that means it’s Addiction Awareness Month. Whether you realize it or not, addiction is a very common disease and might even be affecting the people you love and care about. Addiction can sometimes go undetected, because many times the people suffering from it suffer alone. It is a disease that turns people upside down and strips them of who they are at their core. It hurts relationships, and causes both physical and mental symptoms for the people it takes host in. That’s why this month is so important, because it can help bring much needed awareness to the disease and help lead people to recovery.
Did you know that more than 37 million people in the United States alone are suffering from addiction? And since 2000, more than 1 million people have died from a drug overdose. Even if addiction has not affected you personally, it does not mean it’s not a problem that needs to be addressed.
The first step to helping people recover and follow a path to sobriety is to break the stigma surrounding addiction. Many people think addiction is intentional, and brought on by people who have lost their way in life, and that is not necessarily the case. It’s important to remember that addiction is a disease that affects people physically and mentally. Instead of shaming people for this disease, it’s important to offer them resources and support so they can get better.
Jim Hight, author of “Moon Over Humboldt,” went through his own recovery after suffering from marijuana addiction. He says Addiction Awareness Month is important to help people feel supported and seen, so they can get the help they need to move forward.
“I celebrate 24 years of sobriety from cannabis, alcohol, and other mind-altering substances. Like my characters, I needed the 12-step programs to recover—and like them, I had to search out my own non-religious version of a higher power to make the spiritual prescription of the 12 steps work for me,” says Jim Hight.
Addiction changes people from who they truly are. Whether you have experienced addiction yourself, seen it in someone you love or have not been around it at all, it’s important to be a support system no matter what. It can be hard to see people suffering from this disease, because it makes them unrecognizable to the people who know them the best.
“Recognizing just how different addicts are—and how differently a son or daughter behaves once addiction has taken hold—is vitally important for the parents of addicts. As David Sheff wrote so heartbreakingly in Beautiful Boy, when addiction took over his son’s life, the boy he once knew and trusted was replaced by someone who would lie, cheat, steal, and endanger his family to get drugs,” Hight says.
One of the main points surrounding Addiction Awareness Month is to help support everyone, everywhere. Just because you have not seen addiction personally, does not mean you can’t make a change in someone else’s life. Being an unwavering support system and offering to help people, whether that’s providing them with recovery resources or just being someone they can talk to, goes a long way. Oftentimes people with an addiction just want to be heard and seen. Bringing awareness to the disease does just that.
Jim Hight is sharing his past experiences with addiction in “Moon Over Humboldt” as a way to help people suffering from addiction not feel so alone. There are no guidelines when it comes to bringing awareness to addiction, but talking about it can have a positive impact. There is no reason to walk around the topic of addiction, because it only makes people feel more ashamed and scared to ask for help. There are millions of people suffering, so it’s important to be an advocate for them. There is no universal road to recovery, but highlighting it this month can help people get started on that journey. How can you support Addiction Awareness Month?