Liberty, I want to try and respond to your question about how my lifestyle choices led me to addiction and what could of made it less severe.
Firstly when I began to use drugs I used to enjoy them. At first the powder cocaine used to make me more confident and I was using in a social setting initially. It was when I was using drugs to deal with or avoid things that I became dependant on them. Because I have always worked since leaving school and not had to resort to crime to fund my addiction I managed to keep the full extent of the issue from my family and majority of my friends. It was only when I got to the point where I admitted to myself that I had a problem that I involved my family and friends. I am very lucky that I got and still do get their full support. I think that had I been honest with myself and my family sooner then maybe my addiction wouldn’t of escalated to the point it did as I know they would of done whatever it took to help me but also I wasn’t really ready to receive the help either so it’s a difficult thing to answer about what could of made it less severe. I imagine an addict in active addiction would say that having someone to fall back on who is willing to contribute financially when it was needed and not ask any questions would of been something that would make life less severe but as we’re all aware that is actually more detrimental to everyone involved. I firmly believe that as an addicts family member or friend there isn’t a lot that can be done to help until the addict makes the decision to get clean and then they have a better idea of what they need from the people who are supporting them with their recovery. I hope I’ve made sense in what I’ve just said.