So, last night I spent a few hours until 3am trying to provide support for a friend who is trying to break the hold of his addiction. Myself and another friend, let's call him Chess, were offering ideas and suggestions to a mutual friend, Felt.
Felt has suffered many years with drug abuse; his circumstances make it difficult to help him as many of his family members also use recreationally. Myself and Chess both used to indulge alongside Felt, but we've both moved on and have been clean for quite lengthy times - it just seems Felt has never been able to find his escape route, his reason.
I will never make excuses for an addict, but I cannot help but sympathise. Felt doesn't have much in his life to keep him on the straight and narrow, he works in a bar where he is exposed to drugs, he lives with a friend who is also a heavy user, and he has nothing else in his life in the sense of romance, children or an exit strategy.
We have been trying to advise him that he needs to change his environment - as long as he stays where he is, he will always be dragged back in no matter how good his intentions are. We've recommended changing jobs, moving house and finding a new social crowd in a different venue where drugs are not as common, such as the casino, the gym or a snooker hall.
The problem is, it's not as simple as changing everything you know in life, and those changes just seem to big for him to push for at the minute. It hurts though, because I see behind the false bravado and flamboyant drug abuse, he is a broken man just finding his escape from a world that he feels doesn't care.
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