If mind-altering drugs are dangerous, why do people use them?  Why are they willing to take the risk?  To answer this question, we have to consider two things.  First, why people start using, and second, why they keep using after they start.

People start using alcohol and other drugs for three basic reasons — curiosity, social pressure, and automatic cultural response.

People who start using out of curiosity want to see what drinking and drugging is all about, so they experiment.  They try it to see if they like it.  The primary thing that drives them to start is their desire to get first hand information.

People who start using because of social pressure believe they have to drink and drug in order to belong or fit in.  They see alcohol and drug use as a ticket to social success.  They think that drinking and drugging will help them get along with other people. They also believe that if they don’t use alcohol and drugs they will be rejected.

People who start using alcohol and drugs out of an automatic cultural response are usually part of a sub culture that views alcohol and drug use as normal.  Drinking and drugging merges with the habits of everyday life because it is so common that most people do not even notice it.

When you are driving your car, you often do not even notice that you are in the right lane, everyone drives in the right lane.  You have been trained to drive in the right lane and you have driven in the right lane for such a long time that keeping your car there has become a normal part of your driving.  So we normally do not even think about it.

You would start thinking about it pretty fast if you ever have to drive in England where all cars are expected to drive in the left lane.  Suddenly all of your training and habits begin to work against, you can get yourself killed, if you don’t work hard to overcome them.

This is just like people who grow up with families and friends who regularly use alcohol and other drugs.  Drinking and drugging become just as normal as driving on the right side of the road.  The problem is, if you get addicted all of the rules change and suddenly you have to learn how to drive on the opposite side of the road or your whole life could fall apart.

People who start using alcohol or other drugs out of an automatic cultural response see everyone around them using and abusing alcohol and other drugs. It’s been that way from the time they were born.   Drinking and drugging is so common that they do not even consider the possibility of not doing it.  They see drinking and drugging alot like other people who breathe air.  Of course, you breathe air, you would never consider trying to live without breathing.  If you did, it would mean there was something seriously wrong with you.

Therefore, people start using alcohol and drugs as a result of curiosity, social pressure or automatic cultural response.  Over the years, I have learned that people start using alcohol and other drugs for one reason, and keep using for another.  In the next Gorski Blog I will explain why I believe some people keep using alcohol and other drugs after they start.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under Reasons people use drugs, Relapse Prevention, Terence Gorski. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.