Managing Addiction to Legal Substances
When people think of a person who is addicted to substances, they may picture someone going to a drug dealer in an alley or a dark corner of a nightclub. While that image is not inaccurate for a person who is addicted to an illegal substance, there are many people whose substance of choice is perfectly legal.
The most prominent example of this is alcohol addiction or alcohol use disorder. Alcohol is freely available. If you’re over 21, you can walk into a liquor store, a bar, a restaurant, or a convenience store and buy a drink.
Prescription drugs are also available with a doctor’s prescription. While some doctors may be wary of prescribing addictive substances, some may see multiple doctors in the hopes that one of them will give them the prescription that they want. This is a phenomenon known as ‘doctor shopping‘, and it is illegal.
The accessibility of these legal and addictive substances can complicate a person’s recovery. Many drug and alcohol treatment programs emphasize managing triggers and cravings, and this will be doubly important when the addictive substance can be easily purchased.