Just the FAQs, please

By Dan Baldwin

Just the FAQs, Please, About Alcohol and Drug Abuse, by Dan Baldwin and George Sewell, is a reader-friendly journey though the perplexing world of drug abuse and its more sinister cousin, chemical dependency. The War on Drugs has been waged for generations through laws, school programs, social movements and law enforcement. While fodder for television and movie plots, the drug problem has raised a host of basic questions from people who aren’t in the trenches. These Frequently Asked Questions have been posed to the authors for more than twenty years and are addressed in this lively survey. The book is not a recovery manual, a research report, or a self-help book. It is a handy guide for readers who wonder what drug abuse is all about. How do addicts think? What is enabling? What are the facts about denial, treatment, co-dependency, and other issues? These are answered her in behavioral terms. The authors combine history, humor and indisputable facts to assist the reader in understanding the confusing dynamics of drug abuse and addiction. Whether you realize it or not, you are involved in the war on drugs. Here’s how to know the enemy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dan Baldwin
• Release date: Nov 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370473496

Dan Baldwin

Dan Baldwin is the author of westerns, mysteries, thrillers, short story collections and books on the paranormal. He is the winner of numerous local, regional, and national awards for writing and directing film and video projects. He earned an Honorable Mention from the Society of Southwestern Authors writing competition for his short story Flat Busted and  a Finalist designation from the National Indie Excellence Awards for Trapp Canyon and Caldera III – A Man of Blood. Baldwin received a Finalist designation in the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards for Sparky and the King. Bock’s Canyon earned the Winner designation in the 2017 Best Book Awards. Baldwin’s paranormal works are The Practical Pendulum – A Swinging Guide, Find Me as told to Dan Baldwin, They Are Not Yet Lost and How Find Me Lost Me – A Betrayal of Trust Told by the Psychic Who Didn’t See It Coming. They Are Not Yet Lost earned the Winner designation in the New Mexico-Arizona Book Competition. How Find Me Lost Me won the Winner designation in the Best Book Awards 2017 competition and the Finalist designation in the New Mexico-Arizona Book Competition.

Book preview

the Smashwords edition

Just The FAQs, Please,

About Alcohol

and

Drug Abuse

Frequently asked questions

from families and friends

Dan Baldwin and George Sewell

© 2016 by Dan Baldwin and George Sewell

A Four Knights Press Publication

Smashwords License Notes

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Second Edition

Cover courtesy of Shutterstock

Cover design and interior format by Debora Lewis arenapublishing.org

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Although a labor of love, producing any book requires the support and input of a circle of family, friends, and colleagues. The assistance of the following people in reviewing concepts, manuscripts, and general cheering, was essential. Without their generous support, this book would still be an idea.

George Sewell:

Thanks for the incredible patience extended by my wife, Joan; the love and inspiration from my parents, John & Juanita Sewell; and to daughter Genia Michaela, who keeps alive her heritage of creative mischief. There are those daring friends and colleagues who trekked the rough and tumble of my early drafts of books, plays, and screenplays – Dr. Kent Dean, Hank Drabek, Lorraine Krajewski, Iva Burks, Rene McDonald, Trudie Abner, and Jane Abbott. And finally, the Cossatot River – where great ideas flourish.

Dan Baldwin:

Special acknowledgment must be given to: my parents, Dan and Laura Baldwin, for their willingness to encourage my creative pursuits at a young age; my wife, Mary Baldwin, for incredible patience, love and support. And, of course, the cats.

Contents

Foreword to the Second Edition

Chapter One

FAQ: What Is A Drug?

FAQ: What Are The Most Common Mind-Altering Drugs?

FAQ: How Long Have Drugs Been Around?

Chapter Two

FAQ: How Do Drugs Affect People?

FAQ: What Are Scheduled Drugs?

FAQ: What Are Designer Drugs?

Chapter Three

FAQ: Why Do Some People Have Serious Problems With Alcohol And Drugs And Others Don’t?

FAQ: Is This A Real Disease?

FAQ: Why Would Somebody In Their Right Mind Mix Drugs?

FAQ: How Do I Recognize Chemical Dependency?

FAQ: How Many People Are Chemically Dependent?

FAQ: How Fast Is The Progression Of The Disease?

FAQ: Stopping Drug Use Stops The Disease?

FAQ: How Powerful Is Addiction?

Chapter Four

FAQ: What Is Drug Abuse?

FAQ: What Is The Difference Between Drug Abuse And Chemical Dependency?

FAQ: Is Drug Abuse Learned?

FAQ: What Are The Big Myths About Chemical Dependency?

FAQ: Do People Really See Pink Elephants?

FAQ: Does Blackout Mean Passing Out?

Chapter Five

FAQ: How Does An Addict Think?

FAQ: What is Denial

FAQ: What Are The Types Of Denial

Chapter Six

FAQ: What Is Enabling?

FAQ: What Is A Binge?

FAQ: What Is Co-Dependency?

FAQ: How Do You Recognize An Enabler?

FAQ: What Is A Dangerous Side Of Co-Dependency?

Chapter Seven

FAQ: What Is Treatment?

FAQ: Does Treatment Work?

FAQ: What Are Self-Help Fellowships?

FAQ: Why Is Alcoholics Anonymous, Anonymous?

FAQ: Is A.A. The Only Fellowship?

FAQ: How Long Does Treatment Last?

Chapter Eight

FAQ: What Is Treatment Like?

Chapter Nine

FAQ: What Is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?

FAQ: Can Drug Abuse Be Prevented?

FAQ: Where Can I Get More Information?

About the Authors

FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION

Few subjects are more fraught with anxiety and dissention than addiction. Fewer still are the resources for non-professionals that treat the matter with knowing, compassionate humor. Just the FAQ’s, Please straddles adroitly that precarious borderland between intimidating complexity on one hand and frustrating oversimplification on the other.

Combating confusion with focused organization, the book is divided into easily-digestible sections, beginning with chapters recounting the history of substances and of substance abuse and the range of chemicals with which vulnerable people can become ensnared. This material is followed by an assertive, evidence-based argument in favor of understanding addiction as different from substance abuse without minimizing the destructive effects of either. (Baldwin and Sewell make clear that even the word addiction itself is barnacled with inaccurate and confusing meanings.)

With the important distinction between substance abuse and dependence in place, the authors move to the heart of the book in describing the characteristic disruptions in normal behavior and thinking, both of addicts and of loved ones and others, whose lives are impacted by the addict’s seemingly willfully-destructive behavior. The book’s final chapters discuss contemporary treatment and information resources for addictive disorders. This portion of the book drives home the point that family members suffer as much or more than the identified patient the pain and anguish from this primitive, unrelentingly-powerful disorder.

Through all nine sections of this deceptively-lighthearted Q and A runs the thread that what’s offered isn’t meant to be a theoretical treatise. Readers probably won’t be consulting Just the FAQ’s, Please for amusement so much as for information, but, when they reach the end of the book, they’ll likely be gratified to find that they’ve been both entertainingly enlightened and jovially empowered.

Kent Dean, PhD, LAC

Director of Outpatient Programs

Louisiana Association on Compulsive Gambling

Shreveport, LA

September 2016

CHAPTER ONE

Frequently Asked Questions in this chapter:

WHAT IS A DRUG?

WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON MIND-ALTERING DRUGS?

HOW LONG HAVE DRUGS BEEN AROUND?

FAQ: WHAT IS A DRUG?

A good definition of a drug is any non-food substance which when put into the body causes a change in body chemistry or function. This book is concerned with those drugs which affect your brain and central nervous system. They are called mind-altering drugs. They affect the manner in which the brain functions. When we use the word drug we are referring to these substances.

In other words, a drug is something you snort, sniff, puff, inject, swallow or otherwise put into your body that makes you do things you would not ordinarily do, such as:

• Giggle outrageously for no reason

• Weep uncontrollably for no reason

• Loan money to finance a student film by your brother-in-law

• Pick a fight with your spouse, best friend or the tattooed giant at the end of the bar

• Wake up in the arms of a stranger

• Drive into an on-coming 18-wheeler on the interstate

• Use your credit card at the on-line casino

These are the drugs referred to when we hear about the drug problem or the war on drugs. They alter the chemical process of the brain and may produce an often pleasant and desirable sensation. This is why people use mind-altering drugs – it makes them feel better, or feel differently. That can be a good thing. Unfortunately, because the drugs monkey with the chemical workings of the brain and nervous system, some very un experiences can result:

• Unpleasant

• Unacceptable

• Unwise

• Unsafe

• Uncommonly expensive

The important characteristic about a drug is that it will affect a person regardless of whether the person wants to be affected. This is a fact that is not always understood.

Someone who has been slipped a drug in a drink may not know it, but will still suffer the effects of the drug. Many people who get drunk on alcohol didn’t intend to lose control, yet by the end of the evening found themselves slurring their words, stumbling around, and even investing good money in stupid things.

A drug does what it does because it is a drug. That’s what makes the substance a drug. Most people have learned this one way or the other, in some fashion or another. For example:

The sixteen-year-old had four impacted wisdom teeth. He arrived at the oral surgeon’s office determined to keep an eye on the doc as he worked in his mouth. The dentist prepared the injection that would send the lad off to la-la land. However, the teen summoned a ferocious determination to be conscious during the procedure – by golly he was not going to be out of it while the dentist was messing with his mouth! The dentist smiled and gave the shot. The youth’s mind ordered his body to stay alert, awake and...

The next thing the youth noticed was his mother. He was surprisingly relaxed and feeling a bit smug because he hadn’t become unconscious. Of course, there was a strange sensation in his mouth and he couldn’t speak very well. It was all over and he didn’t even know about it.

On the way home his mother showed a keen interest in all of those interesting things he babbled to her after the procedure. Two great lessons were learned that day – drugs will get you despite your will power, and you can’t predict what you’ll say when doped up.

FAQ: WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON MIND-ALTERING DRUGS?

ALCOHOL is the most commonly used drug. It is a sedative drug found in alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine and distilled spirits. It is legal, taxed, and regulated by law.

MARIJUANA is a commonly used drug that is mostly illegal, or illicit. Its leaves and buds are often smoked in a rolled cigarette or cigar fashion, or in a pipe. Many people find it a useful ingredient in baking cookies or brownies.

COCAINE is a highly toxic stimulant that is frequently used as a powder. A solid form of cocaine, crack, is smoked. Almost all use of cocaine is illegal.

AMPHETAMINES are stimulants that act on the brain and nervous system to heighten endurance and faculties. Sometimes it is called speed or an upper. It is usually obtained by prescription but also is illegally manufactured and sold.

ECSTASY (METHYLENEDIOXYMETHAMPHETAMINE or MDMA) is chemically based on amphetamines and has been used to skirt the laws controlling use of amphetamines. It is also called a designer drug.

NARCOTICS come from opium and its derivatives. Morphine is used medically for pain management. Heroin is an illegal narcotic.

DEPRESSANTS are those drugs that sedate, or depress, the brain and central nervous system. Alcohol is a depressant. So are tranquilizers.

INHALANTS are any number of solvents and chemicals found in adhesives, paint, lighter fluids and