Drug addiction hasn’t gone away

Even though we have legalized supposedly harmless marijuana, illegal drugs are as prevalent as ever, and perhaps even more so.

In fact, addictions have become so prevalent that those who treat addictions have come up with a new acronym to describe what their patients’ experience — S.U.D. That stands for Substance Use Disorder, and is meant to cover a wide range of troubles that addicts get themselves into.

I was driving on Howard Road behind a red car and saw an S.U.D sufferer hanging out the driver-side window of the car. He was coughing out big clouds of smoke, and I didn’t have to sniff too hard to determine he was smoking marijuana. His car was all over the road. I slowed a little to get out of the way in case he had a wreck. Fortunately, he didn’t.

We are told by drug-treatment experts that the harmlessness of marijuana is way overstated ... which means it is of little medicinal use and can easily cause lung problems, etc.

But there is one substance for which you can’t overstate the harm, and that is crystal meth. Here is what the web site overcome.com says about crystal meth:

“Unless you or someone you love has been addicted to meth and you have lived in a world of hell that meth addiction causes, it is difficult to grasp the magnitude of the struggle caused by meth fully. Crystal meth addiction leads to some of the most severe consequences of any other drug on the market or on the streets today.

“Physically, meth addiction can lead to irreversible damage to the brain and other areas of the body.

“Those who abuse meth are at an increased risk of having a heart attack or a stroke as a direct result of their drug abuse. In most cases, abstinence from meth abuse for at least two years can lead to the reversal of many of the negative physical signs of methamphetamine abuse but not all.

“Motor function and verbal memory will typically repair to some extent after two years of meth abstinence, but some other neurological aspects of the prolonged use may not repair themselves even with time.”