I had an uncle who was addicted to heroin. He did not come around very often as he was usually wandering in a world where reality did not exist. I asked my dad once about him and all he would say is that his brother was running from his past. This man spent his entire life begging strangers for change, roaming areas of a city where one should not be walking alone and seeking salvation through a needle. Every few years something would happen and he would get “clean” but it never lasted for once his reality showed up he really wanted no part of it nor knew how to deal with it so he quickly would jump off the wagon.

For the longest time I could never figure out why he was unable to beat his demons then there was a part of me that wondered why he would continue to live this way instead of just cashing in his chips. Heroin addiction is like playing Russian roulette for you never know what the next hit is going to bring you. Will this be the one that sends you to the moon or is this the one to send you six feet under.

Everyone who has a substance abuse problem has a mental health problem. Part of the mental illness equation may be from the use of drugs or alcohol but chances are there were issues before the substances came into play. Substance abuse is not about feeling great it is about avoidance. The high is just a bonus but the true purpose in my opinion is to make your current reality transform into something else. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder drives a lot of people to drink or drugs so they can make the flashbacks stay far away. When the smallest thing can trigger an event that happened years or even decades before the effects of substances becomes a way to self medicate and unfortunately way to many people take this route. Look at any major war and battle that has taken place then the number of soldiers who develop a substance abuse problem shortly after plus the sudden increase in suicide and suicide attempts. The war does not end for a lot of people when the last shot is fired.

My uncle never served a day in combat but he did go through a decade and a half of abuse which he spent his entire life trying to escape. The call came in about a year after we left my birth city that my uncle was found dead in a run down apartment/hotel. The coroner believed he died a couple of weeks earlier but it was difficult to determine the exact time of death due to the room being ice cold. No one was surprised when it happened as most seen the movie of his life a long time ago including my uncle. The autopsy reads death by overdose but it could have read death by childhood abuse and mental illness.

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3. Military Suicides Up Twenty Percent – The PTSD Monster
4. The Anticipaction
5. Triggers And More Triggers
6. Substance Abuse
7. Generals share their experience with PTSD – CNN Article
8. An Observation
9. Not A Good Memory
10. Discussion Of Triggers