Opium addiction sounds like something out of a Western movie or Victorian newspaper article. But this problem is much more modern than you think. Today’s opium addiction just goes by different names, such as the opioid epidemic. A wide range of street and prescribed drugs fall into the category of natural opium, opiates and synthetic versions called opioids.

Opium abuse treatment requires help for both physical and mental attachment to these powerful painkilling drugs. That attachment, addiction, leads tens of thousands of people to early death each year. So you or the person you love have no time to waste when it comes to getting the right addiction help.

Understanding Opium Addiction

Counselor and client learning about opium addictionOpium addiction starts easily enough. You use the morphine and codeine-based opium liquid, take the prescribed medication for pain or sample a street drug for relaxation and a quick high. However you gain that first high, you start on the path that claims far too many lives each year.

Thinking you will only use the drug once is the trap many fall into. Before you know it, you face a full-fledged opium addiction and a daily cycle of drug seeking and drug use.

Most people using natural opium smoke the drug. But others eat, inject or take the substance in pill form.

Heroin is manufactured from opium, while pharmaceutical companies make a wide range of drugs that mimic its pain killing effects. These man-made versions include oxycodone and hydrocodone.

When using opium, your high varies according to how you use it. But first, you experience euphoria, as part of a “rush.” You then feel drowsy and relaxed, no longer feeling pain if you suffered some before using it. This high lasts as long as 12 hours.

Dangers of Using Opium

Using opium usually leads to experimentation or addiction to other types of opiates and opioids. People with a history of using opium often cross into heroin abuse or lace other drugs like marijuana with the potent liquid. Another street cocktail called “black” mixes opium with methamphetamine and marijuana.

These cocktails slow the central nervous system, often leading to respiratory failure and death. Signs of these problems include problems breathing and lost consciousness. Using opium provides clear signs you or the person you love need treatment for your substance abuse or opium addiction.

Suffering opium abuse or addiction brings many signs of lost control over your life. Once you start using the drug, nothing replaces the feelings of that first high. You seek more and more of it, letting the rest of your life fall apart. People abusing opium suffer lost careers, relationships, financial security, education, and freedom.

The opium effects of addiction include:

  • Continuing to use it despite problems it causes in your life
  • Focusing on gaining more opium
  • Depression and suicidal thoughts
  • Losing concern over appearance and hygiene
  • Extreme weight loss and lost appetite
  • Taking more and more of the drug over time

If you or someone you love show these signs of substance abuse and addiction, you need help from an accredited addiction treatment program.

Therapies and Addiction Education for Lasting Recovery

Knowing drug addiction exists is one thing. Getting the help you or your loved one needs is another. Take this critical step toward relief for a real chance of strong, lasting recovery. Without addiction treatment, the road to overdose and premature death quickly ends.

Treatment for opium, opiate or opioid addiction at Beaches Recovery in Jacksonville, Florida includes:

At Beaches Recovery you gain a continuum of care, from residential rehab to sober living, aftercare, and alumni programs. Your treatment caters to your individual needs, ensuring you achieve your own best chance for long-term sobriety.

Ending your addiction means enjoying the more abundant, full life you only dream of today. Start realizing that dream and planning for what you want in life. Call Beaches Recovery at 866.605.0532 to end your opium addiction.