Despite the common trope that trying any illicit drug – even once – will definitively lead to a life of ruin, the vast majority of people quit without such dreadful consequences. According to the United States National Institute on Drug Abuse, drug use peaks for most of us in our late teens and 20s. While more than a fifth of 18- to 25-year-olds have used an illegal substance in the past month, only 15.1 per cent of 26- to 34-year-olds and 6.7 per cent of those 35 and up report current use of illicit drugs. [...]
In his 1999 study of natural recovery from alcohol abuse among Navajo Indians, the anthropologist Gilbert Quintero and colleagues at the University of Rochester in New York found that: ‘One of the most persistent and formative influences organising narratives of “ageing out” were the responsibilities and role demands connected to raising children.’ The more that individuals came to embrace their Navajo heritage, the more they expressed a sense that drinking simply didn’t fit anymore. Abstaining from alcohol use became a means of identifying with their culture. Similarly, while binge-drinking is a notorious and often troubling rite of passage for many young Americans, the behaviour – outside of specific contexts – has an expiration date. As we age and seek to fit into cultural moulds, we often change what we do. [...]
My research showed that homelessness was a particular threat for relapse. As much as Clyde, discussed above, felt like it was probably time to quit, life kept pulling him back in. His recurring homelessness left him and his girlfriend Bonnie (also not her real name) at the mercy of others. When it came to providing physical protection and hustling income, the two had each others’ backs – hence the nicknames I’ve given them here. But whenever Bonnie and Clyde came up short of the funds needed to rent a room for the night, they typically landed on the couch of someone who used meth.
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