How Long Does Drug Addiction Recovery Take?
Question by Belinda: How long does drug addiction recovery take?
I have a friend who wants to change his life, and the only way he can do it is to get away from where he is right now. I have said he can come and stay with me (under strict stipulation that he does not have drugs in my home and he does go into treatment – both things he really wants to do, among other things) but how long should this process take? He was taking coke about once a week before, so what should I expect? Will it be the same level of need forever, or should it get easier and after how long? When can I expect him to be a normal person again?
Best answer:
Answer by Meg M
Addiction recovery takes a lifetime. The initial urges will go down anywhere from a few weeks to years later, depending on the person.
Define ‘normal’? Going through a process like this changes a person severely and they are not likely to be like most of the people around them nor are they ever going to be the person that they were before. If you aren’t prepared to handle the changes you need to find somebody or someplace that is.
Answer by Steph
If he was just doing it once a week he probably won’t even need to go to detoxbecause I doubt he’ll go into withdrawal. He should go to NA (Narcotics Anonymous) or even AA, they are almost the same. They just talk about the addiction which is the same for alcohol or drugs.
Even though he probably doesn’t need to go to detox, he could benefit from it, because it’s like starting off fresh when he gets out, and detox is only a few days. Otherwise he could go to rehab but it’d most likely be longer and probably more expensive,
But I think that if he is moving away from the bad people he was around & he has your support, he might not need any of those things. Although NA or AA is free and it wouldn’t hurt to go a few times. He could meet new people and make new friends that are clean.
Doing coke once a week is really not TOO bad of a habit, it’s still not good, but he could be doing worse. Usually when people stop doing drugs it can be bad the first few days if they are going into withdrawal, but if they aren’t they usually get kind of high from being clean. It’s weird. It’s like they feel great because they are healthy again. But that can last up to a month and then he might have thoughts of relapsing because that “natural high’ is gone. That’s when he needs your support. So make sure to spend time with him & show him you are there for him. Keeping him busy will also help since people typically turn to drugs when they’re bored.
Also make your rules clear to him. No drugs or he is out. If he slips up once, I’d give him another chance because getting off drugs is very difficult. But make sure he knows if it happens again you won’t be so nice.
GOOD LUCK!
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