Only you can answer this question.
This may not be an easy thing to do. All through our usage, we told ourselves, “I can handle it.” Even if this was true in the beginning, it is not so now. The drugs handled us. We lived to use and used to live. Very simply, an addict is a person whose life is controlled by drugs.
Perhaps you admit you have a problem with drugs, but you don’t consider yourself an addict. All of us have preconceived ideas about what an addict is. There is nothing shameful about being an addict once you begin to take positive action. If you identify with our problems, you may be able to identify our solution. Please read our IP# 7″ Am I an Addict” and answer the questions as honestly as you can.
If you are an addict, you must first admit you have a problem with drugs before any progress can be made toward recovery. These questions, when honestly approached, may help to show you how using drugs has made your life unmanageable. Addiction is a disease that, without recovery, ends in jails, institutions, and death. Many of us came to Narcotics Anonymous because drugs had stopped doing what we needed them to do. Addiction takes our pride, self-esteem, family, loved ones, and even our desire to live. If you have not reached this point in your addiction, you don’t have to.
We were searching for an answer when we reached out and found Narcotics Anonymous. We came to our first NA meeting in defeat and did not know what to expect. After sitting in a meeting, or several meetings, we began to feel that people cared and were willing to help. Although our minds have told us we would never make it, the people- in the fellowship gave us hope by insisting that we would recover… Surrounded by fellow addicts, we realized that we were not alone anymore. Recovery is what happens at our meetings. Our lives are at stake. We found that by putting recovery first, the program works.