No addict seeking recovery need ever die from the horrors of active addiction…”
These words are imprinted on a greeting card and a medallion gifted to Vijay (name changed), who is celebrating his birthday with the group members at narcotics anonymous meeting.
The celebrations are just like a typical birthday party but with an unusual reason.
Vijay, a working professional in his early 30s, is celebrating his one year anniversary of sobriety. Exactly, a year back on this day, he had enrolled himself in narcotics anonymous programme and had quit drugs.
“Miracle happens…This feels like a rebirth. One year back, I had joined this group and had quit drugs. This, unfortunately was not easy but things have improved gradually in my life. The fight against drugs continues with the support of my family and group members here,” says Vijay, with a calm and self-satisfied smile.
As he shows his bronze medallion to other members, the look of satisfaction on his face says it all…
The greeting card presented to him is full of messages with good luck wishes and words of encouragement, written by the friends from N.A. group.
As the celebrations continue and a tray of cake and snacks is being passed around among the members, Vijay shares, “He lives with his wife and children now… I remember the fear and struggle that surrounded me when I had joined this group.”
“You need willpower to come out of this. It will not happen in one day but you will reach there gradually… with patience and willpower,” he adds, as others are listening intently, perhaps hoping to share their recovery story one day.
“I am thankful for the support of my friends here and hope that my story will inspire others to come out of the addiction,” Vijay concludes, as the group members around the room clapped, cheered and hugged him to congratulate and encourage him to continue on the path of recovery.
Such celebrations of sobriety at N.A. meetings acknowledge one’s effort during the long process of addiction recovery. The group members also meet at N.A. conventions and dinner parties to celebrate and share their stories of recovery.
While everyone seems calm and relaxed in an atmosphere of belonging during the celebrations, a nervous young boy raises his hand to share his woes.
The boy, in his early 20s, says he is feeling guilty of doing drugs only a day before.
Sitting with his head down and hands clasped, the boy tells how he met his friends a day before and could not resist taking drugs. “It just happened… I do not know why I listened to them and took drugs. I was planning to come to the N.A. meeting but instead I went with them. After that, all I remember is waking up in a health centre may be due to drug overdose.”
“I am feeling guilty and ashamed…I know I have let people down with my behavior but things are not under my control,” he says.
As he paused for a few seconds to take a deep breath, a bell rings, in an indication by the meeting coordinator to the young boy to wrap up his story.
Continuing sharing his dilemma, he says, “I am trying to control my addiction. I am trying to stay positive and strong but things seem really complicated and difficult, at times.”
As the boy gets emotional while sharing his story, a group member sitting beside him puts a hand on his shoulder to calm him down and encourage him to continue speaking.
With time ticking away, another bell rings, this time indicating that the boy must conclude now. Amid the silence engulfing the room, two more young boys walk in and take their seats to join the group members.
“I hope to follow the right path. I thank all of you for listening to my story and supporting me,” he concludes, while others clap and cheer for his courage and confession, asking him to keep coming back to the meetings.
After this, another young boy who had entered the room with his friend moments back, stood up to give his introduction.
With a bright smile on his face and enthusiasm in voice, the boy tells, he is 18 years old and it’s his first day at the N.A. meeting.
“I will not say much as I am here to listen today. I am hopeful to quit drugs,” he says, as everyone else claps and even whistles to welcome the new member in the group.
The meeting room was today filled with mixed feelings with stories of recovery, struggle, confession and new beginning, engaging the group members more in self-reflection and less in self-rumination.
“There is no success without struggle. Here at N.A., people have come out of addiction through emotional support and learning from the experiences of other addicts,” says, Ajay (name changed), 60-year old founding member of N.A. group in Chandigarh.
He tells, two decades back when the meetings began here, people from all age groups used to come at the N.A. meetings but now, the group members are mostly youngsters. Adolescents are more likely to get hooked on drugs than other age groups, he says.
Some of the reasons young people have given for taking drugs included to relieve boredom, to experiment or try something new, to escape loneliness and depression, peer pressure, he adds.
The members are between the age group 17-60 years from all walks of life. There are few, who are studying in colleges, some of them are working professionals or businessmen and some are struggling to find the right career path.
“We are fall short of perfection… But stigma and discrimination against drug addicts make it harder to recover. At N.A., sharing and learning is helping the addicts to build self-esteem, give confidence and overcome destructive thought patterns during the healing process. In the absence of any professional help at N.A., it is all of us, who are teaching as well as learning and sharing something every day,” he concludes.
A study conducted by the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) last year had revealed that there were more than 7,000 opioid users in the city. Nearly 40 percent of the opioid users in Chandigarh were using injections opioids, wherein buprenorphine was the commonest type and most of them were as young as 29 and poorly educated, the study stated.
The PGIMER study also estimated that the number of people addicted to opioids (heroin, smack, opium, poppy husk etc) in neighboring state of Punjab could be anywhere between 1.7 lakh and 2.7 lakh.
Taking about the treatment at drug de-addiction centres and N.A. meetings, Dr Subodh BN, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, PGIMER says, “At both drug de-addiction centres and N.A. meetings, there is one principal for patients ‘we have to change ourselves’. While at drug de-addiction centres, we focus on both medicinal and counseling treatment, the N.A. meetings are more about encouraging and motivating the drug addicts to come out of the addiction.”
“In severe cases, medicinal treatment is required and recovery takes place gradually. Critical period of treatment could range from one week to few weeks at drug de-addiction centre. We also encourage the patients to attend counseling and N.A. sessions to learn from the experiences of others, who are recovering from the addiction,” he says.
“learning from struggle and experiences of others, who have come out of addiction, helps the drug addicts in the recovery process,” Dr Subodh adds.