Foreword
If you’re like me, you rarely read forewords. You want to get right to the story. Please make this foreword the exception and read it before you start Hannah’s tale.
Methamphetamine (meth) is a powerful stimulant. On the street, it’s known by many names. Its use has now become a pandemic, sweeping the world. And we’re virtually powerless to stop it.
With so many people seeking an escape from their everyday lives, meth production and distribution has become a criminal industry. Drug dealers outnumber the police, and drugs are available everywhere.
Meth increases activity in certain areas of the brain and heightens central nervous functions. Heart rate, body temperature, respiration, and blood pressure all increase. Meth also elevates production of dopamine, which causes a “high” and the desire to recreate that feeling makes the drug extremely addictive.
For users, energy, attention, focus, pleasure, and excitement are enhanced. Inhibitions are lowered, increasing risk-taking and possibly suicidal behaviors, and libido is increased. Long-term use can cause damage to the brain cells that produce dopamine and nerve cells containing serotonin.
Dopamine is a chemical released by nerve cells to send signals to other nerve cells. Dopamine pathways play a major role in the motivational component of reward-motivated behavior, like the use of meth. Over time, the damage to dopamine-producing cells dampens the reward — the high — experienced by a meth user, and the user requires more and more of the drug to achieve the same feeling.
Over the long term, users can develop cognitive and emotional issues such as:
• Aggressive behaviors;
• Violent outbursts;
• Anxiety;
• Depression;
• Paranoia;
• Confusion;
• Visual and auditory hallucinations; and
• Delusions.

Physical effects include:
• Skin sores and infections from compulsive picking;
• Tooth decay, also known as “meth mouth”;
• Weight loss;
• Increased risk for infection or sexually transmitted disease; and
• Respiratory damage (if smoked or snorted).
The statistics are startling. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that in 2015, six percent of Americans aged 12 or older had tried meth at least once. In 2011, meth accounted for 103,000 emergency department visits, and was the fourth most-mentioned illicit drugs by patients.
Thirty percent of law enforcement agencies see meth as the greatest drug threat, and the threat that requires the most resources. In Portland, Oregon, more than one in five burglars and nearly forty percent of car thieves were also charged with meth crimes.
In 2017, the United States Department of Justice issued a National Drug Threat Assessment that stated that 897,000 people aged 12 or older currently use meth. Deaths from meth overdose rose 225% between 2005 and 2015. In 2015, 5716 people died of stimulant overdose.
So, you see, Hannah’s story isn’t isolated. Drugs aren’t something only supplied to those with low socio-economic backgrounds. Unfortunately, drugs are easily available everywhere.
Hannah goes through so many changes, physically and mentally, once she’s hooked. She, like most who are addicted to drugs, have altered brain functions. The drug clouds an addict’s perception. There are a lot of times in Addiction where Hannah believes something other than the facts, because she’s affected by her meth high.
Addiction will do to you what it does to a family of a drug addict.
It will frustrate and anger you. Especially when we catch Hannah out in lies about what actually occurred, replaced by how she interpreted the same events. The inconsistencies in Addiction are deliberate, so we can fully understand how Hannah sees things from under the drug fog.
After the first experience taking drugs, a lot of people will say no and stay away. But, some think ‘once won’t hurt’. Unfortunately, the first time is the ultimate high, and they chase it over and over again. Drugs are manufactured in facilities where there is no quality control, no code of conduct. There are no safe practices. There are no federal regulations. But, once a person becomes addicted, the drug alters their level of comprehension and their only goal is to achieve the ultimate high they got from the first time.
It’s hard to break the cycle of addiction.
It’s harder to integrate back into society as a productive member.
It’s even more difficult to look a family member who’ve you’ve wronged in the eye and apologize.
Please, while reading Addiction, remember Hannah is still a human being. You’ll be angry and frustrated, and you’ll want to shake her. You may even want to save her. Her journey is not uncommon. Hannah needed to hit rock bottom before she could break the chains of her addiction.
She needed to crash before she could save herself and become a warrior.
Addiction