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    The Dangers of Living with a Drug Addict and how to Stay Safe.
    The Dangers of Living with a Drug Addict and how to Stay Safe.
    The Dangers of Living with a Drug Addict and how to Stay Safe.
    Ebook83 pages1 hour

    The Dangers of Living with a Drug Addict and how to Stay Safe.

    By Vivienne Gardner Edwards

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    About this ebook

    Living with a drug addict can be difficult if not downright dangerous. This book explores the various unhealthy things that can go along with drug abuse in the home. Children can be placed in a particularly dangerous position when being cared for by a drug addict. From fires to infections and from theft to suicide, this book covers many of the things that can happen with a drug addict in the household. The author dealt with this in her home for a number of years and now shares what she learned to keep herself safe. This knowledge could help others avert a tragedy.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherVivienne Gardner Edwards
    Release dateJan 9, 2013
    ISBN9781301171361
    The Dangers of Living with a Drug Addict and how to Stay Safe.
    Author

    Vivienne Gardner Edwards

    Vivienne was born in England and was educated in Oxford. After her marriage, she moved to the United States with her husband and two daughters. After living in both Michigan and Minnesota, she currently lives in the beautiful Willamette Valley in Oregon. While in Minnesota, she began homeschooling her daughters and started the Minnesota Homeschoolers Alliance, a statewide homeschooling network that has grown into a large non-profit organization. She wrote a number of articles and booklets on home education, coached parents and has been invited to speak at numerous state and national conferences. After moving to Oregon, she became a speaker on domestic violence for a local women's shelter. After her divorce, she shared a house with a woman who she ultimately discovered was a heavy drug user. During those years she dealt with the daily effects of a drug user in the house. After finally realizing that she was part of the problem and not part of the solution, she made immediate changes to ensure her own personal safety. Afterwards, she started a local drug education network, working with local law enforcement and schools to educate others about drugs and their effects on both the user and the family. After two years, she wanted to expand the reach of this work so she created an educational website dedicated to the support of families of drug users. During this time, she also became a caregiver for a woman friend who was a disabled Veteran. She gained much experience dealing with the VA and learned a great deal about our Vets who also have drug addiction problems. In her spare time, when not writing, she cares for her dogs, two of which are disabled, and her group of rescued cats. Several new books will be available soon, including a comprehensive workbook dedicated to helping those suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome or PTSD, especially targeted to military personnel, and in lighter tone, a series of adventure novels.

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      Book preview

      The Dangers of Living with a Drug Addict and how to Stay Safe. - Vivienne Gardner Edwards

      The Dangers of Living with a Drug Addict

      and how to Stay Safe.

      Vivienne Gardner Edwards

      For Dana

      Thank you for everything I learned from you.

      Published by Angels on Wheels LLC at Smashwords.

      Copyright 2012 Vivienne Gardner Edwards.

      Cover Illustration Copyright Artistique Photographie. Portland OR

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this book shall be taken as legal advice.

      You are advised to contact an attorney on all legal issues. References in this book are for information only and do not constitute any endorsement by the author.

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      Living with a Drug Addict

      A Tweaker

      Children's Safety

      Fire

      Drug Paraphernalia

      Infection

      Sexual Activity

      Visitors

      Financial Problems

      Family Valuables

      Money and Banking

      Theft

      Drug use and weapons.

      Drugs and Driving.

      Domestic Violence

      Lying

      Blackmail

      Drug Dealing

      Marijuana; Grown for use or profit.

      Methamphetamine Production.

      Triggers; What might trigger a User.

      Making an Escape Plan.

      What to tell your children.

      Restraining Orders

      Suicide.

      Safety Ideas.

      Surveillance Cameras

      Is there hope?

      Afterword.

      About the Author.

      Living with a Drug Addict

      Living with a drug addict brings up many different safety issues. I know that if you are not an addict, you may think that the drug use cannot hurt you. I thought that, but I was so wrong.

      After years of dealing with my business partner who was also my housemate and friend, and putting up with the dangers associated with her drug use, plus dealing with her abuse and violence, I am much more aware of safety issues than I ever thought about before.

      I want to share some of these with you so you can learn from my mistakes. Not everything will apply to your situation, but take what is useful and never think for a moment that this could not happen to you.

      To begin with, I did not know that she (I‘ll call her Jeanette) was back to using drugs. I did know that she had been a user, actually a heavy user, for some years. Her drugs of choice were methamphetamine and marijuana. I knew a little about the effects of marijuana but next to nothing about meth.

      I had no direct experience of any drug use as I have never used drugs or even smoked cigarettes. I had no idea what signs to look for and as I cared about her and our business, I trusted her. Big mistake, as I then learned the hard way!

      We began sharing a home after my divorce. She talked quite openly about her previous drug use but she had been to a rehab at least twice. She appeared clean and held down a job. She also gave up smoking when I told her I could not stand living with secondhand smoke. None of these things lasted long.

      When you have a family member who is using any kind of drug, it is a mind altering substance. Therefore, that person does not operate in the same way that non-drug users do. At the time I did not understand the long-term damage that some drugs can do.

      I later learned that many drug users began using drugs to 'self-medicate', because the drug makes them feel better or more normal or more able to work or just cope with life. This is quite often due to an underlying or undiagnosed mental condition, so they self medicate rather than a visit to a doctor. Whatever started the user down the path, the result is that you are probably dealing with someone who was originally not functioning very well mentally, and the drug use makes things much worse.

      This can actually be an understatement, as I found out after just a few months with Jeanette. I know that Jeanette had untreated ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) so I believe this was a contributing factor when she started using drugs in her teens. I believe it is quite possible that all drug users have some kind of mental unbalance. Even if they did not have a problem before their drug use, they certainly end up with one from the effects of drugs. The symptoms of this imbalance can range from the occasional pot smoker who is being a bit 'out-of-it' to a full blown meth addict who has reached the 'tweaker' stage.

      A Tweaker? What’s that?

      The term tweaker refers to a methamphetamine user. Actually, a heavy meth user, and this is what happens. After a certain quantity of the drug has been used over a number of hours or days, the user can no longer get high from it. They have often been awake for days - sometimes as long as fifteen days in a row with no sleep - and they become delusional. They are in a living hell of their own doing. They want to sleep but they cannot. They want to feel a high from the drug but they cannot. They want someone to help them but they reject all offers of help. They become paranoid, suspicious, unreasonable and angry.

      Tweakers are very dangerous people. Never trust anyone who shows signs of being at this stage. They can travel from apathy to murderous rage in a split second. If the user in your household is using meth, be very watchful. Meth use often increases and increases to the point of tweaking. These tweakers are at

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