ADVISORY COMMISSION ON WOMEN

You may suddenly notice unusual behaviors. For example, being late a lot, forgetting things, not paying attention, needing more help than usual at work or school, avoiding old friends, always being tired, or seeming to make a lot of personal calls at work. Note: These signs could also be due to other stresses like family problems, overwork, illness in the family, etc.If the problem is drug or alcohol abuse, you will probably notice that the behavior gets worse over time.

Alcohol or drug use can be divided into four stages:

• Stage 1. Casual or "Experimental" Use.
  
• Stage 2. More Frequent Drug or Alcohol Use.
  You may see changes in mood, friends, behavior, or work habits. The person may have unexplained loss of memory.
  
• Stage 3. Regular Drug or Alcohol Use and a Preoccupation with Getting High.
  The person may use drugs or alcohol daily or have binges. They may get in trouble with the law, have more sick days, or more problems with family and friends.

• Stage 4. Compulsive Use
  At this point, the user experiences withdrawal if he or she can't get the drug or alcohol. He or she may experience serious health problems, brain damage and memory loss, and life-threatening episodes.

What can I do?

Don't ignore the problem.
Someone else's feelings or problems are not more important than their addiction, and their feelings or problems are not more important than yours are.

Don't excuse or cover up the problem for someone else.
Get help for yourself, even if the user won't. There are lots of groups for friends and the families of drug and alcohol abusers that can help. They can teach you better ways to cope and respond to the abuser.

Consult a trained addictions counselor for advice.
They can help you organize an intervention with friends and family that will confront the abuser with his or her substance abuse problem and that will emphasize the importance of getting help.