Cannabis is the substance around which denial holds out longest — and not only in the person using it, but in the family too. That is why people ask for help years after it all began.
“It is not really a drug, you cannot get addicted to it” comes up in every second conversation. It suits everyone: the person carries on using, the family keeps its peace of mind. The trouble is that the argument is not coming from the person but from denial — the same mechanism that works in alcoholism and in opioid addiction.
There is a simple way to tell an episode from an illness, and it needs no tests. Look at the life rather than the substance. Has the circle of interests narrowed? Have the things that used to give pleasure fallen away? Is there irritability on days without it? Is the day built around making sure the use happens?
Drugs are not hard to get hold of now, and teenagers often try them for the new sensation, treating it as a one-off experience. The danger lies not in the single attempt but in the fact that at this age the habit becomes part of how the personality is formed: the young person never learns to live through stress, boredom and failure without a substance, because they were handed an easy way not to feel any of it.
If you have found out that your child is using, the worst thing you can do is stage a row and impose total control. That does not stop the use; it drives it out of sight. Call us and describe the situation: with teenagers, work with a psychologist and with the family is often enough, without a residential programme.
A residential programme is needed once attempts to stop alone have already been made and ended in a return to use; when use is daily; when memory and motivation start to suffer; or when other substances have joined the cannabis — which happens far more often than families assume.
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The consultation is free and anonymous. It is usually the family who call first rather than the person with the addiction — that is normal, and most recovery stories begin exactly there.
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