Why People Are Addicted to Drugs and Alchohol

People will ask me sometimes, why will people use drugs and alcohol when they know that it's so bad for you? And I say because it works. There was a study done in 1997 on what's called the ACEs study. It's the biggest study ever done on childhood trauma. 17,000 people were surveyed, and they connected up their trauma to mental and physical health issues, depending on how many ACEs you had. ACEs are adverse childhood experiences. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, even neglect, witnessing violence in the home, dealing with an addicted parent in the home. All of these are examples of ACEs. There was a direct connection between ACEs and mental and physical health as well as addiction. What happens when you have that trauma is your mind is not okay with it, and your mind constantly loops through that old trauma from your childhood. How do you stop it? Well, you can stop it by taking drugs and alcohol. And people will ask me sometimes, why will people use drugs and alcohol when they know that it's so bad for you? And I say, because it works. It actually shuts off the pain. And that's what they're looking for. They're not trying to get high or not trying to get drunk. It's not about their character, morals, willpower, or ethics. It's all about pain.