Keira-anne.com

I take much guilty pleasure in the programs that A&E has to offer. It started innocently enough with shows such as Cold Case Files and American Justice, but has more recently branched out into a show which is now running into its third season: Intervention.

Two weeks ago I spent an entire Saturday on the couch in my pajamas and legwarmers with a 3-hour Intervention mini marathon to keep me company. Undoubtedly, each episode’s chronicle of the life of an addict tugs on the most delicate of heartstrings, but a particular installment that rainy Saturday afternoon completely ripped on them.

It told the story of John, a 33-year-old Bostonian who lost his mother as a little boy, and in the last year had lost his sister, his cousin and his best friend. Over the course of the last 12 months, John’s dive into the rabbit hole of crack cocaine and alcohol had seemingly hit rock bottom. He looked sickly and completely unhappy. However, what became glaringly apparent to me in the solitary times between John and the camera was the deep hurt behind watery eyes. An intervention was his only hope.

John’s story moved me in way that I can’t explain, but it got me thinking about dependency on substance and how prevalent it has become. As someone who has dealt first-hand with a person whose substance abuse problem cost them their life, it’s easy for me to view those who share the same struggles with a slightly less biased (and more open) eye.

A few weeks ago, as I sat in the sunshine with a girlfriend, the topic of conversation drifted to substance abuse. I stated to her that I think, based on the picture that’s painted within the media, it’s one’s natural reaction to judge. Abusers are labelled as foolish people who “should know better.” Unfortunately, that’s not the case and the solution isn’t nearly that simple.

To turn to any addiction, whether it’s gambling, alcohol, heroin, compulsive shopping, purging after a meal or smoking crack cocaine, is more often than not the direct result of deep-seated pain most likely and completely unrelated to the addiction itself. I believe that the reason so many people from all walks of life battle with the compulsions is the desperate need to self-medicate - a hopeless attempt at numbing the demons that possess.

We turn on the news and see a profile of Vancouver’s downtown eastside. We see incoherent people stumble back and forth across East Hastings, bouncing from alley to alley, fix to fix. We think “what a sad life they lead.” Few of us stop to think how these people got to such a place. The truth is, they are sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and friends.

The misconceptions about those who struggle with various compulsions is, in my own opinion, vastly misunderstood and largely misjudged. And why is it so crucial to open our minds and our eyes to the true nature of this reality? Because the people that struggle aren’t just the ones you see on the 11 o’clock news or an A&E series. It could be the very person living right next to you, and the need to overcome the internal ache is so much larger than the need for another fix.