It’s a bit personal but my uncle on my mom's side had a very hard and
possibly verbally abusive father. It led him to drink a lot and do ‘whippets’ I’m
going to talk a bit about both as I am only told some details of how it affects
him. In the case of alcohol he has always had an issue with drinking his entire
life. He would never be mad when drinking just sad. It affected his marriage
being part of the reason it ended in divorce and he has spouts of sobriety for
years on end and then he relapses every once in a while. Typically not too
bad but it makes him unfocused and he looses his drive during those times.
Earlier in life around his 20s alcohol and other drugs hurt him the most.
He was constantly drunk and arguing with his father, employment was hard
to come by, and he was actively risking his life doing whippets. He would do it
for longer than the amount of time needed to kill someone and would
somehow not overdose. Eventually he went to therapy as these drugs were
affecting his mental a lot and he would never have any energy. I’m not sure
how it affected him physically but it must have.
If someone is affected negatively by any drug there are plenty of things
you can do to get help and fix it. Telling someone you can trust, like your
mother, father, siblings, extended family. They will listen and help you so you
can feel better and heard. If you can’t trust any of them there are
professionals you can call or talk to. A therapist, doctor, drug use hotline,
suicide prevention hotline. To fix an issue with alcohol or drugs you need to
think about what caused the want for those drugs. What ever that want is
you need to fix. It may be childhood trauma or possibly you were exposed to
drugs and became addicted. You can’t cold turkey something without getting
to the root of the issue.