Addiction to the point of...

Two friends gave me new perspectives on the word "addiction" today.

Early in the morning a friend called apologising for not picking up my call last night. I thought it was magnanimous of her to do so, as she usually text if she's busy, and she knows I won't hold it against her.

Turns out she has news to share, and it was of her younger brother who had just gotten out of jail for drug abuse. "I worry about his addiction, how long he'll stay clean. That's why last night we were out at this health therapy place, where they promise to help him build a stronger self to fight the addiction."

One guy once told me that only 1 in 100 ex-addict gets the full-recovery batch. Others tend to stay clean, then relapse, then clean again, then they go for harder/softer drugs, depending on how easy it is to get supplies. He said, "Even when you're clean, the longing is there. It's like missing the love of your life, and once you know the feeling of being in fantasy land, like Peter Pan, you'd want to return and get lost in it once again. And you tell yourself, just this one time, and that one time tend to last."

Later in the office, another friend shows up with a pair of new shoes. "It was RM559, and I got it for RM55.90. Tangs was having a sale!"

"You're such a lucky shopper!" retorts another colleague.

"You're such a bad influence!" goes my reply.

"What to do, tis my addiction..."

Don't you just wish it is as easy as that. Stay away from drugs. It'll kill your loved ones first, then, if you're lucky, it'll kill you.