The Face of Addiction

Abstract

Who is an addict? I have been a retail pharmacist for almost 15 years, and I learned very quickly how to identify an addict, or, more gently staled, I learned how to recognize patients who struggled wilh substance abuse issues. I saw the patient recovering from surgery who became dependent on opiates, the tired-looking man coming to the pharmacy lo buy needles for his "diabetes", the nervous-looking woman attempting lo purchase multiple boxes of pseudoephedrine, the emergency-room-frequenter bringing almost daily prescriptions for painkillers and muscle relaxants. What I failed to realize during all of my years of practice was that the face of addiction would actually be my own. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved). (chapter)