Mouth of Madness

I have a very good friend who has a serious addiction to meth. Normally I would just quit talking to this person after so much, but he has always been a very dependable person. I know he would give me his last dollar if I needed it. Every time that I talk with him, he either tells me how serious his addiction is or he downplays it, as if it was not a big deal. The reason I am writing about this is that I used to have some serious addiction problems, but for the life of me, I cannot remember what it was like to be that addicted. I know that I was shooting up atleast fifty dollars worth of cocaine a day, and I remember the symptons of my withdraws when I quit, but I do not remember what they felt like. I am 22 now and will turn 23 in april, I started seriously trying to quit drugs when I was 17 and was clean by my 18th birthday. So I realize that relatively speaking, 5 years is not a very long time to be clean, but it seems like a lifetime ago since the last time i used coke, meth, or any other drugs that I deem as unhealthy. I also realize that my major problem with narcotics was only about a three and a half year time period, but when I think about my drug days, it seems like a lifetime as well. I had done many horrible things during my addiction, and after stealing from my family and even my little brother on a constant basis, I realized that I had to give it up. I remember the sleepless nights and waking up covered in sweat. I had a constant headache and a very paranoid feeling at all times. I would start shaking involuntarily. If I saw any movies that involved needles or IVs, I would just want to curl up and cry. Strange that now I choose to follow the path of a medical career. One of the biggest factors in my decision to quit were the people I associated with. I was doing dope with people in their forties that still worked minimum wage jobs and lived in shithole homes. What kind of life is that? My friend has always been a pothead, now I personally can't stand pot, it gives me a headache. but I could care less if other people smoke it, and I believe that it should be legal. within the last six months he has started doing meth, it started out slow and then onto just weekends. he would never do it when he had to work. Now he doing it constantly, he will not answer his phone when I call if he is on it, because he knows I can tell just by talking to him. (benefit of once having been an addict, if i have children they will never get away with the shit) I feel like his mother, because I call him everyday to ask him if he is behaving himself. I just do not understand why he is addicted to it. He is doing the drugs with people in their 40s who smoke dope with their children... what kind of life is that... This guy is the only person that I will still associate with despite the narcotics, and that is only because he has always been there for me. he called me tonight saying that he is quitting, and normally I just blow this kind of thing off because it is not the first time, but tonight his family had an intervention so maybe it will work this time. I remember very clearly what the different drugs felt like, and how things looked, smelled, or tasted. I remember that I always had to have them, but I do not remember what that addiction, that urge that i had to have these drugs, felt like.