Addiction: Notes From Opq

Substance use disorder, commonly called addiction, is continued use despite harm, with craving, loss of control over the amount used, and a brain reward system that has reorganised itself around the substance.

Also called: Addiction, Substance dependence, Drug addiction, Alcohol use disorder.

ICD-10 F10-F19 · ICD-11 6C40

Personal reflections, not clinical guidance, and not a substitute for any of it. Just what I keep thinking about while building this.

September 2026

One side of the story

Substance use disorder, addiction, is the most stigmatised condition on LucidMindora. That's because people only look at one side of the story.

For me, the line is between use a person can still control (substance abuse) and use that has moved into impaired control (SUD). Past that line, it shouldn't be reduced to a moral failing. Changes in how the brain works can make stopping genuinely hard. The brain has been hijacked.

Now the drugs take me

Jarad Anthony Higgins may or may not be one of the biggest inspirations for this project. He suffered from this. Some of his music explains what the disorder feels like, to people who don't have it, better than anything else I know.

"I stopped taking the drugs, and now the drugs take me." That's Juice WRLD.

That line says he started the relationship with the drugs, and then it spiralled out of his control. Now the drugs take him, piece by piece.

What's ironic is how much I listen to his music. All it has ever taught me is the tragedy, and the havoc drugs can cause in a person's life.

No stigma, but

Opq holds no stigma against people with this disorder. But I do think it's the one condition here that starts with a choice.

And that's before the other complications it can bring. Substance-induced psychosis. Extreme withdrawal symptoms. Irritability. And so on.

Don't

If you're reading this, and you think your life is shit, so you want to take drugs to "numb" the pain: take that step, and there's a high chance you'll end up praying to have the shit life you have now.

DON'T DO DRUGS.