Drugs, legal or illegal, are another example of the new normal. Why do Americans puff 25
million marijuana joints each year? It is becoming increasingly normal for individuals to smoke a joint at night to relax after a stressful day. Some even grow their own marijuana in order to avoid the cost of buying and the risk associated with drug dealers. It is not unusual to hear celebrities who have been in and out of rehab defend their medical use of marijuana by denying their addiction to this addictive drug.
And just why do Americans take one million tablets of Ecstasy each year?
Perhaps the most dangerous of all is the legal prescription drug consumption that is destroying family systems and claiming an excessive number of lives due to overdose. For example, one person dies every nineteen minutes from a drug overdose. The prescription painkiller Oxycodone was the leading cause of drug-related deaths in Florida in 2008. This has become the new normal among young and old alike.
As a result of this new normal, many individuals have become alcoholics and/or drug addicts without knowing it because they think their routine of often daily use of alcohol and/or drugs is perfectly normal. After all, everyone they know has a few beers, a few drinks, a glass of wine, a couple of cocktails, smokes a “little weed,” and/or is on some kind of prescribed medication.
It’s the normal thing to do.
Similarly, consider the “high-powered, looked-up-to” politicians, celebrities, and athletes who find it quite normal to have a drink and/or joint before and/or after a political rally, theatrical performance, or a strenuous athletic competition. And what about the athlete who defends having a beer during the competition as something any normal person would do?
Of course, celebrities aren’t the only people filling up the beds and patient lists in treatment programs, detox facilities, and rehabilitation centers. They’re full to the rafters with our neighbors, our family members, our co-workers, and every other kind of everyday person you can think of. Maybe you’ve even been there yourself.
What are the results and/or consequences of your own new normal behaviors? Make a list.
