by Kevin Flynn

Created on: December 30, 2008

The answer is no. Drug abuse is not a physical attribute or a tendency that can be passed on from generation to generation. It is a learned behavior, something that we pick up from the environments that we are placed in during our formative years. If you look closely at any drug addict, you will find that obsessive, compulsive thinking pattern that has nothing to do with drugs. Drugs just happen to be where that behavior manifests itself.

I have attended twelve step meeting for over thirty years now and I have seen one common denominator among addicts: obsessive, compulsive behavior patterns. These patterns were there before they started using and they remain after the drugs have been put down. The twelve steps are designed to teach principles such as acceptance, tolerance, honesty and patience that have been missing since they were very young.

These principles are taught and instilled in a person, not inherited from their ancestors. A child either learns to accept things in life as is or they become frustrated over situations beyond their control and constantly fight to change them. A good example of this would be the young student who is pressured to do better than he or she is capable of and cheats to attain a good grade. Once the grade is achieved, the external pressure gets greater for the student to maintain that level of excellence, so the cheating continues, creating a sense of frustration and desperate need to be successful.

This is an addictive behavior. The student has a feeling of low self worth because he or she knows that they cannot achieve what is expected of them, but instead of accepting that and just doing the best they can, they alter the situation through dishonesty to please those around them. A child is not born with the ability or rationale to do this. These thoughts are developed by learning from others. Genetics have nothing to do with it.

How does this relate to drug abuse? Many young people start using to fit in with a certain crowd that they may not feel worthy of being with. Everyone craves the acceptance of their peers. It's the intensity of that craving that separates the addict from the so called "normal" user. Often the very use of the drug will separate a child from his peers and create further frustrations and feelings of low self esteem. Once again, external pressure becomes a factor and contributes to addictive behaviors.

In the United States, we are raised with the philosophy that "more is better". In school, we are pushed to have the highest grades and a popular place among our classmates. In our professional lives, we are considered a failure if we're not as successful as our friends and colleagues, pushing us to do more. These patterns of thinking lead to addictive behavior. When what we do is never good enough, we have to continually push for more. We don't inherit that. We do it to ourselves.

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