It is a very cliche saying that what goes up must inevitably come down. But in the case of the addict, this describes their normal cycle to a T. While it would be very easy to say cruel things about addicts, the truth is that they are doing the very same thing that everybody else is doing. The problem usually arises when the addict takes it too far, and somebody gets hurt. Very often, they are hurting themselves before they ever even realize (let alone admit) that there is a problem in the first place. Far too often, admitting that there is a problem comes after the damage has been done.
Think about how the addict’s typical day goes. They wake up, often sporting the after effects of their most recent binge. If they have the ability to do so, they take a little bit more, just to get them through the things that they have to do during the day. When you are used to being high, not being high feels downright low by comparison. Your entire equilibrium is skewed, so that you do not even know what is up nor down anymore. Needless to say, this level of confusion is both disorienting and scary. So it is time to use again!
After a long enough time has passed, it becomes downright terrible for the addict to live without their drug of choice. While there is usually some degree of physical addiction to contend with, the mental addiction goes so much deeper. After all, when you have based how you see the entire world on how high you usually are, the world can be a very scary place when you finally come back down.