health

These "faces of addiction" are incredibly hard to see. But please, don't look away.

 

When someone you love is struggling with addiction, it is incredibly hard. It’s hard to talk to them. It’s hard to make them see sense. It’s hard to be around them. It’s hard to accept what they’re doing to their own lives. And it’s hard to remember that they’re still them; that their addiction has taken over their free will.

A new campaign called ‘Faces of Addiction’ is aimed at bringing awareness to drug addiction and reducing the stigma attached.

A 2013 statistic shows over 24 million Americans had abused illicit drugs in a month’s period. The proportions in Australia are sadly, not dissimilar.

It begins early. With 40% of 14 to 17-year-olds drinking alcohol, according to the Australian Drug Foundation, this is just the first step in what is a slippery slope into illicit drugs that never ends well.

Faces of Addiction spreads their message through interactive GIFs that show the deterioration of a person’s life when they abuse drugs.

They are confronting. But they’re also an important wake up call for anyone who abuses drugs.

If these haven’t sunk in yet, click through the below gallery for more confronting before-and-after images of addiction.