She believes addiction is fundamentally rooted in a lack of self-worth and issues with mental health rather than just the substance use itself.

“What is the core of it all? Uh selfworth. Yeah. No self worth. Loving yourself. Yeah. I hated myself. I always have.”

Addiction is a form of self-medication used to cope with deep personal pain and trauma.

“It like self-medicated. Like it took all the pain, all the hurt, all the terrible way I felt about myself because I felt like I was garbage cuz that's what my mother drilled into me.”

Problematic drug use is largely a method of self-medicating for underlying childhood trauma and should be treated as a medical issue rather than a criminal one.

“I learned that almost all of the people who are using heroin and crack cocaine almost all of these people are self-medicating for trauma and most of it is childhood trauma.”

The speaker views her past drug addiction as a mechanism for self-medication that she erroneously believed she was managing successfully.

“because in my brain I was like this helps me I mean I'm lettering lettering in academics I'm able to run 10 miles I'm I'm able to do all these things go ride four horses go do whatever I'm taking care of everything and nobody knows nobody nobody knows anything”

The user believes that his drug use is a method of self-medication because he lacks self-love while sober.

“it sucks because you know when when I'm sober I don't like myself but other people around me seem to like me and then when I'm using I I like myself you know”

Betty Guano maintains that true transformation from drug addiction must be a personal choice made by the individual rather than something that can be forced by others.

“It has to be the person's decision. Like, by the time that I got clean in my own life, everybody had left. Like, I had no family. I had no connections. Everybody was tired of telling me over and over again like, "Hey, you really got to get it together cuz it never happened."”

Hailey claims that addiction recovery is only successful when an individual is truly personally ready to change.

“I changed for me because if I changed for me and nobody else it would affect the kids if I did it for myself instead of doing it for somebody else then it would stick like when I chose sobriety I didn't do it you could try to tell you know a drug addict to get sober for their family”

Cassandra holds the view that drug addiction is a state that can be overcome by simply deciding to quit.

“And all of a sudden I heard this voice in my ear. It said, "Cassie, Cassie, just quit." And it was like they were speaking another language. Just quit like I'd never heard those two words ever before.”