You can become addicted to any drug, if you have a family history of addiction.

“Often people experiencing challenges with addiction cease one addictive behaviour by taking up another, we call it cross addiction, effective addiction treatment can help provide the individual important information about the reality of their position”. – Jase Bowman ASV CEO

If at least one of your family members is addicted to alcohol, you have a greater chance of developing an addiction to any other drug. Cross addiction occurs because all addictions work in the same part of the brain.

If your brain is wired so that you’re predisposed to one addiction, then you’re predisposed to all addictions.

That’s one of the consequences of a brain that’s wired for addiction.

Suppose you’re addicted to cocaine. If you want to stop using cocaine then you have to stop using all addictive drugs including alcohol and marijuana. You may never have had a problem with either of them, but if you continue to use alcohol or marijuana, even casually, they’ll eventually lead you back to your drug of choice.

Recovery requires total abstinence.

How does cross addiction cause relapse?

1. All addictions work in the same part of the brain. Addiction is addiction is addiction. Therefore, one drug can lead you back to any other drug.
2. Even moderate drinking or smoking marijuana lowers your inhibitions, which makes it harder for you to make the right choices.
3. If you stop using your drug of choice but continue to use alcohol or marijuana, you’re saying that you don’t want to learn new coping skills and that you don’t want to change your life. You’re saying that you want to continue to rely on drugs or alcohol to escape, relax, and reward yourself. But if you don’t learn those new skills, then you won’t have changed, and your addiction will catch up with you all over again.