Oldal 31 [31]
1.INTRODUCTION =29
and structure of their lives, rethink their lives and thereby change their futures
(Koski-Jännes, 1998, 2002). New experiences and relationships are essential
when starting a new life. Identity in this regard has two aspects: social and
private.
Recovering helpers already existed in the 19th century in hospitals or other
drug rehabilitation centers in the US. Currently, about 37-75 % of helpers in
the USA are recovering users (Knudsen, Ducharme, & Roman, 2006; McNulty,
Oser, Aaron Johnson, Knudsen, & Roman, 2007). In Hungary many drug
rehabilitation centers, drug ambulances apply recovering helpers (e.g., Blue
Point Foundation, Nyírő Gyula National Institute of Psychiatry and Addic¬
tions). Often they work within the frameworks of the Minnesota method (also
known as the 12-step program) (White, 2000a, 2000b). Motivation is a very
significant factor in helpers’ lives: their life is a role, which helps other drug
users to recover. Many previous studies have examined the experience of
recovery, but experiences of recovering helpers, especially the aspects of iden¬
tity are unexplored yet.
Consequently, the first empirical study included in my book (Study 1)'
had two main goals:
(1) to assess the process of how addicts become recovering helpers
(2) to examine what is the connection between recovery and helping by
utilizing IPA
In recent years new psychoactive substances (NPS) have been increasingly
used by people who use drugs in recent years, which poses a new challenge
for treatment services (Corazza et al., 2013). NPS are sold as replacements for
illicit drugs, but they often contain unknown compounds. In Hungary, NPSs
appeared in 2010 and rapidly dominated the illicit drug market (Racz, Csak,
et al., 2016). The number of seizures of synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) - also
known as “herbal”, “bio-weed”, or “sage” - was nearly double the number of
seizures of herbal cannabis in 2014. The range of substances found in the
products follows the changes in legislation: between one and two dominant
active substances could be found on the market in each period. The dynamics
of these processes changed in 2015, as the scope of the substances that could
be traded without any criminal consequences was narrowed drastically by the
expansion of the generic regulation. By the end of the year, the place of ADB¬
FUBINACA, which was legal until then and dominant in seizures, was over¬
taken by AMB-FUBINACA and 5F-AMB, regardless that these substances had
already been controlled since October 2014 (in Hungary substances are banned
compound-by-compound (Hungarian National Focal, 2015)). Users obtain
1 (József Rácz et al., 2015)