You may suspect that your roommate is hiding a drug problem. You don’t know if you should confront him or her, but you want to help, if you can.
Signs of a Hidden Drug Addiction
While you might not think it is your place to interfere with your roommate’s life, if he or she is an addict, this addiction will have an impact on your life. Look for any of the following signs of addiction:
- Consumption. Is your roommate taking pills or smoking pot throughout the day? Does it appear that he or she is taking more than before? Be sure to look in trash bins inside and outside of the house to see if he or she is attempting to secretly discard the empty pill bottles or drug paraphernalia. If this is an addiction, odds are that it will escalate. When that happens, tolerance develops, and your roommate is going to require more of the drug just to feel “normal.” Tolerance is a clear sign of drug abuse.
- Behavior. Is your roommate acting isolated and secretive? Is his or her physical appearance and personal hygiene decreasing? It is not uncommon for an addict to become so focused on getting drugs that the individual starts disregarding the basic functions of life like eating properly and showering. Have you noticed that your roommate is either waking up several times during the night or is sleeping in late each morning? Disrupted sleep patterns are another sign of drug abuse.
- Distraction. Does your roommate forget what he or she has said or done? It is not uncommon for a person who is abusing drugs to have great spans of time when things were so fuzzy that he or she does not recall them. You may also notice that distraction is causing your roommate to act in a clumsy manner.
- Mood changes. If you find that you never know if your roommate is going to be angry, depressed, happy, elated, miserable or hostile, this is a clear sign of abuse, because once a person becomes addicted, his or her mood is often determined by the availability of the drug, the opportunities to use it and his or her experience of withdrawal symptoms.
- Financial changes. Since you are expecting your roommate to maintain his or her share of your expenses, you may be more alert to financial changes. If your roommate is no longer able to pay for rent or utilities on time, you may need to look more closely at some of the other factors to determine if he or she is hiding a drug addiction.