Are you dealing with addiction in New Jersey? It's possible that you are and don't even know it.

September is National Recovery Month, and City Of Angels — an independent, free organization devoted to recovery, open even to people without insurance — is holding a 5K Run/walk this Saturday at Mercer County Park. The event is co-chaired by our own Bill Spadea and Robbinsville Detective Scott Kivet.

COA founder Kevin Meara, who lost his son to addition, was in studio with me last night and talked about the signs of drug abuse and addiction.

The telltale signs of addiction, provided to use by City of Angels:

• You’re neglecting your responsibilities at school, work, or home (e.g. flunking classes, skipping work, neglecting your children) because of your drug use.
• You’re using drugs under dangerous conditions or taking risks while high, such as driving while on drugs, using dirty needles, or having unprotected sex.
• Your drug use is getting you into legal trouble, such as arrests for disorderly conduct, driving under the influence, or stealing to support a drug habit.
• Your drug use is causing problems in your relationships, such as fights with your partner or family members, an unhappy boss, or the loss of friends.
Common signs and symptoms of drug addiction
• You’ve built up a drug tolerance. You need to use more of the drug to experience the same effects you used to attain with smaller amounts.
• You take drugs to avoid or relieve withdrawal symptoms. If you go too long without drugs, you experience symptoms such as nausea, restlessness, insomnia, depression, sweating, shaking, and anxiety.
• You’ve lost control over your drug use. You often do drugs or use more than you planned, even though you told yourself you wouldn’t. You may want to stop using, but you feel powerless.
• Your life revolves around drug use. You spend a lot of time using and thinking about drugs, figuring out how to get them, and recovering from the drug’s effects.
• You’ve abandoned activities you used to enjoy, such as hobbies, sports, and socializing, because of your drug use.
• You continue to use drugs, despite knowing it’s hurting you. It’s causing major problems in your life: blackouts, infections, mood swings, depression, paranoia—but you use anyway.

Robbinsville Detective, Scott Kivet, joined us in studio to discuss the Robbinsville C.A.R.E. (Community Addiction Recovery Effort) program. His valuable information on how they provide help for addicts can be heard in the video below or found here.

For more info on the City of Angels 5k Run/walk and to sign up walkwiththeangels.com or cityofangelsnj.org.

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