Addiction
Crystal Murphy
December 14, 2015
SCI/133
Lauren Dauro

In the movie “The Fighter,” the addiction of drug abuse was addressed. The movie was based on a true story where two brothers named Dicky and Micky Ward were professional boxers. Dickey was the oldest and had his chance at the World Title to be the best boxer of all times. Unfortunately, Dickey got addicted to crack cocaine. Although the characters in the story never fully address his addiction because they pretend that it is not there. Their mother acts oblivious and surprised when she finds out close to the end of the movie. While Micky, was not really surprised.
Micky is an up and coming boxer who is trying to fight his way to the top with the help of his brother who is his trainer. However, Dicky doesn’t show up on time to train Micky and gets Micky into bad fights that he doesn’t have a chance to win because of the major weight difference. Through the beginning of the movie, a camera crew is following Dicky around. Dicky tells everyone that they are making a movie about his comeback even though he knows the film is about his addiction to crack. Dicky winds up in trouble with the police because he was pretending to be a police officer, stealing, and setting his girlfriend up as a prostitute to get money for more crack. When the police go to arrest Dicky, he runs away. Micky and the family are eating at a restaurant nearby when they find out that the police have caught Dicky. Micky runs out to see the police hitting his brother and tries to intervene and ends up getting his fighting hand broken by one of the police officers. They are both arrested but Dicky goes to prison because this wasn’t his first time getting in trouble with the law. Dicky ends up having to go through withdrawals in jail while Micky has to take a break from boxing until his hand heals.
Micky’s hand heals up after a few months around the time the film on Dicky is aired on television. This is when the family sees how Dicky is strung out on crack and is all upset and disappointed. Dicky is able to also watch the film in jail and is struck with emotion when he sees his little boy devastated by his father getting locked up. Micky decides to go seek out training elsewhere and go under new management under the condition that neither Dicky or his mother step in and get involved. Micky agrees and works his way up the latter winning matches when he ends up getting a big match around the time Dicky gets out of prison. Dicky returns to where Micky is being trained and expects to go back to training Micky himself as if nothing happened. Micky however, is still upset by Dicky’s actions and tells him about the agreement that was made. Dicky has to make things right with everyone so that he is able to help his brother win this big fight so he can receive the World Champion Title.
Dicky’s addiction physically affected his appearance as a whole. He is a lot smaller than he once was when he was healthy and boxing. His teeth were also badly damaged. Once Dicky goes to jail, he actually returned with new teeth because of the damage crack had done to them. The movie didn’t really address any long-term health problems, but I am sure he had something from being so strung out. As stated above, Dicky’s addictions affects his chance and reputation at boxing as well as his relationship with his brother Micky once it landed him in jail with a broken hand because of his brother’s choices.
From personal experience, there is never an easy was to confront the person with an addiction. You have to be stern, but also delicate at the same time. You don’t want to make the person with an addiction feel like they are being attacked because they may snap or lash out. If I had to confront Dicky based off of the scenario of the movie, I would explain to him that he was causing Micky to fail by not being available to train him or being in the right state of mind to set gin up with fair fights. I would address the unspoken issue of him hanging out in a known crack house and make sure I was there to help him through it and stay away from the influence. If I had to confront someone about addiction in my own life I would handle it similar, by shedding light on the situation. I will give a personal example of a way I addressed my first love when we were together. He had an addictive personality. For example, if he got prescribed medication he would want and need it for months at a time. If he smoked one cigarette he would smoke a pack a day for the next few months. We were together for 5 years and in those years he was addicted to tobacco, marijuana, prescription medication of all kinds, and alcohol. It was a never ending battle for me. I became the bad guy because once I would get him through one addiction, he would pick up another. In order to get him through each addiction I would have to express to him how lonely I felt and how much money he was spending. I would try to show him that I was upset and worried about him. Each and every day we would argue about how much less he would do that day. Every day I would try to make sure that he would cut back even more than the last day until eventually he didn’t feel like he needed it anymore. However, this meant I had to literally hover over and watch his every move. When he was at work, I worried if he would be doing drugs. It became almost too much for me to handle and I eventually had to call it quits because my own health was suffering from all of the energy and stress I had. It was a very toxic relationship and I wasn’t qualified to be able to keep him off of the drugs, smoking, and drinking.
There are many different treatments for people that suffer with an addiction. However, a treatment that would help you stop smoking wouldn’t also help a person stop drinking or doing drugs. If you wanted to stop drinking, you would need to join an Alcohol abuse group and have supported people around you. If you were trying to stop smoking there are nicotine patches and other types of medications you can get prescribed by a doctor. Not every treatment helps every individual. If you had an addiction to food, then you might go talk to a doctor and get put on a dietary supplement or on a diet as well as be made to exercise regularly. If someone is addicted to drugs, there is rehabilitation centers they can admit themselves or have someone else admit them in. There is even certain medication that could help with withdrawals from a drug they are trying to come off of such as methadone. If you or someone you know is struggling with an addiction, please talk to someone and get help.