Each time a person consumes drugs or alcohol, they retain a complete recorded memory of that life experience.Whether they were happy or sad or had a good time or a bad time, all emotions, feelings and sensations that were present at the time the drug or alcohol was consumed are filed away in the person’s memory. Even if the person blacks out, the experience is still recorded in the mind.

In the case of those addicted to opiates, alcohol, tran­quilizers or any other addictive drugs, they will accumulate a series of memories that contain the pain and discomfort associated with drug withdrawal. The body will metabolize (change energy sources into energy) and burn fat cells any time a person undergoes a situation in life that causes their heart rate to speed up.Stress can do this, as can strenuous exercise or intense emotion. Most of us experience these kinds of stressful sit­uations on a fairly regular basis.

When an addict’s body metabolizes fat, if the fat cells contain metabolites from past alcohol and drug use, those metabolites will activate back into the person’s blood­stream as the fat cells burn.

Keep in mind that each type of drug produces its own metabolite. Therefore, if alcohol metabolites were stored in the fat, once those fat cells are metabolized, the body will be reminded of alcohol at a physical level. If the person has taken cocaine, then cocaine metabolites will be released into the bloodstream and remind the body of earlier cocaine use.

The effect of these metabolites being present in the bloodstream will trigger recorded memories of drug-related experiences and discomforts from the past. The person will remember feeling and thinking like they did in the past when they were under the influence of the drug or alcohol. Or they will remember experiencing the pain and discomfort that occurred when they were coming down from the drug. They are prone to use drugs or alcohol again at these times.