Home passes may begin and peers may visit, some of whom may be chemical users. A number of myths exist about the positive effects of drugs, especially marijuana, on post-injury medical problems such spasticity, ataxia, and dysarthria. As a consequence, even the individual who has no history of drug use may experiment with such substances in an attempt to relieve troublesome symptoms. With the structure of the rehabilitation setting withdrawn, the individual has significantly more free time and less activities with which to fill that time. In many cases, former friends rarely visit.
Family members return to their own lives out of economic and social necessity.
Physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral limitations frequently preclude many favored pre-injury activities. Since the cognitive and physical requirements for successful drug and alcohol abuse are minimal, such behaviors are readily accessible to even severely injured individuals and may well provide both a link with the past and an entr e into peer groups. Within the unadapted home and community, the full impact of various deficits may be experienced for the first time. In sharp contrast to the rejection experienced in other social situations, members of the drug culture extend a warm and friendly welcome and cognitive and physical limitations are readily accepted. Which is understandable but ignores the fact that tolerance for alcohol is decreased following a head injury and even in small amounts further decreases cognitive and physical functioning.