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Should you feel sorry for an addict? POLL

Page 4 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Do you feel bad for addicts?

  • Yes...it's hard to quit.

  • No...they should not have tried the drug in the first place.

Results are only viewable after voting.
If you die of a heroin overdose, good for you.

I also have a hard time believing those who say "Yeah I've been clean for xxx...." because usually its a flat out lie.

Maybe you just LIKE the bottle, doesn't mean you are addicted. Those rehab facilities might help you. But if you NEED the bottle, no rehab will work, you will go back to your main squeeze as soon as possible because your personality trait says so.
 
An addict doesn't always have blame in their addictions. Some are carelessness some are medically caused.

The criteria to me that matters is whether the addict wants help or not.
 
I voted yes but it's more like somewhere in the middle. It is their fault and responsibility for getting involved in the first place and causing whatever damage they do, but addiction is a terrible thing and so much more powerful with drugs.

Most people can experiment with drugs and not develop a problem. Some people have genetics and/or personalities that lend themselves to being addicts, usually combined with circumstances/environments that are petri dishes for problems.
 
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GagHalfrunt said:
No. Addiction to one substance does not automatically make a person addicted to another. I was a nicotine addict, yet rarely smoked pot, drank little and never touched heroin, PCP, meth, etc. The VAST majority of alcoholics are not heroin addicts. While a person can get addicted to ONE substance quickly each new substance introduced in the chain is a new decision and is not influenced by previous addictions. A smoker does not wake up one day and need heroin because of his nicotine cravings. He has to CHOOSE to move on to a new drug. And anyone that is addicted to one substance who then intentionally chooses to introduce a new addictive substance into their bodies is phenomenally stupid. They decide to get more addicted to new things knowing full well what happens when they do so. Even if want to naively believe that it's not their fault when they take that final step because the ability to make good decisions has been stripped from them by the other drugs, you can't possibly deny the chain of bad decisions that got them to that point. If they're driven by an "overwhelming compulsion" to move from coke to heroin were they driven by an "overwhelming compulsion" to move from pot to coke? Were they driven by an "overwhelming compulsion" to move from alcohol to pot? At most of the different stops along that railroad they were in full control of their faculties, understood the danger of continuing and they continued anyway. At almost every stage they CHOSE to become addicted to new things.
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Not really.
 
I believe addiction is usually an attempt to "self-medicate" to treat pain, physical and emotional.

If someone's early childhood includes abandonment, severe pain, fighting parents, etc. and they haven't reconciled these feelings in their own mind, I believe they're much more likely to treat the lingering pain with alcohol (usually because it's readily available) and drugs.

Anything to feel differently.
 
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mitchelt said:
Buying 1% Milk instead of 2% Milk is a mistake.
Shooting Heroin into your blood stream is way bigger than just a mistake.
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Look up the definition of mistake. Then explain in 2000 words double spaced why we should not love people that make bad choices(we all make bad choices).
 
surfsatwerk said:
Not really.
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ROFL!! Thanks for that intelligent reply. At least try to pretend you understand what you're talking about. Or stay out of topics you don't understand and keep yourself from looking foolish in the first place.

Oh, wait! I get it. You were "driven by an overwhelming compulsion" to jump in here because you're addicted to public humiliation. It's not your fault, we should feel sorry for you. Yeah, that's the ticket.
 
I had a pair of good friends who slowly over time let alcohol take over, no drugs thankfully. But even with alcohol they are a black hole of misery. Just being within 20 feet of them, not even realizing they are there, you are minimum 3% more miserable person. And the longer you stay around, the more you get sucked in and the misery level goes off the charts!

The cold hard truth is "feeling sorry" for them is damaging to my own life, over time I had to force myself to stop caring about them, stop going out of my way to help them when they needed help.

Even when I was helping them, to them I was primarily an enabler of their addition. They felt they were still normal people without a problem when I would agree to hang out with them, giving them no reason to change their self-destructive ways.

It's been just over 3 years since I last saw them, when I drove them couple towns over to pick up a vehicle from an impound lot after a dui.


I don't feel sorry for them. Feeling sorry is a waste of time.
 
surfsatwerk said:
Prescription drugs can lead to addiction, booze can lead to addiction, and both of them are perfectly legal.

The path to addiction is not, "ZOMG let's stick needles in our veins for lulz."

You don't know what you are talking about.
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I see...you are an expert in all?

You know damn well what I am talking about! I am not talking about being addicted to Ice Cream!
 
surfsatwerk said:
At some point in the chain they stop making "choices" and start being addicted. This does not absolve them of the responsibility of their decisions, but they are driven by an overwhelming compulsion to use their drug of choice.
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Yes...the drug THEY CHOSE!
 
mitchelt said:
Yes...the drug THEY CHOSE!
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Well, yea, they chose, I guess most would probably have thought they would just be a "recreational user" but didn't realize the power of drugs on the mind or how the brain craves above all else overriding common sense many times.
 
I have empathy for drug addicts. Whether its a legal drug or illegal makes no difference to me. I don't enable them, however.

There is a tipping point, where a drugs use no longer is a choice and becomes a compulsion.

There is also a difference between mental addiction and physical dependance on a substance.
 
BUTCH1 said:
Well, yea, they chose, I guess most would probably have thought they would just be a "recreational user" but didn't realize the power of drugs
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They CHOSE to take the chance...bad choice! I can't even image why someone would even want to try them?
 
mitchelt said:
They CHOSE to take the chance...bad choice! I can't even image why someone would even want to try them?
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Curiosity, peer pressure. I could never imagine running something with a needle though I mean damm, that's just so F-'ed up, do I really need to be THAT high?.
 
BUTCH1 said:
Curiosity, peer pressure. I could never imagine running something with a needle though I mean damm, that's just so F-'ed up, do I really need to be THAT high?.
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Needle drugs can be smoked, and once smoked it is easier to see the appeal of injecting it.
 
alkemyst said:
An addict doesn't always have blame in their addictions. Some are carelessness some are medically caused.

The criteria to me that matters is whether the addict wants help or not.
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That's actually a good point, lot's of addictions sprung from people needing to take pain meds for a legitimate reason only finding out how hard it is to get off them when the time comes.
 
surfsatwerk said:
If they don't kill your family in a blackout driving home from the bar.
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Well, besides that.

Ns1 said:
or beat you to a pulp in blackout rage.
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Yeah, theres that too. I think what I was talking about is the character defects that become ingrained during the active addiction. They seem to be different in addicts and are harder to overcome once they get clean. Alcoholics are just primarily selfish bastards while addicts are very much used to stealing and doing what ever they can to get what they need. The alky only has to steal money from his kid's piggy bank for a 6 pack. Thats not THAT bad.
 
One aspect of addiction starts in the doctor's office when people are prescribed pain medicine, get hooked, run out then find the 'street' alternative (heroin for oxycontin). So do we partially thank doctors?
 
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