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Why do people 'feel sorry' for drug users? What ever happend to personal freaking choice and responsibility?

episodic

Lifer
I'll feel sorry for a drug user when the dealers break into their houses and strap them down and dope em up. . . till then. . . no way

What is up with feeling sorry for them?
 
I don't feel sorry for drug users at all, why should I? Empahty? Spare me....people make a concious choice to be losers and then expect me to feel sorry for them.... I think not.
 
I don't feel sorry for people who choose to be drug addicts.
The judges at the courts don't feel sorry for them, either.
 
empathy- An act of imaginatively stepping into another person's perspective and considering how things look from over there, as if one were an insider while one is not one in fact. Success in empathetic understanding would be a matter of having (temporarily, in an act of imagination) entered the perspective of the other person sufficiently well to be able to re-present it credibly to others, especially and above all in a way that is recognizable and credible to those persons who themselves occupy that perspective.


Ok so tell me why I should be empathetic for ppl who knowingly choose to take addictive substances then whine that they can't stop - often loosing their jobs, often becoming thieves, and otherwise costing good American taxpayers much money to deal with?

Mind you I have no problem with someone that is such a mild user of something that it does not affect his/her ability to work or being a meaningful member of society. My rant is geared more to the types that can't function in society due to their 'problem'. Noone got themselves there but themselves. Don't give me the 'but they are poor' thing. Lots of ppl are poor and don't become drug users.



 
There are on rare occasions drug users that should garner empathy, but those numbers are so minute that you never hear about them. Children who are doped up their first time by a using parent and can't break the addiction come to mind. It does happen and they do succumb to the life style as a result. As I said however, there are so few of these incidents that ever happen that it's almost not worth thinking about.
 
Originally posted by: Ronstang
I don't feel sorry for drug users at all, why should I? Empahty? Spare me....people make a concious choice to be losers and then expect me to feel sorry for them.... I think not.

To be "losers" ? Why are they losers? Because they have a good time?

Expect you to feel sorry? Uhhh no. Most people do it for the fun of the high. They don't care what others think, nor do they want you to feel sorry for them.
 
Originally posted by: Schrodinger
Originally posted by: Ronstang
I don't feel sorry for drug users at all, why should I? Empahty? Spare me....people make a concious choice to be losers and then expect me to feel sorry for them.... I think not.

To be "losers" ? Why are they losers? Because they have a good time?

Expect you to feel sorry? Uhhh no. Most people do it for the fun of the high. They don't care what others think, nor do they want you to feel sorry for them.


Why should I care about their high when they are homeless and a drain on society - or breaking into homes to fuel their habit.

Why do they always end up wanting help when caught?

 
Have you ever actually known somebody suffering with any sort of addiction?

I firmly believe that nobody deliberately sets out to ruin their lives or destroy their families,nobody!

Most addicts are dually diagnosed people, when they come into the hospital and complete detox, we then see the depression/mood disorder that's in many cases been untreated and tormenting them for years.

Treatment works and is an excellent investment !
 
I feel empathy for all who have lost their way. That doesn't mean that they should be excused for their transgressions but I also don't believe they should just be tossed aside either. There are many who were addicts who have been rehabilitated and are now productive members of society.
 
Originally posted by: episodic
Originally posted by: Schrodinger
Originally posted by: Ronstang
I don't feel sorry for drug users at all, why should I? Empahty? Spare me....people make a concious choice to be losers and then expect me to feel sorry for them.... I think not.

To be "losers" ? Why are they losers? Because they have a good time?

Expect you to feel sorry? Uhhh no. Most people do it for the fun of the high. They don't care what others think, nor do they want you to feel sorry for them.


Why should I care about their high when they are homeless and a drain on society - or breaking into homes to fuel their habit.

Why do they always end up wanting help when caught?

Because you're stereotyping and probably don't know any drug users besides the bullies from high school who were dumbfvcks and destined to be nobodies in the first place?

The most successful people I know, who bank six and seven figures a year, are daily users.

Drugs don't make people a drain on society. Worthless sh!tbags do that. It just so happens that often times those people get into drugs. Drugs aren't the underlying problem.
 
Originally posted by: Red Dawn
I feel empathy for all who have lost their way. That doesn't mean that they should be excused for their transgressions but I also don't believe they should just be tossed aside either. There are many who were addicts who have been rehabilitated and are now productive members of society.

yup, but also many relapse as well.
 
I'm an ex-smoker, so I know how hard it can be to quit something. When I started smoking, I did it to fit in, and I didn't fully understand the consequences-- not in ways I could feel. For the twelve years afterwards that I smoked, I tried to quit many times and couldn't. Addiction weakens (and sometimes destroys) your ability to choose a healthy path of action. That's why I sometimes feel bad for drug addicts.

I imagine that no one except a devil's advocate would claim not to feel empathy for a crack-addicted baby, but such babies often become practicing addicts when they grow older.

There's also a growing body of hard scientific evidence that some people are hard-wired to become addicted much easily than others; that makes it hard for me to quietly hear arguments of the type "I quit [some addiction], why can't they" without sticking in my two cents' worth. 😉
 
Originally posted by: bleeb
Originally posted by: Red Dawn
I feel empathy for all who have lost their way. That doesn't mean that they should be excused for their transgressions but I also don't believe they should just be tossed aside either. There are many who were addicts who have been rehabilitated and are now productive members of society.

yup, but also many relapse as well.
Yep they do but that doesn't mean they eventually won't be clean and sober. They are no different than Alcoholics.
 
Originally posted by: bleeb
Originally posted by: Red Dawn
I feel empathy for all who have lost their way. That doesn't mean that they should be excused for their transgressions but I also don't believe they should just be tossed aside either. There are many who were addicts who have been rehabilitated and are now productive members of society.

yup, but also many relapse as well.

Of course they do, but if they've built an alliance with a treatment program in many cases it's a mere slip
we prefer to call it a "lapse", we know treatment works because of the number of addicts who will get on the phone or present in the ER after being "out there" only a day or 2, we know we're making real progress with somebody when they'll present merely because they were sorely tempted.

recovery isn't always a straight line.
 
Originally posted by: Geekbabe
Originally posted by: bleeb
Originally posted by: Red Dawn
I feel empathy for all who have lost their way. That doesn't mean that they should be excused for their transgressions but I also don't believe they should just be tossed aside either. There are many who were addicts who have been rehabilitated and are now productive members of society.

yup, but also many relapse as well.

Of course they do, but if they've built an alliance with a treatment program in many cases it's a mere slip
we prefer to call it a "lapse", we know treatment works because of the number of addicts who will get on the phone or present in the ER after being "out there" only a day or 2, we know we're making real progress with somebody when they'll present merely because they were sorely tempted.

recovery isn't always a straight line.


I think of alcoholics when I read this, but strangly they're not usually thought of when people say "drug users" or "drug addicts"
 
Everyone makes bad choices. Unfortunately for some, that means much harsher consequences for some than for most of us. I can't say that I agree with their decision to continue using drugs, but I do feel sorry for them not being able to see what it is doing to them.
 
Originally posted by: Metalloid
Everyone makes bad choices. Unfortunately for some, that means much harsher consequences for some than for most of us. I can't say that I agree with their decision to continue using drugs, but I do feel sorry for them not being able to see what it is doing to them.


kinda like PMS, except there's no decision.
 
As an ex-drug addict (cocaine and nicotine), I agree with you.

*The only person responsible for your addictions is you.
*The only person who can stop it is you.
*It is nobody else's fault.
*It is not a disease, it is a choice.
 
Originally posted by: Amused
As an ex-drug addict (cocaine and nicotine), I agree with you.

*The only person responsible for your addictions is you.
*The only person who can stop it is you.
*It is nobody else's fault.
*It is not a disease, it is a choice.
All true but that doesn't mean that those who are addicts shouldn't be helped to overcome their problem.
 
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