Can I please just get this out - drug addiction is NOT A DISEASE!
 

Christ that drives me nuts! It's an insult to people with cancer or parkinsons disease! YOU CHOOSE TO TAKE DRUGS! YOU CHOOSE TO DRINK! You do NOT choose to have parkinsons disease or breast cancer or lupis!

Just watching Sober House now and it just drives me nearly insaine how sympathetic people are to ****ing drug addicts like 'oh, poor dears'. Jesus wept - I do cocaine - I'm not addicted - I CONTROL MY LIFE! You want to mess up your life and become a prick to everyone around you - cause greif to your parents and family and friends - **** you! You choose this life and how you live it - I'm sick of the sympathy to people that are hopeless addicts and destroy not only their life (who cares to be honest) but the people around them!

I had a friend die of heroin and her poor parents live with guilt every day thinking what they could have done. She had a great childhood with loving parents but hooked up with a bad guy and ended up overdosing. Sorry - I did not go to her funeral. I will not go to the funeral of people that SELF DESTROY. Life is too short to overdose! Harsh - but sorry, that's how I feel. I'm just sick of the the standing ovation these weak arse people get when they fess up - 'yes, I was an addict for 10 years and destroyed my family and children and home - but hey, I'm fine now'. No - you do not deserve a standing ovation - you deserve a boo! Boo you made your family and kids go through that through your self satisfying addiction. ********. On all levels. Grow up. We can have a good time without being addicts. Wake up - because man kind is not looking so good!:rolleyes:

Re: Can I please just get this out - drug addiction is NOT A DISEASE!
 

I don't know what made you think this belonged in General Movie Discussion, or why you decided to go on a rant about drugs out of nowhere (we have lots of threads on the topic), but I've moved it to the Television and Music forum, where it quite clearly belongs.

Either way, I'd be more inclined to listen to what you have to say if you'd a) chill out a little and b) lighten up on the blasphemy and swearing in general.

Amen! :yup:

A little on the random side but nice rant nonetheless.

I agree that people should own up to what they do.

Re: Can I please just get this out - drug addiction is NOT A DISEASE!
 

I'll try to keep this short, because I can talk about this very topic for hours

Lillyvonolla, while I do agree with most of what you said, regarding drug addiction not being a disease, I strongly have to disagree with most of your last paragraph. First, people don't purposefully over-dose, it is true that it is their choice to do the drug in the first place, but some drugs are simply TOO addictive and some people have too weak a willpower to quit them.

Take it from experience, my mom was an alcoholic for all my childhood, and I've done my fair share of different drugs. It doesn't matter how long they were on drugs, or what they did on drugs, or anything like that. If they quit - they may not necessarily deserve a standing ovation- but the person who's quitting deserves some measure of respect, understanding, and most of all, support.

Quitting a drug is one of the hardest things someone can do, it will completely change their current lifestyle and if someone you know or care about is trying to quit, and all you say is "well you shouldn't have done it in the first place" or "it's your fault anyways, you're getting what you deserve" or whatever, you are making it exponentially harder for them to quit and they could end up relapsing/ overdosing or what ever. That is not to say it isn't their fault, but part of the steps at N.A. or A.A. or a detox center or any place where people can try to quit is the person must come to grips with what all they have done and understand it is ultimately their fault.

I hate to be this harsh, and I apologize profusely, but what if the reason your friend O.D. was because you said "I'm not going to be friends with her because she is simply a stupid druggie who's getting what is coming to her".

I want to keep going, because I have plenty more to say, but I'll end it there for the moment.

Re: Can I please just get this out - drug addiction is NOT A DISEASE!
 

I think that's well said.

Drugs are tricky; on one hand, clearly describing them as a "disease" is horrendously misleading and absolves the afflicted of significant responsibility. On the other hand, in some cases the only choices involved are the first few times. With more addictive drugs, the choice is starting; after that, the line between choice and addiction starts to blur. This is not to suggest that people should not be held responsible, but what makes drugs so dangerous to begin with is that they quickly distort your decisions.

Re: Can I please just get this out - drug addiction is NOT A DISEASE!
 

It's not as simple as you choose to drink or you choose to do drugs. I'm sure we've all tasted alcohol in our lives, some of us might have felt the effects of one of more drugs within our system. The difference with addicts is that their drug of choice changes the behaviour of their brain. This is not just something a person can give up on a whim. Once they are addicted and their drug have over hauled their brains way of functioning there is no turning back unless the person wants to go through a very painfull withdrawl stage where their body and brain have to get used to being without the narcotics that it is used to.

It's the physical addiction to these narcotics that make all the difference. It's not a disease in the way a disease like cancer is, but just like a disease it has detrimental effects on the persons body and well being. In this case addiction is a "brain disease" an effect on the brain by outside influence that is detrimental to a persons health.

Now you could say that these people are getting themselves into that position by taking these substances in the first place and yes that it true they are guilty and the individual does need to take responsibility, their actions were wrong and they should be made to understand that. But let's take alcoholism for a second, there is a growing idea floating around that alcoholism can be inherited from an alcoholic parent (link provided below [1] ), there is a growing number of studies being undertaken that whilst they do not systematically prove it is true, show quite a bit of evidence that there is a link between those who have been born of alcoholic parents and those that arent. If these studies are true then many alcoholics of alcoholics parent(s) really didnt stand much of a chance now did they.

People's backgrounds really need to be looked at when dealing with addicts. It's probably one of the major factors in a person's choice to take whatever substance it is and whilst background really shouldnt be an excuse who are we to judge people who are in an extremely different situation than us?

I really dont think you can tar all addicts with the same brush. Addiction is far more complicated area than you are making it out to be.

1. http://web4health.info/it/add-alcohol-inherited.htm

I really don't feel like getting entirely too personal here, but I have had some experience with addiction. And while I feel completely responsible for my actions, I am not going to go through the rest of my life feeling bad about my past behavior. I don't need anyone's applause for quitting and changing my life and if someone is going to judge me; so be it. What's done is done.

Exactly.

Me too, actually. I had typed up a little of my story and then deleted it.

I don't want anyone to read my post above as judgemental... it's not. A reckoning was a necessary part of the process though... for me.

It was for me too. :) And I didn't think your post was judgemental.

Well, Lillyvonolla, I'm not sure recovering addicts are asking for standing ovations. Would you rather it be that they don't get help? If your friend had gotten help before the overdose, she may still be alive. And you seemed to be more interested in being angry at her for dying than in grieving the loss. It's easy to be angry at those that self-destruct, but it seems to me that if someone beats their addiction and gets back from it and recovers, while it might not deserve a "standing ovation," it might deserve a smile.

I've lived with many alcoholics in my life, a few died because of it, and believe me, it's better to see them sober than not. It's hard to be trusting of addicts, though, they will betray their families a lot of the time. The whole thing isn't easy. I used to get angry about it, but most of the time I just find it incredibly sad.

Hello.
This is a good thread.
It's given me plenty to think about.
I have no problem with the initial post in this thread.
To me, it was sincere.
The way I feel about drugs and alcohol, and the people that use them, along with the effects of such use, is affected by the mood I'm in.

For me at my age, beer and wine is enough.
Should I judge others?
Why would someone want to stick a needle in their arm to get a buzz for example?
At the moment, I have no pity on them.
This can escalate quickly.

I think everyone has head on his neck and should think about his health & future & future health himself. I am against taking any drugs but don't judge others as everyone does what he wants to do and bears responsibility for his actions.

I love this sentence. I think I want to put it in my signature or something.

Re: Can I please just get this out - drug addiction is NOT A DISEASE!
 

I also - Still, I like the stance his whole comment portrays - It's refreshing.

I had to scroll up right after reading this, just to see if you had already done this. :D

"drug addiction is NOT A DISEASE!"

As a smarter person than me once said, you are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts. Your statement is incorrect.

Re: Can I please just get this out - drug addiction is NOT A DISEASE!
 

One of the problems with drug addiction is that it has so much to do with your genes that it can really be difficult for someone to overcome one's genes, and by the time one realizes that there is a problem and has to try to overcome it, it may be too late.

I've said this to myself so many times that it sounded like a lame excuse so I could blame a lucky escape I had on my father. Looking at it again with a few years' safety, there's definitely a degree of truth in it. ;)

EDIT - I think that looking for someone to blame is a good thing initially because it lets one admit that one actually has a problem. Admitting the problem exists is a big step in itself but I still know a few people who aren't past the 'blame' stage.

Hello Tacitus.
Very good point.
I believe it's true.
It is a step in the right direction.