Current Events > Tbqh, if you just mindlessly judge addicts you're probably a bad person.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Hearing the stories from my work is just so interesting. A lot of trauma, a lot of personal problems, and a lot of mental issues and anxiety about actually getting back on their feet.

There are plenty of great people among them, and awful ones, just like any group.

Disagree
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You're right, but it's hard to have empathy when you have to fear for your physical safety around them. It's a lot easier if you only deal with them in a controlled situation or you never have to physically be in their presence at all.
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I am an awful person and will be one of the first to tell you.
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While I dont disagree with you. Drug addicts can be seriously dangerous people
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I agree, but not just for drugs. I see it with gambling all the time.
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addicts need to get their shit together. nuff said. there's a time and place to party but not in the 30's or above.
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100% agreed. It's a terrible thing to experience or witness what it can do to someone. Speaking from experience, I've battled with Marijuana addiction for nearly a decade and it's what triggered my first psychotic experience and I've been battling mental illness ever since always doing good in life when I'm not smoking until I relapse again :( right now I have a supportive wife and have been clean for over 3 months. I was never a drinker but mj has messed me up.
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kingdrake2 posted...

addicts need to get their shit together. nuff said. there's a time and place to party but not in the 30's or above.

You do realise addiction is a mental illness, right? It isn't just something you "get over".

darkprince45 posted...

While I dont disagree with you. Drug addicts can be seriously dangerous people

They can be, and caution isn't judgement. I keep my phone on me, but I'm pretty certain if I left it on my office desk, nothing would happen.

I used to work in a rehab center and addicts are a very large range of people. It's a really widespread affliction so odds are we all know someone that's an addict.

Many are "responsible" and only do it after work or whatever and manage to live mostly normal lives. They just spend their free time destroying themselves. Many are also huge dangerous assholes too. It's a decent mix.
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Jiek_Fafn posted...

I used to work in a rehab center and addicts are a very large range of people. It's a really widespread affliction so odds are we all know someone that's an addict.

Many are "responsible" and only do it after work or whatever and manage to live mostly normal lives. They just spend their free time destroying themselves. Many are also huge dangerous assholes too. It's a decent mix.

Well technically, isn't it only considered addiction if it's adversely impacting your normal life?

But otherwise, yeah, there's a lot of variety. Learning this group has been very interesting, and I can already tell I'm gonna be sad when some of them go, though hopefully they're moving on to better things.

Bump

Of course. They're people with an unfortunate problem. Though my empathy only extends to hoping they get help. I'm not fucking around with any addicts, that's asking for trouble.
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"They did it to themselves" is probably the opinion I have the greatest success changing people's minds on.

I just tell them "That doesn't make it any easier to deal with."

I mean, addiction sucks. It seriously sucks.
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Do you feel this way about crack addicts too or are just now saying this because of the opioid crisis?
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OctilIery posted...

Jiek_Fafn posted...

I used to work in a rehab center and addicts are a very large range of people. It's a really widespread affliction so odds are we all know someone that's an addict.

Many are "responsible" and only do it after work or whatever and manage to live mostly normal lives. They just spend their free time destroying themselves. Many are also huge dangerous assholes too. It's a decent mix.

Well technically, isn't it only considered addiction if it's adversely impacting your normal life?

But otherwise, yeah, there's a lot of variety. Learning this group has been very interesting, and I can already tell I'm gonna be sad when some of them go, though hopefully they're moving on to better things.

Well they're killing themselves. But many addicts can still have somewhat healthy relationships and can manage to hold a steady job. They're generally better people without the drug but most don't suddenly turn into a monster either. It's a weird spectrum.
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DevsBro posted...

"They did it to themselves" is probably the opinion I have the greatest success changing people's minds on.

I just tell them "That doesn't make it any easier to deal with."

I mean, addiction sucks. It seriously sucks.

Mhmm. Plus with the current opioid crisis, they didn't do it to themselves, they had it done to them :/

Anti-245 posted...

Do you feel this way about crack addicts too or are just now saying this because of the opioid crisis?

All addicts. The opioid crisis obviously has some additional problems but addiction sucks in general.

ive dealt with addicts my entire life. I judge them how i see fit.
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Getting addicted to opioids after a big injury is the only understandable one.
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_Squirtle_ posted...

Getting addicted to opioids after a big injury is the only understandable one.

Not even close.

OctilIery posted...

_Squirtle_ posted...

Getting addicted to opioids after a big injury is the only understandable one.

Not even close.

How does one understandably get hooked on crack as a healthy adult?
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I'm a recovering alcoholic who drank like a fish for like 20 fucking years, I always enjoy pretty much any great recovery story.
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_Squirtle_ posted...

OctilIery posted...

_Squirtle_ posted...

Getting addicted to opioids after a big injury is the only understandable one.

Not even close.

How does one understandably get hooked on crack as a healthy adult?

In small increments in steps. Small mistakes cascading into bigger and bigger ones. Or do you honestly think people just up and decide to jump on the hardest shit they can find?

Not to mention a lot of them have pretty nasty histories leading to them seeking that escape.

I feel for people hooked on narcotics. A lot of that starts as a legit prescription for a pain problem of some sort. But someone that is a Coke or meth head I find a lot harder to understand
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I agree TC. I still generally don't trust them nor would let them into my home if I had anything to say about it.
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mattnd2007 posted...

I feel for people hooked on narcotics. A lot of that starts as a legit prescription for a pain problem of some sort. But someone that is a Coke or meth head I find a lot harder to understand

It's the same process a lot of times. They have a problem, they use drugs to cope, the drugs become a big problem.

The only difference is with opioids the use often starts legally.

catboy0_0 posted...

I agree TC. I still generally don't trust them nor would let them into my home if I had anything to say about it.

And you aren't and shouldn't be expected to.

You do realize you just mindlessly judged people in your topic title.
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Please, you're not even bronze.
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Kolibri X posted...

You do realize you just mindlessly judged people in your topic title.

"tolerate my intolerance"

mariolover2 posted...

darkprince45 posted...

While I dont disagree with you. Drug addicts can be seriously dangerous people

@darkprince45 I have you tagged as "former cop". Do you have any stories from those days?

Well Im currently a cop. Good stories you get every day. Just two days ago I had 3 methheads going through tj maxxs dumpster behind the story. When they saw me they got in the car and drove off. I lit them up and one guy hopped out the car and into the store and through the emergency exit setting off alarms that rang to every pd nearby. The driver, she had a good chunk of meth in a piece of notebook paper tucked inside the sun visor
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Having known a decent amount of people with substance abuse problems, lots of them were broken people before they ever saw drugs or alcohol, the shit just takes away their chances of making things better.
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synth_real posted...

Having known a decent amount of people with substance abuse problems, lots of them were broken people before they ever saw drugs or alcohol, the shit just takes away their chances of making things better.

Yup :(

OctilIery posted...

In small increments in steps. Small mistakes cascading into bigger and bigger ones.

Way to be as vague as possible
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_Squirtle_ posted...

OctilIery posted...

In small increments in steps. Small mistakes cascading into bigger and bigger ones.

Way to be as vague as possible

Because it isn't something that tends to have specific beginnings.

DevsBro posted...

"They did it to themselves" is probably the opinion I have the greatest success changing people's minds on.

I just tell them "That doesn't make it any easier to deal with."

I mean, addiction sucks. It seriously sucks.

Yeah.

In any event, I don't understand the tendency to not feel any compassion at all to someone just because they are responsible or partly responsible for their own suffering. We're not machines, everyone can screw up and make a mistake.
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frozenshock posted...

In any event, I don't understand the tendency to not feel any compassion at all to someone just because they are responsible or partly responsible for their own suffering. We're not machines, everyone can screw up and make a mistake.

a lot of people are that way (even me in a lot of ways, I was worse before though). it's an easy way of dealing with others suffering without having to feel anything or do anything about it. it's basically an emotional cop out
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Im racist. Its not my fault. Im my own victim. Woe is me!
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LordMarshal posted...

Im racist. Its not my fault. Im my own victim. Woe is me!

oh you
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Truth. I've battled addiction and have met/know many, many drug addicts through general life and group therapy n hospitals. Not many are actually bad people, they just got trapped into drugs for whatever reason. Nobody goes into heroin saying "I wanna be a heroin addict".

Way more productive to understand and attempt to empathize instead of demonizing them. Dangerous addicts exist, yes, but I don't believe them to be the majority.
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Vast majority of cases I'm familiar with involve familial abuse and/or abandonment with no alternative options. No relatives they can go to or authorities they're aware of, so they just go along with whomever. It's sad stuff.
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Tbh if you relentlessly focus on other people's morals you're obnoxious

RoboLaserGandhi posted...

Tbh if you relentlessly focus on other people's morals you're obnoxious

This is a weird projection
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Guide posted...

RoboLaserGandhi posted...

Tbh if you relentlessly focus on other people's morals you're obnoxious

This is a weird projection

I don't think you know what that means

RoboLaserGandhi posted...

Guide posted...

RoboLaserGandhi posted...

Tbh if you relentlessly focus on other people's morals you're obnoxious

This is a weird projection

I don't think you know what that means

The common usage is of "taking a quality of yours and framing it on someone else", but there are others. Perhaps defensiveness is a better description.
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I cant sympathize with repeated terrible decisions. Its like smoking and then complaining about your lung cancer
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Guide posted...

RoboLaserGandhi posted...

Guide posted...

RoboLaserGandhi posted...

Tbh if you relentlessly focus on other people's morals you're obnoxious

This is a weird projection

I don't think you know what that means

The common usage is of "taking a quality of yours and framing it on someone else", but there are others. Perhaps defensiveness is a better description.

No it's just annoyance.

There's so many people on this site who want to enforce strict moral rules upon others and it's honestly childish.

OctilIery posted...

Kolibri X posted...

You do realize you just mindlessly judged people in your topic title.

"tolerate my intolerance"

More like "I get to call people bad people but others shouldn't."
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