-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 At 18:26 8/28/97 -0500, you wrote:
On Tue, 26 Aug 1997, Alex Le Heux wrote:
I suppose you believe that a drug addict has no one to blame but himself, and that he should take _all_ of the blame. I don't. They
certainly deserve some credit for the mess they're in, but not entirely. Bad luck has a lot to do with it as well. Just like getting blown off a cliff by the wind. You shouldn't have been there, you should have been strong enough not be blown off, etc....
No one chooses to have the wind blow. If a junkie can demonstrate how he became hooked by force, or by accident (i.e. "someone slipped something in my drink over and over"/medical usage leading to addiction), then I will not blame them as much. I know what it is like to kick an addiction, and I can just imagine how much worse Herion, Coke, and Speed are, but hey, it's your life, you own it, do what you have to.
"Bad Luck" in this case means a bit more than simple thigs like "someone slipped me one at a party". Bad luck comes in many forms. Drugs aren't just a physical thing, they mess with your mind ass well. So among "someone slipped me one at a party" we should also count "I just got fired and my girlfriend broke up with me and everything just plain sucked for a while, and before I knew it I was addicted"
Also, it being the druggie's fault or not, treating him as an outcast is not going to solve the problem. It'll only make it worse. For him, and for the rest of us.
It may not solve _his/her_ problem, but it may also make a couple of younger kids think twice before shooting up.
Well, I have news for you: It doesn't make them think twice. You only have to look around you to see the prove of that.
What works much better is treating his addiction more like a disease.
Assuming that they _want_ to get treated.
Most of them do not like the situation they're in. Try _really_ talking to some of them. The problem is that by the time they're outcasts from society, the only thing left in life that'll take away the pain (physical pain as well, from withdrawel) is the drug. Make these people feel part of society again, and they suddenly gain a lot of strength. Enough strength in many cases to enable them to give up the drugs or at least lower their consumption to a level where they can actually function again.
and a dime. Also the mortality rate under the junkies is very low,
although I suspect you don't see that as a good thing.
If they hold down a job, pay their own way, I could care less, and don't mind a bit.
I don't want to support them.
The 'drug problem' as it exists in most places in this world is
I'm not asking you to support them. I'm only saying that it would be that much nicer if we could help them get back on their own two feet. the
result of the mindboggeling numbers of people living in tiny spaces.
Crap. There are kids in small towns all across the USA doing Coke, Speed, Pot, and LSD. They aren't "escaping a painful reality", they are just fucking bored and looking for a little fun.
They're not the drug addicts I talking about here. They're just, like you say, "kids looking for a little fun" Alex -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 Charset: noconv iQA/AwUBNAYcENuYAh4dUSo/EQJ47QCfdpQ4zQfu8XV3kqXNYW68LI/7r08AoOQd AcPexXHMQ/7hWn173VlWsJWj =Ifk6 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----