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Heroin: it's gettin waaaaay outta hand!!!

Choices lead to addiction. I'm not arguing that. But a choice is a choice is a choice. You have a big fat dip today? That's a choice brother. Just because you view it as a relatively harmless one does not exclude the fact that it was a choice you made to put a drug in your body.

Exactly, Jesse. And that's why I say being a drug addict is a choice, not a disease. And no where did I hear anyone say that walking away from it (any addictive drug) was easy, but that it is a choice.
 
I agree but you can see that without a strong support system, family or other avenues how hard it would be to go to a meeting, rehab, etc.

That is very much why I don't support the "let me rot" mentality. If these people had a support system they could potentially get off of the drugs or go to a rehab facility. However it is a snowball effect because no one wants to help and addict. Sometimes these are the ones who need help the most!

Coming from someone who has been addicted to snuff, I have too read those studies. However, I think nicotine is so easily addictive because it's easy for ones mind to say "it ain't that bad, one more dip won't kill me". Imagine shooting up, you know it's so bad. If you get caught you will go to jail, your family has disowned you, and yet you still can't stop. I know a lot of people who could quit dipping if the odds were the same.

I have seen those reports though, and always found them interesting.

Yep. That's why I was saying that chemical dependency meetings should be free as well as mandated by law for anyone who has needed medical intervention such a Narcam.

Choice.

1. Go to meetings and follow the plan and the taxpayers will use Narcam if you OD again while seeking treatment. Failure of the treatment plan will result in a bench warrant and and mandated incarcerated treatment program.

2. Fail to go to these mandated meetings, fail to follow the plan, dodge your arrest warrant, if you OD Narcam will not be used to revive you again.

Either way the problem will be moving towards resolution vs enablement like we have now.
 
Exactly, Jesse. And that's why I say being a drug addict is a choice, not a disease. And no where did I hear anyone say that walking away from it (any addictive drug) was easy, but that it is a choice.
But again, every case is different. Jones sister is a good example, as are thousands of other stories just like that wherein the availability of pain killers created a situation that wasn't so much a choice as one done at the behest of medical (educated supposedly) advice saying "Here, take 2 and call me in the morning." You may take 2 and never take any more, which is what happened to me. It was a bad experience and in combination with an awareness that I'm prone to addiction, I made choices never to take pain meds again. However the next person may take 2 and that's all she wrote. We're not all equipped with the sound mind and the resouces to avoid addiction. I'm still an addict by nature and am prone to addictive behavior. I know no moderation, only excess. Take that a put it in with someone less inclined to make good decisions and it's trouble. People end up down the rabbit hole for a variety of reasons, but I don't believe they or they're choices are wholly to blame 100% of the time.
 
wherein the availability of pain killers created a situation that wasn't so much a choice as one done at the behest of medical (educated supposedly) advice

I was addicted to pain pills back in 2003. I had a HUGE kidney stone that needed out, but due to its size, OSU decided I wasn't on the urgent list (no chance of blockage) so they had me on demerol, round the clock for almost 3 months before they fit me into their schedule, then a few more weeks post surgery on percocet...again round the clock. When you have a hole in your back that they leave open to heal from the inside out, trust me, it's painful and I wanted that relief.

But when it healed, there I was lost.... without my drugs. I could have chosen to just buy them off the streets, (that's easy enough) but didn't. I did go to weed for about a month to take the edge off, and I eventually got over it.

So when I say it's a choice, I'm not claiming to be better than anyone or look down on anyone, I just believe it is a choice to at least try to stop or not.
 
What about the timing of when you recognize the choice? How far down the slope can one go before actually HAVING a choice? What happens when a choice never reveals itself?

These questions don't require an answer, just contemplation.
 
Diane, what you just said in your last post contradicts damn near everything you previously said. You obviously have an addictive personality. I would guarantee that you would have serious withdrawals if you went a day without coffee or cigarettes. You just stated that you had to smoke pot to get yourself off the pain pill addiction. If it's as easy as you claimed it to be why didn't you just quit cold turkey? Do you think I started smoking crack to wean myself off the alcohol?
 
I will say this right now and this is the only time you'll ever hear it from me publicly on this forum. I can say with about 99% certainty that none of you have ever been so far gone in the depths of addiction that at 28 years old you never thought you'd see 30. I hope none of you younger guys never have to go through that and I hope none of you ever have to witness anyone going through it, cause it ain't fuckin pretty. Until you've lived it, or had a close family member live it or die from it, most of you should just keep your damn mouths shut. It makes me fuckin furious to see some of you think it's a good idea to just toss addicts to the wolves.
 
Where did I ever say it was easy? I said it was a choice. I guarantee you would not want to be within 15 miles of me if I tried to quit smoking, or give up coffee, all at once. I also said I was addicted to pain pills due to a prolonged medical issue and had to be weaned from those drugs by way of weed. But I never said it was easy. BTW, I don't smoke dope anymore, I just used it to help get over the pain pill addiction. But I made the choice to try and end the pain pill addiction rather than continue it by buying them on the streets.

But my smoking and my coffee drinking is a choice. On occasion I think about quitting. If I ever do, that also will be a choice, obviously for the better.

I just get irritated when people blame addictions on being a "disease". That means you have no control over it. A choice gives you control, but no one said that makes it an easy thing to do.
 
Like I said before, I didn't know we had people with a PhD in chemical dependency. I don't have a PhD, but I did stay at a holiday inn once.
 
It sucks. We all know family and/or friends who have been or are being impacted.

We all make choices and it starts with putting a needle in your arm. This is Darwinism at work in my mind.

There are addictions, most of us have them. What you CHOOSE to do with them is up to you.
 
At what point does it go from a choice to dependency.

You are dependent on oxygen. You don't choose to breathe. You just have to do it.

Addiction for some is this way. Take drinking. Some guys can drink a beer a day and never want more. Other guys taste a beer and something triggers in their mind that they want more and more and more. They have no control, their body is craving it, wanting it, needing it.

To think it is as black as white as saying yes or no is completely ignorant to the complexities of chemical dependencies.
 
At what point does it go from a choice to dependency.

You are dependent on oxygen. You don't choose to breathe. You just have to do it.

Addiction for some is this way. Take drinking. Some guys can drink a beer a day and never want more. Other guys taste a beer and something triggers in their mind that they want more and more and more. They have no control, their body is craving it, wanting it, needing it.

To think it is as black as white as saying yes or no is completely ignorant to the complexities of chemical dependencies.[/QUOTE]

Agreed, I am ignorant and will be the first to tell you. I do not blame anyone else for things that I choose to do or the results of my choices and actions. The root cause maybe a chemical imbalance so go rule it out if your choices are putting you or others at risk.
 
At what point does it go from a choice to dependency.

You are dependent on oxygen. You don't choose to breathe. You just have to do it.

Addiction for some is this way. Take drinking. Some guys can drink a beer a day and never want more. Other guys taste a beer and something triggers in their mind that they want more and more and more. They have no control, their body is craving it, wanting it, needing it.

To think it is as black as white as saying yes or no is completely ignorant to the complexities of chemical dependencies.

Word to your mother... :smiley_coolpeace:
 
I will say this right now and this is the only time you'll ever hear it from me publicly on this forum. I can say with about 99% certainty that none of you have ever been so far gone in the depths of addiction that at 28 years old you never thought you'd see 30. I hope none of you younger guys never have to go through that and I hope none of you ever have to witness anyone going through it, cause it ain't fuckin pretty. Until you've lived it, or had a close family member live it or die from it, most of you should just keep your damn mouths shut. It makes me fuckin furious to see some of you think it's a good idea to just toss addicts to the wolves.

I hear you loud and clear. And I'll stand right here with you. People who it does not affect do not understand as well as they think they do. And I will agree with Jesse as well~~ Many people looking down should not be looking down.... They should be looking AROUND. (Like at their own porch!)
 
I feel like I'm getting called out here so I will share a little more about myself since Chad did. (Glad you can talk about it man, you are more open than I am. Hats off)

Anyways...I've laid in that hospital bed shaking uncontrollably thinking I was going to die before my body detoxes. I've been to meetings and shared. I've had the one on one therapy. I even stopped drinking alcohol and caffeine for 3 years. Sure I drink again now and I share that with you guys because it helps me not fall back into what I once was. I wasn't always able to function and drink... Something I learned through countless hours with other addicts/alcoholics is that the person has to make the choice to stop. Until that happens, I don't feel bad one bit for that person. You guys can read into any of what I said however you want, it's how I feel. And maybe I'm not saying it right, but it is what it is. I'll support anyone trying to better themselves, but they have to make that choice.