Australians : Help me out here - DEFINE JUNKIE?

[Oxycondone]

Bearded lady in the Witcher 2 ripped me off $200! Damn I wish my mum taught me this...

 

[beardface]

My dad told me not to trust anyone whose clean shaven, so

 

[jackie jones]

Being a junkie is a lifestyle. Not just someone who habitually uses opiates. It is a person who lives only to get high - when getting high comes before everything - home, relationships, nourishment, social obligations, et cetera. Of course this can be applied to all chemicals, but traditionally was towards opiates. Junk (ie) - people who collected scrap metal to get money for their next fix.

 

[Jakeperson]

You aint no junkie man

Thanks, I know some that would consider me one but they don't really know the full story. Often I talk about drugs more than I do them which leads people into thinking I do them more often. I would definitely accept the term addict though.

My dad told me not to trust anyone whose clean shaven, so

You're gonna hate me, I got no choice.

 

[drug_mentor]

If you were indulging every day then you were a junkie. I'd bet a dollar that there were times you said, "Never again, I'm not going to use tomorrow" and yet you got up and had a hit. Plenty of functional junkies out there. To me it doesn't matter if you steal or work for your habit, if it controls you to any degree then you are a junkie.

That's the thing about "junkie" you don't get to define the term yourself, it is used by other people to describe how you make them feel. Plenty of people don't understand how someone can't go out with mates on a Friday night and not have a drink of alcohol. To them you are a slave to alcohol. If I am sitting next to you on a couch in a club and you are sweating and the only thing you can talk about is what pill you are on and how fucked up you are then you my friend in my eyes are a pill junkie, particularly if you do this every weekend.

If you feel offended by someone describing you as such then you might want to have a look at your life style. Or stop giving a fuck what other people think of you.

But YOU get to define what a junkie is for everyone else? 8)

You come across pretty arrogant to slap that term on people you don't even know, its my view that your willingness to toss the term around shows a lack of insight into what the term really means. It is certainly clear that you don't grasp the fact that the terms meaning can vary quite a bit from person to person and your definition isn't the right one by default.

You say the term is about how you make others feel, yet you don't clarify why someone using drugs daily but not actually doing anything immoral or annoying to you would cause you any negative feeling. To me you saying anything about a persons frequency of drug use that has no impact on you is akin to someone being fired by their boss for failing a drug test for weed they didn't smoke on the job. You are passing a moral judgement on drug use and nothing more, to me I don't see how thats any better than the prohibionists. Why the fuck would you feel ANYTHING about whether someone is using meth or heroin or whatever everyday so long as they aren't doing anything scummy?

If all it took to be a junkie was offending other people with your drug use habits than pretty much anyone who has ever used a drug would qualify. In my view if you feel the need to pass judgement on someone for their frequency of drug use with no other factors offending you, then you are a shit person and should think long and hard about whatever habits or things you enjoy that others may disagree with is enough to qualify you for an equally shit morally judgemtal term as junkie is. Buying into the "if you use drugs everyday you are junkie scum" bullshit is exactly what the Government wants, to associate a level of drug use or drug use in general with people devoid of morality, if you actually knew that many people to have battled drug addiction you would realise most of them are not immoral and do not deserve your bullshit moral judgements.

 

[Busty St Clare]

You sound like a right junkie to me Drug Mentor. I don't say any thing about thinking drug users are immoral, I'm just describing the term "junkie" from my perspective. There are plenty of people who wake up every morning and train 2-3 hours a day and in turn look at my sedative lifestyle and are quick to label me a slob. Now to me a lazy slob is that fat bastard in front of the television eating takeaway every day but I can't really argue this against someone who runs triathlons every month. The thing is I couldn't give two shits what he calls me, and if I wanted to change his perception of me I'll have to start getting up off my fat arse and do more than just a 2 hour bike ride on the weekend.

If you are offended by the term "junkie" perhaps you have to look at yourself rather than the person directing the insult. If you use every day or every week then you really have no come back against myself, who dabbles a couple of times a year. You can accept who you are or change your habits, just as I can when one of my straight edge mates accuse me of being a junkie.

 

[poledriver]

I think this thread has run its course personally.

Seems pointless to have digs at each other.

Closing time?

If you wont a definition try wiki or the dictionary (the term has been posted here from each already).

 

[drug_mentor]

You sound like a right wanker to me busty, if you aren't passing a moral judgement on people then what is the purpose of labelling them with negative terms? I mean you can say what you want but to me if you aren't even inferring they have done anything wrong yet you feel the need to put negative labels on them you are just being an antagonistic prick.

You seem to think that exercise and drug use somehow reflect on someone and anyone who does "better" in your eyes has the right to pass judgement on anyone who's doing "worse", even though that person isn't doing anything wrong or hurting the first person in any way. I really don't see how you using less drugs than me gives me no come back on disputing the shit your spouting. Thats just fucking stupid man, and I am surprised to hear such immature shit coming from someone who is both a healthcare professional and a bluelighter. Even if you wholeheartedly believe that using less drugs or being fitter by default makes you more successful in life I still don't see why its neccessary to insult those less successful.

I am primarily offended by the term junkie because of the judgement behind it, if you label me that you are doing so to describe me as a lesser person and hold yourself up as better than me. I know that I am not a junkie by my definition or by the people I care about and that is all that really matters to me, I just think If you feel the need to go about and put judgemental labels on people perhaps you should look at yourself and why you feel so inadequate you need to needlessly put others down.

 

[Tripman]

Mod battle.

I personally have to side with DM on this one though.

This thread is about defining a junkie, not judging others. Don't be so quick to label others.

 

[MrIbis]

lulz, and the shit storm continues.

Probs time for closure - Junkie - A term used to derscribe a drug addicted scumbag (in your eyes)

 

[Divine Moments]

I think this thread has run its course personally.

Seems pointless to have digs at each other.

Closing time?

This thread is about defining a junkie, not judging others.

Probs time for closure

These. No need for this hate

 

[psychodeliccc]

d-m, my 2cents reviving this dead thread from years ago.... from hanging with all types of 'junkies/drug addicts', from the homeless housos of redfern to your not so average year 4 teacher shooting up in her spare time; i agree junky is such a derogatory word, especially when youv seen the 5 stages of addiction, and people still consider that term for use..; some people think theres no way defining it, you use drugs, your a junky... etc.. heres how iv coined it together over the years...


drug user- recreational experimenting, roa's are simple, mostly a phase...


drug abuser- like most that go through the experimenting stage, know that they love to experience the other realities, to an extent they have some form of control, but do like to push the boundaries..


Habitual drug abuser- slowly loosing that control, slowly loosing motivation for life, finding themselves doing it more often and often, where really they cant go a week or couple days without that 'something'..


drug addict- lost that control, and life is pointless without drugs...but why? stuck in a daze that some people figure out months after.. most take years, and others, this is it. theyve stooped below the social normality, doing everything revolving around getting more, and getting high. simple crime, prostitution and contradictory to the original term junky- where someone collects and sells scrap, rubbish, etc, all to support their habit, it should be said that if you want to spend the rest of your life picking up shit for money, hey someones got to do it...


now the final- big bad- junky- ask yourself... would you steal your mums jewelry? your kids toys? manipulate /rob your own family blind- all in the name of getting high? difference between addict and a junky... addicts still have a sense of morals even tho theyv commited their lifestyle to getting high... doing break and enters into old peoples home kindov throws that sense of morals out the window right? wrong... thats still just simple crime..supporting your habit, as bad it may be.. your just taking advantage of peoples security.... NOW, if you do or have thought of some true psychopathic shit to do to get more money like kidnapping, extortion, etc, all for a fix, then this term is best suited for you....


im not advocating anything, just thought after so long of these words been thrown at eachother someones got to put it together in some form of sense... tell me if its not so i can fix my delusion please.. also should be noted, rehab and interventions can make matters go from bad to worse. really doesnt work Unless you want it to. and somehow depending on your motivation, and life situations you can be a successful addict,,who doesnt stoop to crime. theyres actually more than people think, yet success in that theyr life hasnt hit the shit....

 

[SKR]

A "Junkie" is a drug addict in my opinion, junkie meaning "druggie" - one who uses junk/drugs often. (Myself)

*There was a thread regarding "worlds most addicting drug" and my answer would have to have been the one drug that has seen the most deaths associated with it throughout our history, more deaths, displacements of people (except war perhaps) and slavery than all other drug trades, and that drug would be SUGAR.

It could be fair to say by my reckoning that most of us in the "free world" would be quite dependant and perhaps dare I say it, addicted to sugar. Which makes most of us JUNKIES.

Experimenter - someone who from time to time takes a drug to simply experience said drug (no matter the ROA.)

Drug User - Again but this time heavier on the side of experimentation and lighter side of addiction where the user is using drugs on a semi-regular weekly to monthly basis or thereabouts

Drug Addict - someone who is addicted in the sense that they take drugs all the time habitually,
ritualistically, daily and nightly and such a person is addicted physically and/or mentally to drugs (no matter the ROA)

I do not consider the route of administration (ROA) of a drug to have any influence on the definition of a junkie. To define "Junkie" the criteria for me when separating the Junkies from the experimenter and drug user is the frequency with which one uses drugs.

***Cannot cite a source for this off hand something I looked into years ago regarding drugs/sugar made this apparent to me from hazy memory. Worth a look for some though.

 

[infectedmushroom]

A junkie is someone whose sole focus is drugs. If your life revolves around drugs rather than the other way round, you're a junkie. If all you care about is drugs, if all you think about is getting higher, if all you see tomorrow is your next dose...you're a junkie. Implicit in being a junkie is the absence of balance, and a state of degeneration. You can be an addict, you can be dependent, but not necessarily a junkie. I extend the term to encompass any obsession, from money to sex.

 

[MissMaryJane]

This is a very tricky question. I don't think there will ever be a definite answer that everyone will agree with.

To me, a junkie is someone who has no problem stealing, lying, physically harming, blackmailing etc., others, whether it be friends, colleagues, family or even innocent strangers, to support their habit. That's having a drug take over you. Your morals. It is in control.

 

[One Thousand Words]

It's like trying to define a bogan. Junkie is not in the eye of the beholder.

 

[Hecticus]

The word junkie these days is used as an insult to an addict or someone who looks bad enough to fit the stereotype. What makes a pot head a pot head, alcoholics alcoholics, it's simply the media and authority who have categorized what a junkie is over time even though the majority of the police force drink alcohol. What get's me is how dumb so many of these police are that they believe what they're doing. I know where the original term stems from(junkie). We're just addicts, 80% of the world is addicted to caffeine which last i checked was a psychoactive. Still i'll joking call myself a junkie, somewhat true, i'm addicted to drugs. That's apart of who i am and if they can't accept it that's great because i can't stand narrowminded idiots who have strong opinions on people they've never really had problems with.

Discrimination against homosexuality still goes on today, although it's getting better, i don't see the same for drug abusers for a long time seeing as it's still illegal and homosexuality was legalised in the early 80s? Reason being(same for the states), 80% of people in prison were drug offenders tax payer: "fucking junkies wasting our money", exactly, ours where does all the other manufacturing(slave labor) profits go to? The Governement. The Drug War will never end because there's too much money in it. When you think about it, Junkies are the only people who are truly free.

 

[One Thousand Words]

Free, except being trapped by their addiction.