Agreed, opi8.
If you've been addicted for a good while then the chances are that you don't high anymore. You just get sick, and then normal.
it has no negative affect on a person's behaviour.
Yes, some people are better off dealing with an opiate addiction. No anti-depressant or anti-anxiety med has ever come close to doing what opiates do. The amount of inner turmoil which is quietened by opiates means I can function with greater clarity and be a more sociable and generally happy person. The pay off is addiction, and everything that comes with that, but then again I was addicted to anti-depressants and other meds I was scripted which had shocking side-effects and were extremely hard to get off, so I don't see a big difference (except that opiates have far greater efficacy).
An opiate addict can function, so long as they have a regular supply, so normally that I'm sure there are way more out there in the world, doing jobs at all levels in all fields, than anyone could have imagined. Provided the person has some level of control over their use, and hasn't completely given up on their lives, then there aren't really any stand out telltale signs.
No smell of alcohol or weed, no staggering, no scatter-brain. Once you're truly dependent then dosing up is about the same as taking an anti-depressant or a blood pressure tablet - I mean in terms of how conspicuous it is.
Some people associate opiate addicts with the really down and out people who are on the street, begging for change, covered in scabs and shit, because they stand out. Those are the ones that you can see from a mile away.
But those are the minority of users who have got serious life issues and have pretty much resigned themselves to a never ending spiral, whereby getting the drug is top priority over all else. Those people frequently come from a background which has a lot of real tragedy; abuse, neglect, mental illness which hasn't been dealt with properly, family who don't care, etc. I know this from talking to them. They are lost souls.
People like myself, who have grown up with severe mental issues but always had supportive family and friends, have had the nurturing to see more in life than just taking a drug to numb the pain. If I have to go without because there's bills to be paid and we are low on funds, then that's what happens and I suffer for a while. I've been on and off enough times, for long periods of both using and of sobriety, to know that I simply am happier and function better while on. Do you know what people say when I confess to being an opiate addict? Always this: "I never would have picked you as being that type". To which I reply "What type?".
In this day and age there's still a stigma attached to opiates which is simply undeserved and out of date. If a light suddenly appeared above the head of all the regular users of some kind of opiate - be it codeine, or methadone, or heroin, or PST - I suspect we'd all be dazzled with the brightness, and enlightened somewhat.
