How do addicts afford their addictions?

[hexagram]

Somethibng that crossed my mind recently.

I am somewhat addicted to booze and benzos but had to stop recently simply because I ran out of money. I'm not really in a fit state to go either on the dole or into work atm so i've just had to stop.

How do addicts support their addictions? I'm guessing most are honest and work for money but a minority will steal etc.

 

[smackydowners]

i used to work and just struggle like fuck. used to let bills pile up, never had credit on my phone, sold all my stuff that was worth anything. seriously dude, put the heroin down. youll have to do it eventually, better to do it now before you go through all the shit tht comes with it.

 

[Sprout]

I doubt this thread will garner too many brutally honest replies, and for good reason. I generally financed my addictions by giving up on EVERYTHING else - who needs food when you have Heroin? Social life? Nah, Heroin. Material possessions, sell 'em for Heroin!
'Tis part of the reason I got clean.

 

[Ismene]

How long did it take you to get to the fully addicted state sprout? Were you taking it every day for a while before you realised you had a monkey on your back?

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

I struggled like fuck year upon year - then I dragged my Mrs down with me. It was OK at first, we both worked and we had money.

Then we had kids. Then my Mrs gave up work to look after the kids. Then I lost my job through being off my tits. I sold my house... Yeah, 60 grand cash injection to a fuckin junky. What do you think happened then?

Now, old, skint, and fucked. Still, it could be worse...

 

[hexagram]

i used to work and just struggle like fuck. used to let bills pile up, never had credit on my phone, sold all my stuff that was worth anything. seriously dude, put the heroin down. youll have to do it eventually, better to do it now before you go through all the shit tht comes with it.

That nod though....

is your first nod your best? Cause I initially thought the addictvness of heroin was overrated, until this week when I can't get the memory of how good I felt out of my head.

 

[Sprout]

How long did it take you to get to the fully addicted state sprout? Were you taking it every day for a while before you realised you had a monkey on your back?

Before picking up Heroin the last (hopefully in both senses of word) time, I already had a daily Fentanyl addiction, which came after years on Morphine/Codeine/Poppy Tea.
It took about 3/4 weeks before I picked up the needle again and that was pretty much it for me. The only positive that came from that period was finally learning that I cannot chip without becoming a fully fledged Junkie no matter how much I told myself otherwise. I had to hit rock bottom before I gave it up, sleeping in a bus station and shooting up on the steps of a church. Still a long way to go but... onwards and upwards.

 

[maxalfie]

In all my years as a daily heroin addict I can honestly say that I have never stolen or ripped anybody off to pay for my addict.
I have always paid for my gear out of my wages so yeah probably about minimum of 80% went to gear each week at the detriment of food, new clothes etc.

 

[SmokingAces]

By learning to deal with the stress of owing everyone money I imagine. Also addicts don't tend to be sociable drug takers dishing out to everyone, more introverted in a house habited up. I've only tried heroin a couple of times, it's not for me. But I went to buy other stuff a while back, there were a couple both heroin addicts at the door, shady set up to say the least, went in anyway while keeping my wits about me. The dealer sorted them first, a .2 bag of it. I watched him weigh it out on the scales while the woman argued with her man begging the dealer to split it into 2 halves there and then as the guy would take most of it. I have no problem with anyone using any drug but these are the types who give H a bad name. I think the way people pay for their addictions varies depending what it is. I've heard of crack/heroin dealers taking payment in all sorts of stolen goods, but they are rarely stupid enough to do tick. I also know a couple of junkies who work full time jobs and seem to be reliable at doing so. The majority I know (not well) though are just thieves or dealers themselves. Alcoholics the worst ones I know seem to all be on the dole/sick pay, even when I'm skint myself I always give a couple of ones in the centre money, I've come close to being an alcoholic myself in the past and honestly feel like heroin would be less a less painful and brutal addiction. Cocaine powder addiction is different usually the users are ringing up massive bills left right and centre because there will be some gangster type ticking them thinking it's all being sold. Usually among the younger crew, those at the higher end of the spectrum only tend to tick to an address and don't fuck about if it goes wrong.

 

[steewith2ees]

When i ran out of money i kept my habit going by getting tens of thousands of pounds worth of credit. By the time I completely ran out of money I had to rattle it off as I didnt develop a proper habit untill my mid twenties and was too long in the tooth to get myself into aquisitive crime.

Simple fact is after 2 major relapses i cannot afford a full time habit, hence the submission to methadone treatment after 10 years of trying to stay out of the system

 

[SmokingAces]

I have a friend who became addicted to heroin. He tried everything poppy tea and codeine to get him off the hook, kept relapsing but at least it wasn't so long term as methedone. He is clean now occais user. However he said once he completely avoided any withdrawls, inadvertently too, with ketamine. Why this isn't being researched more is down to profit.

 

[One Thousand Words]

Sleeping with their dealer. All three of them.

 

[Shambles]

I doubt this thread will garner too many brutally honest replies...

I've always been completely honest about how my addictions were funded. I've also always pointed out that people who post on BL are not what I think of as being "typical junkies" as they have the means to access BL on a regular basis. I never met a junkie "IRL" who owned a computer (phones didn't have interwebz back then so that would be a difference to be fair). I'm not saying every heroin addict thieves and indulges related shadiness - cos that clearly isn't the case - but I never personally met one that didn't for at least part of the time.

I worked for money when I could hold down a job (not always that easy when you spend half your time clucking and the other half nodding). I borrowed money from anybody and everybody who would lend to me. I took out credit and dabbled in a little minor bank fraud at other times. I sold drugs of various kinds at other times. I sold everything I ever owned (repeatedly). I did a lot of shoplifting as far as thieving goes as it's the least worst option in my view. The things I was - and am - most ashamed of is stealing from acquiantances, friends and family.

I'd never do any of that stuff now but addiction changes the way you think quite drastically - especially as you get deeper and deeper in. As I said, I know not all addicts engage in such behaviours but I personally never met one who didn't at least part of the time.

 

[SmokingAces]

Fair due's for being honest. I think most addicts are probably in similar situations if they are honest about it. Generally speaking having an addiction or any other kind of mental illness tends to mean people aren't thinking of their finances first. I would still do most of those things bar stealing from family, robbing from friends or dealings, the first two I've never been like that the latter just doesn't work if you have any level of habit, winds up back to square 1 of addiction rather quickly.

 

[Treacle]

It depends which drug(s) you mean, when you say addicts. I've never been addicted to smack (unsociable/boring), but I had a very heavy codeine habit, which Subutex got me off (and I abused the fuck out of that, as well). They wanted to give me methadone, but I luckily went in knowing what I wanted. Never had a chance to get addicted to crack (a short high, which I personally think isn't a patch on good coke). Never been addicted to coke, but have done quite a lot of it. Booze, yeah. Speed, yeah. GBL/GHB, really badly. There's one or two other things, but I've never stole to fund an addiction. I suppose I'm lucky that I've only been addicted to cheap drugs. I suppose this is more about smack and crack. In no way am I trying to appear 'better' than other addicts, because I haven't stolen. There were times that my son didn't get the time and things that he deserved, because of my habits, and that's worse than stealing, in my eyes.

 

[Shambles]

... I would still do most of those things bar stealing from family, robbing from friends or dealings, the first two I've never been like that...

To be clear, I've "never been like that either"... until I was at the height of multiple overlapping addictions... then I wasn't again when I stopped. It gets very expensive - far more than could conceivably be covered by wages short of Bill Gates levels (well not quite obviously but nothing that is feasible to earn legitimately whilst in that kinda state). I'd strongly suspect there are many elements that go in to addictive behaviours - I'd especially wonder about the kind of people the individual addict spends their days with and the relative stability of their situation (particularly in terms of housing but in all areas really). Very few of the addicts I've known have been what I would think of as "bad people" - just people in deeply shitty situations with very limited options - or what seem for all the world like very limited options at the time at least.

 

[spacejunk]

- Going without things that aren't "essential" - which was sort of a sweetener in the aftermath of recovery: being able to 'treat myself' (or my girl, or a friend) to a nice meal, a gig, new clothes, holiday or whatever.
- As has already been mentioned, using 'cheap' drugs (Australian illicit drugs are all pretty fucking expensive - especially opiates). There are of course ways of maintaining a habit without paying big bucks to do so - no, not fucking dealers - which prevented my habit/tolerance from ever getting too far out of what i could afford.
Fortunately i was always a total failure when it came to dealing, so the poverty aspect had some kind of self-limiting positive aspects to it.
- Shoplifting. I tried to be as discerning about this as possible - tried to be as "ethical" about where i would swipe shit from (major chain stores and corporate supermarkets were 'fair game', but i would never do that shit any more - as i managed to keep this up for years without a criminal record, but feel it was inevitable that i'd have been caught eventually). I was good at it, too good at it.
- Stealing poppy pods. I used to have a mental list of all the gardens i knew that grew poppies, and go raid them year after year. Not proud of trashing some poor old biddie's garden in the dead of night, but i did used to make sure i sowed plenty of seed around for next season :/ I wound up with a lot of pods, which i would dry with a food dehydrator.
I also grew poppies - in my backyard at one place i lived, and numerous "guerrilla gardening" grows. Didnt feel guilty about that, especially when there were poppies growing all over my university campus...

I know my opiate addiction was pretty mild compared to most people who get hooked on smack or prescription opioids, but it still had me pretty firmly in its grip.
The fact that i didnt go into it with a hell of a lot of expendable income (or connections for H) was probably my saving grace in many ways - australian gear is often pretty fucking good, but always very fucking expensive. So i could afford it by primarily using opium pods and seed wash.
Still not worth the cost on my health (having my immune system back in top condition is one of those things you don't necessarily notice until it returns), relationships or the amount of time, effort and stress of staying well.
It's good to have put that part of my life behind me.

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

Very few of the addicts I've known have been what I would think of as "bad people" - just people in deeply shitty situations with very limited options - or what seem for all the world like very limited options at the time at least.

It depends on one's definition of 'bad people' I suppose, but I can honestly say that now I no longer have to associate with bagheads, there are very few that I would bother pissing on if they were on fire. Most junkies I know would still have the junky mentality even if they'd never touched heroin - its almost as though they've got themselves habits purely to justify being lying, thieving, scumbags. Don't get me wrong, I'm not tarring all heroin users with the same brush and I have met a few who I would consider to be decent people, but most of them give heroin addicts a bad name...

However, I do agree with Shambles that the heroin users on BL are not representative of smackheads in general. It would seem that BL junkies are a different breed to the fuckin skagrats you have to endure when out scoring...

 

[da man]

i can second that some of the street level hoodrats , u have to see while scoring are fucking scumbags no matter what, some i knew before they got on the gear and they were fucking low life pieces of shit then, so i totally agree with u fubar about some people seem to do it to justify there scumbag, stealing, lying, robbing ways. There are some proper pieces of shit out on the dark streets and the underworld of heroin and crack. Its a whole nather level to any other scene, and very dark and gritty They are a differnt breed to any other type of user. They have no morals, respect or boundaries and seem to smell weekness on people and always pick weak targets, ill,elderly, anyine who cant fight back. I hate the lowest of the low street level junkies and they defo give us good{ish} 1s a very bad name.

 

[brimz]

Depends how good they are n a Miriad of ting like Parental support!

I am Fukien highly skilled addict many substance s still got nuff p to buy a crane 4 Dan ya get me:D