discrimination as an addict

Ds

Ds

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"Describe a time or situation in your life that you felt discriminated against for any reason. What was the reason? How did you feel? Was it justified in your mind? Did it change your perspective on."

The only times I feel like when I was discriminated against is when I was labeled as the family drug-addict. I know it's nothing like really what you see on TV and what's going on the world today. It still fucking sucked.
Already being at my all time lows, and family was locking me out of the house because I was high. Kind of pushed me towards doing harder and harder drugs.
It made me feel pretty fucking miserable, and the only way that I knew how to cope with that feeling was to do more drugs. I got to the point where I would not go home period because in my mind I had no home to go to. So I was on the streets trying to make something of myself. I am sure you can relate a bit CJ.
Being 18yo, homeless. Living in downtown Birmingham at the time. Was a real struggle for me. I had a car at the time, and would drive my Toyota Camry around and find a parking spot at some apartments.
The feeling of loneliness and despair hit me hard, and so I needed to stay high all the time just so I could function.
Back to the topic, Once everyone knew that I was a junky in my family I was shunned upon real hard. No one was inviting me over for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Family Birthdays and Vacations.(I don't want to really get into it much but my sister was prescribed xanax and adderal at the time and still I was treated like the piece of shit heroin addict that I was).
You see in the news and such today that the best way to handle discrimination would be love, and that is just something I didn't receive much.
Flash forward to today, I still struggle with this. I have not spoke with my family in a long time because even tho I am sober and off the shit, it still opens that painful feeling of the things I had to go through back when I was younger.
 
I was once in Queensland and politely tried to by a syringe and needle at a pharmacy and the pharmacist yelled at me so all the customers could hear “we don’t serve drug addicts in Queensland - go back to where you came from or I’ll call the police.”

I was only about 20 and totally strung out on speed at the time and didn’t know how to react ( had to choke down a very uncharacteristic violent response triggered by his overt aggression). I just turned and walked out head held high as nonchalantly as I could.

Years later I tried to buy insulin syringes in Paris to shoot some coke and the Arab-French pharmacist just gave me a box of 100 and told me to have fun. Totally opposite experience.
 
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Yea I have noticed that too. There was talk among the addict folk where I am from, we all were telling each other which pharmacy's would sell you needles and which ones wouldn't.
Then when I had moved out to Seattle I went to a pharmacy inside a major supermarket and boom. They even told me if I wanted to I could transfer my insulin prescription there. LOL

I understand the point of needle exchanges, just wish they had them more around back where I am from. I know for a fact it would help out from needle sharing.
 
D's said:
Yea I have noticed that too. There was talk among the addict folk where I am from, we all were telling each other which pharmacy's would sell you needles and which ones wouldn't.
Then when I had moved out to Seattle I went to a pharmacy inside a major supermarket and boom. They even told me if I wanted to I could transfer my insulin prescription there. LOL

I understand the point of needle exchanges, just wish they had them more around back where I am from. I know for a fact it would help out from needle sharing.
Click to expand...

What was so fucked up about it was that it was at the absolute height of the AIDS epidemic and it was very well known that sharing needles was a death sentence. Even the government was putting out advice to drug users to never share. Pharmacists are not health professionals really - they’re shopkeepers with delusions of significance.
 
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Have seen numerous times doctors refused to give any painkillers to a ex herion addict/ methadone user when in hospital for a broken leg or even when he had his eye taken out (due to i.v use)

Have seen gp's dismiss addicts problems and put it dwn to said substance abuse. The list goes on...
 
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