toothpastedog;12644266 said:
It does make a very good demonstration of how absurd the idea that any drug can be so pharmacologically "demonic" as to "hook" someone without there being some other forced propelling them in that direction (i.e. their families, their society, their culture, medicine, the law, etc. etc. and just about everyone else).
Yes, absolutely, I agree completely.
I'm willing to take my chances of coming across as possibly arrogant and ignorant by claiming that the habitual consumer of a specific mind altering substance is all but never consensually partaking in the use of his or her drug of choice due to a simplistic, spontaneous reason such as boredom, curiosity, etc.
Rather, 'Cause and Effect' is almost always the proper analogy, I argue.
Example of Cause: Years of sexual abuse as a child
Example of Effect: Years of "recreational" drug use as an adult
And I have opted to mark "recreational" with quotations because there's a very real chance in such a scenario that the consumer is more so tending to his or her desire to temporarily escape the vivid, chronic, intrusive thoughts, memories, and flashbacks which have endlessly tormented the individual.
Furthermore, the fact that those of us suffering from mental illnesses - such as PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, Panic Disorder, and so forth - are still stigmatized well into the first half of the 21st Century is frankly ridiculous and further contributes to the number of patients afflicted with such an illness which end up resorting to the consumption of controlled substances without a government/physician permission slip.
toothpastedog;12644266 said:
The placebo effect and social factors as well as one's own history are extremely powerful forces. So too, as a form of violence, can stigma be a powerful motherfucker. Thus how drug users are treated probably has more of an effect on them, at least formatively speaking, than the drugs in and of themselves (issues of purity, impurities and cuts are a whole other issue - I'm talking about drugs that make you get high in the "pure" sense).
Again, I totally agree. And I believe this is how it is for every minority group which is discriminated against for no rational reason(s).
This is why I believe the "Just Say No" / Abstinence based approach is worthless and - for the most part at least - ineffective in the long term.
I know for a fact that I will never help the situation by making it known in a politically correct manner to a non-violent, otherwise law-abiding drug addict (which I'd wager is the majority of them) that he is essentially a lesser human being for choosing to consume his drug of choice, and, whatever his reasons may be for doing so, I don't care. And this in a nutshell is what I've learned about what frame of mind, healthcare workers directly involved with the Abstinence based approach of the rehabilitation of a drug addict are generally in.
Lately (in the past few years), they have a adopted a more forgiving and less prejudiced attitude towards the patients they're trying (usually unsuccessfully in the long term) to treat, but the very complex first half of "Cause and Effect" is not considered important, when it should as hell should be in my opinion, because how the hell are you gonna help someone when the root of the issue is not addressed, but I digress.
And then every once in a while, I continue to stumble upon the following comment made by some pompous drug warrior: "The scumbags who use drugs have absolutely no one to blame but themselves."
Anyways, the aforementioned comment is one which I am encountering with less frequency, thanks in big part to everyone involved; everyone contributing to slowly but surely tearing down this 40+ year old wall of drug warrior propaganda, and that of course includes many of you Bluelighters. Your collective effort over the past few years has not gone unnoticed. And while "thank you" may not mean much, hopefully one day when this is all over, I'll legally be able to thank you 'properly.'