Go look up some images of hardcore drug users on Google. Meth, heroin, crack, etc. They don't look healthy, do they? Nasty skin, nasty teeth, nasty hair, hauntingly thin. They're not what you and I think of when we think about happy, healthy, beautiful people. Unfortunately, they are what we think about when we think "drug user." Their drug use and the way it alters their appearances and behavior creates a huge psychological barrier, making them "others." When you combine that with social, economic, and racial barriers, suddenly there are a lot of walls that need to be broken down. So what's to stop us from helping them? A few things. You're busy. I'm busy. Everyone here on Hubski is busy with our own lives. For a single person, drug addiction is a huge, sometimes insurmountable problem. It's hard to help any individual with the problems drug users face when we have our own lives to worry about. That's part of the reason things like social workers, addiction counseling, drug clinics, and all sorts of other social programs work. It's easier to handle these problems when it's your job and you have other people helping you. It's also why it's important to try and be there for your friends and family whenever possible, because it's a lot easier to keep people off drugs in the first place than it is to try and help them once they've gone over the edge.Why not treat addicts like people with problems to begin with? What's to stop us?
Yeah, but not all addicts are so hardcore, are they? I think you're closer to the real reason for most addicts (who aren't such ghastly-looking) with the fact that drug usage changes their behavior. I feel like this is what repells me so much: them saying such a hard "fuck it" about their lives; a defense mechanism of my psyche: if you don't care about your life, why should I? Maybe it's also about the mental strain that's visible only to our subconscious but that we can feel being present, though this is my speculation more than an evidence of any sort.Go look up some images of hardcore drug users on Google. Meth, heroin, crack, etc. They don't look healthy, do they?
Yeah. They're also not the ones we think about when we think "drug addict" either. Functional drug users often slip under our radar because more often than not, we don't even know they're on drugs. It's the extremes that cause the stigma.not all addicts are so hardcore, are they?
That's not what you think about - and I presume you're a US citizen. Where I grew up, we never had meth addicts. The worst we ever heard about was heroin. For me, those hooded Adidas-wearing young men are drug addicts ad extremis. It was much later that I learned about the debiliating effects of more potent drugs on one's skin, from the US media. Our views on the matter differ significantly. Compared to the US, my perception of a typical drug addict is much milder, and vice versa.They're also not the ones we think about when we think "drug addict" either.