Poll: Drug Addicts

[chiefohara]

I was on a public bus today, and a drug addict was bothering a girl. Nothing overly nasty, but constantly hitting on her, saying she was beautiful etc. etc. etc. She was polite at first saying she had a boyfriend, but the guy wouldn't let up... i was sitting behind, keeping a discreet eye in case he went too far.

The man was disgusting, rotten teeth, yellow gums, constant sniffling, blew his nose onto his hands and shook it off down the aile in the middle of the bus. He also looked damned dangerous and unpredictable. saddest thing of all he only looked about 22.

He tried lots of BS trying to impress the girl, saying he was rich, comming into money etc. etc. etc. which she politely didn't buy into, then went for the sympathy card, saying his mom didn't love him, there was never food in the house, he didn't know how to look after himself, she was never home.... which im pretty certain wasn't bullshit.

She said nothing, the guy rambled on saying he could stand up to her boyfriend no problem, that she was beautiful and he didn't care if the boyfriend took issue with it, that he was a hard man etc. etc. etc.... Thats when i started talking to the guy.

I was pleasant and polite, offering the guy my seat so the guy could rest his head... he knew i was trying to get him away from the girl, but he didn't go apeshit like i thought he would. Guy told me he was trying to get his 'tablets' from a clinic, and that he was just a bit high and wired at the moment. Sat back left the girl alone for a minute got up from the seat asked her if she wanted him to go. She nodded, he left for the back of the bus, and started talking out loud to me.

Its was mindless rambling after that, he would swing from threatening to murder the entire bus, to complaining about his throat, to complaining about his tablets, to complaining about women, to complaining that people didn't care to being good natured and lucid...and i kept talking to him to calm him down, and calmed him down whenever he got too aggitated.

Eventually the bus reached its destination and everyone left, i made sure i was between him and the girl... She was pretty shaken after the whole thing, and i made sure she was a good distance away before i got off the bus with the drug addict behind me.

but i don't know what to make of him... A sad wreck of a human being. Useless, pitiful, yet vindictive and dangerous, the guy obviously never got a break in his life, but he's also a drug dealing drug taking scumbag, that has done bad evil things.

Normally im callous as hell towards these people, but i felt for the poor guy when he was describing his mom and his shit childhood.... I don't know what to make of the guy. He needs help but seems beyond it. He's had a tough break but is still dangerous. Prison is no life for a guy like that, but the life he's living is no life for him either... What do you do with a person like that?

I just don't know what to think.

 

[tomtom94]

I give him one shot at rehab, then if he goes back on the drugs then he goes to prison.

I believe in second chances. No more.

 

[Susan Arendt]

You can't save people from themselves, as much as you'd like to. Some people are forced into their situations, but more often than not, we wind up where we do as a result of our own choices. If you're really lucky, you get a chance to redeem yourself and correct your mistakes, but sadly, many people don't really ever admit the role they play in their own destruction.

It's tragic and upsetting, but ultimately, it's up to the individual to save themselves.

 

[Haunted Serenity]

Rehab. If he falls off the wagon again or however that phrase goes. Back into rehab. Fails a thrid time to stay clean prison term of 5 years with rehab. Failing that, Iceberg and left to die. Sorry I have no pity for this because it starts ethier with someone evil or stupidity. I watched my sister-in-law destroy herself for a few years. She got clean but when she was high I had to hurt a few people who tried to take advantage of her because she was completly unaware of what was happening. Defend them and help but if they keep refusing help it's not worth the time of day.

 

[lacktheknack]

What? No "Church" option?

[+ (>9000) flameshield]

 

[Jark212]

Rehab would get my vote, I've known people who have come back from worse then that...

 

[chiefohara]

Thanks for your replies guys...

Its been helpful to get other people's perspective's on this.

 

[Blue_vision]

I find it very hard to take empathy with people like that. Nobodys born equal, but some people just don't make the effort to escape from a terrible situation they've been dealt with. I'm probably being more unfair than I should be, having lived a life of relative economic comfort in comparison, but everyone has the ability to ascend whatever hell they may or may not come from. It's a shame some people get mixed up in the wrong things, but I can't feel sorry for them either if they didn't try.

I agree. But I don't think you're being too hard on them, at least in the sense that they had the option to improve their lives. Though that said, they all had the opportunity, but most of them probably didn't even know about it. And more people need to be willing to lend a friendly helping hand to people who need it.

 

[Broady Brio]

Rehab for the first time...

I give him one shot at rehab, then if he goes back on the drugs then he goes to prison.

I believe in second chances. No more.

Oh never mind.

 

[TheLaofKazi]

Rehab, prison isn't going to do anything for the man, and will probably make his life worse.

I think looking at drug use as a simple "choice" is simplifying the problem, because it's not like the world is made of good people and evil people, where the good people stay away from drugs, and the evil people do them. Drug use isn't a moral problem, it's a social and health problem.

 

[BonsaiK]

I just don't know what to think.

One thing I've learned in my very frequent dealing with junkies is that they're fantastic liars. Well, okay, maybe the guy you ran into was a little more transparent than most, but the fact is that when the chips are down they can and will lie about anything. I wouldn't let the sob story tug at your heartstrings too much, there might be a grain or two of truth in it but you can bet the details have been fudged to portray himself in the best possible light.

Some change when they enter rehab, some don't. However it's the best option. People ultimately have to want to change themselves though.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Rehab if he wants it, but as far as I'm concerned as long as he isn't stealing to fund his habit he can carry on.

 

[chiefohara]

Rehab if he wants it, but as far as I'm concerned as long as he isn't stealing to fund his habit he can carry on.

He was selling to fund it.

 

[open trap]

Euthanasia, romove him for good.

 

[Valkyrie101]

Give him one shot at rehab. If that fails, euthanasiafy him.

 

[II2]

Rehab if he wants it, but as far as I'm concerned as long as he isn't stealing to fund his habit he can carry on.

He was selling to fund it.

Not really as bad as stealing though. Aside from being a prick in public, the guy isn't really the problem - just a symptom of a larger "social illness". If he's using and selling, he'll be consuming his own profit, not getting any higher up and more organized or getting into higher levels of crime and distribution - he'll likely only ever maintain status-quo.

As far as current medical scientists prevailing opinion on the subject, drug addiction is a disease (mental illness). Not everyone will see it that way, obviously, but all research has concluded that people prone to addiction and the functions of addiction themselves are both neurologically hardwired and subsequently reinforced in the same manner as anything from depression to schizophrenia.

As you might expect, thinking of it in those terms, it shouldn't come as a surprise that generally only 10-20% of people who have gone through rehab come out the other side without experiencing recidivism (relapses, binging, falling off the wagon, what have you).

 

[Zykon TheLich]

Rehab if he wants it, but as far as I'm concerned as long as he isn't stealing to fund his habit he can carry on.

He was selling to fund it.

As I said, if he's not stealing to fund it he can carry on.

 

[Eyelicker]

A lot of callousness up in here, but also some empathy...

This is exactly what rehab is for...there is no other answer

When someones lived like he assumedly has, you can't expect them to have a similar world view to you, they need, in the beginning at least consistant reminders that they have the power to change, and that the whole world isn't nessacerily against them.

Because of the aggressive surroundings they're used to, the slightest provocation can make them go uber-defensive and do all they can to get out of the line of fire. Even if you're trying to help. It's not logical or a decision so much as an instinct, and it can take a while for that mindset to be reversed.

 

[Talon_Skywarp]

Why doesn't that happen to me when I catch the bus!

Some people get all the fun

 

[Cheery Lunatic]

I always feel terrible when I see druggies. From what I've heard, even after going through rehab and becoming clean, all they can think about is drugs. Which is really sad.

Unless you're talking about the retarded rich kids at my school, and then they can be high as much as they want. Morons.