Drugs

I was walking through the city centre and passed a few groups of heroin addicts chatting amoungst themselves. Amoung them there was a young woman with a chid in a pram, a guy who looked like he was her partner and a few others. They could almost have been a family unit if you were consdering heroin instead of blood. The woman's eyes had an eerie glazed vacant look about them that didn't match the fact that she was talking animatedly. Her facial complexion and expression portrayed strikingly the grimness of heroin addiction. It showed that even though she might have been feeling the ecstatic sensation that the drug was suggesting to her chemical system, her addiction was sucking the colour and life out of her.

Then I wondered the way these types of people are taken for granted and hardly acknowledged by passers by except for a nervous glance in their direction just to check that they pose no threat to them. Society simply has accepted these people as being a part - albeit a negative one - of it. And then I thought about the social class of these heroin addicted communities and observed that they practically all belong to the low social economic bracket of the population. But I don't see why this necessarily - or readily anyway - explains why it is always people in this socio economic group, that almost exclusively are the ones that become heroin addicts. Is it lack of education? Lack of awareness of the misery that goes hand in hand with the life style of a drug addict and all they are in contact with? Is it that continued exposure to being around drug addicts practically all of one's life so that this is the only life they know and consider natural and normal? Is it that by being a drug addict that they are actually accepted and not only tolerated but possibly granted street credibility and thus a form of "respect"?

My opinion was wavering closer towards this last possibility. I don't consider these people to be below average intelligence or to not realise the physical and mental destruction they are inflicting on themselves when they choose become a heroin user. I do think that many people who are born into poverty and financial and domestic hardship are more likely to have low self esteem and self worth and might resort to heroin as an act of self destruction. But I still wonder is it the idea of glamour and street cred that lures some heroin addicts in....

...Because apart from looking half dead and moving like zombies, they were fairly well dressed, not in rags and tatters like you might expect someone who is a slave to their expensive and voracious habit. They also have a wide network of friends and buddies the form of fellow druggies. And then the rest of society basically hardly registers them except to side step them on the street. Otherwise society also accepts heroin addiction and addicts.

But then my thoughts drifted to why drugs exist? How are they regarded and justified in philosophical schools of thought? On theties in one hand they offer ecstatic feeling of physical wellbeing but yet outside of the person's chemical awareness they are sucking the life and hapiness and actual "wellbeing" from the person. Sex is like a drug in this way. It yields the euphoric sensations associated with orgasm but also leads to perversion and betrayal and can cause emotional damage and trauma. If sex did not possess any physical pleasure, would love be more straightforward and pure? Would it be more sincere?

This comes kinda close to the story of Adam and Eve and the Bible. They were in the Garden of Eden and it was paradise but temptation introduced original sin. Are drugs just the modern day serpent of temptation and is it just human nature to want something that is bad for them? Is this why we also accept heroin and heroin addiction as being a natural part of society?

*On theties in one hand = On the one hand....

Hey my typos are improving!

"if we went up to one and tryed to reason with them we wud probally get told to fuck off, if they really want to "change" they will get off thier arses and care, if they dont care about thier life why shud we?"

Of course you will because they are coompletely in the grips of an addiction! I ams talking about society at large which means everybody in it, not just you. And the fact that drug addiction is there and is possibly accepted is a threat to the rest fo society because heroin and heroin addicts are associated with crime and violence.

Anyone who is inclined to hurt themselves = idiots.

But if society in the form of its government and authorities are giving out money to these drug addicts so that they can manage to sustain their habits and also clothe themselves and lead a fairly ok existence, without tackling or even caring about why and how poeple become addicted, what kinda message does it send out to everyone?!

"and u know what, the government cannot watch everyone all the time, so really its the society its self thats helping them drug addicts, part of the society that makes money off other peoples less fortune"

Give it some time.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm drugs. 😛

Ok...I got a few opinions...rockchic pretty much rapped it up tho.

"But then my thoughts drifted to why drugs exist?"

A WELL theorised conclusion from me is...that people want to make MONEY! Everyone (or mostly everyone) who handles drugs will try to make you a fiend, like slipping you something in your drink, then you'll find yourself in an alleyway in the ghetto looking for narcotics.

"what kinda message does it send out to everyone?!"

Yep, you get the cold hard truth...the government truly couldn't care less for the unfortunate. They think that throwing money at people will make them happy...but in my opinion money is the problem. Money is the reason they get ahold of drugs, and if these attics know that the first of the month they get their checks, they'll be livin in dope heaven for the rest of their lives. Trust me...I've seen it...

"Is it that by being a drug addict that they are actually accepted and not only tolerated but possibly granted street credibility and thus a form of "respect"?"

In my opinion, almost every addict I've encountered has either been tricked into the habit, or peer pressure. I've never heard in my entire live being around these type of people that they decided to become addicts to get respect. Those people are treated like dirt from EVERYONE. They get robbed or jumped if they're rich addicts, and they just get beat on if they don't have anything. I think it's sad...my ex's mother was an addict and it was real sad what she did to her family, stealing and dissapearing from them for weeks on in.

"Sex is like a drug in this way."

I don't think sex is a drug at ALL. I love sex, and sex loves me. It has done nothing to harm me (cuz I play it safe), but I can bet a million that that first time I pick up a pipe and smoke it, it will be equivelent to throwing my life away (I had friends who were doing WONDERFUL in life...then "somehow" they became addicts and can be found at my local crackhouse...soo sad)

Life itself is hard, so people may resort to drugs to temporarily relieve themselves from their harsh realities (stress). You know how when something bad happens and you want a cigarette to calm your nerves? This is my opinion on why people become addicts. The same as drinking, smoking, etc. Then they realize that their normal lives are over, and their minds are soo accustomed to that drug they can't be "normal" unless they're drunk or high.

Yes but these kind of problems *do* affect society indirectly. Like crime and and lots of other crime spin offs that are like off shoots to the drug industry and drug culture.

"question ::

would any of you buy stolen goods (lets say it's somethng you rrrrreeeeeaaalllyyyy want but can no way afford the street price/RRP) off a drug addict —"

No I wouldn't. Especially if I knew it was for drugs. But having said that I probably have unwittingly bought something whose production had indirect ties with the drug industry.

Ok I can understand and agree with government giving handouts to heroin addicts to keep them from restorting to violent crime and hence keep them from being a more obvious menace to society. But at the same time what is being done to try to tackle the pushers from getting new victims? What programs are in place to get young people NOT to take that first hit? Prevention is better than cure and all that.

Hmm...How about the government just hire those people to do the most disgusting/hard works, and pay them with drugs?

or how 'bout not

No, I think it could be a good idea.
Oh, another great idea-having a reality show where addicts totally humiliate themselves for drugs, kinda like "Fear Factor", only worse.
It'd have two benefits-A)It discourage people from doing drugs. B)Watching people humilate themselves is funny.

Yama....I'm not on a mission to change the world but I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist on at least taking your drugs...and disposing of them, of course.

"if a kid is that way inclined,no amount of teaching will deter them from trying them...."

Exactly, this is what my plan(2) should solve, as it'll portray drug addicts as the dregs of society.🙂

"Yama....I'm not on a mission to change the world but I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist on at least taking your drugs...and disposing of them, of course."

That's it, You are hereby excommunicated!

"A frined and I had a similar idea once,but more closer to 'Robot Wars' (haven't seen fear factor) ....remote controlled with scossors sellotaped to their hands or something.....you fuck up —?
Into a flaming pit, or get garroted by another druggie "

Perhaps there is a way to fuse the two ideas?
"Robot-junkie factor"?

actually i was thinking snorting. tends to be bit quicker.

Yama, I thought you were an atheist?

"Yama, I thought you were an atheist?"

I was, now I'm the pope.
Discordia kicks total ass.

Well, Discordianism is the proper term, but that sounds kinda "blow-hard."

and what the hell is discordianism, if i may inquire?

The greatest religion ever.

"If organized religion is the opium of the masses, then disorganized religion is the marijuana of the lunatic fringe." ? Kerry Thornley in the introduction to the 5th edition of Principia Discordia

" GREATER POOP: Is Eris true?
MALACLYPSE THE YOUNGER: Everything is true.
GP: Even false things?
M2: Even false things are true.
GP: How can that be?
M2: I don't know man, I didn't do it. "



"The Pentabarf (given on page 00004 of the Principia) is the set of 5 holy laws of Discordianism. It is as follows:

1. There is no Goddess but Goddess and She is Your Goddess. There is no Erisian Movement but The Erisian Movement and it is The Erisian Movement. And every Golden Apple Corps is the beloved home of a Golden Worm.
2. A Discordian Shall Always use the Official Discordian Document Numbering System.
3. A Discordian is Required during his early Illumination to Go Off Alone & Partake Joyously of a Hot Dog on a Friday; this Devotive Ceremony to Remonstrate against the popular Paganisms of the Day: of Roman Catholic Christendom (no meat on Friday), of Judaism (no meat of Pork), of Hindic Peoples (no meat of Beef), of Buddhists (no meat of animal), and of Discordians (no Hot Dog Buns).
4. A Discordian shall Partake of No Hot Dog Buns, for Such was the Solace of Our Goddess when She was Confronted with The Original Snub.
5. A Discordian is Prohibited from Believing What he reads."

lmao

"And every Golden Apple Corps is the beloved home of a Golden Worm."

My favorite.

"yama....someone is probably going to steal that idea,seriously....I can't wait to see all these reality shows morph (it will happen,too,sooner or later) into 'the running man' ......"

I offer my ideas of humilating and hurting people to the world, like a true altruist.🙂

yama you're a scream!

"yama you're a scream!"

mm..you can say that again

"I'm helping them,if only they could see past the end of their nose to notice the goodness that resonates with my every word,always........."

....cancer hater.