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where do I sign up? (in a fecal stained bathroom stall I assume)
The OP is nuts.
Eventually he's going to lose everything he has and is going to find himself
doing extreme immoral chit just to get high. He'll be in someones alley giving
someone a ----job for $5.
Heroin does not need to be a part of life. I've lived 27 years and managed to never try it.
Most things don't "need" to be part of life. Yet people have different tastes, different hobbies and yes, for some of us that includes recreational opiate use.
Quote:
The OP is nuts.
Eventually he's going to lose everything he has and is going to find himself
doing extreme immoral chit just to get high. He'll be in someones alley giving
someone a ----job for $5.
I have had the pleasure of meeting mauve_greenpoint IRL, and mauve_greenpoint is not a "he".
Also, you people are buying into a lot of movie and media stereotypes about those of us who choose this lifestyle. Stereotypes that are flatly untrue.
Also, you people are buying into a lot of movie and media stereotypes about those of us who choose this lifestyle. Stereotypes that are flatly untrue.
Believe it or not, some of us have vastly more real world experience in this realm than you could ever imagine. If I never had to deal with a disgusting junkie again, I'd be a very, very happy man. I prefer every junkie kill themselves than me continuing to bring home to my family whatever nasty germs they expose me to. That said, I'll be dealing with them for at least two more days this week alone, wonderful.
If people like you two fools actually exist, YOU'RE the exception. The truth is what you call stereotypes, and they're all over this city in plain sight. You'd have to be blind or not a resident of NYC to not know that.
Wait, I take back the part about the blind. They're not stupid like you, they just can't see.
Believe it or not, some of us have vastly more real world experience in this realm than you could ever imagine. If I never had to deal with a disgusting junkie again, I'd be a very, very happy man. I prefer every junkie kill themselves than me continuing to bring home to my family whatever nasty germs they expose me to. That said, I'll be dealing with them for at least two more days this week alone, wonderful.
If people like you two fools actually exist, YOU'RE the exception. The truth is what you call stereotypes, and they're all over this city in plain sight. You'd have to be blind or not a resident of NYC to not know that.
Wait, I take back the part about the blind. They're not stupid like you, they just can't see.
lol!
I can more than imagine just about anything in this realm, as you call it, having been walking this path since I was in junior high school in the 1990s.
If you are anxious about germs, perhaps you should have a talk with somebody about that.
RE: The people you talk about being all over the city, in plain sight....I am sure that some DO use opiates, while others use coke, crack, or alcohol. But what's most important in understanding the homeless and panhandlers is the concept of 'dual diagnosis'. That is to say most of these people suffer from a major mental illness in addition to abuse of or dependence on alcohol or illicit drugs. Generally it is this un-treated underlying condition, be it schizophrenia or bipolar or something else, that is really at the bottom of their predicament. The drugs are almost a red herring.
I find this thread somewhat fascinating. I find it interesting the ways these heroin addicts are attempting to normalize their addiction. It gives us a window into addiction psychology.
Almost no doubt these people are addicted to heroin. I'm not judging or saying they are terrible people. But, the fact is they are drug addicts who probably continue to use because their bodies are physically addicted to it, not because they prefer being a heroin addict over being a person who can function normally without injecting/ingesting a dangerous chemical into their bodies.
They attempt to frame it as a lifestyle, a hobby, or a minor crutch -- no different than the guy who throws back a few beers after work to take the edge off. Or, it's merely a thrill seeking endeavor, similar to an adrenaline junky who puts his life on the line for a thrill. I do not see it that way. I see a daily heroin addiction more akin to the raging alcohol who wakes up on the middle of the night to drink -- its just that heroin does not impair the body in the same way, so they are often more able to appear to function normally, especially if they use primarily to maintain, and, importantly, more able to convince themselves that everything is fine, and that its merely recreational use. It's not. Daily heroin use for years is not a small thing.
In other words, its a major, major problem. By all objective measures, it's not something to casually brush off as a lifestyle choice. It's a life wrecker. It requires serious intervention if the addict is going to really fully realize their life. The stakes are that high.
That is why I find it curious that addicts in the throes of this major life-wrecking black hole can be so casual about the whole thing, and stick their noses up at recovery. I'm not judging, I'm just saying this aspect of addict psychology is hard for me to understand. But, then again, I'm not a heroin addict like you, so I can't really put myself in your shoes.
If you could snap your fingers and make this addiction go away, wouldn't you?
Last edited by bowneline; 02-10-2014 at 04:08 PM..
What we are talking about here, and have been all along, is a lifestyle choice. A controversial one perhaps, but a lifestyle choice nonetheless.
It is neither necessary nor helpful to read more into it than that.
With all due respect, I wouldn't personally characterize it as a "lifestyle choice" if your body is physically addicted to the heroin and can't likely function normally without it at this point.
The addiction forces you to use, so it's not as if you are at an easy cross-roads each time you use, and continue to shoot up because you prefer being a heroin addict over being clean.
Again, I think the important question is: If you could snap your fingers and be completely free of heroin, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you prefer to live a normal life, and to never have gotten mixed up in this addictive, expensive and potentially deadly habit?
If you had that power, and you can honestly say that you wouldn't instantly become clean, then I suppose you might actually be able to call it a choice. But, I suspect you, and nearly all heroin addicts, would greatly prefer being clean, but can't because the addiction has a stranglehold on you.
I don't envy your position, and I truly wish you the best of luck.
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