I’m in recovery for drug and alcohol abuse and spent a lot of time with other recovering drug addicts. None of us look down on stoners as “having it easy”.
Addiction and the destruction it can bring to a person’s life is universal. The choice of drug is irrelevant.
The (elevator pitch) point behind addiction is that I, as an addict, have avoided reality by using, rather than actually facing reality as it is.
Paying my bills? F*ck that, I’m rolling a spliff. etc. etc.
Addiction is not universal at all. Not even close. It’s charitable of you not to look down on them, but they aren’t addicted to weed, and weed isn’t destroying their life. Their own choices are. You cannot even compare this with opiates.
Just to be clear - when I say it is universal, I’m referring to those who suffer from addictions, and what they experience. Not everyone is an addict or will have problems with substance abuse who has/does use substances.
I’m not going to argue that the withdrawal and initial stages of getting clean are different. They are totally different.
But the root causes that are the bedrock of this disease are all very similar across the board. Alcohol, sex addiction, opiates, cocaine, marijuana...
All of them are borne out of similar issues.
All of them cause similar types of destruction in the life of an addict, or persons in any type of vicinity to an addict.
In that sense, the effects are universal. No matter the choice of substance/activity.
I freely admit that my own choices (and some that were not mine) took me down the path I went.
But that’s looking at this from a very shallow perspective.
Because I wasn’t even aware that there’s a totally other side of the coin. A chance to actually live life. That never ever entered into my perception.
All I tried to do, like many addicts, was exist. In a state where I’m not dead, but I’m also not living. Just numbing the pain of my existence because I felt I couldn’t face the problems in my life.
And I couldn’t. Not alone.
Addiction is a disease of the mind.
It also gets a hell of a lot worse the longer it is allowed to fester away.
A great example of this is alcoholism....
If alcohol, by itself, was addictive, society would have eaten itself up a long time ago.
But that hasn’t happened. Only certain people seem to become alcoholics.
So it is universal in how it affects those who suffer from it, regardless of the substances involved.
Here’s a dictionary definition of addiction:
> the fact or condition of being addict to a particular substance or activity
Of course it exists. You can be addicted to anything: caffeine, chocolate, sugar, video games. It just means you have a dependence on it that is tough to break. It could be a physical addiction like nicotine or alcohol, but it could be a mental addiction or even just a routine that's hard to break.
Anything that either provides stimulation or that numbs you is, in my opinion, pretty addictive: all you need is someone who is somewhat susceptible to it (maybe they have a stressful job and like a distraction. After a while it becomes routine and hard to break out of).
Just because there are worse addictions doesn't mean its not a big problem and causes people hardships. Your comment seems very callous to me.
What seems callous is disregarding the differences between physical addiction of drugs like caffeine, nicotine and alcohol -- which can kill you if you stop taking it suddenly.
Sure, addicts like drugs and weed is a drug. I'm missing the part where the harm (to self and others) is anywhere near that of some of the others mentioned in this post.
Like you said, you can be addicted to anything but it would be absurd to equate chocolate to heroin.
And yet non-physical addiction also destroys lives sometimes. I’m not equating chocolate to heroin, but all forms of addiction can cause problems and even destroy lives, just because one form is much worse and much more likely to do that, doesn’t mean that we should ignore all the other forms. What you’re saying sounds very much like saying that if someone is worse off than you, that you don’t have the right to complain about your problems, which is complete bullshit.
You get addicted to dopamine release, not weed. Nicotine has addictive properties. Opioids have addictive properties. No one has ever sucked dick for a dimebag.
If weed gives you the dopamine release that you're addicted to, then there's no real difference to the user. There are also other mental reasons to get addicted, eg, to the escape from a stressful or unfulfilling or depressing reality.
When taking opioids you are also addicted to a dopamine release, just because it affects that more directly doesn't really mean much beyond that the addiction happens quicker and more intensely.
People can and do get addicted to gambling or video games too and those can destroy lives as well. Maybe not as often as heroin, but it certainly does happen.
Just because something doesn’t have physical withdrawal or isn’t as severe doesn’t mean that it isn’t addiction or isn’t a problem. Your argument is akin to saying that you can’t complain about something if someone else is worse off than you, which is just bullshit. People who are addicted to, eg, gambling, can still have their lives destroyed.
Condescending much? You don’t know anything about me and refuse to understand my point. I’m not equating these things as equal, just that they do cause problems. The fact that you utterly refuse to try to understand what I write and instead resort to name calling tells me that you’re not worth interacting with.
