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My Doc told me that nicotine was worse than heroin addiction. I don't know about that as I have never seen a recovering nicotine addict die from withdrawal but have see two withdrawal deaths from heroin.
Seems that nicotine affect the same receptors (dopamine, serotonin, and a couple of jewels that affect hunger, etc).

Opioids not only affect these brain chemicals, they also depress everything else in the Central Nervous System.

CCCC; Paul you hit the nail on the head. It is all about personal responsibility and self-discipline. Every drug addict I have ever interviewed (many hundreds) all said the same thing. They were drinking alcohol the first time they tried drugs. Without the alcohol's effect of lowering inhibition and altering judgement, would they have done drugs? Don't know, but everyone of them said that they wished they had never started.

Ed

+1 putting down the can was rough business.

I had a friend that was a friggin rock star. We worked together in the car business. The guy made $300k a year, always had hot women and fast cars. He got hooked on pain pills after he hurt his back. It took about two years but he managed to lose everything. I remember one night leaving work I saw him sitting in his car smoking OXYs. I wanted to puke. He died sitting at his computer a couple of years ago, with a needle of hot heroin in his arm. He drained all his mothers accounts after he used up all of his money. Even set up a fake robbery so he could make a claim on his mothers homeowners insurance. She is still battling that insurance fraud lawsuit even after his death. I have no use for addicts as they are not the same person they used to be.

Never think of it as shunning, think of it as protecting.

Just read a report that stated the Canadian soldier 's killer
had a $160 a day heroin habit, according to his friend.

Drugs can turn a person into a monster...back in my youth, my best friend came at me with a hammer because he couldn't get his pickup started after a three day tweak...in that twisted moment, he somehow perceived that I was the root cause of his problems. He turned just before he was close enough to hit me & threw the hammer through the windshield. The look he had in his eyes is something I never want to see again.

I truly hope you never have to deal with that problem Bob...But I'm here to tell ya...If you had done "a mile in their moccasins" you'd know that they aren't the people you once knew. I have a niece that was at one time in competition for a spot on the Olympic figure skating team...now her resume includes identity thief...crack whore. 2 time felon.

I quit dipping like nothing. I don't know why people make such a big deal about it.


Travis

some people aint wired for addiction....my brother is the same way as you, had zero problem quitting.....

People who don't give a crap about anything but their drugs and their fix don't care about or for themselves......that means they especially don't care for or about anyone else.

Just like liberals....

The last time I quit was easy, it was the 20 times before that were difficult.

12 steps saved my life and I see miracles all the time in the programs in which I am active. The 2 worst things you can do for an addict are to give them what they ask for or to completely cut em off out of frustration.

Remind him you love him and that love won't allow you to see him kill himself.

Check out Velvet Underground's song Heroin to hear a musical expression of what it's like to shoot up. Insane.

Can't express with words or actions the gratitude I have for the people who shied me tough love even when I'd given up on myself.

I quit it all the time. No biggie.

When their kids are being sexually molested by the boyfriend/girlfriend of the day, while 2 year old toddlers are eating anything they can pull out of the fridge/shelves and open themselves while the parents are passed out for 20 hours at a time..

Then see how you define "fair weather".

Glad you haven't seen it first hand.

I think that is what is hard for people to do, they are either invested and "trying" to help or they completely wash their hands of the addict.

The all or nothing attitude is what makes people enable. It is fine to tell someone you love them and will do anything to help once they are ready but until that time you don't want them in your life. It gets them to bottom faster and then when they are ready you can be there for them and help pick them back up.

I understand what you're saying, and your heart is what makes you a magnificent friend to your friends, but ...

We're not talking about a rough patch, here.

My dad's side of the family has a bunch of addicts. Not sure where to begin or if this is any kind of solace to those who would read this.

Let's start with Dad's sister, my Aunt Gayle. Gayle was married to a drunk and coke addict, Neal. He left her kids fatherless when he walked out after one of many fights. One of his girlfriends shot herself while he was driving down the highway. He then killed himself intentionally with booze. Gayle got busted recently at the age of 62 with meth. I think she took the hit for her son.

Her kids, my cousins, have about 12 kids to the three of them, none of them legitimate, most just about to hit their teenage problem years. The eldest has already proven to be a mooch, and she was the one my parents had hopes would actually do something with her life. At age 21 or so has still never had a job, but she took a community college class once.
Ryan, my cousin is probably the most problematic of the cousins. His legal bills drained what little my real grandfather had left before he died. Ryan is still in and out of prison, as is his current girlfriend for theft, transporting controlled substances, etc. I finally looked up his criminal record, and he's been arrested at least 3 times for possession with intent to distribute of what I believe is meth (it just lists the controlled substance schedules, of which marijuana is not one). I remember picking him up from a halfway house to go to my grandfather's funeral. He was serving time for stealing a large spool of copper wire. I think he has 5 felony convictions in his 38 years.
Another Aunt, Melinda, is banned from WalMart, Kmart and Target in her town and California apparently has a sentence magnifier for repeat shoplifters that made her last one a felony. Not that she wasn't a felon before, I know she broke her ankle running from the cops during a bust at one of flophouses where they were manufacturing meth. Also aborted/miscarried a fetus into a toilet after that. Drug of choice is mostly meth but her stepdad told me once that even as a teenager she was into drugs, including coke. She's now about 55 or so.
Her son, my cousin, Dylan is another real POS. His mom wouldn't even tell us who the father is til he was 16. Dad suddenly appeared at age 20 for him, just in time for his 2nd felony conviction for assault. He's now getting additional time for tagging of all things (I didn't believe it, so I looked it up-considered gang related activity). Anyway, we are pretty sure he was the one stealing from my grandmother and her husband to the tune of several grand before he ended up back in jail and the charges stopped. Dad is a first class turd too. Also in prison, this latest for assaulting my aunt while on probation for theft. In fact, all three are presently doing time as I write this.
Then there's uncle Johnny. He lost his first testicle as a young child to mumps, then his next one in an accident at age 12. Trust me, society should be considered fortunate that Johnny and Faye can't breed. Faye is the only one on this list that has had a long term job... as a Denny's waittress... wearing someone else's dentures. Johnny was dishonorably discharged from the Army in the 70s and got into PCP, then spent some time in an insane asylum. Managed to get a job at a Ford factory in LA. They shut that down, so he moved to KC to keep working for Ford. Closed that plant, gave him a $20K severence check and on his way through Vegas, he blew the whole thing. It seemed like he cleaned himself up in the late 90s when he moved to Missouri, but I doubt it. I've only seen him once now in the last 20 years when he showed up for Christmas about 3 years ago looking for money.
My grandparents (stepgrandfather) have also done a reverse mortgage so they can keep taking care of the leeches living off of them. They are both in terrible health and have less than 3 years left before they run out of home equity to borrow on. They've tolerated/enabled all the meth, thievery, lies, and other [bleep] for 40 years.
My dad doesn't give them money, but he does give out a lot of gifts at Christmas time to them, including money nowadays. But that's the only time. I asked him once what he thought my obligation to see his side of the family was when he is gone. He simply said that was up to me.
I'm getting married this next summer at age 35 and hope to have kids soon after. They will never know my cousins. To some degree it was useful for my parents to hold them up as an example of what not to do. I think I can still do that for my kids without having to see them anymore.

Four close friends of mine from childhood have lost their lives to heroin. One was my childhood sweetheart. Double that number of old friends, now adults, have trainwrecks that pass for their lives. I steer way clear of any of them I happen to run into--those who still have their freedom. It isn't hard to do, as most times I see any it has been panhandling or otherwise struggling to find enough money to fill a syringe. Sad, but a choice. None of the three pretty gals below look liked needle junkies, but the truth is that 2 of the 3 killed themselves with heroin. RIP HR and RD.

Impossible to understand, ain't it.

You also don't chew very much.

Nicotine never was my thing either.



Would REALLY...REALLY....REALLY.....hate to give up drinkin' beer though......grin