Heroin Addiction: Methadone Facts

Question: Have you heard the ad on yahoo free radio 'turn to help.com" where heroin addiction is called a disease?

(Posted by: sanjac1836 on 2008-10-17 08:27:07)

This is just too PC for me. I'm a child of the 60's and a junkie is a junkie, it is not a disease, it is a bad life choice, it's just a case of stupidity, Ignorance has a cure, stupidity is often fatal (just not often enough) In answer to Normannen, no it is not. See Darwin.

Posted by: Normannen on 2008-10-17, 08:35:55

It is a disease. Do you think they can just quit cold-turkey? Extensive treatment is needed. Stupidity isn't fatal often enough? What a horrendous thing to say. Drug users' lives aren't worth as much as yours?

Posted by: teresagayle@rocketmail.com on 2008-10-17, 09:29:49

Addiction is a disease and a poor choice for your life.

Posted by: Tsu on 2008-10-19, 19:32:23

Ok, so I agree that heroin addiction is not a disease. I'm a junkie and this isn't some disease caused by mutated cells or anything I contracted. It was my choice to use heroin, and to continue using heroin. Even when I was totally physically addicted to heroin I still had a choice. That said, whether using heroin is 'stupidity' is entirely subjective and thus, an opinion. Ignorance is not knowing something. I, personally, find your comments very ignorant. Identifying ignorance in other people or in the media etc does not exempt a person from being ignorant themselves.Dispelling ignorance involves the willing and CHOOSING to educate oneself on a subject. Your comment exposes your ignorance and lack of empathy (not sympathy) towards addiction and addicts.These vices could easily be seen to demonstrate a lack of common sense and intelligence: thus, demonstrating stupidity, themselves. The comment you made about stupidity often being fatal is very non-specific and the parenthesized comment makes it all the more narrow minded. Yep...I'm a smack head (a clean one). It doesn't mean I do not have anything to offer the world or that it would be better for anyone if I died. Even making choies which we are socialised in to thinking are negative can teach us lessons we can use to improve our lives, use to help others and use for good. Many of the lessons being an active addict taught me can be applied to considerations outside the scope of drugs. If every junkie had died the first time they used an opiate then a vast amount of art, music, literature and information etc we rely on, enjoy, study and learn from today would never have been created.