Wednesday, October 28, 2009

On Drug Addiction and Causes

I kind of like the response I gave to Randy, former Journal Times editor, over at the Racine Post. I thought I would share.


Denis Navratil said...
Randolph writes:

"So, why do people do drugs?

That’s easy. They’re self-medicating because their lives are crap.

When depression’s so great, you’ll reach out to anything to make it better – a gun, a needle …

The answer? Make people’s lives better. Give them hope instead of despair, relief instead of pain, opportunity instead of uselessness, a job instead of a dead-end."

And my response to Randy:

Or, perhaps people become drug addicts because they have become impatient waiting for other people to make their lives better, and that they are entitled to this help from others, and that they can and should wallow in self pity because nobody has come forward to make their lives better. The common denominator here is helplessness, entitlement, and irresponsibility for their own lives.
And when you keep feeding them that destructive world view filled with excuses, you contribute to their problems. You might as well insert the needle yourself into their collapsing veins.

Read the whole thing and any future responses here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I know plenty of people whose lives are not/were not "crap" who used drugs. What amazed me was how some of them could be extremely successful while using drugs. We are about due for another "stngy bastards are trying to keep me from getting healthcare" essay in the Post.