Many say addiction is a DISEASE and not a choice but most of them have never been addicted!

So you haven't been abusing it. There is drug use, misuse, and abuse. I abused weed for about 3 years before I became psychologically addicted. I didn't realize until much later in life that someone could become psychologically addicted to weed. But during that time if I had to go a day without smoking (due to a drought in my town, never by choice) I didn't feel right. I couldn't be happy or sociable. The serotonin and dopamine were no longer being produced properly in my brain without the help of THC. If you can't go a day without smoking weed and not be in a bad mood then you are just as addicted as the person who can't function in the morning without a well caffeinated cup of coffee. It is not as bad as other addictions but I want to think and feel and act normally without needing any outside chemicals.

I will be the first to admit that drug users and addicts make themselves fodder to be mocked and ridiculed. I do plenty of it myself. Upvote.

thx for the upvote!

When they say it's a decease, it's because they think they're subhuman.

There.

I said it.

That doesn't even make sense. Ever have an addiction? There I said it.

Yes it does.
It's a perceptual perspective. From high enough up, the druggies look like animals. I went to private school.

Maybe in America it's all about race, and everyone is busy raggin' on Pedro. I dunno.

I am a former addict who now counsels addicts who want to be former addicts. We reject the disease hypothesis for addiction because it takes away personal responsibility. Since addiction is a consequence of your choices you are responsible for it and for your recovery.

But I do agree that many people do look at addicts as subhuman lowlifes. Which is bad for the person doing the judging and the addict.

It's problematic in a class-system sense, IMO. It's not like it's the smartest people that are frying their minds with drugs that have the ability to actually fry your mind. I live in a moderate ghetto (crime is low, and the streets are clean), and it's to the point where I simply can't mix certain classes of my buddies together.

The Etiquette of the top 50% is displaced from the common sense of the bottom 50%, who themselves could use a little common courtesy.

Chris Rock is my neighbor... because he'll help you to the afterlife fairly quick.

I'm just at the point now, where I judge people. 'Ya. You're gonna die, man, , in about 3-5 years, give or take. So change up what you're doin'.'

Just yesterday I walked some dude to the homeless shelter.
It's a common outdoor activity where I live, lol.

The thing about looking at drug addiction from a class system point of view is that there is no social class or socioeconomic status that is free from addiction. It is just better hid in some classes of people.
I grew up in the ghetto with a high rate of crime, and in those areas you can obviously see the ravages of addiction. In our recovery group and group home where I work there have been professionals, business men, and business owners in recovery. We have all heard about artists and entertainers who have lost everything due to drugs, but I've read about millionaires in other fields who also lost everything and ended up in rehab.
Telling someone that they're on a path leading to death if they don't change isn't judging in a bad sense. We have a saying in our recovery group, "Whoever tells you the most truth cares the most about you."

You're probably right, considering I just learned something.

It's difficult to say the truth, after a while.

Part of it is knowing the average response, I guess.

My alcoholic buddy wouldn't even admit he had a problem until a month before his death. The internal bleeding was coming through his skin, visably, but he was sayin' it was roses... While drinkin'.

He died so pointlessly, the funeral date was mis-written, and most of his drinkin' buddies missed it.

I'm sure you hear garbage like that all the time.

That's why I'd never he able to do that job.
I heard the cops #1 call is domestics. Imagine watching that everyday.

Maybe they just pretend it's the jerry springer show? That's my guess.

Personally, culturally, my theory is that we're all cosplaying. Or roleplaying. The whole first world is like this, I think.

So if ya ever feel like everyone else is nuts, and you're not, well, that's my current theory.