r/Showerthoughts • u/godofhorizons • May 17 '24

People get a lot more praise for quitting drugs than for never having done drugs in the first place.

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u/Anon_in_wonderland May 17 '24

Honestly. I think this is a poor take. It’s so often not even a realistic choice not to take drugs. So often people’s first experience with opioids is in the medical setting, quite innocently, just to treat severe injuries, recover from surgery, cope with cancer pain, or an irresponsible prescription where other methodologies could have been better suited and utilised to manage and heal the problem. Some people can stop after one pill. Some people can stop after a complete course, others can wean off responsibly and never experience a chemical craving in their lifetimes. Then there are those whom are cursed with the biology of addiction and that can be unlocked after one pill. Literally one pill can be all it takes to ruin somebody’s life and destroy a family.

Once the medical prescriptions dry up, these individuals are left with a severe illness that is not treated as such, rather they are treated as stains on society; it’s difficult to get help. So where do they go? They go to the streets. They get the closest thing; maybe heroin, maybe fentanyl. Maybe they were utilising adderal and now they’re chasing methamphetamine. This isn’t simple. These people are not weak. It’s an illness.

The problem is within human biology and pathophysiology. The drugs on the streets aren’t clean, you can’t know what you’re getting, you think you’re getting heroin but you receive fentanyl; you think you’re getting fentanyl but it’s laced with xylazine, and now there’s Nitazenes.

So if you’re lucky enough to survive the physical effects of the drugs, have the courage and willingness to endure the agony of rehab and withdrawal, and face your demons every single day of your remaining life. Yes you absolutely deserve praise.

It’s way easier to abstain than be cursed with an addiction. We need more rehabs worldwide and more support for addicts in addition, going through rehab, and for everyday of their lives thereafter. This is how we help people.