# Fuck opioid addicts **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 2, 2018, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-opioid-addicts/807988 "2018-02-02T00:18:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-opioid-addicts/807988/101 "2018-02-03T22:48:40Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Thank you. Speaking as a long term pain control contract patient. > > One of my issues is my body deciding that my vertebrae don’t need that pesky space for my nerves to pass through, nor does it seem to mind diverting part of my calcium from my bones to artisically add new and interesting shape to my bones by adding spurs and impingements. This winter has been absolute hell for me, and bluntly put, I have spent any time not soaked up by physio and doctor visits pretty much totally horizontal in my bed with any non-in house interaction with the outside world by phone and my tablet. between pills and diclofenac gel I muddle along. If I had access to the green whistle or that magic morphine pump button, I fully admit there would be days that I would be sorely tempted to join Coleridge in his opium dreams in the pleasure domes of Kublai Khan. Argh, so, so sorry you deal with this. I had a few months this past year of excruciating, agonizing pain from three herniated cervical discs and moderate stenosis. I took the daily max oxy dosage allowed by my doc and was still in pain. Thank Jeebus steroid shots, etc, finally fixed me. Sending you hugs. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-opioid-addicts/807988/102 "2018-02-04T00:43:37Z")
OP: My father used to think along the same lines as you do. “They got themselves addicted, it’s their problem, why should I care if they all get themselves killed?” Then he read a book called [Dreamland](https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epidemic/dp/1511336404), and he changed his mind completely. It might be worth a read for you. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-opioid-addicts/807988/103 "2018-02-04T06:09:08Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I don’t entirely disagree with this (well, maybe not the penis napkin part, but the rest seems valid). Also speaking from experience. I’ve known several people, including some very close to me, who’ve battled addiction throughout their entire adult lives. I have sympathy for their underlying depression, but among people who repeatedly go through cycles of interventions, treatment, and relapse, there is a degree of selfishness involved - there just is. > > I can even have sympathy for someone who’s clean for 10-15 years and relapses - at least they’re trying. But there are people who go through the motions just to bullshit their family and friends, and the entire time they’re just putting on an act until everyone goes back to minding their own business before they go right back to abusing the bottle or whatever their substance of choice might be. In such a case, addiction isn’t just a disease, it’s also manipulation. Addicts have the right to be loved and supported, but their support have a right not to be manipulated and played for fools. > > And yes, if the cycle and the drama repeats itself, there comes a point where you have to say “Fuck it - it’s your life to keep or to throw away” The people who have invested their time and energy into trying to keep this person alive just might understandably get to that point. And anyone who doesn’t understand this, hasn’t really seen addiction from that perspective. The type of addict you are describing is absolutely what I am referencing. The manipulative ones, prone to thievery and other misconduct, the ones who betray the very family that helps them. Those are the types I don’t care about. I do feel empathy for the ones addicted via prescribed drugs or those who got curious and then got addicted or those with underlying issues that may have caused it, but those tend to be the ones who also at least try to get themselves clean. Knowing what they are doing is dangerous, selfish and diminishing and they still want support and put no effort toward fixing it, is laziness. Everybody has enough willpower to at least to start changing something. **Jennshark** I agree with you there. I used to drink heavily and abuse it, I hate the stuff now. Won’t go near it, I seen the destruction and mayhem alcohol caused to my family and others.I will rat out drunk drivers, and if it was a family member doing it (none do) I would sabotage their car so they couldn’t drive (pull out fuel pump relay and put gorilla glue in the opening or take the wheels off and leave it on blocks etc…) ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2018, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-opioid-addicts/807988/104 "2018-02-04T07:03:24Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Now that you mention it, it seems quite true. For what reason(s) is that? Lots of addicts are both junkies and crackheads. The two habits work synergistically; one speeds you up, the other slows you down. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-opioid-addicts/807988.md?page=5)