# Meth addicts with kids **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 4, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399 "2006-09-04T14:34:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/1 "2006-09-04T14:34:27Z")
I’m curious about how meth couples deal with the issue with their kids. Do they introduce their kids to their meth dealers? Are their kids embarrassed by having “junkies” for parents? Do the adult children of meth-addicted couples tend to be junkies themselves? I’m sure that the answers will differ from family to family, but I’d be interested to hear about people’s experiences with the subject. I don’t want moral judgment here, just factual information! ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/2 "2006-09-04T14:39:35Z")
Yesterday we took our children to Chucky E. Cheese’s. (We had never been there before.) It looked like half the other parents were Meth-heads. They had the “sunken face” look. Scary. ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/3 "2006-09-04T14:44:37Z")
Incidentally, I am posting [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7742710), where a poster humbly asks for advice on how to raise kids in a dysfunctional home. I won’t post in that thread, but I do believe that whatever arguments you make, “open marriages” are dysfunctional. Furthermore, seeing the kids [act out their confusion](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7742710&postcount=2) is not “pretty friggin cute.” It’s friggin sad. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/4 "2006-09-04T14:46:58Z")
[QUOTE=Walter Windchill] Incidentally, I am posting [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7742710), where a poster humbly asks for advice on how to raise kids in a dysfunctional home. I won’t post in that thread, but I do believe that whatever arguments you make, “open marriages” are dysfunctional. Furthermore, seeing the kids [act out their confusion](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7742710&postcount=2) is not “pretty friggin cute.” It’s friggin sad. [/QUOTE] Then why not pit those threads instead of pitting people addicted to meth who have kids? ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/5 "2006-09-04T14:49:11Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] Then why not pit those threads instead of pitting people addicted to meth who have kids? [/QUOTE] Are you joking? If not, I was employing parody – showing another, clearly unhealthy lifestyle for kids, and pretending it was just a lifestyle decision. If so, sorry I’m not getting it. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/6 "2006-09-04T14:51:33Z")
So, do you also hate homosexuals and Jewish people? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/7 "2006-09-04T14:55:13Z")
[QUOTE=Walter Windchill] Are you joking? If not, I was employing parody – showing another, clearly unhealthy lifestyle for kids, and pretending it was just a lifestyle decision. If so, sorry I’m not getting it. [/QUOTE] So you’re likening being addicted to a drug to not having a traditional “1 man, 1 woman” marriage? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/8 "2006-09-04T14:55:34Z")
Is this OP meant for the pit, or did you want GQ or IMHO? My thankfully very limited experience with Meth/Heroin kids were that the kids had much bigger worries than being embarrassed by their junkie parents. They were ill fed, poorly clothed, ignored most of the time and could not afford the luxury of being embarrassed by their parents. I have known more kids (including cousins) that had alcoholics as parents and the ones that were merely neglected were embarrassed but other were fearful of their drunk father and what he might punish them for. I had a friend that was thrown through a wall for slamming the door to the apartment too loud. The Heroin addict, I only met twice, I was only a teen and the two kids were young. I think 5 and 8. These were extremely unhappy kids. They were so pathetically happy for me sharing some Watermelon Now-or-Laters and Pretzels with them that you would be shocked. They were dirty, I do not mean little kid dirty, but dirty as in they had not had a bath in over a week. The Meth addicts I met while living in San Ysidro as a 20 year old. They had 1 child, a 9 year old. This kid needed help and I had no clue what to do except report the situation to the police. I understand they were investigated once and skipped out of town, so I doubt I helped the kid in any useful way. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/9 "2006-09-04T14:57:53Z")
[QUOTE=Ensign Edison] So, do you also hate homosexuals and Jewish people? [/QUOTE] No. Why do you ask? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/10 "2006-09-04T14:58:01Z")
[QUOTE=Walter Windchill] Are you joking? If not, I was employing parody – showing another, clearly unhealthy lifestyle for kids, and pretending it was just a lifestyle decision. If so, sorry I’m not getting it. [/QUOTE] No… you hijacked the thread to Cuba in order to express your displeasure with the lifestyles portrayed in a completely unrelated thread. ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/11 "2006-09-04T15:00:48Z")
[QUOTE=Ensign Edison] So, do you also hate homosexuals and Jewish people? [/QUOTE] Incidentally, I didn’t say I “hate” dysfunctional families, or even meth addicts. ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/12 "2006-09-04T15:01:51Z")
[QUOTE=astro] No… you hijacked the thread to Cuba in order to express your displeasure with the lifestyles portrayed in a completely unrelated thread. [/QUOTE] How can I hihack a thread I started? ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/13 "2006-09-04T15:03:13Z")
Please lock the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/14 "2006-09-04T15:04:25Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] So you’re likening being addicted to a drug to not having a traditional “1 man, 1 woman” marriage? [/QUOTE] I’m likening a home where parents use drugs to homes where parents have fuck buddies in and out of the house in terms of being clearly wrong for the kids no matter how you spin it. ---
**Author:** ![indecisive1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/41988e/32.png) [@indecisive1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/indecisive1)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/15 "2006-09-04T15:04:33Z")
Ooooh, now I get it. You are pitting open marriages. Can’t say I’d be able to deal with that situation either, but I would come right out and say it. Making me work all hard on Labor Day, jeesh! ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/16 "2006-09-04T15:04:41Z")
I find a strange pit thread with one post, I compose a longish reply and find out the OP is comparing the real major problems of an addict family to “open marriages”. Christ on a stick, even if you do not approve of Open Marriages, how can you think they equate to parents who are not even capable of taking decent care of there kids. Fuck you **Windchill** for this fucked up logic and Fuck me for posting without previewing. Not much on this board makes me angry, but you appear to be a complete shit head and idiot. What are you thinking. If the kids are loved and cared for in a non-nuclear family, they are probably a lot better off than in a perfect little fifties nuclear family with that has an abusive or alcoholic parent. They have to be better off than a family where both parents are more worried about there next fix than their kids. Fuck you **Walter Windchill** , JIM On Preview: Mods please do not lock this thread, let this Op answer the questions he has now put out there. ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/17 "2006-09-04T15:08:17Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] you appear to be a complete shit head and idiot. What are you thinking. If the kids are loved and cared for in a non-nuclear family, they are probably a lot better off than in a perfect little fifties nuclear family with that has an abusive or alcoholic parent. They have to be better off than a family where both parents are more worried about there next fix than their kids. Fuck you **Walter Windchill** , JIM On Preview: Mods please do not lock this thread, let this Op answer the questions he has now put out there. [/QUOTE] I consider the promiscuity of parents to be inherintly unstable and wrong for the children. It’s glib to say that the nuclear family has an abusie and alcoholic parent and that the kids are loved and cared for in the open marriage. I would be willing to bet that the open marriages have a statistically high correlation to drug use and abuse, for that matter. I don’t have a cite for that, but my experience and intuition tells me that people who are wanton sluts in front of their kids won’t be otherwise really clean and sober individuals. ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/18 "2006-09-04T15:09:26Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] On Preview: Mods please do not lock this thread, let this Op answer the questions he has now put out there. [/QUOTE] I answered them. Now lock the thread. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/19 "2006-09-04T15:12:08Z")
Would this condemnation of slutty behavior apply as well to polygamous Mormons, who’s distaste for chemical forms of recreation is legendary? ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2006, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399/20 "2006-09-04T15:13:44Z")
[QUOTE=indecisive1] Ooooh, now I get it. You are pitting open marriages. Can’t say I’d be able to deal with that situation either, but I would come right out and say it. Making me work all hard on Labor Day, jeesh! [/QUOTE] To be more specific, I’m pitting the glib notion that kids are fine in these “poly” marriages and the notion that it’s cute to see 8-year-olds with “polydates,” acting out their parents’ dysfunctional behaviors. Frankly, if there’s no kids involved, I don’t care. But when you push this as a normal lifestyle for kids, you’ve found the old conservative in my liberal heart. Sorry, but there’s just no way it’s a good idea. Foster kids are messed up because of instability… one home after another. An endless series of “daddy’s girlfriends” and “mommy’s boyfriends” is also a very unstable life. I taught for many years, and I know kids. One thing kids need more than iPods and Xboxes is a stable, predictable home life. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meth-addicts-with-kids/371399.md?page=2)