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It is endlessly and depressingly fascinating to me that we've had so much anti-drug propaganda shoved down us for so long that depicts addicts as monstrous crim

It is endlessly and depressingly fascinating to me that we've had so much anti-drug propaganda shoved down us for so long that depicts addicts as monstrous criminals that seemingly as a society we're just unable to reckon with the fact that the best cure for drug addiction is just... being around other people. Not being isolated by circumstances, odd work hours, what have you. Just having a social life will not only keep you addiction-free but also enables you to use the same substances recreationally in a healthy way (sometimes, anyway, it's not bulletproof but it definitely helps).

hex3 2y ago
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Aurornis 2y ago
> the best cure for drug addiction is just... being around other people. Not being isolated by circumstances, odd work hours, what have you. Counterpoint: Most of the people I know who picked up drug addictions (all who have received treatment and currently recovered) picked them up from social situations. They encountered groups where drug use was their common weekend activity and you either joined them or you weren’t included. Being in between jobs or having a job with low demands was also an enabler of drug addiction. Idle hands and all that. > Just having a social life will not only keep you addiction-free but also enables you to use the same substances recreationally in a healthy way This generalization doesn’t hold at all. I haven’t heard of any addicts who became more moderate of their use of hard drugs when surrounded by other users of those hard drugs. The correlation goes the other way. Being around other users both enables and encourages more drug use.
- curioussavage 2y ago
  Seems obvious that if said social life is mostly with people who mostly just do drugs then no change will happen.
- marcuskane2 2y ago
  You might be over-reaching with your last paragraph. There are plenty of people who drink alcohol around other alcohol-users and the social dynamic limits how much they drink (don't want to appear foolish or out of control around friends or coworkers, match number of drinks to the people they're with, etc). There are also plenty of examples of people using "party drugs" on weekends socially and that those same friends are the first ones to voice concern if a person in the group starts using the drugs more often or in excess. In many cases, it's when people switch from using drugs with friends to using them alone that is the turning point to addiction and problematic usage.

hex3 2y ago

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Aurornis 2y ago

> the best cure for drug addiction is just... being around other people. Not being isolated by circumstances, odd work hours, what have you. Counterpoint: Most of the people I know who picked up drug addictions (all who have received treatment and currently recovered) picked them up from social situations. They encountered groups where drug use was their common weekend activity and you either joined them or you weren’t included. Being in between jobs or having a job with low demands was also an enabler of drug addiction. Idle hands and all that. > Just having a social life will not only keep you addiction-free but also enables you to use the same substances recreationally in a healthy way This generalization doesn’t hold at all. I haven’t heard of any addicts who became more moderate of their use of hard drugs when surrounded by other users of those hard drugs. The correlation goes the other way. Being around other users both enables and encourages more drug use.

curioussavage 2y ago
Seems obvious that if said social life is mostly with people who mostly just do drugs then no change will happen.
marcuskane2 2y ago
You might be over-reaching with your last paragraph. There are plenty of people who drink alcohol around other alcohol-users and the social dynamic limits how much they drink (don't want to appear foolish or out of control around friends or coworkers, match number of drinks to the people they're with, etc). There are also plenty of examples of people using "party drugs" on weekends socially and that those same friends are the first ones to voice concern if a person in the group starts using the drugs more often or in excess. In many cases, it's when people switch from using drugs with friends to using them alone that is the turning point to addiction and problematic usage.