Re: Don't get me started!

When the pushers are the makers and prescribers of the addictive substances we are supposed to be able to trust, that answer is easy.  As far as addiction, as someone who has dealt with my son's addiction for a decade and worked for a few years as a volunteer for youth rehab centers, I believe in what Thomas Hollywood Henderson used to say in his talks and testimonials:

"Use one time, shame on me.  Use two times, pity me."

When it comes to street drugs, yes there is often a symbiotic relationship between pusher and addict - but it is the addict that is hooked, unless perhaps the pusher is also an addict and continues pushing in part to feed their own addiction.

It is absolutely maddening to me to hear people say that all an addict has to do is have enough backbone to stop.  What an abosolute know-nothing crock that is!  The very nature of addiction takes backbone, which is to say "free will", away.  That is why so many of the multi-step recovery programs begin with the addict's admission that they have become powerless.

I would bet and give very good odds that 9 out of 10 people who know precious little about addiction and think that all a person has to do is have enough cajones to just say no, would be singing an entirely different tune if they were given daily injections of say, heroin, for a couple of months.  Do that and take the dope away and let's see them demonstrate their backbone!  Hah! Do that and they would GIVE one of their cajones for another fix!

DQ