I don't think I really understand addiction; to me it is just having the mental willpower to say no and stop. I have done many things in excess for periods of time (booze, pot, food, coffee, video games, etc..) and never, ever had a problem just stopping.
I mean there is obviously some sort of physical component since I did get a headache the first time I gave up coffee, but it was very easy to just move on from it.
Not trying to be insensitive to those who struggle with addiction, I just don't really understand it is all. :hmm:
KT
The life of a hardcore heroin addict who wakes up without 10 bucks and goes throughout the day without finding a way to get it:
You wake up a little sore and achy with a bit of a sniffle. As the minutes go by you realize you have some stomach cramping. As you pass into the first hour of wakefulness you start sweating a little, your stomach gets worse, and now your nose is really running. These symptoms all gradually get worse the longer you go without.
By hour 3 your bowels feel like the worst gas pain you've ever had. Your back is killing you and you begin to have gagging and possibly puking fits intermixed with sneezing fits from what's going on with your nose. Your leg and arm muscles are really cramped up and you walk like an old man. You look (and feel) like someone who's got a really bad flu.
Hour 6 you are rolled up in a ball, your guts in excruciating agony, shitting yourself and and moaning unintelligibly as you wish that you could find the strength to fling yourself from the rooftop. You beg God to make it go away and you'll do whatever he says you promise.
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Life of a heroin addict who wakes up with 10 bucks:
You wake up a little sore and achy with a bit of a sniffle. As the minutes go by you realize you have some stomach cramping. As you pass into the first hour of wakefulness you start sweating a little, your stomach gets worse, and now your nose is really running.
You score your pill or bag of dope.
2 minutes after you sniff or shoot the dope you are no longer "ill".
10 minutes after you do the dope you are Superman and there is no task you cannot easily disperse of with a mere wave of your hand. You brim with confidence and charisma and your smile radiates warmth upon all who come under your gaze. You are the Most Interesting Man in the World.
This is why once people who are already addicted have a really hard time breaking that addiction; especially when they live in the projects and feel like there is nothing else to live for.
Middle class people who who become drug addicts and don't break the cycle however generally get no sympathy from me. They are not surrounded by a neighborhood full of drug dealers and addicts, they have some sort of support system at home, they were likely taught some sort of morals as a child other than to hate the police, and they have an education and a future.
A person in that environment has no reason to wallow in their own self pity and remain a drug addict. I should know, I was one of them.