alcoholism and drug addiction, bad people or hurt people?

Question

whats the consensus from the yahoo answers crowd?

are drug addicts bad people?

or do they need someone to show them they can get thru the hurt they are running from?

the addicts I have met will openly tell you about being raped, molested, beaten, emotionally abused.Seems like as a civil society we would help them heal rather than traumatize them further by regarding them as garbage people.obviously you know my opinion on it, and ive helped out with street ministries in some bad areas.

many of the addicts i have met and talked to are not there by choice, they have been covering up the pain of past hurts for so long that too stop running would cripple them emotionally for years, to deal with it and move on.maybe ive just met nice addicts.
anyone know of anyone that is a addict and does bad stuff as a choice?

thanks

Answer 1

Most addicts I know have an underlying personal or mental crisis that they haven't dealt with or can't deal with. My aunt who is an alcoholic but refuses to admit it, self medicates her anxiety (probably stemming from an anxiety disorder but she also refuses to be checked out). My grandmother (the aunt's mother) was addicted to prescription pain killers for most of her life....and finally was examined when she was put into a nursing home and diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic. My father says she hasn't changed any with age which leads us to believe she's probably always been schizophrenic just was covering it with pills. Sometimes things happen to people that are so awful that the only solution they can see is drown the memories in pills or booze. I can't blame them...but I can say I would try to help them get treatment.

Answer 2

there is no "one" type of addict. nor is there "one" reason why people get addicted. I was a "very nice young man" when I was little yet I became an alchoholic at age 10, smoked at age 12, drugs at 15. No abuse, just peer pressure. A bunch of kids with too much curiosity & time on our hands. We're all old now, some are still wallowing, some of us are now productive citizens. None got clean because of someone elses intervention although many tried. The one sthat managed to clean up have done so because some "thing" or other just clicked in our heads & made us feel like we needed to. We had to want to quit, not just say we wanted to. Maybe we just needed to realize that the thing we were hiding behind wasn't really real, just a fuzzy smokescreen. Wouldn't it be nice if there were easy answers to lifes problems.

Answer 3

Very interesting question. It's kinda funny how "bad" can cover so many things. Yet there are so many levels of it. Being a druggy is bad but it in no ways compares to like Hitler bad.
There's so much talk about sterotypes but as you've pretty much pointed out these "bad" people get sterotyped too. Homeless people and criminals as well get these sterotypes. It makes it easier for socity to swallow the fact that they were just a "bad apple" instead of considering what brought them to that point. If they truly had understanding and support I wonder how many "bad apples" could turn good. After all jail doesn't change everyone in a positive way. Sometimes punishment of these people just doesn't cure the real problem. It goes much deeper then that and with out it fixed nothing will change for them.

Answer 4

Find an AA and or Alanon group NOW. And you must find a new place to stay for a while even if it is just a vacation from the crazy. This is a toxic situation you CANNOT change. God bless you, you will make it stay strong and skip the intervention. Get yourself out of there!!! Try anything - churches, friends' homes. Get a job soon. And congrats on beating the habits - you are a freaking hero.

Answer 5

Addicts to me are weak minded people. Yes bad stuff has happened to a lot of them. Bad stuff has happened to me to, I am not an addict.
I do know an alcoholic, and he had a great life compared to mine, he still choose to drink.
Addicts have a choice, to use or not to use.
As for bad things that have happened get over them and move on.
Being addicted to drugs or Algol, bring more torment on will not help.

Answer 6

i have had some drug abuse issues. i think first of all it is important to recognize that drinking alcohol is a socially accepted practise. it is certainly an addictive one as well. so victims of the bottle may be in those shoes as a consequence of ill judgement rather than "bad intentions" or hurt feelings.

there is nothing glamorous about being a drug addict. i am lucky that i am always able to pull out of drug abuse scenarios with ease but i have seen firsthand the terrible ill effects of drug abuse on innocent people.

the survivors of rape, molestation, beatings and other kinds of abuse are in a category all their own. if they are using drugs or alcohol to escape lingering psychological pain, then surely we must extend a sensibility toward them that is forgiving rather than judgemental.

but there are bad addicts, too, predators, and i have met some of them. even nice men, alcoholics or drug addicts, are capable of being truly and despicably bad in their less glorious hours.

Answer 7

Drug addicts are just that. Addicts.

Their actions define them as good or bad people, not some chemical dependency

Answer 8

I don't think they're either, necessarily. Some people get swept up in their addictions, and some moderate--but we all have addictions.
How many drink coffee?
---Smoke?
---Eat Mcdonalds?
---Drink Alcohol?
---Watch TV?
---Play video games?

Answer 9

Good point, it should become a bigger ministry in our churches than it is right now.