Double standards?

Agree that drug (and alcohol) addiction on its own is not necessarily a mental health problem. I think that if more addictions services were properly funded many other problems would be halved - starting with domestic abuse and the need for children to be taken into care.
It hadn't struck me that people oozed sympathy for singers and film stars who become immersed in drug problems - anyway no more than general decent sympathy when tragedy occurs.

Drug problems are rife in this country, and unfortuantely mental health problems are as well. The two often go hand in hand - which one leads is anyone's guess.

M0nica. Mental health issues can be a by product of drug use and drug issues can be a by product of mental health. Massive cuts on the NHS budgets lead to many people self medicating. Homelessness is one of the other many reasons for drug and alcohol abuse. Addiction has as many reasons as there are people addicted and it's not always what we are told it is.

What a lovely boy. His path through life will be so much calmer with his kindness affecting everyone he meets. You must be so proud of him.

Annewilko, I quite agree with you. Although I am not sure what you mean by Massive cuts on the NHS budgets lead to many people self medicating.. For what, with what?

Sorry
I don’t think AA is comparable to methadone. It is like comparing Church to drugs as well. It’s a spiritual solution to an illness. It’s the same as taking medication for a lifelong illness

What I find so galling is that 'celebrities' have the funds to buy the help they need but the rest of us (who live ordinary lives on ordinary wages) are being so badly let down. My experience is of an alcoholic who was taken to hospital to detox then told to go home and contact AA for more help. The same advice was given by his General Practitioner. Now, a couple of years of sobriety later, the same recovering alcoholic was told by his GP that he was not considered to be mentaly ill enough to warrant referral for counselling. He is falling apart, trying to deal with the stress he is under. Was my alcoholic family member mentally ill while he was drinking, is he now? Does it matter?

Becoming substance dependent cannot be anyone's lifestyle choice.

Gabriella I have read that book and it is very moving and sad.
Paddy Ann I agree about the methadone programme. It can only work if it is gradually reduced and people are tested to make sure they are not taking other drugs too.my friend has a 38 year old son who has been on it for years but also takes pills and and alcohol. He has no desire to get off it. Has never worked and gets extra benefits because of his problems.

There is a large proportion of drug/alcohol users (abusers) who have mental health problems.
I work for a charity who help families with a member who has these problems. It's heartbreaking sometimes. People forget the families, often blackmailed, threatened, victims of domestic abuse, brought into debt because they don't want to see their loved ones harmed...

It is highly likely that substance abuse increases the potential for mental health difficulties.

Very few people are forced to take drugs. We live in an age when the knowledge about drugs is widespread. Most of those addicted have beome so because they decided to do drugs regardless of the consequences. There are many people who .like to take certain drugs regardless of whether those drugs will have a long term affect on their health.

I wish it was possible to remove all but medicinal drugs from circulation, but realise that is just a dream. As long as there are weak people who will take drugs we will as a society suffer the consequences.

Let us not forget that people in the thrall of drug abuse are as needy as those who abuse alcohol.
It's a choice to have one more drink as much as it's a drug users choice to buy a second screw of coke. It becomes commonplace to take ever more to get the same high or blurred view of the world that occurred when they first started the habit.
Showing them the right path rarely works. They have to decide for themselves. That is the ONLY way it works.
Bodies ruined, minds ruined, families torn apart, society suffers the fallout.
It's a ripple effect that can only be stopped by the person throwing stones into the water.
I've seen grown men cry bitter tears, their ruined bodies shaking with misery at having a habit they cannot stop.
Celebs taking it at parties, after dinner or weekending on drugs are not quite the same thing as people escaping miserable lives.

I always feel sorry for the families,as they are all someone’s sons/daughters. I see a lot of it in my job role and most of them are lovely people who are addicted, Some start through peer pressure,some to try to block out life at home as it is so awful,and some try because they can. Getting hooked usually isn’t a choice,and unfortunately crime will fund the habit,as getting the fix is all their minds can focus on. I would like to see rehab where they can get clean,study or train to do a job and even move if it where to help.
Sadly that’s never going to happen so the sad cycle will continue.

There IS rehab, however, that means giving up your crutch and most can't or don't want to as they cannot envisage a life outside the one they exist in.
It means being randomly tested, opening up to things they may want to keep buried and, during the process, doing without the crutch.
Most of them have no friends outside street life.
They've forgotten what 'normality' is. Keeping themself clean is often a quick all over using stolen baby wipes, if that. In the end, they look like users and congregate in places where they know others in the same boat.
Many didn't start life in bad circumstances but were thrown a curve ball that knocked them off track.
Dealers often hang around near rehab centres and areas where users go to get their daily fix of methadone or subutex, like vultures waiting for their vulnerable prey.
Ketamine is another 'drug' added into the mix. In the end, they don't care what they take as long as the supply is there.
I have seen some awful things and I'm so glad that me and mine have steered clear of habits which can lead to destroying the only life you will ever have.