Double standards?

As a teenager I was surrounded by a lot of people my age that were into drugs so I found myself some new friends. I was very into sport and drug taking conflicted with that. I've always been strongly anti drugs even avoiding headache pills and now I need strong pain killers I'm always fighting against taking them. My attitude must have rubbed off on my sons because their attitude is very similar and we've all avoided taking drugs, even to the extent of cigarettes and alcohol. You need to be mentally strong to avoid drugs when those around you are both taking and offering them.

One of my husband's sons is a drug user. He got into it through the people he hangs around with , simple as that. Now it's all he does - no job, no prospects, just lives on benefits and waits to score his next hit. Still hangs around with the same group of people. He doesn't appear to have any mental health issues, despite living like this for about 20 years. And he doesn't have the excuse of a poor upbringing either - he had a perfectly good and healthy life until he fell in with his "friends". I'd say that every case is different.

But drugs cause mental health problems.

Many young people get into the drug habit just because their friends are, and they don't want to be different. It's surprising how quickly they get into debt, turn to crime to pay for the habit and find themselves in jail. Celebs very often get into the habit of drug-taking because of their workload. Many actors need a pick-me-up before doing a scene, then need something to calm them down afterwards, and get onto that see-saw. Touring is very exhausting and, again, music stars get into the habit for the same reasons. Mental health problems are not often the reason for these people taking drugs.

I think the big difference is that the celebrities and similar, who take drugs are still managing to lead a working life, and can afford to finance their addiction and can also afford their own detox treatment.

At the other end of the spectrum, those who are using drugs to escape from the problems of their lives frequently cannot work and are on benefits, are often reduced to committing crimes, or to prostituting themselves to fund their habit. Recovery is also dependent on public money.

I state these differences, not to make any personal judgements. I am not, but to explain the differing attitudes to the two groups.

I think people have a tendency or desire to place certain people on the top of the heap- A practice which in itself appears to reflect mental distress- It frequently ends in disappointment when the flaws and foibles of the exalted become exposed and they fall from grace- Usually after to some degree exploiting the position in which they were placed by their admirers- It's a vicious cycle to witness as well as experience for oneself regardless if one were the admired or the admirer- We are all equal- When one falls, it's prudent to pick each other up to the benefit all but not position them above all-

Yes, I have sympathy for those stars/celebrities whose lives have been blighted/lost through drugs, but-----------there appears to be two kinds of problems going on here although they can both be classed as MH issues. Would these celebrities still have taken their lives if they hadn't have had their privileged positions and money to go with it ?? We'll never know.
Then we have the opposite end of the spectrum--poverty.

I confess to having far more sympathy to those whose lives have hit rock bottom, ie. struggling with money problems which leads to a knock-on effect with everything else.
Every death by drugs in this country needs/ deserves our sympathy. Who are we to judge how they got in that situation in the first place ?
It's the dealers who should be facing severe punishment but nobody seems to be mentioning these monsters who are responsible .

I think the methadone programme is a disaster.All it does is swap one addiction for another and line the pockets of the manufacturer and chemists .Our local Boots has queues for methadone and some people have been on it for decades.That cant be right?
My cousin is /was an alcoholic.He last had a drink nearly 30 years ago yet he still goes to AA most days ,sometime more than one meeting a day ,he cant see that he too has swapped one addiction for another.He will happily tell you he never thinks about booze and wouldn't see himself ever having another drink BUT he attributes it to his meetings .
Methadone is the same in my mind ,its just keeping folk dependant on a substance when they should have been helped to live without any chemical crutch .

I do not think drugs are a 'life style choice', especially when those taking them are living in difficult or impoverished circumstances.

More an understandable, but bad choice of escape route from those difficult and impoverished circumstances that may include mental health issues caused by those living conditions.

I think that many of the detox programmes devote too much time to the detox process when they should spend most of the time helping those addicted to find other more productive ways of coping with their problems so that the detox arises from the addicts capacity to deal with their problems in other ways.

Sounds like a wonderful young man Paddyann. Youngsters often get bad press, but there are good ones out there.

He's a star KatyK always has been .

What a nice lad he must be paddyann

My 15 year old GS had his trainers stolen at New Year ,someone apparently had an idea who had taken them and told him to watch FB for them being offered for sale .
His attitude amazed me and made me very proud.

He did say (ON FB) that the woman had mental health problems that resulted in her drug taking,that she had not been as lucky as he in having a family that cared and that even if he didn't get them back becasue she sold them for drugs he hoped that she would be ok and that if drugs gave her some peace in her awful life then who was he to judge .

He hasn;t had an easy life ,his parents split when he was 7 ,his mother has multiple health problems and suffers chronic pain most days and he looks after her and his sisters when his Stepdad works away and we're not around .Its good to see that he can see that others have different stories but thay are entitled to support.
By the way he got his shoes back ,she came and left them on his doorstep the next day after she found out what he had put on FB .