Why would anyone in their right mind take drugs?

[Panic Button]

Particularly if they have to inject themselves.

I am baffled.

[dove]

people who have diabetes have to inject to stay alive.

[Panic Button]

That's a bit different.

[funnygirl]

I presume Panic is talking about heroin and the like!

[dove]

its sad but it does happen, i suppose its called an addictive personality.

[REDHEAD24]

its normally called being dragged up, and no respect for urself

[cruella]

I have no idea about drugs. Never taken them in my whole life, but I am guessing when I say it is an escape from the realities of life.
Maybe even a touch of depression perhaps.
Only thing I can think of.

[aims1202]

There are many reasons why people do it, and everyone who does has their own personal story to tell. Often it is an escape from the emotional pain of abuse that may have happened in childhood. Also depression. Sometimes people can have very low self esteem and self worth even if their childhood appeared to be good. Some start taking heroin at a very young age and there are many forced into prostitution in order to pay for it.
Heroin is a pain killer, but it not only blocks physical pain but also emotional pain. The reason it is injected is because if an addict smoked it they would need to buy a lot more and would probably need to do it all day. There is also more of a high when it is injected.
I have known some heroin addicts in my life, some who worked and lived a relatively 'normal' life. Most people would not have known they were addicts. Others who would steal to get it, lived in squalor and what seemed a miserable life.
What we are doing in this country at the moment doesnt help anyone. When methadone is prescribed addicts still take heroin as well. it rarely works in geting them off. Also putting them in prison for stealing to get it is a waste of time. What they should do is prescribe heroin, as they have done in Sweden for 25 years. This way they are treated as patients, they do not need to commit crime and can live a more 'normal' life. They can, over a few years gradually reduce the dose until they are off it.

[Metz]

My mate is an ex heroin addict... has a sister and bro too(none ex addicts of anything) none of them "dragged up" either!!!! I guess he just chose the wrong path ........

[Whickerman]

to paraphrase Harry Hill -

The main problem with heroin is it's a bit moreish...

[tigwig]

Well I would say I am completely in my right mind honestly but I took lots of drugs when I was aged 18-25 years. I never injected heroin or anything as bad as that but regularly took speed and e's. I am from a well brought up family and was dead set against drugs until the group of people I hung out with started taking them, at first I refused but then curiosity got the better of me, I saw what a good time they were having and did it myself. We had some absoulutely brilliant nights and because we were all loved up you never saw any drunken thugs attacking each other it was the opposite and it was alot cheaper than drinking. I have never done anything recently but still look back on that time as mostly a good experience.

[sarnieken]

anyone who takes drugs deserves to OD and face a horrible, painful death.

I used to be fairly tolerant of people who choose drugs, I mean, each to their own, whatever floats their boat etc.

However, when it was announced on the news that a group of prisoners had succesfully sued the prison authorities after they were put on cold turkey I changed my mind.
The people they robbed, swindled and beat up to get their drug money got f*ck all and they get to sue after being brought off drugs much better than any methadone program.

No, I have never taken drugs but before you all start moaning that I've no right to talk as I've never experienced it; I've seen the effects at first hand and I value my life, job, family too much to waste any of them.

Dennis Leary said it very well, I thought (considering he is a former addict) when he replied about a celebrity who had been on drug rehab after, 'my parents didn't love me enough'....
'Stop f*cking whining, Life sucks, Buy a helmet!!'

[IggyB]

drugs, drink, fags, its not big, its not clever BUT you know what all in moderation they are quite nice and good fun... the only problem i have with drugs in general is who are getting rich from selling them and the crimes that are committed in order to feed a habit - i have no problem with the drugs themselves.

[droopdrawers]

As far as I'm concerned people who take them have no idea how they ruin other peoples lives let alone there owm.

How do I know......no, not because I have ever taken them, but when other family members take them it can cause devastation to the rest of the family as it did mine.

DD

[saxy_jag]

Well said, Aims.

People don't choose to get addicted and, as we know, they're often the last to admit they are.

They start because they can't cope with something and often feel they have no-one to turn to who can help them cope. A drug makes them feel better, just for a short time. Then they come down and need the high once more - again, because it's often the only way to blot out the pain of whatever's happening. Only the next time, they need a stronger dose in order to get the same feeling.

Eventually, even the strongest oral, smoked or snorted dose doesn't work well enough because, if you like, the user has become immune to the effects. That's when they begin to inject. They can't give up by now. 'Cold turkey' withdrawal is physically painful and is often horrendous to witness, much less experience, I would imagine.

We can't help many of those who get hooked, because they've become so brain-addled that they think they don't need help. Of those who do accept help, they often aren't strong enough to stay clean and fall off the wagon time and again. It doesn't make them bad. It doesn't make them mad. They are simply people whose weakness was taken advantage of and then became ill - because that's what stuff like heroin does - it makes you ill, in the mind and in the body.

Going on from what Aims said, those who kick the habit, I believe, are given too little support afterwards. More support goes to time-served muggers and child-molesters than goes to ex-addicts, and that is far from fair.

[DONNA1458]

I inject five to six times a day with insulin, I think people who take drugs don't like the idea of injecting as it is seen as dirty & more serious (and they are right) there is also the fear of injecting themselves which if they knew that you can't feel the injection one bit they would be more people trying it. There should be more education in schools and compulsory re-hab for people who commit crimes who are addicts.

[paulos66]

before being able to answer that question one needs to define 'drugs' - there is a world of difference between caffeine and smack and both could legitimately be referred to as drugs
Many people took caffeine today in order to make them feel more awake or because they like the taste - that shouldn't really baffle you

[aims1202]

I realised after that i was only talking about one drug in particular and of addiction. You asked about drugs in general. I was similar to tigwig, i am also in my right mind and always have been. From the age of 14 myself and my friends started smoking cannabis, then when we were 16/17 we started using speed, ecstasy and cocaine, almost every weekend when we would go to clubs. These were good times and in my eyes no different to going out and drinking alcohol. The reason we took them was because it was fun, the same reason most people drink socially.
Later on I even smoked crack and heroin a few times. My boyfriend of 4 yrs was addicted to crack. This was a different side. I saw people inject heroin but never did myself.
I stopped using drugs in my early twenties just before i had my son.
Drugs are not always bad, i think there is nothing wrong with using them, if you are able to make the choice to stop when its too much or its having a negative effect on yours or other peoples lives.
Addiction of anything is bad, whether its alcohol, drugs, food it is all the same. Just because drugs are illegal doesnt mean that they are worse than the others, all addictions destroy lives.

[jimmy654]

Because what's fun is sometimes more important, and just because your squemish about injecting yourself many people aren't