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(Subtitle: Also, Don't Read The Comments. Sub-Subtitle: I Should Not Have Read The Comments)
Okay, this is the definition of drug abuse:
If you're using a drug in a way that does you more harm than good, you're abusing it.
And this is the definition of physical drug addiction:
If you will have unpleasant withdrawal symptoms if you stop taking a drug regularly, you're addicted to it.
A person who is addicted to a substance is not necessarily abusing it. A person with severe chronic pain who takes oxycodone every day is almost certainly addicted - they're going to feel like shit for months if they have to go off the stuff - but they are not abusing it. It's doing them more good than harm. If you wouldn't be able to get out of bed if you weren't taking the stuff, then why the fuck does it matter if you're addicted?
My grandmother, towards the end of her life, could not move around, cook, and take care of her pets without prescription painkillers. One of her doctors nonetheless at one point decided to refuse to renew her prescription, because she was "an addict." Yeah, no shit, buddy. She was also an old woman who, without that medication, physically could not care for herself.
I wonder how many people in her situation that doctor, and others like him, have killed like that.
A lot of people have personal objections to taking stuff that's addictive, even if they'd be better off on it; I am one of them! But that's 100% a personal decision - it is not something that other people have the right to decide for you. You do not need to feel guilty if you choose taking something that induces dependency over, y'know, being in horrible pain all day.
And it is definitely not something we should be fucking legislating. If you think that, you are what is known, in medical terms, as a complete jackass.
Okay, this is the definition of drug abuse:
If you're using a drug in a way that does you more harm than good, you're abusing it.
And this is the definition of physical drug addiction:
If you will have unpleasant withdrawal symptoms if you stop taking a drug regularly, you're addicted to it.
A person who is addicted to a substance is not necessarily abusing it. A person with severe chronic pain who takes oxycodone every day is almost certainly addicted - they're going to feel like shit for months if they have to go off the stuff - but they are not abusing it. It's doing them more good than harm. If you wouldn't be able to get out of bed if you weren't taking the stuff, then why the fuck does it matter if you're addicted?
My grandmother, towards the end of her life, could not move around, cook, and take care of her pets without prescription painkillers. One of her doctors nonetheless at one point decided to refuse to renew her prescription, because she was "an addict." Yeah, no shit, buddy. She was also an old woman who, without that medication, physically could not care for herself.
I wonder how many people in her situation that doctor, and others like him, have killed like that.
A lot of people have personal objections to taking stuff that's addictive, even if they'd be better off on it; I am one of them! But that's 100% a personal decision - it is not something that other people have the right to decide for you. You do not need to feel guilty if you choose taking something that induces dependency over, y'know, being in horrible pain all day.
And it is definitely not something we should be fucking legislating. If you think that, you are what is known, in medical terms, as a complete jackass.
