Genetics have quite a bit to play with every addiction. Some people are naturally predisposed to becoming addicted to things. Opium has been arround for thousands of years, but only in the last 50? Or so has it really hit its stride in the halls of infamy. There is no easy way to deal with this kind of problem. With the freedoms that we enjoy, along with the massive amounts of social backdrops in this country, there is little urgency to try to break a habit. This is why you see the slow decline we have all seen to girls in the profession, our friends, our family, and even just driving down the street. Everyone pays lip service to the problem, commissions are formed, task forces are established, but no one has the balls to face the problem head on. We could run down all the ways to bring the problem to heal, but I don't see anyone, from politicians to the general population, having the physical or emotional fortitude to do what is nessicary. In the end, it comes down to natural selection. Those who are unwilling, or unable to break the habbit will slowly fall apart, and eventually die. Those who survive after beating the habbit will hopefully pass along the proper genetics, along with stories filled with pain and suffering to keep future generations from falling into the same trap.
[QUOTE=HuntingStreets;4004065]I'd agree with much of this.
In addition, I think there's a societal shift. Back in my heyday, around 1980, everything was about going faster. We did truckloads of coke, fistfuls of speed, tempered it a bit with weed or booze. Today's world is so fast paced and frantic with cell phones, Ims, texts and social media that people are just burned out. Along comes a little pill that slows everything down and leaves you mellow like Oxi. I'm the first to admit I need to be very, very careful. I typically get at least one Kindey Stone a year and when I do my Dr prescribes Percs for the pain. I LOVE putting a movie on, popping 2 and melting into the couch. I could get addicted very, very easily.
When it comes to younger users, let's be honest, teenagers and young adults think they are invulnerable, they are going to live forever, it won't happen to them. I started smoking cigarettes at the age 15 to be "cool". I was going to quit when I graduated High School. Then when they went over $1 a pack. Then $2 a pack. Almost 40 years later I'm STILL a 2 pack a day smoker. I have early stage COPD. I know I'm going to die an ugly death of lung cancer if a heart attack doesn't get me first.
I've tried to quit a dozen times or more. Cold Turkey, weaning myself off them, meds, support groups, even vaping. When I'm not smoking literally the only thing I can think about is smoking. Taking that pull, feeling that drag. I've been written up at work because my performance falls off so sharply when Im trying to quit. I've reduced myself to picking a strangers cigeratte butt out of an ashtray outside a grocery store to nab a few drags.
And that's just NICOTINE. I can't even imagine trying to break an opioid habit.
HS.[/QUOTE]