I Love Criminology And Psychology

@Mamapolo2016 I will admit that my experience with drug users has been via the criminal justice system. While there are not a large percentage of prisoners in custody for simple drug possession, the majority of offenders in for property offences such as theft, stated that they committed the offences in order to purchase drugs. i will also admit that the thrill factor was also very high on the list, but mostly after the need to finance their addictions.

It is a very complicated situation, with numerous possible responses.

@Bushranger Like I said, I don't know how many see things that way...but offenders are more likely to give reasons that may evoke pity ... 'The habit made me steal' than 'Stealing is scary and fun.'

@Mamapolo2016 I often got the thrill factor response, but while they loved the rush, their main motivation was money for drugs. But, as I said before, my sample is probably a lot different to yours. And I am in no way attempting to minimise your experiences. In fact, I take my hat off to you for having the strength to beat your addiction.

@Bushranger It's kind of you to say that, and thenk you. While it was in many ways a life-changing experience, 30 days in rehab contemplating my own navel doesn't trump a career in the field. I just share it as possibly another magnitude of compkexity.

@Mamapolo2016 Your input has been gratefully accepted and valued. I don't consider myself an expert and willingly accept other people's views. Unfortunately, I can come across as knowing everything at times. I really need to work on that 😁

@Bushranger Sigh. I feel obligated to figure out what happened here in my never-ending quest for clarity in communication. Your last response sounded like you thought I was put out in some way. I wasn't. I meant what I said. I learned a lot from that experience and learning that at least some drug users love the whole risky package was interesting and surprising but by no means applicable in any real way. I did not find you 'know-it-all-ish' in the least.

It is my opinion - and only my opinion - that such things as methadone clinics only mimic drug use, and the clinics have zero motivation to actually wean their patients off drugs. If they are successful, their income stream dries up.

@Mamapolo2016 The problem with written communication, way too difficult to determine true meaning at times.

I agree with you about the methadone clinics. My understanding was that they were, in Australia at least, supposed to be backed up with ongoing counselling support in an effort to get users to stop using. My idea of Governments providing drugs would need to have that ongoing support built into the system. Way too much money is spent on punishment and not enough of rehabilitation.

@Bushranger True. But the other unprovable and unduplicatable thing I learned was that at least five of my rehab companions were dealers of significance and what they said they learned in rehab was that using was bad business practice and they were going to continue building their business but abstain themselves. In short - legal and illegal have little meaning. One of those five was dead two months after discharge - OD.

The way 'straights' perceive the drug community is unrealistic. It is not an aberration of general culture. It is a DIFFERENT culture. There are plenty who live in straight culture and use drugs. There are plenty who live in the drug culture totally. It's different.

@Mamapolo2016] I've known a few dealers who didn't use drugs because they could see the damage that they did to their customers. But the drugs that are often available on the street have been cut with some pretty nasty stuff. Also, there's no guarantee of purity and dosage strength, so there is a high risk to the user.

You are quite right about the drug culture being different, it has it's own set of rules and morals that would be totally alien to most "straight" people. The cross over between straight and drug cultures is also interesting. A lot of people use illicit substances on a regular basis but still function quite well in "normal" society. The use of cocaine in some white collar professions would be an example. But remember that those people are in a position to be able to afford better quality drugs and have intermediaries to distance themselves from the more dubious sectors of the drug culture.

What you say about the legality of drugs not being a factor, I think it would be fair to say that price would be. My feeling is that if users were offered a higher quality product for a price lower than they are paying the dealers for, they would opt in to such a scheme. Combine that with counselling and social support and there might be the opportunity to get users to kick their habits.

Of course, this is pure speculation, but I think it's a nice dream.

@Bushranger Even better, though, to address not how drugs are used but WHY, and try to improve that lack of hope. Addiction to any substance, including alcohol, is in my opinion a way of, if not committing slow suicide, at least courting death.

@Mamapolo2016 Yep, that's why I said that counselling has to be available. Not everyone is ready to address the reasons behind their drug use, so providing them with the opportunity to not get involved in criminal behaviour to support their addictions may lead to users being more open to addressing their issues.

Maybe not always attempting to commit slow suicide, but in some cases just trying to deal with personal demons. But, everyone is different.