I am one of the people who pm'd cailessnana. I don't think I used the word stupid though. I did say I think addiction is caused by a gene & not everyone who uses gets addicted. I also said I think my own son has issues he repressed & he uses drugs to numb his feelings. Sometimes there is an underlying psychiatric disorder & people that use are self medicating.
It is a very, very complex issue & one explanation or reason is not the whole picture. So many things play into it. I know someone here said " addiction is a sickness of the soul " & I tend to agree with that. Some people try drugs cuz of peer pressure, youth, low self esteem, curiosity......a whole myriad of reasons. Some people use for awhile & then quit. Why, when people try alot of different drugs, do some only get addicted to one and not all they tried. What makes one person get addicted to coke & not another if each of them try it???
I grew up in the 60's. In my world & circle of friends drugs were never used or tried......in fact noone I knew in HS did drugs of any kind.................smoking cigarettes and having a couple of beers is the only so called vices anyone I knew had. These were the days before even seat belt laws or disposable diapers, and when my kids were born there wern't even any seat belt laws. Whn I got divorced my AS was the only child is his class to come from a single parent home.
I started smoking cigarettes in my last yr of high school, both my parents smoked & nothing bad had yet to be published about the dangrs of smoking. Even during the 60's the pressure for a young woman to be thin was there ( remember Twiggy? ) & I clearly rmember I started to smoke cuz it made me dizzy & made me lose my apptite.
I don't think I was stupid to start smoking just naieve & ignorant about the dangers of cigarettes. Now I am a grandma & addicted & quitting is very hard.
So do I think my son was stupid, no he is quite intelligent, but ignorant to the dangers of coke, & to all the negative consequences that come from the disease of addiction.
Love,
Diane