On Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 12:17:39 PM UTC-4, True North wrote:
On Thursday, 9 July 2015 12:17:00 UTC-3, wrote:
On Thu, 09 Jul 2015 03:44:31 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 7/9/2015 12:11 AM, wrote:
On Wed, 08 Jul 2015 16:18:08 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 7/8/2015 3:24 PM, wrote:

You are much better off simply asking the abuser if you want to get a
straight answer.


If addicts had the answer, they would stop



They "chose" not to. It's the feel good thing. Just ask 'em.


Any you believe them? This is nothing but something they want to do?

In real life, it is hard to get most substance abusers to even admit
it is a problem but that is not really what we are talking about is
it?
The question is whether this might be a genetic predisposition in some
people and I bet they are going to identify it fairly soon. The
NIH/NIMH people seem to think they already have areas in the genome
that they are looking at.



Greg, substance abusers ... drugs or alcohol ... are famous for the
denials. However, the denials are made while they are in an altered
mental state, meaning high or perpetually drunk. Get them through a
successful detox and then ask them why they do drugs or drink. I say
"successful" detox because not all are effective. For heavy alcohol
abusers it can takes anywhere from a week to a month or more before they
can even start to think clearly.

It's interesting that at first you were very adamant and sure
there is a genetic predisposition to addictions. Now you say the
researchers "seem to think" they have evidence "in some people". That
doesn't explain the exponential rise in drug abuse ... particularly
heroin ... in certain parts of the country .. even in certain towns
within a state.

Are there people who are more prone to becoming an addict than others?
Of course. But I still maintain, after 6 years of daily dealings with
an addict that it is due to social conditioning and lifestyle choices.
The time and money spent on detoxes, private rehab programs, VA rehab
programs, sessions with shrinks (and their automatic prescriptions
for anti-depressant medication) and AA meetings all failed to address
the addiction problem. Actually, all they did was reinforce a feeling
in the person that there is something "wrong" with him. His treatment
became more of a maintenance program rather than a search for the
reasons he drank.

Right now he's doing fine. No more therapy sessions. No more
prescription "feel good" pills. No AA meetings No more excuses.
He has chosen not to drink.



You still have not explained why some people can drink responsibly and
others can't. There must be something different in their physiology.
It certainly goes farther than simple will power.

I already addressed the spike in heroin abuse. "pain pills" seems to
be the "gateway drug" although that is not really a gateway drug since
most pain pills are still basically opium, just in a legal package
that doctors hand out like candy. Virtually every doctor I have been
to in 3 decades has tried to get me to take some kind of pain pill..

Say what?? Mine tells me to tough it out. Right knee is bothering me these days..especially on stairs, and we have three flights in this house. Dragging laundry down and back from the 2nd floor to the basement is a chore. I asked him about an x-ray on it since I had completed my 13 month ordeal on steroids..but he said..what for? It wouldn't do anything for my knee except to tell me how long it might be before I need a manufactured one. D'oh!....since it usually takes 18 months or so to get one, I'd like to get a head start on the lineup.

Sounds like your "free" medical care is trying to limit your access to pain pills and prosthetic joints. That's what happens when you surrender your choices to government bean-counters.