When you find out someone you know is a drug addict

What would you do if you found this out?
Perhaps this is just my autistic brain, but I'd try and distance myself as much as possible from the person.

Very judgemental words my friend. Many people who are addicted to drugs function just fine, and you would have no idea they were addicted. To each their own, but I think with a little more experience you'll find it isn't so black and white as "anyone who chooses to do drugs is a retard".

I mean it's up to them really. I mean, I can offer my opinion, but in the end it's up to them if they'd like to continue or not. I have an online friend to openly does them and we've been friends this long so I don't see it deterring our friendship. Our whole little group knows and we don't treat him any different.

You've got some growing up to do

Jim Slesus said:

Very judgemental words my friend. Many people who are addicted to drugs function just fine, and you would have no idea they were addicted. To each their own, but I think with a little more experience you'll find it isn't so black and white as "anyone who chooses to do drugs is a retard".

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Well, it is to me. Go google autism.

McCree said:

You've got some growing up to do

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So do you if you do drugs.

Lucario said:

So do you if you do drugs.

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Have you ever dabbled in drugs? You sound like someone who doesn't really know anything about them and have based your opinion on them on someone telling you they were bad.

Sure, we all have our own quirks in personality, but I'll agree that it's a bit much to distance yourself from an entire community just because you found out one individual may or may not be a drug addict. There are lots of qualities in individuals I may not like about them, but I don't let those be reasons to distance myself from them, so long as it doesn't affect me.

Hands said:

Have you ever dabbled in drugs? You sound like someone who doesn't really know anything about them and have based your opinion on them on someone telling you they were bad.

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Nope, and I hope never to in my life, but I do know about the effects of them, and nearly everyone I know who did do drugs (or smoke, for that matter) regrets it strongly.

Lucario said:

Well, it is to me. Go google autism.

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Speaking as an autistic person with friends who have or do dabble in drugs, it doesn't have to be that black and white even for those of us with a predisposition to black and white morality. Look at it logically, does it effect you? Does it make them different people?

On that note though, let us all remember this is not a post in the advice thread but a discussion about how we ourselves would handle the problem. Feel free to develop the conversation onwards from there or whatever but let's not turn this into something it isn't.

If drugs are really as bad as you say, and if you care strongly enough about this person, maybe consider helping them? Even if you don't think you have anything to offer, sometimes just the act of reaching out and showing you care is enough.

Lucario said:

What would you do if you found this out?
Perhaps this is just my autistic brain, but I'd try and distance myself as much as possible from the person.

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Lucario said:

Well, it is to me. Go google autism.

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Yeah, no, you don't just say something completely judgmental like that, in full knowledge that your autism is probably influencing your viewpoint on it, then try and shrug it off with "go google autism". You're not getting out of jail that easy.

Most people know someone who is, or has been, a drug addict. Because drug addicts are actually really capable of being fully functional, completely "normal"-looking people who bury their issue because of exactly this sort of thing. Drug addicts are not reckless, immature, uncaring, or in general automatically bad people. Addiction is a serious issue. It does not discriminate, it is not fun, it is not easy, and most importantly it is never asked for.

Shrugging off all drug addicts because you don't understand, and have made no attempt to understand, their issue is incredibly shortsighted. Think about the reasons why someone would choose to become an addict, realise that there are none, and then reconsider what you'd do if someone close to you revealed that they had issues with addiction.

Addressing the issue at hand, it depends on what they want. If they want help, I'll give them it. If they don't, I'll give them whatever they do need. It's never a simple issue and I'd need more specifics to answer the question properly.

Lucario said:

Nope, and I hope never to in my life, but I do know about the effects of them, and nearly everyone I know who did do drugs (or smoke, for that matter) regrets it strongly.

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I've smoked my share of pot and never really regretted it. I regret smoking tobacco more. The odd time I've dabbled in cocaine and speed didn't change me as a person. I didn't suddenly become a bad person because of it.

Friendship is worth more than a misplaced moral highground over substances that, with respect, you have no first hand experience of.

I came to this thread thinking we'd be talking about, you know, the hard stuff like cocaine and meth and all that.

Actually, there was someone I knew (not well) who I found out was addicted to cocaine and it did make me want to distance myself from her. Like, I hope for the best with her and from what I've heard she's doing better now than she was a year ago, but it's draining to be around addicts and I just don't have the energy to put myself in that position if it's not someone I already care strongly for.

Like, I dunno. I feel like you gotta take the addiction with the person. If you care about them or you want to stay or become someone close to them then you gotta face that part of them and either help them get by with it or you gotta walk away. And I don't think there's anything bad about walking away most of the time. You gotta be in a place where you can help and if, say, you're struggling yourself then you probably aren't helping yourself by trying to be someone else's support.

I know people that do drugs, but I dont think any of them were addicts. I would really only distance myself from them if the drugs changed who the person was (I'm friends with that person for who they are) or that person brought his or her "drug life" into my life. I do not want to be associated with drugs or caught with any.

Basically dont bring your drugs into my home and I dont care.

I wouldn't treat them any different, and if they want to get help I would offer my full support.

It depend what you describe as an «addict». Some won't be able to function without the drug. Some will take a lot of drugs but won't ruin their life. Some might be addict for some times and go over it. Do you consider a drug addict the one who smoke pot, snif cocain, take med pills? Because I knew some person addicted to Tylenols. We can develop an addiction to anything.

I know some person who take/took drugs and they did fine in life. Sometime it can change the lifestyle of the person, but most of time if you tell them that you are not comfortable with them smmoking or wathever in front of you, they will respect that (if not, they are a**hole). Just let them know your limits (a.k.a «please don't smoke in my home») and most of time they will respect you. If they don't, don't blame the drug, blame the attitude lol.

i'd try my best to help them but ultimately it's up to them to get help. they need to want to help themselves. however i would still try to give them advice and whatnot. but if it got out of hand, i would need to distance myself from them. i used to have some friends who smoked weed and stuff like that, nothing serious, but it did get my friend somewhat addicted to them. however she broke it off with them completely and got through recovery.

I might give my opinion, but really it's no different then smoking. I can't really do much.

From personal experience I completely cut them off.

They were a high functioning addict, but while I tried hard to help them their presence ultimately became too much of a strain on my personal health. I found myself doing stuff I didn't want to do due to pressure and getting into a lot more arguments/getting depressed in my personal life and I couldn't handle it anymore.

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The situation is different for everybody there's no real "right" answer at times. What I did wasn't particularly morally reprehensible.