manitoubass2 Posted June 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2015 I myself have had a couple of friends who are addicts themselves. One has been sober for over 2 years now, and the other still uses. This doesnt make them bad people. i know for a fact that both of them had horrible childhoods and this is most likely the reason they abuse substances. I dont try to provide excuses for them to do what they do, but this doesnt make them horrible people that dont deserve to be cared about. I cant pretend to know what it feels like to be them, all i can do is continue to be a good influence and show them that i appreciate them and love them as friends, their journey is theres to take, you simply must not enable them and reject any form of use in your presence. And thats how ya do it? Good on ya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NANUK Posted June 26, 2015 Report Share Posted June 26, 2015 Thanks for the heads up !! Well said Old Ironmaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshS Posted June 26, 2015 Report Share Posted June 26, 2015 Addiction generally stems from much greater issues (mental health). Recreational use aside, addiction is a horrific disease. Couple that with mental health issues and most effected have little hope to live a normal life. Imagine trying to do that. For those that "have no sympathy"... I feel sorry for your ignorance. I'd keep the "no sympathy" comments to yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manitoubass2 Posted June 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2015 Addiction generally stems from much greater issues (mental health). Recreational use aside, addiction is a horrific disease. Couple that with mental health issues and most effected have little hope to live a normal life. Imagine trying to do that. For those that "have no sympathy"... I feel sorry for your ignorance. I'd keep the "no sympathy" comments to yourself. ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manitoubass2 Posted June 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2015 (edited) thanks for the info one of my kids is in a bad way from this and trying to make a turn Sorry to hear. I hope he makes that "turn". Must be heartbreaking as a parent for sure Life is worth living? Edited June 26, 2015 by manitoubass2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manitoubass2 Posted June 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2015 Love your family/friends, if they are addicts love em unconditionally ( same as if they are not) Addicts usually have brutal pasts, life experiences etc. Dont shun them. They are humans, moms, dads, uncles, aunties, grandmas, grandpas, friends, hard workers, homeless, war vets, terminally ill patients etc. Try to help. If it doesnt work, dont stop trying. Dont support the addiction. Support the person. They need tools. Tools to deal. Offer help when it comes to those tools, treatment, drs, psychiatrists, counsellors etc. Ive never met a person that wants to be an addict. But ive met alot of people that love life. If ya can, help them the best way you can. Love and support? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steelheadphycho Posted June 26, 2015 Report Share Posted June 26, 2015 YOU ARE A TRUE FRIEND! Indeed he is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenboater Posted June 26, 2015 Report Share Posted June 26, 2015 (edited) re: oxy and methadone, for many people it starts off as a way to control pain and unfortunately some slide into addiction. So I'm not too quick to write them off. ymmv obviously There was a photo essay a few years ago looking at coal miners in Kentucky or West Virginia. The miners would work in seams and tunnels that required them to hunch over all day. So after years of this, back pain was a serious issue and oxycontin was one way to deal with it. Unfortunately, some couldn't get off the use when they got better, if they even got better at all. It was an honest look at what should be a dying industry but is still an economic driver in many southern communities, and it's effect on the miners, their families and the communities as they try to deal with this problem. Edited June 26, 2015 by woodenboater Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steelheadphycho Posted June 26, 2015 Report Share Posted June 26, 2015 Love your family/friends, if they are addicts love em unconditionally ( same as if they are not) Addicts usually have brutal pasts, life experiences etc. Dont shun them. They are humans, moms, dads, uncles, aunties, grandmas, grandpas, friends, hard workers, homeless, war vets, terminally ill patients etc. Try to help. If it doesnt work, dont stop trying. Dont support the addiction. Support the person. They need tools. Tools to deal. Offer help when it comes to those tools, treatment, drs, psychiatrists, counsellors etc. Ive never met a person that wants to be an addict. But ive met alot of people that love life. If ya can, help them the best way you can. Love and support? Well said Rick Thank you for putting solid meaning to this thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spincast Posted June 26, 2015 Report Share Posted June 26, 2015 Love your family/friends, if they are addicts love em unconditionally ( same as if they are not) Addicts usually have brutal pasts, life experiences etc. Dont shun them. They are humans, moms, dads, uncles, aunties, grandmas, grandpas, friends, hard workers, homeless, war vets, terminally ill patients etc. Try to help. If it doesnt work, dont stop trying. Dont support the addiction. Support the person. They need tools. Tools to deal. Offer help when it comes to those tools, treatment, drs, psychiatrists, counsellors etc. Ive never met a person that wants to be an addict. But ive met alot of people that love life. If ya can, help them the best way you can. Love and support yes, exactly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodbender Posted June 26, 2015 Report Share Posted June 26, 2015 If my parents threw me out I wouldn't be here today I had a cocaine addiction for a few years and a bad one cost me thousands 15 grand the the last weekend and lucky I didn't kill anyone on the roads that week end I lost boats house sleds everything my dad took me back set the rules and I'm here today I still love my beer but not the drugs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freshtrax Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 (edited) No sympathy for them. As an ex addict... Go damn yourself If it wasn't for a few good friends and family that believed in me I wouldn't be here today. Edited June 27, 2015 by Freshtrax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freshtrax Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 (edited) Damn auto correct Edited June 27, 2015 by Freshtrax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenboater Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 I'm an agnostic kind of guy but this phrase should stamp out any hubris that we may feel protects us from changes of fortune "There but for the grace of God go I" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBW Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 As an ex addict... Go damn yourself If it wasn't for a few good friends and family that believed in me I wouldn't be here today. Same! Lost all the friends, the wife too but if it wasn't for parents I'd be dead by now... You can all think of me in any way you want but there is one powerful and true problem, depression and it can and does kill. Rick and the others, I'm sorry to hear of you loss! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aplumma Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 I want to keep this thread going but lets limit it to the discussion and get past the comment or comments you disagree with. Thanks Art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirCranksalot Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 re: oxy and methadone, for many people it starts off as a way to control pain and unfortunately some slide into addiction. I know that's a common problem with oxy. My wife was on it briefly after an operation and that prospect scared the livin bejeezus out of her as we had read and heard of how common and easy it was to slip into an addiction. http://oxywatchdog.com/oxy-stories/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Cliff Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 Two years ago a very wonderful young man entered my life, his name was John and he was only 23 years old. John had a rough start in life, parents that tried but were always busy doing their own thing. You have all seen or heard it before, it is way too common. John found company with some wrong people and ended up into drugs, not a hard mistake to make. When I met him he was fresh out of rehab, his step father didn't want anything to do with him, his father had given up on him, his mother was doing her best but she had issues of her own to deal with and wasn't doing a great job of it. John and I quickly became friends, he would come and hang out with me in my shop and seemed to love to learn and boy was that kid smart. We spent many hours working on lawn mowers, trimmers, chain saws. There wasn't a day we spent together that he didn't make me so proud of him. We would spend hours just hanging out and talking about anything and everything, school, life, girls..... I even got him interested in fishing, set him up with a rod and some tackle and we'd go down to the dock and tease each other about the fish we were going to catch (or lost)and we'd drink a beer or two and just be together. He was a wonderful human being! I hadn't seen John for about a week when I got the call that he had had a slip and od! He didn't make it. I was so angry at first, how could he do that to me, to us, and why would he? Then his step father came to see me and told me that "well, John's demons got the better of him but the good thing was it was only going to cost them $450.00 for the funeral"! Then I started to understand, if that is the kind of life you have been brought up into and those are the kind of attitudes you have pushed at you every day, how can you ever value life? His step father still walks this earth today but it was a close call, I came very close to doing something that would have ruined not only my life but my families lives too. You may not have sympathy, you may not even have empathy, but until you have fought the fight, walked the walk, and lived the life, no man has the right to judge anyone else. RIP John you will forever be in my heart! For the rest of you; never look down on anyone unless you are offering them a hand up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirCranksalot Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 (edited) Excellent post, BC "His step father still walks this earth today but it was a close call," What a scumbag!!I bet you get angry every time you think of that. Edited June 27, 2015 by SirCranksaLot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manitoubass2 Posted June 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 Two years ago a very wonderful young man entered my life, his name was John and he was only 23 years old. John had a rough start in life, parents that tried but were always busy doing their own thing. You have all seen or heard it before, it is way too common. John found company with some wrong people and ended up into drugs, not a hard mistake to make. When I met him he was fresh out of rehab, his step father didn't want anything to do with him, his father had given up on him, his mother was doing her best but she had issues of her own to deal with and wasn't doing a great job of it. John and I quickly became friends, he would come and hang out with me in my shop and seemed to love to learn and boy was that kid smart. We spent many hours working on lawn mowers, trimmers, chain saws. There wasn't a day we spent together that he didn't make me so proud of him. We would spend hours just hanging out and talking about anything and everything, school, life, girls..... I even got him interested in fishing, set him up with a rod and some tackle and we'd go down to the dock and tease each other about the fish we were going to catch (or lost)and we'd drink a beer or two and just be together. He was a wonderful human being! I hadn't seen John for about a week when I got the call that he had had a slip and od! He didn't make it. I was so angry at first, how could he do that to me, to us, and why would he? Then his step father came to see me and told me that "well, John's demons got the better of him but the good thing was it was only going to cost them $450.00 for the funeral"! Then I started to understand, if that is the kind of life you have been brought up into and those are the kind of attitudes you have pushed at you every day, how can you ever value life? His step father still walks this earth today but it was a close call, I came very close to doing something that would have ruined not only my life but my families lives too. You may not have sympathy, you may not even have empathy, but until you have fought the fight, walked the walk, and lived the life, no man has the right to judge anyone else. RIP John you will forever be in my heart! For the rest of you; never look down on anyone unless you are offering them a hand up! Cliff, thats very tragic, but all too common. I have addicts in my family on my wifes side. I do everything to help them. Feed them, take them fishing, got them jobs etc. They are AWESOME PEOPLE, but just cant kick it. Sad really, theyve lost wives and kids. But i know, im a prescribed addict. I know the struggle. I wont give up on them, just like you didnt. And i have friends and family that dont give up on me. Amazing what love and understanding can do. And just because someone is an addict(not directed at you cliff) doesnt mean they arent brilliant, great human beings? Sorry for the loss cliff, it happens. Thats a tough on to swallow for sure. But all we can do is be humane, when people struggle, help them out. Not even just with addictions either. Help the old lady that cant cut her grass. Listen to the war vet get crap off his chest, listen to the child being bullied in school, listen to the gay boy/girl thats not accepted in school. Just BE A GOOD HUMAN! you have ears and a mouth for a reason! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Ironmaker Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 Cliff, such a sad story I have heard far too often. Cliff your story sounds familiar to me, have you told it here before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Cliff Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 Cliff, such a sad story I have heard far too often. Cliff your story sounds familiar to me, have you told it here before? Ya, I did put a post up just after John passed. I guess that I just had to share it again because of the lack of understanding from some in the hope it might give them an opportunity to see it from a different perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manitoubass2 Posted June 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 Ya, I did put a post up just after John passed. I guess that I just had to share it again because of the lack of understanding from some in the hope it might give them an opportunity to see it from a different perspective. Nothin wrong with that Cliff! Knowledge is power. Sometimes we get so busy we forget, nothing wrong with a reminder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Cliff Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 Nothin wrong with that Cliff! Knowledge is power. Sometimes we get so busy we forget, nothing wrong with a reminder Or just too old LOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pigeontroller Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 A wise man I once knew said, "Its easier to look down into a hole, than up out of one" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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