Functional addicts- have you ever known one?

[Raymondo]

I learnt today that an old mate's father died a few months ago.

He was what you would call a "functional addict". A long term heroin-user (for more than two decades probably far longer) who had a responsible, high paying job in the City of London. A few years ago his company started doing piss tests and he was caught out. He was given a few chances but eventually they sacked him. He had serious problems finding another job and probably spiralled further down into addiction.

It makes me wonder how some people manage to hold down white collar jobs and maintain an addiction to hard drugs.

Do you know any? How do they cope?

[TigerStripes]

There are tons of them, its not rare at all.

Drug users are not all a bunch of total losers. Many of them are very active and successful.

[arce1988]

  There are a LOT of them. Be it booze, cigs, java, pills, coke, meth, etc.

[OneMoreRep]

I learnt today that an old mate's father died a few months ago.

He was what you would call a "functional addict". A long term heroin-user (for more than two decades probably far longer) who had a responsible, high paying job in the City of London. A few years ago his company started doing piss tests and he was caught out. He was given a few chances but eventually they sacked him. He had serious problems finding another job and probably spiralled further down into addiction.

It makes me wonder how some people manage to hold down white collar jobs and maintain an addiction to hard drugs.

Do you know any? How do they cope?

I'm surrounded by them.

Everyday I see so many of my coworkers addicted to nicotine and smoking a pack of cigarettes per day.

Nicotine is more addictive than both heroin and cocaine. At least the heroin addict isn't harming anyone by way of their addiction (assuming they don't resort to criminal activity to engage in their next fix), whereas the second-hand smoke of cigarette smokers can cause small-cell carcinoma of the lung to the average non-smoker with prolonged exposure.

It's so sad..
"1"

[arce1988]

  Great post as always OMR

[Dr.J]

plenty of "Functional PED addicts" here!!

 

[Man of Steel]

There are tons of them, its not rare at all.

Drug users are not all a bunch of total losers. Many of them are very active and successful.

I would assume that many of these folks would like to stop using if they could, but I agree not "total losers" or "bad people" they just got caught in addiction and can't get out on their own.  Still, for those folks that want to stop using that have high visibility at their workplaces it has to be hard to quietly break the addiction.   Everywhere I've ever worked is the same....you're blood or urine comes back dirty and you're done.  You get help on your own time and your own dime cause at work you work and a drug addiction that might interefere with performance isn't tolerated.  I wonder how many large corporations offer counciling and drug abuse assistance for employees that desire to quit?

[Overload]

I know a ton of people who use rec drugs in the professional world.  Tons of Architects, Engineers, Developers, etc.

Most of them are into coke, meth, weed and pills.  Some hide it so well you will never ever know, others you can tell.  I know a few Architects that do speed in order to work crazy hours and they are very successful at work and have nice family life.  Some only do it when they need to and others are full blown addicts.  One of my clients is a land developer and he has been doing coke and vicoden for 10 years non stop.  He does the coke all day and takes a handful of vics on the way home to chill out and sleep.  On the weekends he doesn't touch the stuff and he has a wonderful relationship with his family.

Very common in America.

[240 is Back]

Yep, all of us seem to be addicts to something.   caffeine, weed, ciggs, wine, or harder stuff. 

I know one woman who does coke exactly 3 times a day.  upon waking, after work, and before bed, amazingly.  That's it.  Has done this for 15 or 20 years.  Successful at business, great mom, martial arts, all that... just seems like a regular person plugging away.  Bumps every day for years. 

Probably just as many BBers living on ECA.  Musicians who can't touch a guitar without some pot in the car and a jack/coke.  It is what it is.  Back in the caveman days, ppl were probably eating fields of poppies then fcking sheep with reckless abandon, so hey, who are we to judge.

[Raymondo]

I'm surrounded by them.

Everyday I see so many of my coworkers addicted to nicotine and smoking a pack of cigarettes per day.

Nicotine is more addictive than both heroin and cocaine. At least the heroin addict isn't harming anyone by way of their addiction (assuming they don't resort to criminal activity to engage in their next fix), whereas the second-hand smoke of cigarette smokers can cause small-cell carcinoma of the lung to the average non-smoker with prolonged exposure.

It's so sad..
"1"

Regardless OMR, I'm talking about hard drugs, stuff that only few people are addicted to (compared to alcohol and nicotine).

You can be addicted to just about anything, but that's not the point of the thread.

[Raymondo]

I would assume that many of these folks would like to stop using if they could, but I agree not "total losers" or "bad people" they just got caught in addiction and can't get out on their own.  Still, for those folks that want to stop using that have high visibility at their workplaces it has to be hard to quietly break the addiction.   Everywhere I've ever worked is the same....you're blood or urine comes back dirty and you're done.  You get help on your own time and your own dime cause at work you work and a drug addiction that might interefere with performance isn't tolerated.  I wonder how many large corporations offer counciling and drug abuse assistance for employees that desire to quit?

This man I'm talking about, I think the large corporation he used to work at offered him a few weeks councelling to break an addiction stretching back to at least two decades.

He couldn't stop- they sacked him. A man in his early 50s. He had no chance getting another job in the current climate so he ate through his retirement package. I wonder if he did not kill himself so his family could collect insurance money.

[irishdave]

This man I'm talking about, I think the large corporation he used to work at offered him a few weeks councelling to break an addiction stretching back to at least two decades.

He couldn't stop- they sacked him. A man in his early 50s. He had no chance getting another job in the current climate so he ate through his retirement package. I wonder if he did not kill himself so his family could collect insurance money.

Poor guy, that's very sad. I'd say alcohol is the biggest problem and most abused, definitely here in Ireland anyway. And I'm a barely functioning alcoholic, I might miss a few days of work if I hit it too hard at the weekend

[Tito24]

[disco_stu]

I'm surrounded by them.

Everyday I see so many of my coworkers addicted to nicotine and smoking a pack of cigarettes per day.

Nicotine is more addictive than both heroin and cocaine. At least the heroin addict isn't harming anyone by way of their addiction (assuming they don't resort to criminal activity to engage in their next fix), whereas the second-hand smoke of cigarette smokers can cause small-cell carcinoma of the lung to the average non-smoker with prolonged exposure.

It's so sad..
"1"

what a load of bullshit this is...

the hype around second hand smoke is overstated purely because smoking isnt illegal and it causes sickness in the community so its a government burden.

the scare campaign uses peer pressure and community fear to try to get people to stop on their own accord- and to a lesser extent (much lesser), reduce the minimal risk of second hand smoke...(pollution is more dangerous to people).

[Psychopath]

I'm addicted to stimulants. 

[YngiweRhoads]

One of my friends has been a coke/crack addict for about 25 years and almost never misses a day of work.

[OneMoreRep]

what a load of bullshit this is...

the hype around second hand smoke is overstated purely because smoking isnt illegal and it causes sickness in the community so its a government burden.

the scare campaign uses peer pressure and community fear to try to get people to stop on their own accord- and to a lesser extent (much lesser), reduce the minimal risk of second hand smoke...(pollution is more dangerous to people).

So are you saying that secondhand smoke doesn't cause cancer?

Post the studies that state otherwise and I will gladly accept it as fact. Unless otherwise provided, those statements of yours serve as anecdotal evidence at best or as your so eloquently put it "a load of bullshit"..

While you post your peer-reviewed studies, I will go ahead and provide you a few of mine:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2006 [accessed 2011 Mar 11].

Link to aforementioned report - http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/secondhandsmoke/report/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses—United States, 2000–2004. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2008;57(45):1226–8 [accessed 2011 Mar 11].

Link to article - http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5745a3.htm

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vital Signs: Nonsmokers' Exposure to Secondhand Smoke—United States, 1999–2008. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2010;59(35):1141–6 [accessed 2011 Mar 11].

Link to article - http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5935a4.htm?s_cid=mm5935a4_w


For another 7-8 peer-reviewed articles, look at the references at the bottom of this link:

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/secondhand_smoke/general_facts/index.htm#children

"1"

P.S. I genuinely want to review the proof you can provide, as I am not proud and am always willing to change my stance, so as long as verifiable evidence is provided to substantiate your claims.

[goomba420]

As addictive as certain drugs can be, how these individuals project themselves towards society ultimately comes down to self-control and whether or not they give a shit about being viewed as drug addicts.

[Parker]

I learnt today that an old mate's father died a few months ago.

He was what you would call a "functional addict". A long term heroin-user (for more than two decades probably far longer) who had a responsible, high paying job in the City of London. A few years ago his company started doing piss tests and he was caught out. He was given a few chances but eventually they sacked him. He had serious problems finding another job and probably spiralled further down into addiction.

It makes me wonder how some people manage to hold down white collar jobs and maintain an addiction to hard drugs.

Do you know any? How do they cope?

there are millions of them in the US, especially since the crack epidemic hit around the mid 80s, you have crack and smack users in their 50s, and 60s now...
Many have held jobs and "raised" kids.

[Nomad]

I'm surrounded by them.

Everyday I see so many of my coworkers addicted to nicotine and smoking a pack of cigarettes per day.

Nicotine is more addictive than both heroin and cocaine. At least the heroin addict isn't harming anyone by way of their addiction (assuming they don't resort to criminal activity to engage in their next fix), whereas the second-hand smoke of cigarette smokers can cause small-cell carcinoma of the lung to the average non-smoker with prolonged exposure.

It's so sad..
"1"

Curious. I must be a very weird body chemistry for I can take up smoking for 1-2 months, usually during stressful times and then go off for a couple months if not even a year without feeling the urge to smoke.

[EH]

Yep, all of us seem to be addicts to something.   caffeine, weed, ciggs, wine, or harder stuff. 

I know one woman who does coke exactly 3 times a day.  upon waking, after work, and before bed, amazingly.  That's it.  Has done this for 15 or 20 years.  Successful at business, great mom, martial arts, all that... just seems like a regular person plugging away.  Bumps every day for years. 

Probably just as many BBers living on ECA.  Musicians who can't touch a guitar without some pot in the car and a jack/coke.  It is what it is.  Back in the caveman days, ppl were probably eating fields of poppies then fcking sheep with reckless abandon, so hey, who are we to judge.

how do you do coke before bed?


i was hooked on Nubain back in '00/'01/'02, then gbl, then vodka... functional as hell. never missed work... until i was in the hospital with pancreatitis.

[OneMoreRep]

Curious. I must be a very weird body chemistry for I can take up smoking for 1-2 months, usually during stressful times and then go off for a couple months if not even a year without feeling the urge to smoke.

Maybe you don't have a propensity for Nicotine addiction. I would call that a blessing.

Personally, I've never smoked cigarettes, but have lost family to small cell carcinoma of the lung after prolonged cigarette smoking (40+ years).

The same family member that lost her life was a chronic smoker, whose pulmonologist urged her to quit, placed her on Nicotine patches and smoking cessation programs involving counseling, but to no avail. She never stopped and the pulmonologist would conduct pulmonary function tests to verify that her respiratory capacity kept declining at such a rapid rate as compared to the average non-smoker. He would even show her how by way of yearly X-ray scans that her lungs had developed extensive scarring as well as particulate matter and then towards the end, cancerous cells (verified via biopsy). Slowly, she developed lung cancer and her death was brought about in both a slow and painful fashion.

Even while she received chemotherapy and had various radiation administered, she could not get her hand off the cigarette.

"1"

[deceiver]

Paul Erdos was a drug addict, amphetamines was his drug of choice. He claimed it helped him work and of course denied being an addict. Once he took a bet with his colleague that he could quit amphetamine for a month. He won but then said "math just lost 1 month".

Since I am from Poland I know many alcoholics. Of course many of them work in respected professions like medicine, law etc. I always thought it has something to do with mentality here. You know, heroin addict is considered a loser and generally rejected by society. Alcoholism is common and tolerated. It got better with time but hell, there were times in Poland when young doctors on their internship had to do everything on their own during emergency because doctor drank too much vodka with priest that visited him in hospital... Believe it or not, this is fucking real story.

As I said it got better but in small societies I guarantee you that at least half of the "city elite" including mayor, local doctors and shit drinks too much. Everyone knows that and nobody gives a shit except from badmouthing them.

As for nicotine I'm immune to nicotine addiction as well. I could smoke cigarette after cigarette, it made me feel slightly better but then I would quit. In fact I've got whole pack of cigarretes on my desk right now and haven't touched them for months. I don't feel the need to smoke, I smoke when I just WANT to smoke not when my body tells me to smoke.

[Tapeworm]

I would assume that many of these folks would like to stop using if they could, but I agree not "total losers" or "bad people" they just got caught in addiction and can't get out on their own.  Still, for those folks that want to stop using that have high visibility at their workplaces it has to be hard to quietly break the addiction.   Everywhere I've ever worked is the same....you're blood or urine comes back dirty and you're done.  You get help on your own time and your own dime cause at work you work and a drug addiction that might interefere with performance isn't tolerated.  I wonder how many large corporations offer counciling and drug abuse assistance for employees that desire to quit?

I wouldn't help them or test them.

[Mr Nobody]

Everyone has a addiction to something, some more harmful than others. Buddha left a rich home  life and discovered pain and addiction in the world being protected before by parents from the world he did not know the world. But after sitting and learning wrote his teachings.