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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (13434)	5/11/2001 10:03:04 AM
From: epicure	Respond to of 82486

I am not an addict because I am very gifted biochemically. My brain is happy on it's own. I have grown up with people who were mentally ill. My father was an alcoholic and my mother was a borderline personality. Neither of them had a bit of choice. My father tried desperately several times in his life to quit drinking. I know he wanted to. But he could not. My father was a man of truly awesome character in many ways. I know that if it had only involved will and goodness, he would have been able to stop. My mother did the most astounding and crazy things. I am sure she did not want to do those things. She would sob wildly afterwards and apologize. She was clearly (even to a child) out of control. Her own mind was making her do things she regretted almost immediately. Seeing these two very flawed people every day of my life made me realize we are not as in control as we think we are. We, the biochemical elite, those individuals who are happy and content and in control because our brains are bathed in the chemicals that allow us to be this way, have no right to judge those people to whom life has dealt a different hand. We can criminalize certain behaviors- we must do this. But to call these people deficient on "moral" character, or to say they have character flaws is to gravely minimize their problems. Medication can solve many of these problems. If my father had been treated for his depression with other drugs he probably could have stopped drinking. My mother was finally treated with drugs (like Lithium) and she became another person. She is a totally different person now than the one I knew as a child and teenager. I have nothing but compassion for people who turn to drugs because of pain- any kind of pain, and who get hooked on them because they are wired for addiction. People do not destroy themselves because they want to. Sometimes it appears that way, but I don't think desire and will are the proper way to look at it. Cause and effect. No blame, but solutions. That's what I am interested in.

To: Lane3 who wrote (13434)	5/11/2001 10:04:56 AM
From: average joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Strange post that you replied to. We're all made victims by the character flaws of others. Some friends adopted a child off a mother with substance abuse problems. The child was adopted right out of the cradle and is now a hyper-active nine year old with serious mental and emotional problems. The school system can't deal with his special needs and neither can the parents. The same substance abusing mother has gone on to produce two other children all with various problems. The childs classmates, the medi-care system and the parents are all victims of the biological mother. The children she produced are victims to. To do anything, even say anything would be politically incorrect.