To have felt a bit sorry for this shoplifter / drug addict?

[Estelvia]

I was in savers this afternoon and a man was caught trying to steal. The staff got the items back before escorting him out of the shop, as he was being lead out of the door he was pleading with them saying that he's ill / withdrawing and needs 'dark' (which is slang for heroin)

The employee told him to sling his hook and get a job, cue some swearing from him and calling them knob heads among other things.

We saw him walk up the highstreet and into Holland and Barretts where he presumably tried the same thing.

My initial thought was "scumbag" but then it hit me just how desperate somebody must be to resort to that and what an miserable existence it is having to steal to ward off painful withdrawals. I'm not condoning theft or any other crimes they commit to fund the habit.

Do you have any sympathy for these types of people?

Gingerkittycat that’s a sad and very depressing story - poor child.
However I don’t see how legalising drugs would stop the family members behaving like that.
Alcohol is legal and there are loads of alcoholics.

If I were the employee in savers you wouldn't catch me intervening. These people can be extremely violent when desperate so I'll pass on getting shivved in the neck by a smack head for the sake of the shop not losing money.

If it comes out of my wages as the clerk on shift then so be it, that is far preferable to putting myself at risk to that degree.

Have a go hero's will get little more than a thank you regardless of injuries sustained during the confrontation.

Not worth it.

Yes, it’s complex but I think it’s possible to feel sympathetic to how a person’s life has collapsed due to addiction, while also not condoning the terrible things they do and the people they’ve hurt along the way. It seems many addicts are surviving more than they are living, it’s an extremely hard cycle to break but it doesn’t mean they aren’t responsible for their behaviour.

It’s a very emotive topic, particularly for people with addicts in their family.

@Southwestten

Gingerkittycat that’s a sad and very depressing story - poor child. However I don’t see how legalising drugs would stop the family members behaving like that. Alcohol is legal and there are loads of alcoholics.

I've never mentioned legalising drugs, just wanted the people who say drug taking is a choice to realise it is not a simple choice if that is what you have grown up with and is completely normal to you.

I was mugged by a drug addict once and it was utterly terrifying - to the point where I still have flashbacks occasionally almost 20 years later. He was later arrested by the police, who told me that one of his later victims was slashed in the face - so in a sense I got off lightly.

So even though I understand what people are saying about their difficult backgrounds etc, I find it hard to feel sympathetic towards anyone who would do something like that.

Gingerkitty I know - sorry I should’ve made it clear that my comment about legalising drugs was to those who wanted them legalised.
I don’t know what the answer is.

Utterly, I've been mugged by a drug addict too. Obviously it's terrifying. I tend to think, though, that no one would do something like that if they were OK. No one, in their right/healthy state of mind, actively wants to behave like that.