Drug users, self medicating?

[Cognitivedisonance]

Not looking for a justification for this lifestyle, I don’t condone it, neither am I wanting to start a thread which upsets or triggers anyone who’s lived as a participant or a sufferer of someone else’s addiction. But more as a pondering about the clinical and psychological reasons behind heavy drug use. Different personalities and different outcomes and motivation for use. I’m very connected to the music industry , I’m also very into British literature and currently work with those in the arts. I’m just watching a documentary about the Rolling Stones , arguably the most successful rock and roll band in the world. Listening to their stories about using cocaine and heroin I’m stuck by the fact that they went heavy and hard into these drugs and somehow ( barring Brian) made their way back out of it and have lived long,healthy lives like many of our 70’s musicians. Firstly , why? Why were they drawn to use them? Surely if you’re hella sexy and talented and have every girl in a 1000 mile radius throwing themselves at your feet you don’t need anymore dopamine ? Or do you? Is it that creative people, talented people, are more prone to stress and worry, are they mere mortals like us, so that despite their talent , they need this stuff to cope with the pressures and anxiety of performing? Every serious and harmful drug user that I knew growing up was using the substance to self medicate pain, they were trying to forget, trying to cope. But these high profile users that apparently were confident and Successful were getting in similar messes, Keith Richards in the south of France was just as addicted as any other smackhead , worse by the sound of it than my dear friend who died at 31. They had little in common other than both being compellingly interesting and creative, talented people, beautiful souls, and here lies my theory, what if, the brain chemistry of certain people makes you more prone to seeking resolution, balance, what if that brain type happens to be the more creative one, what if the stones all got better because they’re rich and had good support , but there’s a whole community of junkies that are just tortured souls with less privilege? I was a wreck head once, not a junkie, not an addict , but when life got shit I’d run off to the party and take anything anyone wanted to give me,I’ve been in some right states. Some of those states were with famous, successful people. I’m now an academic with a very busy family life that does a bloody good job of dealing with the shit life throws me, I’m also successful because I’m creative, talented, a bit jammy I think.not because I’m clever or a good planner, I’m basically a walking ADHD shitstorm with neurodiverse kids and a very patient husband. I’m extremely fortunate to live the way I do, because 20 years ago, I’d not have thought twice about smoking some heroin or crack, I loved a bit of crack at 15 ( I’ve touched nothing for nearly 20 years) But I can honestly say, that every single druggie I’ve ever met was an artist , a poet , a musician, a warrior of some sort and they were all very bright in their own way.
I can’t help wondering if going back the Victorian era where you could buy it and get on with life was a better model. It’s only a crime because they made it one, sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote some fabulous books under the influence, most of our best music was made under the influence, the harm and sadness comes from poverty and that is because it’s illegal and therefore sourced through crime. The same crime that supports all kind of dark things as we know. What do you think?

I bought benzos on and off for years for my anxiety and insomnia. I never got addicted

Lot of questions here, very difficult to answer this in a straightforward way. There are myriad reasons why people seek mind-altering substances, too difficult to classify. And myriad reasons why some people seem to be able to dabble without rushing headlong into addiction and others don't.

Much of this is due to complex underlying psychology which is individual. But in my view most addicts struggle with underlying psychological problems which they use drugs to medicate.

That said: I do think the specific example you've given of the Rolling Stones was very time-dependent. That was a very particular moment in time which hasn't really been repeated.

That particular generation which came of age in the late 60s, early 70s was subjected to an unusually hedonistic world. These were people who were kids during WW2 and the 50s who experienced high levels of privation. By the 60s, there was a whole world of economic and social experimentation open to them. Drug use and abuse was, if not openly celebrated, at least looked on in a fairly tolerant way. Then at the tail end of the 60s people moved from using relatively benign mind-altering substances such as LSD (which are damaging in some cases, don't get me wrong, but not addictive), to using hard and very addictive drugs such as heroin. (Cocaine is a slightly different beast as not usually physically addictive but very damaging nonetheless).

I think a lot of that was the "permissive" culture of the 60s still permeating into the general consciousness. There was a general sense that because drugs had played a big part in the 1960s cultural revolution they underpinned the broader culture and were hard to separate culturally from the world of rock n roll. And if you were in a world famous rock band there were very few brakes on what you did in your free time and a lot of enablers.

There were also economic and market forces at play which drove a massive influx of opiates into the west post the Vietnam war and no doubt the dealers played on this.

There is obviously still drug abuse about across all levels of society today but it's less glamourised and less tolerated now (to my relief) than it was then.

I think you should need a prescription to buy drugs but that there should be further privatisation to make them more accessible

Recovered alcoholic and drug addict here (10 years and counting). My thoughts:

1. People use drugs primarily because they feel good. Especially Class As. Not to put a fine a point on it, heroin feels amazing - I only did it a couple of times, and it wasn't my primary addiction, but it was one of my life's standout moments in terms of joy, love and euphoria. I don't regret that, particularly, although I do regret my alcoholism and other drug use. But yeah, to keep it on topic - there's no big explanation needed - people do drugs because they feel good.
2. Addiction happens when you're maladjusted to life, whether that be due to trauma or miserable circumstances such as poverty or domestic abuse. The substance becomes a shield from pain and a means by which one can escape their unpleasant reality. Over time one comes to believe one simply cannot face life without the substance.
3. Over time physical addiction takes hold and also brain chemistry changes so that one feels paranoid and miserable when one does not have the substance in one's system. This is a negative reinforcing pattern which enforces the addiction.
4. Availability is a big issue in addiction. Bigger than most people would want to admit, which is why I'm personally against legalising or further decriminalising drugs. If it's available, people will take it, and some people will end up addicted.
5. Some people don't have any pain or trauma, they just get into it cos they're bored.

Just my views.

It seems that more celebrities have addiction issues than the general public, I know they say that you're always craving that high that you get on the stage or on the pitch etc and they resort to getting it from substances.

Plus there's the personality that leads people to seek out fame and fortune, I cant remember who's auto biography I read it in but they said the people who seek that kind of adoration out are usually the least equipped to deal with it.

There are myriad reasons why people seek mind-altering substances,

Starting with alcohol, of course.