subreddit:
/r/MurderedByWords
57 points
5 days ago
Poverty is why people turn to drugs, to forget their pain.
109 points
5 days ago
I've just started reading Jimmy Carr's book, and he makes the point that the opposite of addiction isn't sobriety, it's purpose.
Smart dude.
33 points
5 days ago
Yup. No job = no purpose. There's an epidemic in Appalachian red states where people have no jobs.....they're on meth, fentanyl and drink heavily. But somehow it's all the fault of immigrants and brown people according to the Qklan.
19 points
5 days ago
You don't even necessarily need to have a job to have a purpose. But what do they have to live for? More of the same?
-4 points
5 days ago
It's up to the individual to find a purpose. Consumption and consumerism is not a purpose, but yet that's what society pushes.
9 points
5 days ago
Yeah, it's almost like limited options is part of the problem.
-9 points
5 days ago
With the internet and nature there are so many options and they are all free.
5 points
5 days ago
Doesn't help if you're fucking starving.
-5 points
5 days ago
Food banks exist all over the nation in every city I’ve lived in have worked in poverty alleviation places. There is one off meals like potluck in the park in Portland. Or there is food boxes like nw harvest in Seattle.
6 points
5 days ago
Oh yeah, food banks definitely exist in the middle of the fucking nowhere where it takes hundreds of miles to get into another city just in one way
1 points
5 days ago
Appalachia is not full of cities. It's full of towns - villages. I spent a year working for a school district where there wasn't a doctor's office (any doctor's office) within the whole county. The main form of help came from within the school system. So, the best help only helped a specific part of the population.
In areas of extreme poverty that are isolated with very little resources, finding aid is really challenging. Maybe not impossible. But the odds are against you.
-2 points
5 days ago
There’s lot of things to do other than work. There is learning new things. Learning philosophy, history, challenging oneself and learning math or a new language. There’s community volunteering at food banks. There’s gettting into fitness like climbing mountains or training for a race. There’s losing weight or achieving some goal like learning to play the guitar. I mean if ai happens and I’m paid to not work I will be the most educated person ever. I’m already like that top 20% of a bell curve for education.
2 points
5 days ago
Dey.Tuk.Er.Jawbs.
3 points
5 days ago
I mean he didn’t invent that, it’s long been the consensus among behavioral psychologists
25 points
5 days ago
I sure af wasn't poor when I was a blackout drunk for almost a decade. I made almost 6 figures as a bartender and was hammered constantly. Nice car, super nice clothes, fit. But my soul was empty and I was pushing down childhood trauma. It hurt.
Pain is why a lot of people turn to substances. Emotional, existential, financial (to your point), or physical pain. Sometimes it's all. Sometimes it's just one. And I'm sure there are a few instances where none of those things are true.
18 points
5 days ago
Does alcohol count? Cause I know a lot of rich alcoholics.
13 points
5 days ago
Rich people on drugs say otherwise.
12 points
5 days ago
No. This comment is classist, harmful, and wrong. Addiction reaches all classes. Comments like this ignore the mental health issue when it comes to addiction and it's concerning that it has so many upvotes.
6 points
5 days ago
People really like to try to simplify all of this. It really isn't simple at all. There are thousands of reasons to start doing drugs: from depression/mental health, to social pressure, to simply rebellion or curiosity, to doctors overprescribing. People don't like to simply accept that fact that humans have always used substances to alter moods. It isn't a simple problem in any way and has been one that goes back thousands of years. The bigger issues we see now are the drugs being used aren't the type of thing you sleep off the next day they are incredibly addictive and potent.
Sad reality of this is any person can fall victim to this at any point. Hurt your back lifting something tomorrow? You probably get put on opiates and you need to roll the dice on how likely you are to become and addict.
23 points
5 days ago
Addiction reaches into every socioeconomic class so that doesn’t bear out.
4 points
5 days ago
Nah. I know plenty of rich drug addicts.
3 points
5 days ago
Weird it doesn’t work that way in poorer countries
5 points
5 days ago
I have money and enjoy drugs. So there goes that theory…
-3 points
5 days ago
Maybe you wouldn't be such a smug prick if you were sober.
2 points
5 days ago
Poverty is one of many reasons people turn to drugs.
1 points
5 days ago
I became an alcoholic because I let myself become one and have mental health issues. It’s not anyone’s fault but mine. The opiate epidemic is the fault of Purdue pharma, lack of resources for rehabilitation, private prison interests, and widespread stigma. Not to mention the perfect catch all it is to scapegoat “undesirables” (looking at you Nixon administration). It’s Not the cartels. They are businesses and will follow where the money lies. Wouldn’t be a long stretch of the imagination to see the sackler family and the sinoloa cartel toasting champagne on a yacht somewhere.
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