Culture - the social stigma of heroin abuse

[rokman nash]

Where my friend Dave lives(in the southeast US) heroin users, and recovering junkies are treated like a bunch of fucking lepers. Whats the social climate where Swim lives?

Dave will add his thoughts after this thunderstorm passes.

Good Thoughts

[yaba]

Same here and the same in most places I think. In the Netherlands MDMA/coke users looked down on crack/heroine users. And the heroine (smokers) are looking down on the heroine injectors. Swim thinks that the heroine injectors are looking down on the clue, paint, gas sniffers.

Here a small island all heroine users are looked down up on by most "normal" people. Swims friends knows how swim is and except him regardless of what he is or isn't doing. And swim doesn't care if someone is a heroine user as long the persons personality is good then swim is happy. Some of swims friend are the "finest" on the island. And all his friend are very good people (some are heroine users and poor and some are heroine users with enough money, and some are rich or poor and don't use heroine)

[Mike177]

There is most definitely a stigma around heroin use where SWIM lives. SWIM keeps and open mind and believes that people should not be defined by a single drug they use. With this in mind, when swim was younger he knew some of his peers who were IV heroin users and junkies. One of swim's friends was trying to get clean and swim did what he could to help, and despite his friends consistent relapses and lies, swim did not waver from this effort. However this "friend" end up breaking into swim's home and (this was back when swim lived with his parents) stole all the prescription medications in the house, and many of his parents electronics and swims laptop (which had priceless data on it, pictures and such of a friend who had died).

So while SWIM still thinks that people should not be defined by a single drug that they use, with that said, SWIM would personally stay away from a recovering or "recovering" junkie like they were a leaper in his personal life. Although swim has no problem against any particular drug or drug user, every person and their interaction with a drug has to be analyzed on an individual basis. SWIM has had friends who used heroin and swim has no problem with it.

In general (SWIM excluded) if someone were to mention heroin to your average drug user in my area the first thing that would pop into their head would be needles and judgmental thoughts. The media and society had done a "great" job of stigmatizing it's use. I think no matter what, it is junkies that are going to grab the attention of the general public's eye and a stigma will always be attached to it. Heroin users who do not cause any problems for society are largely unknown for that very reason. Don't expect to hear a good, unbiased, two sided argument around heroin use. At least not in the US.

[Roscco]

I think you'll find a similar situation in most of the educated world. Unfortunately FAR too many people have seen Trainspotting and associate Heroin addiction with the stereotype it portrays.

IMHO it's far from the greatest situation, because until people see past the stereotype and understand the addiction, the problem of drug abuse will only get worse.

Far less people see alcoholics in the same light, where as at the end of the day it boils down to the same thing.......addiction.

[Evil GIR]

I think you should see some uk reality shows about heroin users, they dont paint a pretty picture at all. Actualy they are realy distubing and seeing people shoot up and live in horrible conditions while stealing etc dosent look like fun at all.

[mickey_bee]

To be honest, trainspotting is waaaaaaaay more glamorous than the lives of most real junkies in the UK. Though it does come close.

But as for the question, generally speaking swim is treated like a leper yeah.
In swims main drug clinic, which deals with 99% heroin addicts, most of the staff are nice........some genuinely, and some in a puritanical christian, 'repent for your sins' way...........but what can you do?

Swim was moved out of there to a pharmacy to pick up his daily methadone a few months ago. And my god, so many of the workers at the pharmacy look at swim like he's pure scum. He's always polite, nice, shy even, just because he really feels like the world doesn't owe him anything given that he did this to himself..........but even so half the time he gets treated like pure shite.

To be honest it really hurts sometimes........when you're really trying to change, and you're being as nice as you can, and you still get treated like scum. It almost maqkes you want to go out and score.....

Reputation Comments on this post:

Great post Mickey, Swim feels what he's saying

[Junkhead23]

Third class citizens are what heroin addicts are. Probably on a par with immigrants and probably only just thought better of than paedophiles and rapists. The matter isn't helped by those that rob old grannies and blame the heroin.

It wasn't the heroin that knocked the old woman out it was YOU!!!!!!!

Heroin use is stigmatised but with good reason. A world full of heroin addicts wouldn't be a nice or productive place

[yaba]

Lucky enough here the pharmacist told swim that heroine users are people to. And he got a waiting room specially for the methadone clients. Not that swim is on methadone but he knows many who are.. And he always has a laugh with the pharmacist, he knows swim isn't an angel... And when swim walks in to get his prescriptions or other stuff he usually says hello to someone who is there for methadone and the pharmacist knows who swims friends are. Any one wanting to ask the pharmacist something can do that in a very discreet way and it doesn't matter if its for needles or about aspirin.

There are two pharmacist in swims small town and only one gives out methadone.

[sweettea]

hmm... maybe heroin clients need good role models. Okay, that sentence is pretty strange. Legalistic issues aside for a moment, it would take some pretty ballsy people to group together and stand up and say they were clients and productive contributing members of society. That they weren't representative of the stereotype. Plenty of people have legal addictions and aren't viewed as dregs. Grassroot advocacy!

Okay, maybe that won't float. Pity though.

Back to the original question of how heroin clients and recovering clients with problems are perceived. In the bible-buckle perception of such individuals is rather unsavoury. (Yes, yes, that is an intentional Judaeo–Christian dig.)

[Spucky]

Where Swim lives they never have seen a Heroin User,
even many Doc`s and Medic Personal never have seen one!

There are only a handful reported cases with People
who comes back from "the Foreign World" with a Habit!

In Swims real Hometown it changes a lot in the past Years.
Now they say: "Normal Drug-User`s comes from total normal Family`s"
Before it was a real shame for the whole Family!

[SmokeNmirrors]

Yeah most people swim knows are oxy users and think swim is this monster for being a heroin user because pills are clean and are made by large company's. Swim cant stand it basically its all the same drug once in the the body but the people swim knows are above that and if swiy uses heroin, swiy is stamped a junkie. Swim doesn't think anywhere in the world heroin addicts are treated well, people maybe nice and civil but even in rehab the coke heads think there better then the crack heads, the heroin smokers think there better then the heroin IV users and the Pill heads think there better then the heroin users.