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Junkies in city centre [MOD WARNING POST #331]
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Now you're putting words in my mouth. I never assumed where you lived, but it's quite obvious that the large majority of these "scumbags" (ie. people who break windows etc.) do come from the lower class areas and the truth is that peer pressure is a big problem in society, and you can claim it has absolutely nothing to do with it all you like, but it's the truth.
What sort of person goes out with the intention of becoming addicted to drugs? Nobody. You will have the people that will think it's cool to do drugs at a house party, but the majority are led into a trap or other means.
No I'm not.
It's funny that you mention them coming from low class areas. I never did things like that or took drugs or drank underage but wait... yeah I'm the golden boy.
Peer pressure isn't an excuse, it's a "reason" at best. If you claim peer pressure then can I claim it as to why I robbed a bank and get off scot-free?
Yeah most people don't intend to become adicts but as time and time again has show us, IT HAPPENS.
It's like me putting my hand in a fire and bitching that it hurts; it's my own fault, something I should have known. It's like walking into a bear den and expecting not to be attacked.
We know how drug addicts are made, we know how junkies are made, we KNOW THIS. They know it too; they deserve it if they start taking it now.
And "led into a trap"? Yeah... is this Vietnam? Are evil people going to leap upon me at a party and make me do drugs over and over again till I'm a junkie? :rolleyes:Was watching jeremy 'vile' kyle the last day. A woman gave her 14 year old daughter a pile of cans and then started smoking heroin with her. Ok, thats the uk, but im sure much the same happens here. What chance do people like this have with an upbringing like that?
Yeah that happens, it's called getting help, the kid should have gotten help, not be a stupid kid and do it.0 -
I agree, it is worse recently.
I've lived in the city centre since 2000 and have noticed an increase in the number of junkies and in general homeless people over the past 12 months.0 -
i made the mistake of walking up to pearse street from dorset street this morning..up past the pro cathedral...f**k me, it was'nt even 9 am and I felt like i was playing left4dead the place was so full of zombies.0
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With all due respect Bonavox, although my views on this issue are not fully aligned to those of Chaotic Forces, as a resident of the city centre, I can absolutely feel his frustration and deep rooted anger at the lack of coordinated thinking in dealing with this issue. There is no effective actions in place to rectify this problem and the demise of our communities is so blatantly obvious we just feel helpless and emotionally exhausted even thinking about it.Your idea that all drug addicts are scumbags is ridiculous at best.
Your opinion is your own but I can honestly say that in my experience, about 95% of heroine addicts in particular are people never to be trusted. Severe drug addiction can do significant damage to a persons values and moral reasoning. I've witnessed shocking incidents in my lifetime living in an area that is still classed as "disadvantaged". I once saw a new born baby fall out of his/her stroller when he/she was pushed over by her mother because she was in a brawl with another addict. A friend of mine from overseas was walking home from work one night and was violently attacked for his headphones! - Even when I was at the gym once, a drunk and disorderly female heroine addict managed to get in and proceeded to swing at people for no reason and one thing that absolutely shook me to the core was in the Rotunda Hospital two years ago when I was visiting a friend, I seen this new born baby in an incubator who was born addicted to heroine and was undergoing withdrawal treatment. What shocked me was she was scratching her face and body and hurting her self because of the pain she was going through. Born premature into a sad, ****ty and painful world :mad: - My friend told me that everyday the mother goes to the female toilets on another floor to shoot up and has very openly said this to everyone in her ward.
The list of these tragedies is endless and it's at the point where I honestly feel there is little hope for this city. We've allowed it to become a toilet and there is no sense of urgency in sorting it out.
As someone who's worked in New York City for six years with "at risk" teenagers, It must be acknowledged that some kids/teenagers do make a very conscious decision to engage in that level of risk taking and believe me when I say they know all the risks. Chaotic Forces opinion is a valid one, even if it does sound a little out there..0 -
to misquote someone else "junkies are'nt good people gone bad, they're bad people gone worse"
it's not true of course but it's a good rule of thumb0 -
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There are things called peer pressure
But sure, it's probably hard to resist for most kids. Still, I find it hard to believe that any significant number of junkies get into heroin by peer pressure as children. And if you're an adult and you start taking heroin because of peer pressure then you're a complete failure and need to take responsibility for your own actions and life. Peer pressure is no excuse at all for adults.If you honestly think anyone chooses to be a drug addict, then you're a lot worse than them.0 -
Come on. I had other kids practically demand that I start smoking like them and was able to say "no, I don't want them" without feeling socially destroyed (the opposite, really).
But sure, it's probably hard to resist for most kids. Still, I find it hard to believe that any significant number of junkies get into heroin by peer pressure as children. And if you're an adult and you start taking heroin because of peer pressure then you're a complete failure and need to take responsibility for your own actions and life. Peer pressure is no excuse at all for adults.
Firstly, I'm not sure that he was suggesting that people choose to be drug addicts - rather that they choose to take drugs at all - and secondly, even if he did, no he would not be worse, certainly not "ten times" worse than a heroin addict.
this is not specifically a reply to your post alone but to every post that makes a point that
1) people shouldn't become addicts or
2) that they are failed human beings for becoming addicts and
3) that if "I" didn't become an addict then they should be strong enough to "say no".
I'm not an addict either( though I can't stop replying to posts on boards when I should be working!!!)
However , its obvious from years maybe even centuries of human experience is that a large number of people ARE going to "say yes" to behaviours that are viewed by the mainstream as being harmful or deviant.
This phenomenon is unlikely to change anytime soon.
Ultimately the junkies ( and alcoholics,gambling addicts etc.) themselves have to suffer the brunt of their addiction, the illness, the jail time, the assaults, the debts, the small violins...
the idea that peer pressure doesn't affect adults is laughable.. though its not called peer pressure it definitely exists in the world of responsible adults...think of the pressure people were under to "get on the property ladder" ?0 -
i made the mistake of walking up to pearse street from dorset street this morning..up past the pro cathedral...f**k me, it was'nt even 9 am and I felt like i was playing left4dead the place was so full of zombies.
Thats a bit like coming up to Dublin from Galway, walking along Ailesbury Road in Dublin on a sunny day and thinking all of Dublin is like that all the time.
Malborough Street is pretty much the epicentre of this "problem"..
ps: if you had walked down gardiner street you might even have got there quicker0 -
gollem_1975 wrote: »the idea that peer pressure doesn't affect adults is laughable.. though its not called peer pressure it definitely exists in the world of responsible adults...think of the pressure people were under to "get on the property ladder" ?
My point is that children can be forgiven for submitting to peer pressure, even when the resulting behaviour is very self-destructive, because they have very little experience in dealing with it, and there's a reason why we say that they have "diminished responsibility".
Adults on the other hand must take responsibility for their own lives and peer pressure is no excuse for picking up a very harmful behaviour. They may feel the pull of it, but adults are expected to do the right thing and weigh up the pros and cons of their decision without solely being guided by peer pressure as children might be.
So two things:
1: Adults should be more wise to the effects of peer pressure, that's one reason they're called adults.
2: Not all behaviours "inherited" via peer pressure are equal: some are beneficial, some are destructive. For example, on a sliding scale you might have "working hard at school and trying to score well in exams" at the beneficial end, "laughing at racist jokes you don't personally find funny" somewhere in the middle (debatable), smoking towards the bad end, and then taking heroin right up there in the extreme bad, alongside "putting your hand in the fire".0 -
gollem_1975 wrote: »though its not called peer pressure it definitely exists in the world of responsible adults...think of the pressure people were under to "get on the property ladder" ?
One has some perceived benefits (and of course, real risks), while the other has absolutely no redeeming features other than a short-term pleasant feeling followed by guaranteed lows and an almost guaranteed completely destroyed life (and for bonus points, your whole family's lives ruined and perhaps even death).
Only the most gullible, stupid, selfish and irresponsible person could possibly choose the wrong decision, given knowledge of the facts (which everybody has nowadays) when weighing up something like "well all my mates are taking heroin so I'd fit in, BUT on the other hand my life would be ruined and I might get AIDS or die of something else in a few years and my whole family would be wrecked".0 -
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Seems they are not just a problem in the city centre now either. I was coming out of Donaghmede Shopping Centre on Saturday afternoon and drove past a chap sitting outside the petrol station chasing the dragon, no even bothering to try to be discrete about it :eek:0
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Firstly, I think people who choose to take drugs (from in the last... 5 years or so) are scum. Not people who were already addicted but people (usually young people) "starting out" are ruinning this country.worldclass wrote: »With all due respect Bonavox, although my views on this issue are not fully aligned to those of Chaotic Forces, as a resident of the city centre, I can absolutely feel his frustration and deep rooted anger at the lack of coordinated thinking in dealing with this issue. There is no effective actions in place to rectify this problem and the demise of our communities is so blatantly obvious we just feel helpless and emotionally exhausted even thinking about it.
As someone who's worked in New York City for six years with "at risk" teenagers, It must be acknowledged that some kids/teenagers do make a very conscious decision to engage in that level of risk taking and believe me when I say they know all the risks. Chaotic Forces opinion is a valid one, even if it does sound a little out there..
It's nothing to do with the problem of us having drug addicts; it's that people are choosing to become junkies. While it isn't "technically" the aim they have, they still use drugs and know what happens. This isn't like we're some kind of 3rd world country where we have no idea of the risks of it; we know. Everyone knows or at the very least knows that drugs are bad for a reason.Firstly, I'm not sure that he was suggesting that people choose to be drug addicts - rather that they choose to take drugs at all - and secondly, even if he did, no he would not be worse, certainly not "ten times" worse than a heroin addict.
Yes, that's it. I know people don't want to become addicted but it's like me when I started drinking at home; I was drinking far too much because... I could. After about 3 weeks I said "feck this" and started drinking less. Yes it was hard, yes it was annoying but I knew I was going down a bad road; so I stopped it.
A addict is one thing but someone who chooses to use drugs in this day and age shouldn't be classed as a person. When you're 12 years old (going back to my CSPE days about 7 years ago :P) then you can be held in a cop shop till your parents get there. When you were 7 you are to be held responsible for your crime (obviously we aren't talking about going to jail for stealing a few sweets) but it's drilled into you when you're a kid, you are your own person, you control your actions.gollem_1975 wrote: »this is not specifically a reply to your post alone but to every post that makes a point that
1) people shouldn't become addicts or
2) that they are failed human beings for becoming addicts and
3) that if "I" didn't become an addict then they should be strong enough to "say no".
Right I'm not going to quote your post entirely.
Listen, when I was a kid I did try smoking, I even took a few sips from a pint in the pub. The thing is though, it's not like peer pressure didn't get to me; I lost friends over it.
But let's face it, it's not about people becoming addicts or peer pressure. It's about people wanting to fit in. I'm very stubborn. But even the most weak willed person (if they think it's bad) will either say no or else (as a child should do) talk to someone about it.
I didn't have anyone to talk to growing up but I know how drugs affects you, how alcoholics are and so on. So I made an effort not to become one.
If a child isn't taught to take responsibilty or they can't be bothered to learn it themselves then they deserve what they get. I was basically raised on tv alone and even from freakin' cartoons I learned how not to turn into a scumbag.
The problem with your post is that you mention "addicts". That's missing the points in general. I doubt many people will say "oh they want to be drug addicts". I really doubt it. Many people will say something like "they shouldn't of taking the damn stuff in the first place". It really is just common sense they lack or, better yet, don't give a damn about themselves because they're "rebels".I don't recall anybody suggesting that peer pressure doesn't affect adults - certainly I didn't. Of course there's a wide range of behaviours that adults carry out that can be attributed to peer pressure - religion, watching football, driving cars etc.
My point is that children can be forgiven for submitting to peer pressure, even when the resulting behaviour is very self-destructive, because they have very little experience in dealing with it, and there's a reason why we say that they have "diminished responsibility".
Adults on the other hand must take responsibility for their own lives and peer pressure is no excuse for picking up a very harmful behaviour. They may feel the pull of it, but adults are expected to do the right thing and weigh up the pros and cons of their decision without solely being guided by peer pressure as children might be.
So two things:
1: Adults should be more wise to the effects of peer pressure, that's one reason they're called adults.
2: Not all behaviours "inherited" via peer pressure are equal: some are beneficial, some are destructive. For example, on a sliding scale you might have "working hard at school and trying to score well in exams" at the beneficial end, "laughing at racist jokes you don't personally find funny" somewhere in the middle (debatable), smoking towards the bad end, and then taking heroin right up there in the extreme bad, alongside "putting your hand in the fire".
True and I do agree with a lot of your points but here's the catch: you've just turned 14 years old and have horrible non-caring parents, you start smoking and they've been smoking years.
Who's fault is it?
The PC brigade of today will blame the parents. Which is a joke. Unless the parents forced the child to smoke constantly, then it is the child's fault.
As for peer pressure affecting adults, yeah of course it does.
I'll give you an example here: I started drinking when I was 18 with my friends. My friends have been drinking since they were 13/14ish. I was constantly told "you're going to drink too much, you should have started when you were younger". Lo and behold while I do drink a bit too much now and again, generally I'll be fine compared to them.
For a while peer pressure did get to me before I was 21. The week before my 21st I said "fu*k this". I'm drinking as much as I want to, if they want to damage themselves, go for it.
Peer pressure like studying for a test or taking up a sport is one thing but come on, there's a damn reason smoking and drugs are made out to be bad.
Kids think it's cool because "i'm grown up". It's called getting a job.
Remember when the girls would play "shop" or "house" when they were young?
The boys would play cops and robbers or something. We get older and then all of a sudden we want to smoke or drink or take drugs.
But wait... peer pressure from older kids is the problem or our friends. :rolleyes:
The problem is 50% kids fault and 50% the parents fault for not realizing that their kids aren't perfect.BTW sorry to harp on about this, but are you really comparing the decision to get on the property ladder with the decision to start taking heroin, in terms of peer pressure or on any basis even.
I think he was just saying that there is peer pressure in our adult lives, which I don't think anyone can disagree with.
I hope he wasn't saying it was equal to doing heroin though. :rolleyes:Seems they are not just a problem in the city centre now either. I was coming out of Donaghmede Shopping Centre on Saturday afternoon and drove past a chap sitting outside the petrol station chasing the dragon, no even bothering to try to be discrete about it :eek:
You're joking, right? It's a problem in most places. Drugs are far too easy to find these days. While the biggest collection of junkies would be around the city center, they do exist everywhere.
A fella I met one time said he'd travel up from some little village in... I think it was Cork or Galway just to get drugs from Dublin. When I asked why he said "it's cheaper here".
So yeah, even those little villages have them. If a junkie wants a fix, they'll get it.0 -
Chaotic_Forces wrote: »
You're joking, right? It's a problem in most places. Drugs are far too easy to find these days. While the biggest collection of junkies would be around the city center, they do exist everywhere.
A fella I met one time said he'd travel up from some little village in... I think it was Cork or Galway just to get drugs from Dublin. When I asked why he said "it's cheaper here".
So yeah, even those little villages have them. If a junkie wants a fix, they'll get it.
No I wasn't joking. Yes I am aware there is a problem with them outside of the city too. I had just never seen someone so blatently smoking heroin in broad daylight on a Saturday afternoon in my local open S.C. carpark before. Thought this thread was fitting for it. Sheltered existance I lead, I guess.0 -
No I wasn't joking. Yes I am aware there is a problem with them outside of the city too. I had just never seen someone so blatently smoking heroin in broad daylight on a Saturday afternoon in my local carpark before. Thought this thread was fitting for it. Sheltered existance I lead, I guess.
You probably did.
Or you were just one of the lucky ones then didn't see much. Hopefully you were blissfully ignorant of them growing up.0 -
There are plenty of junkies around in every town, of course. They are not hard to spot. I had not come across any taking their junk in whatever manner in open air outside of the city centre before though (in a busy shoppin centre)0
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There are plenty of junkies around in every town, of course. They are not hard to spot. I had not come across any taking their junk in whatever manner in open air outside of the city centre before though (in a busy shoppin centre)
Ah so it was just the shock of him shooting up or whatnot in broad daylight?
TBH coppers never really bother to say anything to them; they just let them be. So you cna see why they're so non-chanlant about it.0 -
I don't recall anybody suggesting that peer pressure doesn't affect adults - certainly I didn't. Of course there's a wide range of behaviours that adults carry out that can be attributed to peer pressure - religion, watching football, driving cars etc.
sounded to me like you didPeer pressure is no excuse at all for adults0 -
BTW sorry to harp on about this, but are you really comparing the decision to get on the property ladder with the decision to start taking heroin, in terms of peer pressure or on any basis even?
One has some perceived benefits (and of course, real risks), while the other has absolutely no redeeming features other than a short-term pleasant feeling followed by guaranteed lows and an almost guaranteed completely destroyed life (and for bonus points, your whole family's lives ruined and perhaps even death).
Only the most gullible, stupid, selfish and irresponsible person could possibly choose the wrong decision, given knowledge of the facts (which everybody has nowadays) when weighing up something like "well all my mates are taking heroin so I'd fit in, BUT on the other hand my life would be ruined and I might get AIDS or die of something else in a few years and my whole family would be wrecked".
what do you think ?
answer : No i am not equating "chasing the tiger/getting on the property ladder" with "chasing the dragon"
I'm raising the point that a poster mentioned that "peer pressure" is no excuse for an adult. in fact that poster was you.
we have since agreed that peer pressure does affect adults. though when it comes to adults we don't generally use the term "peer pressure" .. in laymans terms its that we learn our behaviour and form our choices based on what we see others doing, our role models etc.
Ironically its probably not the weak willed people who get hooked its the strong willed ones ( because they think it'll never happen to them)
Let me finish off on a lighter note in a somewhat related vein by presenting the following clip for your entertainment
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gollem_1975 wrote: »zynaps wrote:I don't recall anybody suggesting that peer pressure doesn't affect adults - certainly I didn't. Of course there's a wide range of behaviours that adults carry out that can be attributed to peer pressure - religion, watching football, driving cars etc.zynaps wrote:Peer pressure is no excuse at all for adults
I'm not sure why you think that, but they really don't mean the same thing. Yes, adults are affected by peer pressure (which is why so many people "follow" religions and go to church), but they should recognise and resist it better than children, particularly when the behaviour in question is self-damaging like drug abuse.
If mugging is the latest craze and all your mates are doing it, that's no excuse for actually doing it yourself, particularly if you're supposed to be an adult.gollem_1975 wrote: »Ironically its probably not the weak willed people who get hooked its the strong willed ones ( because they think it'll never happen to them)0 -
You seem to think that "peer pressure is no excuse for adults" means the same as "adults are unaffected by peer pressure".
I'm not sure why you think that, but they really don't mean the same thing.
ok we'll agree to disagree..I think it is an excuse , it doesn't provide them with a get out of jail card but its an excuse as in its a potential causal factor.Yes, adults are affected by peer pressure (which is why so many people "follow" religions and go to church), but they should recognise and resist it better than children, particularly when the behaviour in question is self-damaging like drug abuse.
ok we do actually agree then.. i just misinterpreted your use of the word "excuse" to mean "potential cause/reason/blame"If mugging is the latest craze and all your mates are doing it, that's no excuse for actually doing it yourself, particularly if you're supposed to be an adult.
i was going to agree with you up until then...if everyone was mugging everyone else then we would just call it "business"
..and a lot of the sharp business practices going on during the celtic tiger were practically mugging's without violence!That's an interesting point. I've often heard that people get addicted to heroin because they think they can "handle" it, and then of course once hooked any semblance of willpower goes out the window, perhaps forever.
I can't take credit for that insight.. credit that one to Allan Carr the writer of the "easyway to give up smoking" ..I wonder how much of the ideas expressed in his book could be applicable to heroin addiction.0 -
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Seems they are not just a problem in the city centre now either. I was coming out of Donaghmede Shopping Centre on Saturday afternoon and drove past a chap sitting outside the petrol station chasing the dragon, no even bothering to try to be discrete about it :eek:
It's terriblethe park out there seems to attract them to the area
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gollem_1975 wrote: »I can't take credit for that insight.. credit that one to Allan Carr the writer of the "easyway to give up smoking" ..I wonder how much of the ideas expressed in his book could be applicable to heroin addiction.
I imagine quite a few as nicotine is the more addictive substance of the two.0 -
Chaotic_Forces wrote: »An addict is one thing but someone who chooses to use drugs in this day and age shouldn't be classed as a person.
This thread was previously pulled back on-topic by a moderator, so apologies for going off-topic (again). I can do no better than link my prior 'Wouldn't you?' post. Yes, you would.
We 'see' the heroin problem on our streets. We don't 'see' the other addiction-related problems - caused mainly by alcohol. We ignore the wino/street alcoholic, because we have a different mindset towards them. Alcohol is legally available, so a person who is addicted can, somehow, access a quality-controlled product. So, they won't get skin ulcers or ultimately gangrene from consuming the product. We look past the intoxicated neighbour stumbling home from the pub, and do not stop to consider what happens behind their front door. We are 'used' to them. We are not used to opiate addicts in the same way.
If methadone 'worked', would the problem we are discussing exist? Should heroin addicts be provided with heroin instead of methadone? I don't know the answer to those questions. Maybe no-one does.
Determining that such benighted human beings are non-persons is most definitely not the answer.Not your ornery onager
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esel, I'll just not quote your post as it is pointless since I won't be replying to a certain point of it. I don't mean to offend you by that.
I have no problem with an addict being a drug addict at all. Help should be given, beyond the measures of "subistute one drug for another".
My point of "not being classed as human" would apply to people taking drugs like that for the first time. Quite frankly if some guy from a village of 300 people can come to Dublin to get drugs, then it's clear that there is information about the dangers of drugs and as such I think anyone who takes them (for the first time) shouldn't be given the same rights as people who never took them.
The best way to put it is: if a man drinks too much alcohol, do we not help him? If someone attempts to end their life, do we not help?
"Yes, we should help", would be the answer most people would give. Even strangers would stop to help the man trying to jump from a bulding. But there is a stark difference between addicts and junkies. I see addicts as people who are addicted to drugs and can find no "cure", no release.
I find junkies to be... scum.
Nowadays most drug "addicts" (new drug users) are not welcomed at home and whatnot, there is a reason.
Does that explain my position on it at all?
On reflection I'd like to add that alcoholics are very different. Alcoholics can be helped at the start, as per my own experience. Drug addicts seem to just... not even realize they need help, people can rarely see if it's a problem untill the point their tv or whatnot is missing to be sold for drugs.0 -
Chaotic_Forces wrote: »Does that explain my position on it at all?
If 'junkies are scum', how do you eliminate 'scum'?Not your ornery onager
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Not really. It's just too facile.
If 'junkies are scum', how do you eliminate 'scum'?
Let me put it to you this way. I'm 22 years old. I've never taken drugs in my life. If I start to take drugs (knowing the dangers), do you see a difference between me and the 42 year old man on the streets that first started taking drugs when they were introduced?0 -
I think it might be worth pointing out that "heroin" and "drugs" are not interchangeable terms.0
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I think it might be worth pointing out that "heroin" and "drugs" are not interchangeable terms.
Agreed. Smoking the odd joint at a party is hardly the same as mugging an old lady to get enough for a fix to openly shoot into your groin in a park beside a playground full of children.0 -
Agreed. Smoking the odd joint at a party is hardly the same as mugging an old lady to get enough for a fix to openly shoot into your groin in a park beside a playground full of children.
Oh for the love of... AH SURE I'LL NEVER BE ADDICTED LIKE, YA NO WOT I MEAN LIKE?
Yeah thank you for that. Drugs are bad. No matter what way you look at it, they're illegal. It can't really be measured in the same way that alcohol can.0 -
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Chaotic_Forces wrote: »Oh for the love of... AH SURE I'LL NEVER BE ADDICTED LIKE, YA NO WOT I MEAN LIKE?
Yeah thank you for that. Drugs are bad. No matter what way you look at it, they're illegal. It can't really be measured in the same way that alcohol can.
I think someone has some growing up to do0
This discussion has been closed.
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