The word "junkies"

Dick Swiveller

Why don't we tell drug users to take responsibility for their actions?

s7ryf3925pivug

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

nobody is ever going to "solve" the drug problem, insofar that it even is a problem. People will take drugs, and that's usually their choice. It isn't up to you or I to judge them, we can't walk in their shoes and we don't know what they've experienced. It simply isn't our place to do that.

What we can do, and it might be of some help, is to stop using the word 'junkie', with all that that word implies.

I used a triad of examples, to point out that we all put junk in our bodies. It's interesting that you sought to emphasise my comparison with fast food, and not the more addictive, dangerous substances like alcohol and certain recreational drugs.

Nobody uses the word 'junkie' for some suburban soccer-mom with a benzo habit, nor some guy drinking whiskey in a bar at lunchtime. We reserve that word for the poorest people in society, who are about as close to 'human rubbish' as you can get.

'Junkie' is a disgusting word, it achieves absolutely nothing except to dehumanise and dismiss a group of people who have probably seen more misfortune in their (usually short) lives than most of us will ever even comprehend.

Oh I thought you had personal experience because of the indignant tone of your posts.

Guess you don't know whether those marks on baby changing tables are from heroin so. I reckon it is true that they are.

In Ballymun in the 80s, kids would walk past discarded needles on the street. Kids being kids, some would pick them up.

I personally was robbed by a very middle class English junkie who stayed in my house when I was a kid.

Not really the sort of stuff you associate with professionals and homemakrrs with secret benzo habits. (You're thinking of that from the bit in trainspotting when Renton refers to this as a socially acceptable addiction, right?)

It looks like a medical context is more effective for handling addiction than a judicial context. But not theft, violence, exposure of children to harm...

I don't think you know what you're talking about. The term is pejorative but it's there for a reason. They are less than human, in the sense they do not possess qualities we like to think of as "human".

Personally, repulsion at my own nicotine addiction was a driving force in successfully quitting. Thinking of myself in terms like junkie was beneficial. Personal responsibility has to be a thing.

Foweva Awone

Most addicts I know, their self-esteem is on the absolute floor. They already think of themselves as dirt. Calling them junkies etc only reinforces that negative self-image which probably contributed significantly to their addiction in the first place.

Dick Swiveller

Foweva Awone wrote: »

Most addicts I know, their self-esteem is on the absolute floor. They already think of themselves as dirt. Calling them junkies etc only reinforces that negative self-image which probably contributed significantly to their addiction in the first place.

What do you mean by addiction? Do you mean they are powerless to refrain from injecting drugs?

Foweva Awone

Stoolcup wrote: »

What do you mean by addiction? Do you mean they are powerless to refrain from injecting drugs?

That's actually the first step in AA/NA etc, admitting that you are powerless.

It's not a belief system I personally subscribe to - self-belief and empowerment were key to my own recovery from addiction. But I wouldn't dismiss the fellowship programs that require admitting powerlessness; those programs are the solution for many addicts.

DEFTLEFTHAND

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic also applies to many cases.

You'd face a serious backlash from family members if you implied that such a person is human junk, though.

The drug is the junk, not the user.

Like a wino or alcho for drunks. They're just terms that evolved.

Dick Swiveller

Foweva Awone wrote: »

That's actually the first step in AA/NA etc, admitting that you are powerless.

It's not a belief system I personally subscribe to - self-belief and empowerment were key to my own recovery from addiction. But I wouldn't dismiss the fellowship programs that require admitting powerlessness; those programs are the solution for many addicts.

I'm sorry to hear you went through a bad spell. I hope you feel better now. I'm just wondering what people mean when they use the term 'addiction'. It's a quite vague concept. Are we saying that the drug user is incapable of stopping his/her drug taking through force of will? Isn't it dangerous to tell people that they are hamstrung by an addiction and can not, through force of will, overcome this affliction?

Your Face

It's a tough one OP.

I'd hope that a person with addictions would eventually rid themselves of addiction and go on to build a good life.

However, my experiences with people with addictions is far from positive which leads to my indifference as to what terms people use to label addicts.

Donald Trump

freshpopcorn wrote: »

They are lots of words that are used that would shock some people. These words aren't going to be said on RTE but they do get used.
I recently saw a few episodes of crimewatch UK from the 1980 and they called homeless people tramps on some occasions.

That's terrible degrading and insulting to actual tramps.


Although.....perhaps that's why the little tramps you meet nowadays always want to come back to stay in your place after the nightclub. Dirty little minxes!

biko

Fast food junkies exist!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spXBLol6yeM

Josephine Fluffy Weevil

Josephine Fluffy Weevil wrote: »

Oh I thought you had personal experience because of the indignant tone of your posts.

Guess you don't know whether those marks on baby changing tables are from heroin so. I reckon it is true that they are.

No, I'm lucky in that I don't have an addiction. But I'm not so deluded as to believe that was some choice on my behalf, nobody sets out in life wanting a crippling addiction that will probably result in an early death.

Most of us should be capable of realising it was a genetic/ social lottery that steered us away from a life of addiction, and should have enough cop-on to not be absolute cnuts towards people who didn't have the same headstarts we had.

I'm not suggesting we patronise them, they've made certain choices, they have to live with that. But next time we consider going on a rant about the 'junkie problem' try to consider that person is probably living with a lot more anguish than your discomfort at seeing them. And they will be dead soon, anyway.

Peatys

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Why is that hilarious? You'd have to ask the people circulating the image.

What did they say when you asked them?

But my central question isn't about the image I was sent, I'd like to know why we use the word "junkie"?

Yes, junk is a slang term for heroin.

You answered your own question there

Is it time this term was consigned to the dustbin?

No.

Hector Savage

YA JUNKIES JUNKIES BASTARD YA!!

WATCH YOUR STRONES!

Greyfox

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

..and should have enough cop-on to not be absolute cnuts towards people who didn't have the same headstarts we had...on a rant about the 'junkie problem' try to consider that person is probably living with a lot more anguish than your discomfort at seeing them. And they will be dead soon, anyway.

I will always call them junkies although the walking dead may be a better term. They have Dublins city centre and the luas red line ruined and there addiction means many will turn to crime. Some don't get a chance to avoid the path they took. The majority do get the chance to avoid the path or to go on a path to get clean and most CHOOSE to stay as junkies.

tayto lover

The word "junkie" is used because addicts in the US used to collect junk and sell it in order to pay for their next fix of heroin.

Greyfox

tayto lover wrote: »

The word "junkie" is used because addicts in the US used to collect junk and sell it in order to pay for their next fix of heroin.

Reminds me of bubbles, a superb and very accurate character from the wire

Greyfox

Greyfox wrote: »

Reminds me of bubbles, a superb and very accurate character from the wire

'You married to the needle boy'

Greyfox

Greyfox wrote: »

They have Dublins city centre and the luas red line ruined

The Red Line is ruined!

Tell that to any of the thousands of commuters who still manage to take the Red Line each working hour of the day. How on Earth have a few people ruined the Red Line, let alone the city centre?

Maybe 'snowflakes' are real, if there are people in this society who cannot bear to be on the same tram vehicle with a person living with serious addiction. I almost feel more sorry for the snowflakes, who seem to be unable to engage with the realities of urban living, pretty much anywhere except Riyadh.

Collie D

You're reading way too much into this.

Junk = Heroin
Junkie = Heroin user

Not a coincidence. It's a derivative. Nothing to do with "human garbage".

It's been pointed out to you at least twice by other posters. You even mentioned it in your OP.

arybvtcw0eolkf

I really dislike the term 'Junkies', and I'm speaking as someone with the benefit of experience on my side having worked on various doors of pubs and bars in Dublin's Templebar area and grown up in Ballymun in the 70's, 80's and very early 90's when smack was a scourge to the area.

Before lording it over addicts have a look at these clips on youtube dealing with addiction on the streets of Dublin.

Also bear in mind anyone who know's me that most of my views are pretty far right, but I have huge sympathies for these poor souls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzJjDYdELbs

B.A._Baracus

Let's be realistic... Junkies will steal from you. Tell you every lie under the sun to get whatever they can out of you. Steal from other junkies. Share needles with other junkies knowing they have HIV etc. The list goes on. But somehow it's not alright to call them junkies?

I think people need to move out of their bubble more. Look i'm not saying there is anything wrong with showing compassion... even helping those who need help. But don't be naive at the same token.

suicide_circus

slang terms are rarely complementary and I don't know why one would expect the slang term for heroin addict to be positive in nature. Joe Duffy says "unwell people" but that doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well. When I think of the term junkie it is definitely in the context of someone I feel sorry for. A lot of us, at some stage in our youth, were probably about 2 months away from being homeless and or a junkie, so I don't look down on them. coulda been me.