My current struggle: drug addiction.
No, not with me, but how to unpack why it is "bad". I'm trying to model its impact on a city. Here in San Francisco it's a huge issue.
Community impacts:
Society's degredation?
Government cost?
Economic overhead?
Personal:
Lowered potential in career, relationships and personal goals?
Increase in depression?
General unhappiness?
Thoughts?
@jurban I saw a talk about a man who was rethinking addiction. He took the normal experiment of giving the rats clean water and drugged water and turned it on its head by also giving the rats everything else they would need to be happy, as well. Tunnels to run in and toys to play with and food. Turned out the rats left the drugged water 100% alone when all the other needs were filled. I think there's a real lesson in there for us.
@FreyaMeansLady
Fascinating!
I think there is something about "satisfaction" in that experiment.
@FreyaMeansLady
Awesome!
Thanks for the link.
"The opposite
of Addiction
is Connection"
@jurban Recovering drug addict here. To me, the worst parts of addiction were the loss of self control, the ease with which I would debase myself, the sadness I felt knowing I was hurting those who loved me, the likelihood of me putting my parents through the mist awful grief, the wasted years of my life, the misery I inflicted on people I’d never even met… Oh, there’s more…
@Ron
Wow. Thanks for sharing.
I'm thinking that "happiness" is a fundamental need in order for us to progress in life. If we're not progressing, we're not helping the community. Then, if we care about the community (which includes family) we're even more sad about the impact we are having.
Addiction seems to hit hard on the happiness we can feel.
@jurban I personally cannot recall any “happiness.” I experienced pleasure but not happiness, no joy. I believe those are two qualities that are very important in life - lacking them led me filling their voids with immediate pleasure, instant gratification, though that is a serious stretch.
@Ron
Thanks for sharing so much.
I suspect that somewhere in the recesses of our minds the effect of drugs is sitting right next to happiness. They are too close to easily discern.
Maybe we know that we need to be happy to survive? If we cannot become happy we find that the drug gets close enough for satisfaction. But, not happiness, so we degrade.
@jurban Any "use dependency" (aka addiction) is detrimental because it fails to address the problem(s).
Whether that be food, drugs, shopping, etc., it's nothing more than a 'band-aid' on issue(s) that you're not addressing.
Unaddressed problems spill out in a myriad of ways, sometimes making addressing them even more difficult because the problem can seem overwhelming.
@Daren
Thanks.
I keep asking myself the heartless question "so what?"
I think the answer with your insights is that if we are dealing with underlying issues we're sub-optimal in many other aspects of our life.
We lower the happiness of those around us.
We are less productive at our jobs.
We have less ambition.
The addiction increases the impact/scale of these outward effects.
@jurban Having beat several "use dependencies" I can say that they all start here:
You have to care more for yourself than you do about your use dependency. Full stop.
If you don't have that you don't have a foundation upon which to build a new you that doesn't include that thing. A new you that addresses the issue(s) that have you using.
@Daren
Sounds like there is a need to define the Meaning of Life in that journey.
@jurban Recently saw it framed as way to self-soothe. Do folks who choose legal ways to self-soothe, yes you ETOH, take a lot longer to hit rock bottom? And once in recovery, find it easier to reintegrate into society?
@Islagran
(I just deleted a toot that misread your post)
The issue that is the target of the soothing must already be detrimental to the person's productivity and happiness.
I suppose your position could be used to argue that without drugs some people would be less productive?
@jurban
Not my intent. I can see why you deleted it.
@jurban there’s the fact that it increases your risk of accidental death, suicide and incarceration. It literally can ruin the lives of others around you financially and emotionally in addition to your own. It robs you of time that you will never get back by lying to you and keeps you trapped, preventing your ability to truly feel and experience the one life you have been given.
@SmileAndNod
Yes. I agree.
I'm trying to assess this a level or to more abstracted from the person. This may sound heartless, but I'm trying to find arguments for politicians and economists to justify investing into programs to "fix" this.
Appealing to the heart or the conditions of an individual only impacts a few. We need a broader argument.
I might summarize your insights into: the person is less of an asset to the community and economy, and probably a liability.
@jurban A few summaries I've found.
https://drugrehab.org/how-does-drug-abuse-affect-society-and-you/
https://casapalmera.com/blog/how-does-drug-abuse-affect-society/
This article - https://www.shorelinesoberliving.com/social-effects-of-drug-abuse-on-the-community/ - includes some dollar amounts. That money could have been spent on housing, education, clothing, food, community building, etc.
@peterquirk
Thanks!
This is a powerful quote in the first article: "The costs associated with drug and alcohol use total nearly $600 billion in lost revenue, health care, legal fees, and damages each year. "
I'd like to know how that is broken down by demographics. So many of the overtly-addicted in San Francisco will never contribute, economically, to society ever again. But they are still a cost.
Others are compromising their ability to contribute. I suspect those are a larger population
@jurban The IHME's Global Burden of Disease charts are worth investigating.
The lost contribution to society from the 15-49 age group is significant.
https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/
@jurban My state of MA has big problem with drugs in the 15-49 age group.
@peterquirk
This is an absolutely FANTASTIC website! Thanks for introducing it to me.
@jurban 👍 Ask good questions, get interesting answers!
This is a part of the model I'm building. I've highlighted the "direct" sources of positive influence that drug addition impacts. Everything above them are subsequently effected.
Community-Happiness impacts the greatest objective of a City: Vibrancy.