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Why does it seem like the majority of people think problems are caused by drugs rather than problems causing people to turn to drugs? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by TheReanuKeeves@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I was never heavy into drugs but I smoked weed a fair bit in my 20s, knew a lot of other daily users of weed as well as some harder drugs. I don't think I ever came across a person that randomly decided to do drugs for no reason one day and got hooked. They were all people who had pretty messed up problems in their life that were too complex for them to fix on their own.

So it confuses me when people instantly assume that someone is in a bad situation due to drugs rather than them using drugs to deal with a bad situation. And yes I know drug abuse makes problems worse the vast majority of the time but it's not what I see as the root issue in a lot of cases, the drug use is a symptom/coping mechanism for people that society have let fall through the cracks.

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[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Being in a bad place has absolutely resulted in plenty of people turning to sex work and sleeping outside. I've had to do the latter completely sober.

Yeah drugs can make the situation worse, but it's really easy to be in a financially desperate position and turn to drugs to cope with what you're having to do to get through it.

The reality is that drug addiction, financial destitution, and homelessness are complicated and there are multiple categories of people in these positions. Drugs will often make the situation worse, and can be the incitement to the downward spiral, but for plenty the drugs are more of a symptom than a cause.