////But josepp, the whole point is that they just can't 'get a grip'. They would if they could.////

And I'm suppposed to cry for them over that? There was a time when I smoked tobacco. One day I stopped. No drama. I just stopped one day.

I used to smoke huge amounts of pot. Ditto as above.

////They're helpless in the face of the addiction.////

And whose fault is that? Nature's?

////It's easy for you to step back from these things because you're lucky enough to have the kind of personality that takes control of your life.////

It's a matter of not letting anything control me. I cannot allow myself to be owned by anything. If I even think there's a possibility that I might be unable to give something up, I immediately give it up.

////But others haven't got this in them.///

I know that. They don't want to control themselves. They want others to control them. They can't handle the responsibility of being their own parent and saying no to themselves and that makes them the most pathetic thing in the universe.


////It isn't deliberate, they would probably give anything to be able to change. I've worked with addicts in prison, and I've seen how powerless they were to stop. I agree they wreck families and cause grief to their parents etc. But we can't judge them, as they can't help it.////

I'm not buying that. That's letting them control you. As I said, I will not be owned by anything addictive--least of all an addict.