I completely agree.
And my Grandmother did the same.
She would claim she lost her meds or left them somewhere,.... shop doctors, etc.
When she finally went to the nursing home and we had to do something with her things, we found stashes everywhere.
Hundreds of pills.
We all picked up her meds for her from time to time and never realised that she was using us to get more meds than she was supposed to have.
In my experience, it all stems from the addiction itself.
Absolutley it stems from the addiction.
But that doesn't negate the personal responsibility aspect. One can't argue in favor of personal responsibility for one type of addiction, while also arguing in favor of a victimization mentality for another.
I have sympathy for
all addicts. From crackheads to oxycontin abusers. There's always some underlying problem that leads to the addiction.
But one doesn't become an addict pasively. It's an active endeavor. There are choices that are made along the way. No matter what the drug is, no matter who the addict is.
I don't think that any addict is better than another, nor do I consider non-addicts to be better people than addicts. We're all human and we all have weaknesses. I'd have an issue with Rush's comments about drug addiction that were made before his own addiction was known
regardless of his own drug use. The fact is that he was implying that addicts were "lesser people" than non-addicts with his statements and that's pure bull****.
Now, I'm not sure if he was already addicted to prescription drugs at the time. If he was, that's a hypocritical stance and deserves all the criticism it receives for it's hypocricy.
If he wasn't an addict at that time, but still holds a similar view, then that's even worse, becaus enow he should have a better understanding of the problem of addiction. If he hasn't altered his stance, then he not only is engaging in hypocricy, he's ****ting on the concept of personal responsibility for himself, which is in essence ****ting on conservative philosophy in favor of self-delusion.
If he wasn't an addict at the time of the statements, and has since softened his views due to having a greater understanding of the issue, kudos to him.