Morning Katrina. I take on board your comments. But what I tried to point out that thee problems re self inflickted. and are a great cost to the community (and the problem is growing) My question is why do these get help FREE CARE while sufferers of dementia/alzimers will paY/PAY/PAY.
I doubt if I can educate you further about the very complicated subject of addiction. My point was that there is very little FREE care and treatment, especially in rural areas. It is very easy for addictions to start, but once on the slippery slope....
Case 1: Retired senior nurse in her 80's. Lifelong nicotine addict. Spent many months in hospital with malnutrition and COPD. Died at home of heart failure as a result of her severe COPD. Cost to NHS: a great deal of money.
Case 2: Teenage girl. Anxiety over A levels, family issues and social acceptance. Took heroin at a party. 8 years of on-off addiction. Got clean, then started again when under stress. 5 times. No help from NHS apart from methadone. No treatment services within 30 miles. Cost to NHS: methadone prescriptions.
Case 3: Hospital consultant in their 60's. Depression and alcohol abuse. 5 years of private counselling, partly funded by employer. Cost to NHS: In theory, zero as a patient, but as an employer there was a cost in counselling fees.
The common factor for all of these people, personally known to me, was an underlying anxiety over ' being good enough'. So, Yes, the person does feel a 'misfit'. We ALL have those feelings. Unfortunately some people use drugs to make them feel better for a while, and then suffer the consequences of addiction.
As do their families.
I see from your later post that you are entirely clean living, and expect everyone else to be so too. Whatever their upbringing and life experiences? Plenty of ex-forces personnel have problems with substance abuse.
Did they inflict their emotional problems on themselves?