Better Living Through Chemistry
18th September 2021
Severian does some pharmacology.
I’m not sure if “comorbidity” is the right word — remember, not that kind of doctor — but I’d wager long money that there is no addict on this earth who is addicted to one drug exclusively. Sure, his drug of choice is heroin, but if he can’t find that he’ll go down the list until he gets altered on something, because in a lot of ways, “___ addict” is something like a category error. You’re an addict first; what you’re technically addicted to is epiphenomenal.
‘Addict’ is a personality disorder, and (like stupid) it can’t really be fixed.
Scott Adams often tells the story of his step-son, who died of a fentanyl overdose — they tried on multiple occasions to rehabilitate him, but all attempts failed on the rock of the fact that he just preferred being high to being straight, and that’s not something that you can fix from the outside.