I'm no expert, but I suspect it depends on the drug to at least some extent.
I can't recall the details, but I remember reading years ago about some upper-crust British guy who was a fully-functional heroin addict for decades. Because money was no problem for him, he had access to medical-grade heroin (it was, and still is, legal for doctors in the UK to prescribe heroin for extreme pain-relief, particularly in cases of terminal illness where the risk of addiction isn't a concern). I believe he had a cooperative doctor who managed his dosage, monitored his health, supplied the sterile syringes and so on. As I say, he apparently functioned perfectly normally as a bank executive or whatever for a very long time, and nobody outside a very small circle of close friends had a clue he was an addict.
My takeaway from that was that the biggest problem with illicit drug use isn't necessarily how they affect people, but the impact of all the other crap that comes with the use of illegal drugs that have no quality control in the supply chain.
As I admitted earlier, my knowledge in this area is limited, but I suspect there are some drugs which have such an all-pervasive impact on the lives of the users that it would be very difficult for them to maintain what most people would consider a 'normal' lifestyle. I'm thinking of meth in particular. How people respond to a particular drug always varies, and I'm sure casual meth users do exist, but from what I've heard about meth addicts, it sounds like the drug completely takes over their lives.
Is it possible or normal to be a functional addict?
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I'm no expert, but I suspect it depends on the drug to at least some extent.
I can't recall the details, but I remember reading years ago about some upper-crust British guy who was a fully-functional heroin addict for decades. Because money was no problem for him, he had access to medical-grade heroin (it was, and still is, legal for doctors in the UK to prescribe heroin for extreme pain-relief, particularly in cases of terminal illness where the risk of addiction isn't a concern). I believe he had a cooperative doctor who managed his dosage, monitored his health, supplied the sterile syringes and so on. As I say, he apparently functioned perfectly normally as a bank executive or whatever for a very long time, and nobody outside a very small circle of close friends had a clue he was an addict.
My takeaway from that was that the biggest problem with illicit drug use isn't necessarily how they affect people, but the impact of all the other crap that comes with the use of illegal drugs that have no quality control in the supply chain.
As I admitted earlier, my knowledge in this area is limited, but I suspect there are some drugs which have such an all-pervasive impact on the lives of the users that it would be very difficult for them to maintain what most people would consider a 'normal' lifestyle. I'm thinking of meth in particular. How people respond to a particular drug always varies, and I'm sure casual meth users do exist, but from what I've heard about meth addicts, it sounds like the drug completely takes over their lives.