JFC you have zero idea what you are talking about do you? It is a fucking disease, being a father doesn't change that fact. Retiring, taking a vacation, wouldn't change the fact that he is a drug addict. Guess what, regardless where he goes and what he does it will be with him and his family for the rest of his life.
Quick question, would you react differently if he had killed himself after living years with depression? Let me guess, you would be here telling me that he should have sucked it up and been a big boy, cause he's a father. What a joke.
Drug addiction and sobriety are a daily fight. You hold it at bay for as long as you can, hopefully you make it. Some do, some do not. The difference is I'm not going to call him a piece of shit for failing, apparently you are.
I haven't battled addiction. But my god, I can't stress how terrible getting off Opiates is. I would have crying fits where I would start bawling my eyes out randomly through the day. I couldn't sleep for 30 hours straight. Every single day of my life became a routine, where I saw no purpose for living. I had extreme thoughts of sadness and a wave of sadness that would overcome me hourly. I would have trouble getting out of bed every morning, and had no motivation to get through the day. My mind would wander to some very dark places. I would actually wrestle with my own thoughts.
And again, this is coming from someone that is relatively straight edge (I've never used drugs, and live a healthy life), and someone that has always been happy. Suddenly my entire mind/emotional state fell apart to pieces.
I'm by no means trying to equate pain medication to heroin. I know they are different. And I know not everyone has the same reaction. But I only bring up my own personal experience, to give people an idea of the nature of how much these kind of drugs impact you when you stop using them (if only withdrawal was just a physical problem, people would be so lucky). I wasn't even someone that was taking a lot of my medication, and still went through what I did.
I think it's important that you listen to your doctor, but I don't agree you should always take their advice. You should always be vigilant about your own health, because sadly some doctors will NOT care about your health as much as you do. And lastly, I bring it up so people might get SOME idea of how hard it is to kick it.
If people want to judge you for abusing drugs, fine. I'm not here to argue about someone taking their first needle (it's a complex thing. Some people do it for fun, some do it to be happy, some do it because they are depressed and it's an escape. It's a very complex issue). But for someone that has an addiction (because of their personal issues), once they relapse it's not as simple as just quitting cold turkey.
Hoffman might have relapsed and went to rehab. He might have struggled with it, and knew it was wrong. But even if he wanted to quit, the sheer weight of quitting goes beyond just a physical toll. For some, it's much easier to just keep taking a hit, then go through the mental hell that awaits you. I kid you not, there were times where my mind tried to convince myself that this would be permanent. That it would not get better. And even though I was self-aware and KNEW it was the withdrawal making me feel the way I was, I found myself struggling to accept that fact.
Now, I try to imagine someone that actually abuses this stuff (or even harder forms of it), and who are going through that amplified. I can't imagine it. I just can't. I would totally understand why someone might rather take a hit to end the mental suffering, rather than give in to it and wait for it to pass (and some people even have suicidal thoughts during this period, that's how bad it gets).
EDIT: I'm not talking about staying sober. As I never had an issue with it. But I'm just adding to your discussion, by giving a perspective of someone that wasn't addicted, and how awful it was getting off it. Like I said, I can't even imagine someone that has an addiction issue ON TOP of going through withdrawal.
