I don’t know how much money has been poured into ensuring that drug users absolutely hate their selves, but from what I can tell, their efforts are working. I have never met a drug user with a healthy sense of self. We typically hate ourselves. Billions of dollars have been spent ensuring that people that use drugs feel like they are lower than low…..
There is no low, like being a crack head or a junkie! Our society talks out both sides of its mouth 4 real….”Oh, you have a disease!” They say. To this I say,” when you treat me like I have a disease”, then I might accept the diagnosis, but as long as I can be locked up as if I am a danger to society, treated inhuman in my opinion, I don’t even want to hear that it’s a disease.
I don’t know whether I was born with a predisposition to abuse substances or if something happened along the way to push me in that direction….what I do know, is that the stigma imposed on folks like me, sucks! Thank God, I am part of a drug user union. Urban Survivor’s Union is a national drug user union that took me in and reminded me that I am a person of value. It is the one place that I don’t have to be perfect. What I mean is this,… ask any minority or stigmatized group about feeling like they have to be more perfect than perfect or better than the best. We can’t have a bad day or an off day! We have to work 4 or 5x as hard as everyone else. There is no room for us to fuck up….people will say we are just fucked up or on drugs. We always have to work like we have something to prove. We have to make up for every drug user who has ever fucked up. Once you wear certain labels they are difficult to get off …..
12 step philosophy has infected so many people that society uses principles of 12 step groups to determine whether someone who has struggled with a substance misuse problem is “better” or “in recovery…. I have heard from some people: if you are in recovery you will know how many days you have been “clean”….well, to me that’s ridiculous. I am not counting the days I have doing something or not doing something. I am not focusing my energy on counting the time I have been with or without engaging in a behavior ……. The idea that the amount of hours or days you go denying yourself of a substance defines how “well” you are is horse shit! Am I showing up, Am I taking care of business….. Thank God, my union loves me, trusts me and I don’t have to prove myself constantly. I am loved, I am enough, exactly the way I am! Thank you Urban Survivor’s Union
I Today I became the National President of Urban Survivor’s Union. I am honored and grateful that I am seen as someone who can be a good leader. Join your local drug user union ! If you don’t have one in your area call me and we will talk about starting your own chapter! Love L
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