It's not a fair comparison, given that sugar is available so readily and cheaply.
But as a schoolchild, I did actually regularly steal from parents (cash) and employers (cash and stock) in order to satisfy my desire for sugar. I knew it was wrong and felt terribly guilty, but the desire for sugar was strong enough to overpower the sense of guilt. Stephen Fry has spoken of a similar experience in his childhood [1]
In later life I've spent years as a heavy cigarette smoker, and have dabbled in recreational drugs (including some of the more addictive ones) and have never found anything as hard to quit or resist as sugar.
lol, I actually chuckled a bit on this one. This is exactly what my childhood was like. My brother and I would have to sneak into the kitchen at night for food. We "stole" bread. :P
Then later, I learned to shoplift from a friend (4th grade) and what did we steal? Candy.
Probably not. But not everybody who has a hard drug addiction will do this either. In fact I would bet it's a very small minority of drug users would do this.
But I also know that some people will steal from their families and commit crimes and don't do any drugs at all. So maybe not a fair comparison?
> Probably not. But not everybody who has a hard drug addiction will do this either.
You won't steal from your family because sugar addiction withdrawl pales in comparison to heroin withdrawl, which you claimed to be less addictive than sugar.
I'm trying to illustrate that you were conflating the two, that opiate users can quit just like you quit sugar. You couldn't be more wrong.
Opiate addiction is a completely different beast than your sweet tooth and I hope you realize this by now. Someone who's been heroin for decades will not be able to just quit cold turkey. Someone who's been abusing alcohol for such long time will not be able to stop without experiencing life threatening seizures. True addiction will rob somebody the ability to make healthy decisions. This is why there are supervised injection sites to reduce harm because the addicts themselves will hurt themselves and others just to get a fix. They are willing to prostitute their wife and daughter so they can get a fix to avoid the withdrawls, so would you be willing to do the same if sugar was illegal? Heroin changes your brain structure after you experience the massive flood of dopamine many magnitude times greater than 'sugar rush'. The user chases that first high and pretty quickly, heroin/opiate becomes the sole purpose.
It's very insulting to to claim as you did that these drug addicts and people driven to suicidal depression just needed to 'think positive'. You are not a heroin addict but sugar addict. You don't live on the streets but in the warmth of a house and a family. Those people on the streets whom you claim society is 'siding with' cannot make the same decisions as you did because they don't have the same resources as you do.
To be fair, I corrected myself that the actual claim is that sugar is more addictive than cocaine, not heroin.
Also, I did live on the streets and have first hand experience with these drugs and their affects on real people. And I've been clear in my comments here I didn't change on my own, but needed help and support from others.
And no matter what you do for any addict, if they don't decide to change themselves, they won't change.
are you willing to risk your life and commit crimes to get a hit of sugar?