addiction and education

[wide awake]

Hi guys, I was just thinking, is there any correlation between addiction and education, I mean does being and addict neccesarily mean you can't do well in school? Ofcourse you could argue that it depends on the degree of addiction your in, but really I'm curious on how you see this. I mean, are there any college professors who are addicts out there, or are all addicts your stereotypical bum who couldn't even graduate from high school? I disagree with the later because me myself, I am currently trying to get through graduate school, eventhough you could say that I am no longer a hardcore addict. What do you guys think?

[HeidiW]

We as addicts aren't dumbasses. I had a 4.0 gpa in high school and in college. It's one of the very few good things I'm proud of in my life!:)

[shinobi]

i dont think its something that can be grouped and very much depends on the individual person and circumstances. I over complicate shit though.

[blahblahblah]

Addiciton has fuct with my education greatly, I havent been able to stay focused when I am strung-out which has led me to many different schools and thousands upon thousands of dollars wasted. I have one degree close to my second [psych] but I have been to fuct to be stable enough to continue school. Now things are slowly getting back into order and I will be back soon.

opiate + school doesnt fly with me

[oldschool?]

i was an "honor roll pot head in high school" and although opiate addiction is more severe i have to admit that the pull that lead me downtown to score C or H in later years was the same pull that led me to score more smoke back when i was 15 (obviously phisical withdrawl increases the feeling)

now when i went to university (and no i didn't finish for many reasons - hoping to go back next year) the only time i saw anyones schooling suffer because of addiction is when they were kicking because of the withdrawl

I believe as long as an addict is well supplied (ie doesn't have to waste half his or her time seeking or pulling scams to get funds) he can succeed in anything he chooses (and addiction proffessionals may say-told me in the past-that addiction leads to apathy - some times i agree...ha ha)

[Reserve Style]

Very interesting post! I too wonder if my friend will be finishing his education...being an addict, he attends classes...but is struggling...but I have friends that speak intelligently and are very knowledable about many things, things that I didn't know and I am a colleage graduate...lol...after learning from them, I learned to respect addicts in a different way... so..I too say that it all depends on the person....

[sage99]

I think it is possible to be an addict and do good in school, as long as you can get your butt outta bed and to class...I know that I made good grades when I actually showed up to class. Then I got robbed and I just quit...so actually I think it all depends on your enviroment.

[NovocainE]

hee.. it depends really whether or not you spend a lot of your time tryin to score some Gear or tryin to find the cash to get it..

i flunk out twice out of college..b'coz' i spent a lot o' time tryin to score.. got the money but noplace to go..or got a guy but no money

the third time i go to college my parents dole me on my habit n i got a steady source o' gear from a new dealer.. i got 3.92 GPA..figure that out.. o course i attend all the classes.. do all my assignments.. and when i'm home n tired i just shoot a 0.25 n go to sleep..

[red26]

As far as being an addict, who knows. It's the habits we have that can cause us to fail at things and not the drugs we use. Opiates have been known to improve cirtain learning capabilities and "wake up" areas of our brain that we dont normally use. The habits man, the habits.

[GMorris]

Well, personally, I know for a fact that addiction and education are completely separate entities. Although I tended to smoke a little too much dope in high school, I managed to make better grades than the majority of the tee-totalers. Once in my junior year, I smoked a joint at lunch time that was laced with what the bearer called "Canadian blue crystal speed". I have no idea whether that was actually what it was, but it was definitely blue and MOST definitely speed! Not being much of a speed aficionado, I was blown away by it. The combination of the speed and the weed was a bit much for me at the time, but being a kid I didn't much care as long as it buzzed me good. Anyway, I had Spanish for my class after lunch, and as luck would have it there was a test that day. Not only did I get 100% on the test, but I was the first to finish and turn it in. Now, that has to say something (I just don't know exactly what!).

Since then, I never attended any higher learning facilities, but I continually learn on my own. I've learned how to program computers and make a little money doing it from time to time. I'm also an accomplished guitarist, having played since I took it up in 1977. Right now I can play anything I can think of, and if drugs fu**ed up that ability I must be something of a wonder. Not only that, but I can only imagine what I would have been able to do if I had never touched drugs in the first place (assuming that drugs had some effect on learning and intelligence). My vote is that it could be possible that getting high has some effect on learning capacity, but it mostly falls back on the motivation of the individual. If you want to get high, you can still learn and maybe even as much as the straight individual. It might require more work, I just can't imagine it would be a lot more as long as the individual is fairly intelligent to begin with. And I tend to enjoy a wide variety of drugs myself, at least as long as the supply is good....

[Zoop]

There are stupid, uneducated addicts, and there are intelligent, very educated addicts, and everything in between.

[Paregoric Kid]

of course not, the poorest bum and the richest man in the world could be addicted to drugs.
here are some people that were far from uneducated or unsuccessful
Lenny Bruce (comedian)
Aleister Crowley (occultist)
Mitch Hedberg (comedian)
Howard Hughes (tycoon, film producer, aviator)
Dr. John S. Pemberton (chemist, inventor of Coca-Cola)
Rush Limbaugh (media personality)
Harry Anslinger (US director of the Bureau of Narcotics)
Marcus Aurelius (emperor, philosopher)
Robert Clive (British general)
Ulysses S. Grant (US president, general)
Joseph McCarthy (US senator)
Frank Murphy (US Supreme Court justice, Attorney General, governor of Michigan)
Pablo Picasso (painter)
Bridgette Andersen (actress)
John Drew Barrymore (actor)
John Belushi (actor, comedian)
Robert Downey Jr. (actor)
Chris Farley (actor)
Whoopi Goldberg (actress)
Dennis Hopper (actor, director)
Peter Lorre (actor)
Bela Lugosi (actor)
Kate Moss (actress, model)
River Phoenix (actor)
Mickey Rourke (actor)
Winona Ryder (actress)
Martin Scorsese (director)
Christian Slater (actor)
G.G. Allin (musician)
Phil Anselmo (musician)
Lenny Breau (musician)
Tim Buckley (singer-songwriter)
John Cale (musician)
Nick Cave (musician)
Ray Charles (singer)
Eric Clapton (musician)
Sonny Clark (musician)
Kurt Cobain (musician)
John Coltrane (musician)
Chris Cornell (musician)
Darby Crash (musician)
David Crosby (musician)
Miles Davis (musician)
Pete Doherty (musician)
Mike Doughty (musician)
Bob Dylan (singer-songwriter)
Jerry Garcia (musician)
Boy George (singer)
Jimi Hendrix (musician)
Billie Holiday (singer)
Billy Idol (singer)
Brian James (musician)
Joan Jett (musician)
Dr. John (musician)
Mick Jones (musician)
Steve Jones (musician)
Janis Joplin (singer)
Al Jourgensen (musician)
Antony Kiedis (musician)
John Lennon (musician)
Courtney Love (musician, actress)
Marilyn Manson (singer)
Thelonious Monk (musician)
Jim Morrison (musician)
Dave Mustaine (musician)
Dave Navarro (musician)
Fats Navarro (musician)
Jerry Nolan (musician)
Bradley Nowell (musician)
Yoko Ono (singer)
Ozzy Osbourne (musician)
Jimmy Page (musician)
Charlie "Bird" Parker (musician)
"Little" Richard Penniman (singer)
Iggy Pop (singer, actor)
Elvis Presley (singer)
Robert Quine (musician)
Dee Dee Ramone (musician)
Lou Reed (musician)
Trent Reznor (musician)
Keith Richards (musician)
Axl Rose (musician)
Andy Rourke (musician)
Bon Scott (musician)
Nikki Sixx (musician)
Elliott Smith (musician)
Layne Staley (musician)
Darby Crash (musician)
Johnny Thunders (musician)
Pete Townshend (musician)
Jeff Tweedy (musician)
Steven Tyler (musician)
Sid Vicious (musician)
Charlie Watts (musician)
Scott Weiland (singer)
Hank Williams (musician)
William S. Burroughs (writer)
Jim Carroll (writer)
Sigmund Freud (psychiatrist, writer)
John Keats (poet)
Jack Kerouac (writer)
Ken Kesey (writer)
Patrick K. Kroupa (writer, hacker)
Jack London (writer)
Friedrich Nietzsche (philosopher, writer)
Edgar Allan Poe (writer, poet)
Thomas de Quincey (writer) Confessions of an English Opium Eater
Françoise Sagan (writer)
Sir Walter Scott (writer, poet)
Hubert Selby Jr. (writer) "Requiem for a Dream"
Robert Louis Stevenson (writer)
William S. Burroughs (writer, inventor, exterminator)
Hunter S. Thompson (writer, gonzo journalist)
William Wilberforce (writer, anti-slavery campaigner)