[swirepe]

I liked the way you framed drug use as temporary happiness loans. That's very insightful.

>Now, I'm aware that this is quite complex, but still I wonder how many people there are out there who can self-control themself and diligently keep their debt in order.

The analogy breaks down a bit here for me.

Before I had a cat, I couldn't understand how people could pay so much for veterinary bills. After I got a cat, I could see myself spending more on her than I would spend on myself. Like, what's the point of having money if not to make my cat happy? My relationship to money itself changed. Self-control isn't a factor.

I'm stretching this analogy, but I wonder how many drug users with their happiness debts in balance have really just reframed their happiness finances around their addiction.

[achairapart]

There is a scene in the movie The Consequences of Love by Paolo Sorrentino where you find out one of the secrets of the mysterious leading character:

The first Wednesday of every month at 10am he shot himself heroin.

It's one of his extremely methodical routines. It can be seen as an habit, but you can't truly call him an addict.

If you reframe your happiness around your drug use you're already addicted. The question about my original post was more like: Are there people who have a drug habit without the addiction? If yes, how many of them are there?