No, we cannot agree on that. Addiction is a complicated beast, and every individual person, parent, and addict is different. The only thing all addicts have in common is their addiction.

Is anybody else dominating his league like this guy? Dominant does not equal best.

You hit the nail on the head with “sanctimonious.” There is no clear action any viewer of the image can take... It’s just salacious victim shaming and its gross.

I’m going to guess you’ve never tried to help an addict or been close to one in your life. It’s...difficult to get them to realize they have an issue that they need to take action on. You have to understand they aren’t happy about their addiction and admitting it is probably the hardest thing they can do. It’s…

911 is going to give me resources to rehab and recovery? Wasn’t part of my training way back in the day when I was a police dispatcher.

I know addicts too, I am one. I made a lot of mistakes and fucked a lot of people over and finally after over a decade of doing stupid shit I decided to get better. I have rebuilt the relationships as best as possible and I can now be a positive, active parent to my daughter who just turned 13 today. I work a…

Your’re also saying these people don’t have any family or friends concerned enough to spend a few minutes researching help for them. That’s what I’m reading into your statement. How do you reach such people?

Well, think about it for a second: who would it benefit to have police use their social media platforms to inform the community about organizations and resources that help address drug addiction? Who could make use of that information?

My neighbor growing up (he’s my age) has OD’ed on heroin twice in the last year or so. Both times he’s been given Narcan, and has survived so far. He’s a shitty person for many reasons, but it always bugs me when my parents start bitching about how the EMTs didn’t let him die. I’m always tempted to ask them how they…

Dunno if you’re being deliberately obtuse, but addicts by and large can’t help themselves or even recognize that they need help. That’s why it’s called “addiction” (as opposed to “hobby” or something).

You don’t have to be an addict to understand why that logic is flawed.

Um, as many as possible????! How is that even a fucking question?

....If they supported and spread the word about people and organizations dedicated to addressing drug addiction, they’d have less law-breakers to deal with.

This is totally a thing. We call it compassion fatigue. Without proper self-care and mental health services for first responders and social service workers, compassion fatigue will wreak havoc on their ability to care for others. :(

This makes me sad. This is compassion fatigue. First responders need mental health services, too. Self care needs to be a priority for our first responders.

I assumed their argument is “just let those losers die”. It’s not much of an argument.

Then time to stop being an EMT for a bit. I’m a teacher and when I see teachers who clearly have begun to hate any kid who defies them or makes their job more difficult in any way, I want to send them a note telling them it’s time to exit for awhile and do something else.

I think first responders get exhausted and frustrated with addicts, and that’s understandable, but it becomes toxic and dangerous when medical professionals slip into that mode where they start to think about who deserves the care they give and who does not. My sister has become markedly more callous and cynical since…

Missing from the FB post: links to resources people can call to report/help addicts, decency, empathy.

So public shaming is ok with you. What’s next? Shall we also bring back public stonings?