Philip Seymour Hoffman or summert...

[hyperD]

First remember him in Scent of a woman, he had a small part but stood out.

All natural drugs should be legalised, anything that grows naturally should be legal. The government could clear the deficit from the tax if they legalised and regulated drugs simultaneously winning the drug war and saving thousands of lives. Ban alcohol.

Bansturbator!

[Scruff]

But it's the same stuff. That's the point.

Lots of people are pumped full of strong opiates all the time and don't go off the rails or kill themselves. The drugs don't automatically "destroy lives", to most people they make a huge positive difference. I for one would be unable to function without them. Does that make me a "waste of societies resources"?

Doodab

I am aware of your situation and don't mean to make light of it. There is a world of difference between medical Diamorphine and Heroin that doesn't warrant a discussion.

[VectraMan]

I have to admit I'd never heard of him either, despite him apparently being the greatest actor in the history of the planet.

Apparently this bloke had been off the stuff for 23 years, and then for whatever reason had a relapse. Which is sad in that it probably seemed to all the world that he'd beaten it for good. But I don't have a lot of sympathy for dead addicts in general.

[OwlHoot]

Um, Oscar winning actor, been in lots of movies.

Have to say WTOPS - Never heard of the fella.

[doodab]

There is a world of difference between medical Diamorphine and Heroin that doesn't warrant a discussion.

I'd agree, and I'm not trying to belittle what happened to your friend. I just think that labeling users as a "waste of societies resources" oversimplifies things. There are plenty of well to do smackheads and users of other recreational drugs who hold down good jobs and normal lives and although they aren't doing their health any favours they can't really be described as a drain on societies resources.

The ****ed up people who's lives fall apart tend to be ****ed up anyway, and if smack wasn't there they would find something else, be it alcohol or another illegal drug. Once they are in it's a very hard habit to break, because they usually have little else to look forward to in their lives, which is why they ended up there looking for escape in the first place. The drugs certainly don't help but they are rarely the root cause IMO, often there is a history of depression, mental illness, abuse and so on that predates the drugs. And of course the addiction often leads to crime which makes it harder to find a way back to normality as well.

It's all very sad IMO.

[Flashman]

First reaction. Who?
2nd reaction. Oh.


Anyway was sad to hear Maximillian Schell passed on. Austrian-Swiss film and stage star. Excellent in 'Judgement at Nuremburg'. No war movie seemingly complete with out him.

mad scientist in sci-fi film The Black Hole. Captain Stransky in Cross of Iron. RIP.

[MicrosoftBob]

Captain Stransky in Cross of Iron. RIP.

Cross of Iron might as well be titled I Hate Middle Managers, but it is enjoyable bunk even without that message

[Unix]

I'd agree, and I'm not trying to belittle what happened to your friend. I just think that labeling users as a "waste of societies resources" oversimplifies things. There are plenty of well to do smackheads and users of other recreational drugs who hold down good jobs and normal lives and although they aren't doing their health any favours they can't really be described as a drain on societies resources.

The ****ed up people who's lives fall apart tend to be ****ed up anyway, and if smack wasn't there they would find something else, be it alcohol or another illegal drug. Once they are in it's a very hard habit to break, because they usually have little else to look forward to in their lives, which is why they ended up there looking for escape in the first place. The drugs certainly don't help but they are rarely the root cause IMO, often there is a history of depression, mental illness, abuse and so on that predates the drugs. And of course the addiction often leads to crime which makes it harder to find a way back to normality as well.

It's all very sad IMO.

I'm sure a lot of people take heroin recreationally with not issues, given he was a Oscar winning actor and had made recent movies as well as doing all the PR stuff, equating him to a junkie on skid row is naive at best. He could have been unlucky and had a deadly batch or something.

[doodab]

I'm sure a lot of people take heroin recreationally with not issues, given he was a Oscar winning actor and had made recent movies as well as doing all the PR stuff, equating him to a junkie on skid row is naive at best. He could have been unlucky and had a deadly batch or something.

Apparently he'd been off the stuff for 20 odd years.

[minestrone]

Synecdoche is on BBC2 later.

If someone wants to watch it and tell me WTF it was all about I would be much obliged.