[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Cantankerous

kind of?
a junkie is someone who would, say, steal your TV for money. they don't bother to hide it and completely let themselves go, hence the reason why the image of a dirty bum lying in an alley with a needle in his arm is the image that most people think of when they hear "heroin addict". no one bothers to learn the truth and kids are not told the truth in schools.

tell that subtle difference to cab drivers who get cut up cos they didn't have $20 shirt money at the time the junkie demanded money.

http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=junkie

the way you say it, "junkie" is a class term, meaning, an economic one.
given enough time most heroin addicts end up as junkies-- money is not infinite.

same as crackheads-- aaron sorkin used to smoke crack while working on the west wing-- an awesome tv show. he got busted at an airport, lucky for him, he quit the show & went into rehab. but with enough time, and enough stupid moves, every crackhead ends up the same way.

i had this friend i used to work with when i was in college, he was an old hippie who turned junkie in the 70s. a perfectly decent guy when i met him, he managed a health food store, but 2 decades earlier he had been breaking into people's houses to feed his habit.

anyway. nice subtlety there but i don't buy it. it's 2 socioeconomic ends of the junkie spectrum you're looking at, is all. rich junkie/ poor junkie.