History Main / AddledAddict

* ''Unkept Promise'' is a pro-temperance propaganda comic about the apparent dangers of alcohol, illustrating this with the story of a family man who immediately goes on a hard downward spiral after trying just one glass of booze. He forecloses on his house, loses his job, repeatedly ends up in the drunk tank, his family falls into poverty, and apparently his hat turns blue.

* Billy Bones of ''Literature/TreasureIsland'' is a former pirate who sees "[[PinkeElephants the horrors]]" if he doesn't have rum. Over the early part of the story his health declines, and even after suffering a stroke and being advised by Dr. Livesey to stop drinking, he begs Jim for more rum and offers him gold. After receiving the BlackSpot, he suffers an apoplexy and drops dead before the other pirates can get to him.

* ''Fanfic/OniGaShikuSeries'': [[spoiler:Musashi Midoriya]]'s father Hideo was a gambling-addicted drunkard. It got so bad that his wife abandoned him and their son once he got several thousand yen into debt, and [[spoiler:Musashi]] ran away from home shortly afterwards. Over ten years later, he has apparently cut down his drinking - by [[spoiler:Musashi]]'s account he used to empty out bottles over the course of an evening but the last time he saw him he was nursing a single glass from start to finish - but this did not improve his situation any. He was even more of an emotional wreck, more or less resigned to just dying whenever, and even deeper into debt, in severe trouble with the yakuza. [[spoiler:From Misashi's point of view, killing him was just putting the guy out of his misery; even if Musashi was messed up for life after it.]]

* Music/CBlock -- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5dWnsTTyII "So Strung Out"]]. The narrator is addicted to cocaine and considers suicide.

* Music/CBlock -- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5dWnsTTyII "So Strung Out"]]. The narrator is addicted to cocaine and considers suicide.

* On the ''WebVideo/DreamSMP'', Schlatt's addiction to [[TheAlcoholic alcohol]], protein powder, and anabolic steroids took a heavy toll on his health, both physical and mental, [[spoiler:and likely caused the heart attack or stroke that [[KilledOffForReal took his final canon life]].]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', there is the protagonist's mother, who takes several drugs, and is almost always drugged. The fact that she's ''never'' quite there strongly implies that the drug abuse has affected her brain. [[spoiler:Close to the end, Ward uses his magical "find" ability to look for her ... and doesn't find her, even when he finds her body.]]

When a drug addict is left a physical and mental wreck from their addiction to drugs or alcohol. The signs are typically what they would be in real life; their visage noticeably deteriorates, they are increasingly unreliable and regularly fail to meet obligations, are often visibly drunk or strung out and, if they are on drugs, may be associating with sketchy and often dangerous people, and are also prone to theft, scams, and scheming to acquire money to feed their habits. The decline is often documented as a way of showing DrugsAreBad. This is distinct from the FunctionalAddict (who is still capable of accomplishing the tasks of everyday life), but the FunctionalAddict may become this. In cynical works, this can be the endpoint of a DescentIntoAddiction character arc.

The LogicalExtreme is someone being killed by their addiction. If they're part of a VerySpecialEpisode, they may get support and become a RecoveredAddict.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': A drug addict desperate for a high knocks a police officer out a window while trying to steal drugs. He doesn't even seem to know he just nearly murdered someone when Diana disarms him and rescues the cop, and the cop is furious her shoulder was injured because Diana was trying to help both of them as she sees the junkie as beyond help.

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%% * The narrator of ''WebAnimation/TheresAManInTheWoods''.
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* In ''ComicBook/{{Cruelty}}'', Reis Northcotte's mother is implied to be this; certainly, she is a MissingMom due to her frequent arrests. His dad takes this to the LogicalExtreme, having [[DisappearedDad died of an overdose]]. [[spoiler: In the sequel, his mom dies as well.]]

* By the time of ''Literature/{{Borrasca}} V'', the main character has become a complete wreck who's totally dependent on heroin as a way to escape the [[TraumaCongaLine physical and emotional pain of the first story]]. It's even [[InvokedTrope invoked:]] [[spoiler: Sam's father has been secretly paying off his dealer for the express purpose of keeping him drug-addled and docile.]]

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', there is the protagonist's mother, who takes several drugs, and is almost always drugged. The fact that she's ''never'' quite there strongly implies that the drug abuse has affected her brain. [[spoiler: Close to the end, Ward uses his magical "find" ability to look for her ... and doesn't find her, even when he finds her body.]]

*** Vera Keyes, the starlet who Sinclair fell for in ''Dead Money'' had a long-running Med-X (painkiller) addiction. This made her susceptible to blackmail by Dean Domino. As the War drew closer, she became more addled, having a glazed look that even construction workers deduced was due to addiction, then needing Super Stimpaks to take the edge off. She eventually required an Auto-doc to be installed in her room exclusively for her use. Unbeknownst to her but know by Sinclair, Vera was terminally ill. When we find her, she is surrounded by Med-X needles, implying death by overdose.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': In the deepest pit of what will one day be [[WretchedHive Zaun]], a colony of addicts to Shimmer live in rags and beg for money. [[spoiler: The incentive of more Shimmer drives Huck, who otherwise wanted to help Vi to repay Vander, to sell her location out to Silco.]]

** Sarah Lynn is a great example from a TV show about a horse. Her drug addiction spawned from a TraumaCongaLine including the burden of being a [[FormerChildStar child star]] who'd once had dreams outside of that realm, a [[TeenIdol sensation]] [[ThatSoundsFamiliar pop princess]] who was left isolated, strongly implied [[PaedoHunt inappropriate contact]] with her stepfather, [[AntiAdvice horrible advice]] from [=BoJack=] whom she looked to as a [[ParentalSubstitute father figure]] in light of her unexplained DisappearedDad, etc., etc., etc. By the time she was 30, she had become the typical starlet case–druggie whom no one cared for anymore. [[spoiler: She died at only 31 years old after nine months of sobriety due to a heroin overdose.]]

** Season 5 sees [=BoJack=] himself get hooked on opiates after a stunt goes wrong and, rather than allow him time to recover fully, is pressured back onto the set of ''Philbert'' to keep filming the first season. This leads to him [[spoiler: driving into traffic when he runs out of his medication in the hopes of getting more at the hospital]] and, in the penultimate episode of the season, [[spoiler: ''strangling his costar'' because he could no longer discern between reality and fiction. And the finale reveals he has ''no'' memory of what he'd done, only finding out after watching the footage]].

[[caption-width-right:272:"When I was sober, my family loved me. [[OffModel And my hat wasn't blue...]]"]]

* The trope image provider, ''Unkept Promise'', is a pro-temperance propaganda comic about the apparent dangers of alcohol, illustrating this with the story of a family man who immediately goes on a hard downward spiral after trying just one glass of booze. He forecloses on his house, loses his job, repeatedly ends up in the drunk tank, his family falls into poverty, and apparently [[OffModel his hat turns blue.]]

** ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': We learn more about Raffi's backstory in "Stardust City Rag". When she falls prey to drug addiction after she's fired from Starfleet, she ends up neglecting her son and her husband to such a high degree that they kick her out of the house, which is why we see her living alone in a hovel in her introductory scene.

* On the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'', Schlatt's addiction to [[TheAlcoholic alcohol]], protein powder, and anabolic steroids took a heavy toll on his health, both physical and mental, [[spoiler:and likely caused the heart attack (or stroke) that took his final life.]]