These comments probably won't be popular of course...most will think I am attacking RM which I am not, although I suspect maybe a few will understand where I am coming from.
I wish RM the very best of luck with his recovery, if that is the path he finds the courage to go down. I don't think he should be in jail, even though he knowingly put himself there. I would prefer to see him in a treatment facility.
Most hard core heroin addicts never do go down that path, it is just too difficult, and for an extremely intelligent man like RM it will be even harder to go through the humility that is necessary to begin a recovery process.
Addicts will continue to be stuck in their addictions until such time that they stop feeling like a victim and take personal responsibility for their disease. Blame and resentments are the opposite of recovery.
This is not to say addicts caused their own disease, I don't think RM caused his addiction, I think he suffers from it as a way out of, and an attempt to escape from the severe mental and emotional pain and anguish he experiences, plus the fear and sense of isolation that is always there waiting for the addict to fall again. The physical craving is also just as real.
Yes, it is a disease. Both mental and physical. Heroin addiction is one of the most difficult addictions to live with or to attempt recovery from.
Oh, and someone was wondering how a trader could be a junkie?
John Lennon made great music while practicing his heroin addiction, so did Eric Clapton, etc.
So do addict lawyers practice law, addict doctors heal, addict pilots fly planes, addict politicians tell their lies, addict scientists make scientific discovery, addict cops enforce the law, addict preachers preach, addict gamblers win bets, and addict right wing radio talk show hosts spew right wing garbage...
Pray for RM, wish him the best, but try to understand the disease he suffers from and don't cater to it. Give him your full support, but do not support the disease he suffers from.
Love the man, hate the disease, and don't ever believe an addict is cured...especially when they work overtime trying to convince you that they are cured.
There is no cure for so many, there is just learning to live one day at a time with the disease, learning how to live with something you ultimately cannot fix...so often living with a burning craving for the kind of fix that heroin can bring.
If and until addicts can learn to be completely honest with themselves and their own moral weakness, there is only self delusion between this moment and the next fix.
Treat RM with love, but please make sure it is the right kind, not pity, not as a victim...but give him the true kind of love that will help him in the long run. They call it tough love...
p.s. Benicio Del Toro gave a fine performance as an addict in recovery in the following movie. Great performance by all the actors in this mostly unknown movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469623/