That sounds like the opposite of survivorship bias. You don't hear about the ones that didn't screw their lives up.

Yeah. I don't see them either. There are probably very well-organized people out there with a crack habit. The ones I see are the dead-eyed fuckups on the street spreading misery to themselves and their surroundings.

But it cuts both ways. There's a phrase "high-functioning alcoholic", meaning someone who still holds down a job, wears respectable clothes and all that. I grew up with a drunk: "high-functioning alcoholic" just means the worms are well concealed inside the can.

The ones that don't screw their lives up pull back considerably and realize quickly how dangerous drugs are.

Especially at high doses for long periods of time, which is how Hunter S. Thompson got his name.

This assumes that drug abuse / addiciton is rational, which it almost certainly is not.