And I'm going to assume you've never had someone really close to you deal with drug addiction. It makes you do nasty things so you can get your next fix. It sucks. As someone who has a sister, uncle, grandfather, and myself who all have dealt with addictions of some sort I can attest to this. I've dug into my savings account my parents have been building up since I was young to help me after I graduate to help fuel my alcoholism. My sister stole from my parents to fuel her addiction to speed, alcohol, and narcotics. My uncle and grandfather developed theirs after they had well paying jobs. They're what you would consider functioning alcoholics. My sister is doing better. I don't know much about my uncle because he no longer talks to us. My grandfather died form the resulting cirrhosis and cancer.
Addiction sucks. I hate referring to it as a disease because of the negative stigma, but that's exactly what it should be treated like. a chronic, recurring thing. I don't want to drink. I don't want to use alcohol to solve my problems but I do. I wake up every morning thinking when I'm going to have my next drink and when I can drown out anything else. I really don't want to make that drive to the alcohol store because I'm so ashamed of myself but I do. I do it at this point because it's the only thing that makes me feel normal.
And for my sister and family members that suffer from this, I do wish it was viewed this way because I know they are not awful people.
It's okay to not support someone's drug addiction. We do not (at least when I was the non-addicted one) maintain contact with these people because we think it's okay. We maintain contact with them because we care and we do want them to get better. I also want people to realize that people will only seek help when they are willing. It took my sister 2+ years to go to rehab and seek therapy for herself. I'm currently seeking therapy because I know being drunk almost every night of the week is NOT okay and not a way to cope with life.
I'm sorry if this is all over the place. I haven't slept since Friday night (not good either!) and I just want others to understand addiction isn't something that's as easy as cutting someone out of your life. Maybe I can fix up the wording overall when I've had sleep.
TL;DR: Addiction sucks. It's hard to deal with and hard to understand when you're not struggling with it. We're not bad. It's just our way of coping and/or an impulse we have a hard time controlling without help. Don't treat us like pariahs please.