LOVE AND DRUGS
"CIGARETTES AND RAMEN AND A LITTLE BAG OF DOPE,
I AM THE SON OF A BITCH AND EDGAR ALLAN POE."
THE BASICS
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Love and drugs somehow seem to go hand in hand in American Idiot. The rivalry between St. Jimmy and Whatsername for Johnny's attention makes the battle between love (or at least sex) and drugs a pivotal part of the album and musical alike.
THE DRUGS OF AMERICAN IDIOT
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"Dope" - some people define dope as marijuana, some people define dope as heroin, and some people define dope as meth.
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Marijuana - read more about marijuana here.
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Heroin - read more about heroin here.
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Pill Popping - consuming prescription medicine or over-the-counter medicine incorrectly. Read more about prescription stimulants here, read more about prescription depressants here, read more about prescription opioids here, and read more about over-the-counter medicine here.
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Drugs & the U.S. Army - read more about substance abuse in the military here.
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Morphine - read more about morphine here.
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"Crossfading" - the combination of alcohol and marijuana. Read more about the science of crossfading here.
WHATSERNAME & ST. JIMMY
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In the libretto, St. Jimmy enables and encourages Johnny to use drugs of all kinds, while Johnny's new girl Whatsername tries to encourage Johnny to choose love over drugs and addiction.
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"Whatsername decides to make one last plea to Johnny, who is soaring on junk - to embrace the authentic relationship between the two of them rather than the spiraling self-destruction of St. Jimmy and his addiction."
SELF-MEDICATION WITH DRUGS AND ALCOHOL
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Humans have a history of self-medicating to make their pain (whether it be physical or emotional) disappear. Most forms of self-medicating are seen to be negative: self-medication with caffeine and food is especially common, but self-medication with drugs and alcohol is unfortunately equally as common.
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The main issue with relying on substances of any kind as a form of self-medication is the possibility of a future addiction. These are all temporary fixes to larger problems, and they can all lead to even worse problems in the future.
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Self-medication is prevalent in American Idiot - most of the leading characters use either alcohol or drugs of some form to cope with their lives.
AMERICAN VIEWS ON SEX & LOVE
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Sex and love are oftentimes intermixed in American culture. The marketing industry thrives off of this fact, and uses more sexual advertisements to promote the idea that "if you use this product, you will be loved." This has been happening for the last several decades at various levels of scandal.
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America (and many other countries) have recently seen a surge in online dating and mobile dating apps - although many individuals use these apps to try and find love, there is an even larger population who use these apps and websites to find more temporary fixes to the empty space next to them in their beds.
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Like drugs, sex and love are sometimes used to numb the pain of life. Sex is proven to raise your body's endorphin levels, and in some ways is considered to be a natural mood lifter (like exercise). Love can be beautiful - love can also be blinding. The lines between love and sex blur easily, and the fight between love and drugs is one fought by many across the nation.
