Actually, HIV IS a choice when someone decides to engage in premarital sex, especially without vetting their new partner. No, I'm not talking about people born to women with HIV who contract it that way, or those who got it 30 years ago from a blood transfusion in a hospital, but from careless consensual sex (or using drugs via needles). Otherwise, your post makes sense...the last two sentences. If dad was a jerk to his son growing up, then the son isn't to blame 100 percent. You are never too old to suffer the psychological damage of having an emotionally distant or abusive parent. That the dad would threaten to cut his son off speaks volumes of how he treated the boy growing up. Yes, the young man has a choice in how to cope with the psychological damage. He could hit the gym instead of hitting the pills. But his "stupidity" has its origin. I hate druggies as much as anyone, but this "lack of impulse control" isn't created in a vacuum, either.