Substance Abuse
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| Trope · Genre | |
|---|---|
| Synonyms: | Drug Addiction, Alcoholism |
| Related: | |
| See Also: | H/C |
| Tropes · Slash Tropes · Tropes by Fandom | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Substance abuse and alcoholism are popular tropes in fanworks. Fanfiction often addresses the addicted character's struggle to come to terms with their addiction with the help of another character. Sometimes the second character becomes a romantic partner (and it can be a way of getting canonically unlikely pairings together), but plenty of gen friendship stories exist. Stories sometimes feature Alcoholics Anonymous or similar organisations and the sponsor system.
In Canon
Numerous popular canons feature recreational drug use or alcoholism.
- Greg House of House, MD is addicted to painkillers; this theme is important in much fanfiction for the show.
- In Quantum Leap, Al is a recovering alcoholic.
- Sherlock Holmes uses cocaine in Arthur Conan Doyle canon; Sherlock in the BBC version uses nicotine patches and marijuana. Drug habits turn up regularly in fanfiction.
- In the Starsky and Hutch episode "The Fix", Hutch is forcibly addicted to heroin.
- In ST: DS9, the Cardassian military officer Damar is an alcoholic who stops drinking after a moment of clarity.
- Tony Stark is portrayed either as a high-functioning alcoholic (HFA) or recovering alcoholic in the Marvel comicsverse.
- Lord Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisited is an alcoholic.
- In Dragon Age: Inquisition, Cullen Rutherford's attempt to kick lyrium, a magical power-enhancing drug used by Templars, is a central part of his character arc.
Example Fanworks
- Glass Half Full by Pir8fancier. Harry Potter. Ron is an alcoholic, Pansy is his sponsor.
- In the Beauty and the Beast zine, Shelter Me, Catherine turns to pills and alcohol to cope with stress
- Drunk by Noelle "Nicky" DeLaet, a Hanson fanfic that is revealed to be a notebook the narrator wrote to help Zac remember their relationship after one of several morphine overdoses damages his memory.