drug fiend

Compulsive substance user

A drug fiend is someone intensely devoted to drugs, especially a habitual user of hard drugs.

The term carries old-fashioned, melodramatic overtones—it sounds like something from a 1930s anti-narcotics film: The newspaper called him a drug fiend after his third arrest.

Fiend here suggests demonic possession by the substance.

addictCompulsive dependent
abuserOne who mistreats others
cravingPowerful urge to have
fixRepair or solution
dependentRequiring outside support

junkie · dopester · rush · chasing the dragon · intoxication · narcotic · hypodermic · shooting up · track · needle marks · nod · tweaker · dopehead · crackhead · substance · needle · habitue · hypo

Opposites

degree of drug use/dependency

drug fiendcasual user

Infrequent, non-expert participant

recreational user · experimenter · dabbler · chipper

relationship to sobriety/substances

drug fiendteetotaler

Complete abstainer from liquor

abstainer · straight edge · non-user · casual user · recreational user

social/moral standing regarding substances

drug fiendnarcotics agent

Officer pursuing illegal drugs

drug czar · prohibitionist · temperance advocate

Family

drug, fiend, drugs, drugged, drugging, druggy, fiends, fiendish, fiendishly

Familiarity: Top 200,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Negative · Everyday, not technical · Rated PG-13