History Main / FunctionalAddict

The most common subtropes are [MustHaveCaffeine] and [MustHaveNicotine], both substances which lend themselves to Functional Addict usage because they are easy to obtain and have few immediate adverse effects. (Examples of functional addicts who depend entirely on one or both of these substances should go on the corresponding pages.)

Simply put, the addiction does not entirely dictate this person's actions. Typically, this kind of addict can go long periods of time without getting their "medicine" and doesn't depend on their drugs as a "crutch". Often, this is because they can always get the drug when they need it or have the willpower to keep themselves from getting out of control.

In RealLife, these kinds of addicts can go their entire lives without ever becoming dysfunctional. It isn't real likely, but it can happen. Fiction, on the other hand, almost always treats them as ticking time-bombs, slowly working up to the one event that will send them over the edge. While crossing the line into dysfunctional territory definitely happens in RealLife as well, the key difference is that fictional sources treat this as inevitable.

%%* ''Series/{{House}}'': Prior to season 6 and [[spoiler:his being detoxed at the asylum]], Dr. House bounces between functional, barely functional, and "holy-crap-I-need-my-Vicodin-''right now''." In fact, when they first get House to admit that he's addicted to Vicodin, he refuses to admit that it's a ''problem'', since, he argues, he functions just fine. Late in season 7, [[spoiler:he starts to head for a full-on relapse after dealing with Cuddy's health scare by taking Vicodin. After which she breaks up with him, after which he takes more Vicodin.]] It seems to be up in the air whether he continued taking Vicodin following the events that ended the series. (Administrivia/ZeroContextExample; in what way is he functional?)

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

* Miss Applegate from ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten}}'' is addicted to the pills the principal gives out to nosy children, but while she is indeed a terrible teacher and person, this is for reasons unrelated to her addiction. There is only one time where her addiction affects her overall performance, which is [[spoiler:during morning time, where giving her some pills makes her lenient towards you raiding your classmates' cubbies]]. This all changes in ''VideoGame/Kindergarten2'' though, where she's been cut off following [[spoiler:the principal's death]]. Even a day off the pills has her both physically and mentally ravaged; she shows very little restraint in her violent tendencies, cares even less about her job, has a massive screaming and sobbing meltdown if pushed too hard, and is not above threatening or carrying out murder when the opportunity to get new pills arises.

* Creator/TomClancy's ''Literature/JackRyan'' is able to work as a CIA intelligence analyst despite a heroin problem, acquired during his recovery from the helicopter accident that resulted in his medical discharge from the US Marine Corps; a well-meaning nurse over-prescribed his morphine. In ''Literature/PatriotGames'', it's noted that this makes him leery of painkillers in general. It should be noted that he appears to have entirely beaten this addiction -- apart from painkillers prescribed for him at the beginning of ''Patriot Games'' while recovering from a gunshot wound, he is ''never'' seen taking any kind of opiate or painkiller. His low-level cigarette addiction (a result of job stress) on the other hand...

* Dr Venture on ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' is described by the creators of the show as "an addict, not a junkie." He needs the pills to function (and take care of his various neuroses) but is never portrayed as pathetic because of that, more as a side-effect of why he's ''really'' pathetic.

%%* The title character in ''Film/TheBadLieutenantPortOfCallNewOrleans''. To the nth degree, and typically with hilarious results. He's still a good cop and even a badass, but always in a believable way (i.e., not an overblown action movie way). (Administrivia/ZeroContextExample; what is he addicted to?)

* ''Film/CarlitosWay'': Creator/SeanPenn's character David Kleinfeld is a mob lawyer and frequent cocaine user. He starts off the film apparently able to keep his act together, but he rapidly goes downhill into a spiral of ego, paranoia, and making incredibly rash and foolish mistakes with the various criminals he surrounds himself with. It doesn't end well for him.

* ''Film/GhostsOfMars'': Melanie Ballard (Creator/NatashaHenstridge) is a drug addict, but manages to hold down a job as a police officer. Ironically, her drug use ends up saving her life. When she's possessed by a Martian ghost, Creator/JasonStatham's character gives her a puff of her own drug. Melanie can take it, the alien ghost can't and bails out. Compare one of the thugs, who is addicted to a different drug (a highly-nitrated compressed air) that results in him cutting off his own finger and, eventually, dropping a grenade at his own feet. Definitely ''not'' an example.

%%* The title character in ''Film/BadLieutenantPortOfCallNewOrleans''. To the nth degree, and typically with hilarious results. He's still a good cop and even a badass, but always in a believable way (i.e. not an overblown action movie way). (Administrivia/ZeroContextExample; what is he addicted to?)

* Bird's Nest in ''Manga/CopernicusBreathing'' takes drugs when he is overwhelmed by the memory/ghost of his little brother Michel and is borderline DrivenToSuicide.
* In ''Manga/ACruelGodReigns'' Jeremy becomes a drug addict and prostitute to help him cope with the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder he suffers from due to months of torture and rape at the hands of his stepfather. So not quite "functional", but more functional than he would have been.

* Kobayashi from ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'' drinks a lot of beer (and is often seen suffering from hangovers), but it never interferes with her job as a programmer or her role as Kanna's ParentalSubstitute.
* Misato of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' drinks ''a lot'' of alcohol, to the point of having a fridge full of nothing but beer, but it's never shown to interfere with her job, where she's actually quite competent and is one of the (relatively speaking) more well-adjusted members of an extremely dysfunctional cast. She also seems to quit near the end of the show, [[AddictionDisplacement replacing alcohol with coffee and cigarettes]].
* Ruriko Daichi from ''Manga/PrivateActress'' is an extremely famous and talented actress. She's also a very bitter LadyDrunk, which is driving people away from her.

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': Kishibe, despite being a severe alcoholic, has no lasting repercussions th impede him in the slightest as a fighter.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* [[VodkaDrunkenski Drinking enough to get an elephant drunk]] was a popular and widely tolerated pastime in the Eastern Bloc throughout the Communist Age (in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption top of yearly alcohol consumption per person]], the former Communist countries held 11 of the first 12 places as late as 2010) and shunned only when the drunkard became too dysfunctional to work and socially interact properly.
* Theodore Dalrymple's ''Romancing the Opiates'', among other interesting facts, describes studies in which people with opiate (i.e. opium, morphine, heroin, Oxycontin) addictions were able to maintain jobs for years, quite sufficient to maintain their habits. Compared to other abused substances, the short-term effects of opiates are not all that debilitating (compared to say, alcohol or cocaine).
* Creator/ChristopherTitus's father was a functional alcoholic -- in his own words:
-->''My father never missed a drink in his life. Or a joint. Or a party. Or a chance to get laid. He also never missed a day of work. Or a house payment. Or a car payment. I never went hungry, [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther though he did a couple times so I wouldn't]].''
* Studies have shown that giving pure medical heroin on prescription left a group of heroin addicts more functional than a control group that was treated with methadone. In countries that allow these kinds of programs, they figure it's better to have addicts get their fix in a medically supervised setting with known purities of the drug rather than them getting them off the street. The theory also applies to methadone maintenance where heroin maintenance is politically infeasible. Methadone doesn't get users high, but as with heroin maintenance therapy allows addicts to develop a stable lifestyle instead of committing crimes to get their fix or risk overdoses from the varying purity of street heroin.
* Creator/ErnestHemingway was known as a functional alcoholic who drank heavily but still managed to write classic literature.
* Creator/WilliamSBurroughs became a heroin addict during [=WW2=] and remained one to his death at 83. He was a well-regarded Beat Generation and postmodern artist.
* "I wrote my songs ''despite'' the fact that I was a drunk, not because of it." -- Music/WarrenZevon, commenting on the early days of his success.
* Creator/HunterSThompson put his drug use on center stage in much of his work, including ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas''. He was also a ''legendary'' drinker. To the point where his biography notes that at one point he went in for an operation and nearly died after the surgery from ''alcohol withdrawal''.
* Music/BillieHoliday, among many other successful jazz musicians, was a frequent heroin user.
* Oskar Schindler was a very heavy drinker who was noted to have a nearly superhuman tolerance for alcohol. One of his favorite tactics to getting favors from the Nazi government was going out drinking with Nazi officers. They would get sloppy drunk, while he stayed level-headed.
* Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős was well-known for being jacked up on speed [[MustHaveCaffeine and caffeine]] most of the time. He died at the ripe old age of 83, being one of the most celebrated scientists of the century. His many friends had long tried to get him to drop the habit, but once he went sober for a month on a dare, the man complained that while high [[ArtisticStimulation his head was teeming with ideas]] after just stealing a glance of a piece of paper, but the only thing he saw while sober was a blank piece of paper.
* Up-and-coming Soundcloud rapper Music/LilPeep was self-described as a "productive junkie", but also [[DoNotDoThisCoolThing advised his audience to stay away from drugs]]. However, [[SubvertedTrope he ended up overdosing on fentanyl]] and dying at the age of 21.
* [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball NFL]] legend Lawrence Taylor. Two-time Superbowl champion, Hall of Famer, 2x defensive player of the year, sack machine, and big, ''big'' fan of crack cocaine. As LT himself has stated numerous times, most times in the huddle he wasn't thinking of the play. He was thinking of going back to the locker room and smoking crack. Despite his prodigious love of said drug, it seemed to have zero impact on his playing career.
* Creator/RonWhite is a chain smoker, an alcoholic, and recreational drug user who says his habits could have sent him to an early grave. However, he finds sobriety to be unedurable so he moderates his usage instead.
* [[https://nypost.com/2021/02/19/columbia-prof-i-snort-heroin-regularly-for-work-life-balance/ Columbia University Professor, husband and father of 3 Carl Hart does a small amount of heroin daily]]
* UsefulNotes/JamesBuchanan, like many people in the 1800s, was fond of the drink and would get a ten-gallon cask of whiskey every Sunday. Despite this, he could still work like he was sober to the astonishment of observers.
* The members of Music/TheBeatles all engaged in varying degrees of heavy drug use from the mid-1960s onward (Music/JohnLennon in particular appears to have had a rather addictive personality, developing separate but equally heavy dependencies on alcohol, marijuana, [=LSD=] and eventually heroin over the course of the decade), but all reports indicate that they were remarkably good at keeping it outside of the recording studio. It helps that they were collectively ThePerfectionist, and sessions where they ''had'' happened to have over-indulged would, on listening back, result in subpar material, leading them to agree to work sober.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Manga/ACruelGodReigns'' Jeremy becomes a drug addict and prostitute to help him cope with the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder he suffers from due to months of torture and rape at the hands of his step-father. So not quite "functional", but more functional than he would have been.

** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'': Sports Maxx has an addiction to heroin, but seems to operate with the same calculative ruthlessness as he did outside the prison walls. Although, it certainly doesn't help him with his truly sadistic personality, either.

** Sterling Archer is constantly drunk (or seeking drink due to his high tolerance), yet can still shoot and/or whore his way out of any combat situation. At least three-quarters of said combat situations are egged along (or outright started) by Archer's whoring, [[AmbiguousDisorder lack of social empathy]], and addiction [[InHarmsWay to his own adrenaline]]; yet the alcohol itself is (rarely) the direct cause of his woes.

* ''Series/BronBroen'': Henrik takes pills for insomnia, then takes stimulants to counteract the strong sleep aids and get through the day. He does not get high, and it does not affect his professional performance negatively. [[spoiler:However, his illegally obtaining the stimulants opens him up to blackmail; he can't quit without going through withdrawal; and eventually he overdoses.]]