I am a heroin user. I do not have a drug problem

While slinging a cat has always been a disturbing analogy to me, in this case I think it’s appropriate; you can’t sling a cat without it hitting a popular rockstar that did heroin or similar at small or varying doses, was convinced they had it under control, and their careers slowly and then quickly tanked. I also have friends and acquaintances whose lives were ruined by it or they died early because of it.

I’m glad this made it front page news given that the northwest coast of US now gets hard drugs, so maybe one of them will think twice about being a full-on grade A dumbass.

Also remember: with legality especially in a rich entrepreneurial country comes business which lobbies, funds studies, etc. Pot strived for many years for legitimacy, and once they got it, it exploded all over the US.

Thing is, good heroin/morphine is almost free of side effects. Paracetamol, for example, is a lot more dangerous than heroin.

Also, Joplin took heroin AND massive quantities of alcohol on the day of her death. It will be close to saying that when someone dies in a car crash while DUI, driving is the real and unique problem here.

But the drug-war irrationality is better exposed by taking a look at weed and MDMA. Two quite safe substances (certainly more safe than alcohol), with clear medical applications, and forbidden just because some ignorant decided to put them in Schedule I. MDMA at the time of its prohibition was being used in psychotherapy with success in tens of thousands of patients [1]. Today, no medical use is recognized, and being in Schedule I (making it un-researchable), none will be. I wouldn't be too surprised that some country discover that it could be used as a treatment for depression or PTSD.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/0791418189

Is there a testimony of someone who went through such surgery? What's the mindset of a person who really needs his/her limbs removed because of such urges?

Whilst I'm sure there are many functional `users` of heroin, there are many more who think they are functional and yet they are not and just don't see it themselves. I've lived near many heroin `users` and I will say that the biggest issue is that if they can lie about their habits to themselves, then others are a given. Equally, whilst they may not see their usage of as a problem, they neglect to see the impact upon others - be that antisocial noise, keeping odd hours so again, noise or shady dealer meetings in the streets that scare the parents across the road to not allow their kids to play out in the park near there. That's just the good part of the spectrum. Then you have those who buy on-line and feel like their not supporting criminal activities, well until heroin comes with a fair trade logo, or you know the farmer, producer and workers personally - it's easy to say you don't have a problem and yet create problems for others when you look at the bigger picture.

As for knowing any functional, well I've seen many have functional phases would be the best I could attest to that from experience and out of about 30 heroin addicts I've endured in the past 2 decades, I'd say only 2 would be close to being classed as functional.

Really gets down to if somebody who is using drugs can just stop and take a break every now and then, then in that clean period - still hold the same mentalities towards their usage and if they can come to the same conclusion - bravo as that is what I would call somebody with their head working well for them.

What really is the issue for many drug users is the point in which the drugs use them - that's the turning point of addiction I'd say.

Yet all that said, you can't help but accept that the brain is driven by chemical stimulus and there lays the hard barrier of having the will power to quite.

I've personally never done heroin, no desire too as like a fine wine, I might like it and it is easier to miss what you never had and one step I've become very mindful never to take having learned from others, many who's lifestyle choices I had thrust upon me and I will say, not best neibours to have from my numerous experiences.

Reminds me of a quote from Love Actually:

> Hiya kids. Here is an important message from your Uncle Bill. Don't buy drugs. Become a pop star, and they give you them for free.

... except in this case the message is don't do drugs kids, but "grown ups" should (as defined as a state of maturity where you know how the drugs behave, know your limits and can balance your experimentation with fulfilling your societal obligations)

I see this as a bit like speeding. The government sets fairly arbitrary speed limits for different types of road. They do it based on what they think the majority of people can cope with, versus the likelihood of risks, vs the need to get from A to B in a reasonable amount of time. The government hasn't been amazingly scientific about the speed limits, and don't take into account time of day, traffic, weather conditions etc. A healthy, fully-alert person can probably go at 150% of the speed limit on an ambient clear day on an empty road - and do so perfectly safely. But that isn't the message they give people, because it would be impossible to assess person-by-person, minute-by-minute.

And yet, some would consider the above information to be recklessly given, because some people will on read "go at 150% of the speed limit... perfectly safely" and take that as my advice.

So the question is, should it be legal to travel at any speed, provided you feel like you're doing a good job of it? In both cases, misjudgement can be disastrous for yourself and the people around you (and innocent bystanders too)

And when you are talking about something that can alter your perceptions, you would surely need a non-drug-taking associate with you at all times who could give you an honest blow-by-blow assessment of where you are dropping the ball as a "normal" human being, and where your drug-fuelled failings are happening?

When the potential downsides so vastly outweigh the benefits, I can understand why laws take the side they do. That said, I absolutely do think that there are massive downsides to making drugs illegal when taken responsibly. Countries should be realistic about what they can and can't do. If they can't eradicate drug use - and most countries can't - they need to put effort into safeguarding above incarceration.

But I think that's the consensus anyway on most social issues. And it seems to be a lesson that governments globally are very slow to learn.