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

m.nautil.us

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

#91

Post by hnick »

diegoperini wrote: post #75
insickness wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a good book on this called Better Than Well that discusses the use of medicine for life improvement rather than treating disease. One of the most interesting chapters was on amputees by choice, people who want to cut off a limb to become handicapped. Doctors were left with the painful decision of helping these people achieve this or having them do it on their own in a much more dangerous way. While most would…

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?

One possible cause is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_integrity_dysphoria but there are related conditions with other names.

I saw an interview years ago on TV and someone was saying it felt like that appendage was not part of their body, it belonged to someone else. It was so mentally uncomfortable they'd rather remove it.

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

#92

Post by juskrey »

rkachowski wrote: post #80
juskrey wrote: post #28

It did not take a while to understand all drug experiences are deeply fake comparing to living full life. And if they enrich you, you life is probably fake. Like in Russian group Splin lyrics: "Я наяву вижу то, что многим даже не снилось, Hе являлось под кайфом". Rough translation: "I see the things in reality, others don't even when dreaming, when getting high"

The same could be said about any experience from reading fiction, watching movies or enjoying art.

I must say I've stopped watching movies too, and reading most fiction (except at least 100 years old), after diving deeper into life.

Certainly not only drugs are fake or toxic.

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

#93

Post by darkerside »

supr_strudl wrote: post #39

>When you’re at a wedding reception, alcohol serves as a social lubricant. People are more gregarious. They talk, they interact. The same is true with cocaine at parties, heroin among friends, or opium among friends, NDMA among lovers. It enhances empathy, openness, and forgiveness, all of these pro-social attributes. Please, don't take this horrible advice. Drugs are harmful and can do fatal damage to you and those…

I'm glad this has been flagged. This is the WOMM of putting dangerous shit in your body.

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

#94

Post by ZoomZoomZoom »

juskrey wrote: post #28

It did not take a while to understand all drug experiences are deeply fake comparing to living full life. And if they enrich you, you life is probably fake. Like in Russian group Splin lyrics: "Я наяву вижу то, что многим даже не снилось, Hе являлось под кайфом". Rough translation: "I see the things in reality, others don't even when dreaming, when getting high"

Isn't it ironic that you provide a quote from Vasilyev, who's not exactly known for being straight edge? Moreover, this is a line from a song about love from first sight, which itself is a specific kind of an altered state of mind.

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

#95

Post by coldtea »

arsome wrote: post #37
coldtea wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Addiction is rooted in truama. It's almost impossible to become an addicted if you didn't have to endure (childhood) trauma. Sounds like pop psychology. There are tons of extremely addictive substances. Try one and you will get addicted after a while, even if your whole childhood was hugs and roses and ponies.

I'm not sure, I agree it sounds like pop psych crap and you'll develop physical dependence of course, but I suspect there's a big difference between people who can pick up smoking weed on a weekly or monthly basis recreationally and people who find a need to be high every waking minute of their day. People who take to drinking a bottle of vodka for breakfast and those who keep it to the odd occasion. I don't see why…

>but I suspect there's a big difference between people who can pick up smoking weed on a weekly or monthly basis recreationally and people who find a need to be high every waking minute of their day.

Maybe, but why would it be due to childhood trauma alone?

I can imagine someone with a happy childhood and a big 20-something or 30-something trauma (loss, divorce, various other issues) falling for drugs/alcohol addiction for the first time just the same.

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

#96

Post by rand_r »

supr_strudl wrote: post #39

>When you’re at a wedding reception, alcohol serves as a social lubricant. People are more gregarious. They talk, they interact. The same is true with cocaine at parties, heroin among friends, or opium among friends, NDMA among lovers. It enhances empathy, openness, and forgiveness, all of these pro-social attributes. Please, don't take this horrible advice. Drugs are harmful and can do fatal damage to you and those…

We need a more nuanced discussion of “drugs”. The word drug is about as useful as “chemical”. The biggest evidence that we’ve been lied to and manipulated by the media and the government is that “drug use” is even a term.

Addiction, as the article says is more complicated than any drug and is factor of a person’s life situation in general. Look at the work of Gabor Mate for a better understanding of addiction.

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

#97

Post by juskrey »

ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #94
juskrey wrote: post #28

It did not take a while to understand all drug experiences are deeply fake comparing to living full life. And if they enrich you, you life is probably fake. Like in Russian group Splin lyrics: "Я наяву вижу то, что многим даже не снилось, Hе являлось под кайфом". Rough translation: "I see the things in reality, others don't even when dreaming, when getting high"

Isn't it ironic that you provide a quote from Vasilyev, who's not exactly known for being straight edge? Moreover, this is a line from a song about love from first sight, which itself is a specific kind of an altered state of mind.

I am not making any idols here. The quote just comes to my mind now and then, when reality, so to say, happens.

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

#98

Post by coldtea »

aminozuur wrote: post #41
coldtea wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Addiction is rooted in truama. It's almost impossible to become an addicted if you didn't have to endure (childhood) trauma. Sounds like pop psychology. There are tons of extremely addictive substances. Try one and you will get addicted after a while, even if your whole childhood was hugs and roses and ponies.

Veterans who are given an opioid for pain, rarely got addicted if they had a warm and loving childhood, and lived a life with community and friends. Veterans who had many Adverse Childhood Experiences (A high ACE score), such as coming from a broken home, or faced neglect and isolation growing up, were much more likely to become addicted to the opioids they were given to treat pain.

>Veterans who had many Adverse Childhood Experiences (A high ACE score), such as coming from a broken home, or faced neglect and isolation growing up, were much more likely to become addicted to the opioids they were given to treat pain.

Veterans at that stage are also usually young, so if they came from a broken home, or had isolation growing up, they'd still return to something like that.

What about veterans that have build a succesful family and working life in between (aside from having had childhood trauma)?

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

#99

Post by coldtea »

emsy wrote: post #31
coldtea wrote: post #12

Well, needing to use a drug is already a drug problem (addiction or not).

Do insulin users have a drug problem? I think at the core of the issue is that our society generally regards psychological ailments as a personal flaw, rather than a health issue. (I’m talking generally, not about the professor from the article)

>Do insulin users have a drug problem?

Insulin users don't just need to have insulin for the sake of it. They have a medical issue that forces them to take it.

>I think at the core of the issue is that our society generally regards psychological ailments as a personal flaw, rather than a health issue

I think that our society tends to do the inverse: tends to see all kinds of personal flaws as issues beyond the control of the person.

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

#100

Post by m0llusk »

undecisive wrote: post #89
m0llusk wrote: post #57

This is interesting personal testimony. For anyone curious about a more scientific view of this issue I would recommend the book High Price by Dr. Carl Hart. While it is common for people to believe strongly that drugs are bad and addictive, actual scientific observation of drug users finds in many cases there is little evidence of harm and instead of forming an enduring habit they follow a progression which is more…

I'm assuming that's the same Dr. Carl Hart from this interview? Driving was my go-to analogy too (I've got a longer post where I go into it) Surely there's the concept of legal drugs though too? You're allowed to have wine, but not drive at 120 miles per hour past school gates. My feeling is that there's a difference between "safe" and "worth the risk". And as far as lawmakers are concerned, for most drugs there's no…

Yes, that is the same guy. I misread his name with my early morning scanning. Time for some caffeine maybe?
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