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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

#171

Post by adrr »

coldtea wrote: post #12

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

Drugs have a pleasure effect on the brain. Food does too. So do experiences or playing sports. Winning a sports game feels exactly the same as doing cocaine. Issue with drugs is the risk. Risk of damage to your body or your mind. But the other activities have associated risk. For example, I ski and including back country. I risk avalanches and injury. I've broken a rib and have countless other injuries. I have friends with permanent injuries and have seen deaths on the ski slope. No one says skiing is a national problem.

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

#172

Post by capableweb »

rovr138 wrote: post #157
capableweb wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're missing the point of the article a bit. Everyone knows Heroin is dangerous and it's iterated on in the article as well. Only responsible and healthy individuals should self-use drugs, generally speaking. Then you can also argue that you might not have lost your friends only because of Heroin the substance, but also how people with heroin addiction is "treated" and frowned upon in society. I think what…

I think the tone of the article is dangerous. That coupled with the fact of how heroin is treated in society makes it worse. On top of that, add that not everyone that uses it is healthy and responsible, makes it even worse providing some bad validation. And then, not everyone is capable of making the distinction between fun or addiction early on when an addiction is starting. I too think it's dangerous.

The tone is dangerous? What does that even mean?

The article is an interview with a Heroin user. It's as dangerous as an interview with a sex-worker. The interviewer even seems to bring up some interesting counter-points to the interviewee.

In the end, the interview is just providing a voice for the person getting interviewed. Are you saying that interviewing people who might do harm to world is dangerous?

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

#173

Post by dfsegoat »

capableweb wrote: post #147
joemazerino wrote: post #117

This is legitimately dangerous reporting. Heroin is ranked in the top 3 of addictive chemicals and all this article reports about is this anecdotal nonsense. I've too many friends to Heroin to know the reality of the drug.

I think you're missing the point of the article a bit. Everyone knows Heroin is dangerous and it's iterated on in the article as well. Only responsible and healthy individuals should self-use drugs, generally speaking. Then you can also argue that you might not have lost your friends only because of Heroin the substance, but also how people with heroin addiction is "treated" and frowned upon in society. I think what…

They all work by increasing dopamine. But 'Addictive potential' does vary by drug, and by the person [1].

'All substances of abuse self-administered by humans that can result in addiction are believed to exert their reinforcing effects by increasing DA in the nucleus accumbens (NAc)'

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3050051/

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

#174

Post by detritus »

rkachowski wrote: post #55
yladiz wrote: post #25

> Hart strives to “present a more realistic image of the typical drug user: a responsible professional who happens to use drugs in his pursuit of happiness.” I think this is likely wrong. I guess it partly depends on the definition of a "drug user" (like, does it include alcohol drinkers) but I would be very surprised if most heroin users are responsible professionals - how can you do anything when you're high on her…

From my reading, alcohol drinkers are absolutely included in his definition of a "drug user" and the exact same objection would apply - how can you do anything when you're drunk on alcohol?

I've actually often used booze to power beyond sense and get extra work done at the end of a day, however there is a HUGE proviso - it has to be design work, or stuff that I know inside out and could do blind-folded anyway. Anything to do with programming or logic and I became a useless head-scratching moron, going around in ever tighter circles of stupidity.

Design work though? There was many a time I awoke the next morning and had a dread-chill panic thinking I'd need to get some project done, only to find I'd not only done it the night before, but I'd actually not hate it. Which, as a designer at the time, was high praise. Sure, there might be some rough edges or stupid typos, but the overall work would be Great, by my standards at least, so after a quick review, would be ready to go. I used to refer to it as 'free work'.

I guess letting go is more of a useful trait in design.

I'd not recommend it for doing work in critically-important fields, obviously!

- ed last line

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

#175

Post by jimmaswell »

yladiz wrote: post #25

> Hart strives to “present a more realistic image of the typical drug user: a responsible professional who happens to use drugs in his pursuit of happiness.” I think this is likely wrong. I guess it partly depends on the definition of a "drug user" (like, does it include alcohol drinkers) but I would be very surprised if most heroin users are responsible professionals - how can you do anything when you're high on her…

> but I would be very surprised if most heroin users are responsible professionals - how can you do anything when you're high on heroin?

The rock scene of the 80s comes to mind. Lots of them did it af the time while they were touring.

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

#176

Post by sillysaurusx »

capableweb wrote: post #172
rovr138 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the tone of the article is dangerous. That coupled with the fact of how heroin is treated in society makes it worse. On top of that, add that not everyone that uses it is healthy and responsible, makes it even worse providing some bad validation. And then, not everyone is capable of making the distinction between fun or addiction early on when an addiction is starting. I too think it's dangerous.

The tone is dangerous? What does that even mean? The article is an interview with a Heroin user. It's as dangerous as an interview with a sex-worker. The interviewer even seems to bring up some interesting counter-points to the interviewee. In the end, the interview is just providing a voice for the person getting interviewed. Are you saying that interviewing people who might do harm to world is dangerous?

Well, after all, interviewing a sex worker is dangerous too. People might have a bunch of sex and catch some nasty diseases.

I think that's the logic, anyway. It's ironic that most people here are in the camp of "decriminalize drugs! Oh wait, no, not these drugs, just some drugs."

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

#178

Post by mettamage »

achairapart wrote: post #143

I can see addiction like unpaid debt. Just like everyone may need a bank loan (which is totally socially acceptable), sometime you may need a happiness/energy/relief/whatever loan. The thing is, just like a money loan, you should be ready to pay your debt after. The day you think you can run away without paying, it's where the trouble begin. This is true even with alcohol: Go to a party, drink a few glasses. One or t…

I disagree with this view. I think the metaphor captures some elements of the experience, but it doesn't capture enough.

A craving feeling arises to have fun. The craving exists there because it feels nice. This also implies that you feel less nice than you'd like to feel. This craving doesn't happen that often, but often enough that you're curious about taking drugs.

You try cocaine. Suddenly you feel energized and amazing, this is how you always want to feel! The effect wanes after 20 minutes, you take it again and you feel amazing. You're starting to do this every weekend. Cocaine gets associated with the craving feeling for fun.

After a few months, whenever you feel like your normal self, a craving feeling arises. This feeling is now a mix of wanting to have fun and wanting cocaine.

The thing is, where I think the debt metaphor breaks down is that this increase in craving acts a bit different than actual debt.

Many addicts feel strong cravings for years afterwards, and it only very slowly decreases. Once hooked again to the substance, it's easily back to previous all-time high levels. Psychologists claim that in conditioning processes, it's impossible to delete conditioning (called extinction). So you can never truly repay our debt.

Moreover, once your craving is extinct (for as much as possible) it's really only dormant in reality. Make one wrong move and you're quickly back to rock bottom. With debt, if I pay back my debt of $50K, then splurge for another $1K, I am not back in debt with $50K. This is however how addiction works.

Finally, the debt metaphor doesn't capture the uncontrollableness of cravings that are arising. You have no free will in what spontaneous thought or feeling arises. This is quite easily seen when you're sitting still and try to do nothing: your mind will still chatter away, you'll still feel things based on that chatter. In quite a few cases it's impossible what your mind will show you next. The same is true for the cravings that an addict gets with a drug. Sure, the craving will arise when one starts to talk about it, but it may also arise when somebody twitches their leg, because the muscle tension is super vaguely associated to a memory when one was partying with the drug, but the person is not even aware of that association or that it's part of a memory.

Disclaimer: I'm not a drug addict, but based on my personal life experiences, I think it's fair to say that I have enough experience how it must feel like (I experience a mild pull to alcohol, a strong pull to caffeine and an overwhelming pull to videos and video games).

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

#179

Post by nimbius »

joemazerino wrote: post #117

This is legitimately dangerous reporting. Heroin is ranked in the top 3 of addictive chemicals and all this article reports about is this anecdotal nonsense. I've too many friends to Heroin to know the reality of the drug.

Fully agree.

Carl is a white collar professor. The worst thing that can happen if his drug indulgence becomes a problem is he knocks over the water cooler or loses his job.

I work a blue collar job servicing heavy diesel engines. Casual hard drug users are aggravatingly cavalier to work alongside. They forget important things constantly. They show up late and lose things often. You'll spend all day repeating things they'll never retain and at the end of the month they will lose a finger or toe or suffer a massive back injury and get fired. The back injury usually turns the casual heroin into constant endless heroin.

Drug tests exist in my field for a really valid reason and it has nothing to do with having a problem but becoming one.

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

#180

Post by ClumsyPilot »

When I read these sort of accounts, it helps to keep in mind the diversity of human condition, physique and psycology.

There are people immune to some poison, people that don't feel pain at all, a woman which has two vaginas, there were people that never stopped growing, people that don't sleep, etc.

Thats before we get into psycology and personal experiences that shaped them.

I willing to believe that ther are some people who can abuse drugs, and not become adicts. However odds are I am not one of them, and its not worth finding out by experiment.

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