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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

#201

Post by coryrc »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #176
capableweb wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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."

As Portugal shows, decriminalizing drugs reduces their use. The position you are mocking is actually consistent.

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

#202

Post by n4r9 »

ChrisRR wrote: post #183
SamBam wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> His assertion the 70% of all drug users including alcohol and prescription users aren't addicted if anything seems extremely low to me. I'd say the vast majority of my friends drink alcohol and are more than likely on prescription drugs but I don't think any of them are addicts Actually, I'm not sure. 30% of alcohol drinkers being addicted might be roughly right (though surprising to me as well). In the US, 50% of…

I'll admit that is an insane amount that I wasn't expecting, but something about those numbers just feels off. Like 10 drinks a day? Many people don't even drink that much water Maybe we're getting a very different view of the US from the UK, but despite all of America's flaws and how weak the beer is, it seems so unexpected to me that 1/10 of people are opening a new drink every 90 minutes and somehow managing to ho…

I'm also in the UK but I wouldn't be at all surprised if a lot of people's liquid intake is more from alcoholic drinks than non-alcoholic ones.

I'm thinking of the office worker who might have a glass of orange juice, 2-3 cups of tea/coffee, then 2 pints after work most days.

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

#203

Post by hackermailman »

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…

Anybody who thinks this harm reduction strategy works should go visit cities that have employed it for years like Vancouver, Canada where there are legal shooting galleries everywhere, no arrests for personal amounts, and prescribed heroin that thousands of drug addicts have been on for 10 years now and the problem gets worse everyday. There used to just be a contained area of people passed out all over the street now it extends to the rest of the city. There is even a drug takers union that demanded treatment options be removed from drug taking clinics as 'it shamed drug users'.

So if you create an accomodating and encouraging area for taking heroin you will find it surges in population when heroin is freely available and detox discouraged. Everybody points to the European model but they must have done something different than just harm reduction, like proactive policing breaking up open air drug markets and shutting down slums teeming with addicts forcing them into detox.

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

#204

Post by Grustaf »

nimbius wrote: post #179
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 t…

Well, how many people will see this headline and rush off to a back alley to buy a shot of heroin from some junkie?

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

#205

Post by eplanit »

ardy42 wrote: post #113
koheripbal wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Opioids are insanely and ~~instantly~~ quickly addictive. I accidentally became addicted after knee surgery. When the pain subsided, I stopped taking them, and within a day I found myself curled up in a ball and wanting to rip my own skin off. It's really true when addicts describe it as "being uncomfortable in your own skin". The moment I realized I was experiencing withdrawal, I flushed the meds down the toilet and…

> Opioids are insanely and instantly addictive. I accidentally became addicted after knee surgery. Is that true generally, or just for a subset of people who have some predisposition to addiction? While it could just be Purdue Pharma propaganda, I vaguely recall hearing that the "instant addiction" was a myth. However, people like you have experiences like yours, so there must be some truth to the "instant addiction"…

I've been prescribed oxycontin several times over the years, and never completed a single bottle. Couldn't wait to stop as the pain subsided due to the brain fog. I think at most I completed one third of one.

Some people are definitely more prone or vulnerable to becoming addicted to it. Im lucky, I guess.

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

#206

Post by wrongdonf »

I’ve lost a close friend to heroin. But the vast majority or Vietnam soldiers who were doing heroin overseas stopped using without issue after coming home — an inconvenient truth for the chemical-centric model of addiction. In reality, it’s deep emotional pain or psychological distress that makes the difference between a person who gets addicted to drugs and a person who doesn’t, basically. Like everything else that is touched by dogma and epidemiology, this fact has been lost.

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

#207

Post by wyldfire »

ChrisRR wrote: post #183
SamBam wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> His assertion the 70% of all drug users including alcohol and prescription users aren't addicted if anything seems extremely low to me. I'd say the vast majority of my friends drink alcohol and are more than likely on prescription drugs but I don't think any of them are addicts Actually, I'm not sure. 30% of alcohol drinkers being addicted might be roughly right (though surprising to me as well). In the US, 50% of…

I'll admit that is an insane amount that I wasn't expecting, but something about those numbers just feels off. Like 10 drinks a day? Many people don't even drink that much water Maybe we're getting a very different view of the US from the UK, but despite all of America's flaws and how weak the beer is, it seems so unexpected to me that 1/10 of people are opening a new drink every 90 minutes and somehow managing to ho…

I don't have any evidence one way or the other but the tale of the functioning alcohol addict is one that shows up frequently in popular culture: dramatic films and novels. The narrative is only advanced by a conflict that results in some kind of climax resulting in redemption or doom. But in real life people probably just plod on.

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

#208

Post by boomboomsubban »

bostonsre wrote: post #131
sneak wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Opioids are insanely and instantly addictive. This is the kind of FUD that TFA is specifically addressing. Namely, that this is not always a true statement. Of course, for many people, it is, which is why people make such sweeping (and incorrect) statements. Your warning is valid, your claimed facts are not.

The assertions that the are made in the article seem like something that should be backed up with studies and not anecdotal evidence from one person (even if he is well respected). It is an incredibly slippery slope for people to walk out on. It would be incredibly hard for someone to say whether or not they will spiral out of control if they try it and the consequences of becoming heavily addicted are life destroyin…

>The assertions that the are made in the article seem like something that should be backed up with studies and not anecdotal evidence from one person (even if he is well respected).

Wherw do you think he got these assertions? There have already been studies about how often heroin users are addicts or what the addiction rate of prescription opioids are.

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

#209

Post by ChrisRR »

flatiron wrote: post #192
ChrisRR wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll admit that is an insane amount that I wasn't expecting, but something about those numbers just feels off. Like 10 drinks a day? Many people don't even drink that much water Maybe we're getting a very different view of the US from the UK, but despite all of America's flaws and how weak the beer is, it seems so unexpected to me that 1/10 of people are opening a new drink every 90 minutes and somehow managing to ho…

if someone drinks from 5pm-10pm one can of beer every 30 minutes thats 10 drinks. they could easily wake up at 7am, hold down a job and rinse and repeat. a 30 rack of miller light (my beer of choice) is $22 which is 73 cents a beer so thats ~$7.50 a day on beer. obviously there are cheaper routes (buying $10 handles of vodka for instance). so at least in america, price really isn't a factor here. and holding down a j…

Even if you ignore the price and how fast drinking once every half hour for 5 hours straight seems, that's 13.86 units of alcohol every day. So 10% of the population are in a state of being permanently hungover?

It just seems odd that in the UK, binge drinking is considered to be an issue, and yet a significant percentage of the US population is drinking the equivalent of a night out on a daily basis.

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

#210

Post by kemayo »

ChrisRR wrote: post #183
SamBam wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> His assertion the 70% of all drug users including alcohol and prescription users aren't addicted if anything seems extremely low to me. I'd say the vast majority of my friends drink alcohol and are more than likely on prescription drugs but I don't think any of them are addicts Actually, I'm not sure. 30% of alcohol drinkers being addicted might be roughly right (though surprising to me as well). In the US, 50% of…

I'll admit that is an insane amount that I wasn't expecting, but something about those numbers just feels off. Like 10 drinks a day? Many people don't even drink that much water Maybe we're getting a very different view of the US from the UK, but despite all of America's flaws and how weak the beer is, it seems so unexpected to me that 1/10 of people are opening a new drink every 90 minutes and somehow managing to ho…

On the subject of affording it, you don't have to spend that much to drink 10 drink-equivalents a day. Buying low-end beer like PBR / Bud Light / Rolling Rock can be around $0.40-$0.60 per can, at which point your 10 drinks of the day is costing you around what a Starbucks latte does.

Cheap hard liquor is even more cost-effective. You can get a big bottle of awful vodka for around $0.25 a "drink".

That is to say, you don't have to be able to hold down a particularly good job to afford this.

I assume that as you drink more your tolerance would increase? As an occasional light drinker, I'm pretty sure I'd be physically incapable of getting through that much alcohol in a day with enough time left to also attend a job.

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