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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

#211

Post by jboog »

SamBam wrote: post #169
ChrisRR wrote: post #136

This sounds like dangerous clickbait. It's entirely expected that someone whose job it is to study the effect of drugs would have a much better understanding of how to not become addicted 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 d…

> 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…

Jesus, I thought I drank too much but it's still hard to believe 10% of Americans drink the equivalent of 10 drinks EVERY DAY.

On my worst weeks when I think "i need to cut back" I might average ~3 drinks a day, maybe 5 on a holiday bender.

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

#212

Post by sillysaurusx »

coryrc wrote: post #201
sillysaurusx wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Fair point. But, if something isn't criminal, then it should be fine to read about people doing that thing –– which is all that this article is. Railing against it like it's somehow an affront to post it seems neither productive nor fair.

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

#213

Post by n4r9 »

ChrisRR wrote: post #136

This sounds like dangerous clickbait. It's entirely expected that someone whose job it is to study the effect of drugs would have a much better understanding of how to not become addicted 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 d…

> Which means that the other less common drugs must be a lot more addictive to bring the number down to 70%

There's a confounding variable: the difficulty of obtaining drugs vs alcohol. This causes a selection bias and means that a higher proportion of heroin users are addicts than otherwise would be. You can't necessarily deduce that heroin is more addictive from that (although there are other ways I'm sure).

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

#214

Post by 3131s »

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."

I would hope people here recognize that legalization together with smart regulation is far preferable to decriminalization.

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

#216

Post by throwaway0a5e »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #123
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #62

This guy's whole viewpoint seems to be pinned on "it's not addiction if it's not negatively affecting the rest of your life" (yes, I know this is a major criteria for a lot of medical diagnosis, addiction included). The problem is that what it takes "negatively affect the rest of your life" depends a lot on what role you have in society. Short of pornography producer, fantasy fiction author, songwriter and other prof…

> a tenured college professor gets about about as much leeway from the rest of society as a white collar professional can get Doesn’t this bolster the argument that the principal damage from this type of drug use is social, not chemical?

>Doesn’t this bolster the argument that the principal damage from this type of drug use is social, not chemical?

Most people would rather not be debilitated than have society be accommodating.

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

#217

Post by fingerlocks »

watwut wrote: post #200
fingerlocks wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it’s a total myth. Not sure why you’re being downvoted. My wife and I kept a bottle of oxy in our bathroom for a few years, taking it only occasionally. No one got addicted because neither of us wanted to keep taking it. A prerequisite for addiction is that one must believe the drug makes them feel “normal” or functional in some way. “I can’t live with this pain - I need it.” If instead you as a user go into the…

It is not myth. Some people get instantly addicted to heroin, others can continue using casually for years. We dont really know what exactly is different, but it cant be psychological only. The withdrawal symptoms are physical, not just how you feel emotionally.

Yes, it’s a myth that they are “instantly” addicting. I don’t deny the drug is powerful, but you have to want it.

If it were true that it was instantly physically addictive, then literally every human being that has ever had any kind of surgery or been to the ER for trauma would be a rabid opioid zombie. But they aren’t.

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

#218

Post by jboog »

ChrisRR wrote: post #209
flatiron wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

When you're a high-functioning alcohol like we're talking you get to the point you can down a 12 pack of beer in a night and feel relatively fine the next morning. Maybe a slight headache or mild hangover but nothing like the bender hangovers non-alcoholics have where they are bedridden most of the day.

I've since cut back a lot but in my worst post-college days I could drink the equivalent of 8-10 drinks in a night and feel perfectly fine the next morning as long as I got a decent amount of sleep.

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

#219

Post by Nbox9 »

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…

It’s definitely possible while holding down a job, especially if you consider its 75 drinks a week, which allows for heavier drinking on the weekend then during the middle of the week.

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

#220

Post by loves_mangoes »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #196
loves_mangoes wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey there! Hand raised, and happy to disagree =) Giving people the autonomy to live their life, means there are many dangerous things you can say about things that are legal, and should be legal. I believe people should be responsible enough to drive a car, drink alcohol, and with or without prescription take a drug without risking a prison sentence. Now my advice is: It's not okay to drive while extremely tired, it'…

Happy to hear your disagreement! (Also, please have a wonderful day this fine Thursday.) The thing is, wouldn't you agree that if something isn't criminal, then it should be fine to talk about the act of doing that thing? Because that's all this interview seems to be.

Thank you, a wonderful day to you too!

I think it's completely okay to talk about drugs, creating taboos around dangerous things has rarely been helpful in the past.

However, I think people's reaction to this piece shows what's missing: more warnings around it than seem entirely necessary to the average person. You just don't want today's lucky 10,000 [0] to come away with the impression that heroin is a pretty casual thing, and while the fact of talking about it is great, the words themselves can be dangerous if they promote unsafe behavior without adequate warnings.

All that being said, I have to admit that people might be over-reacting a smidge to the interview, but I can't really fault them. I haven't personally lost anyone to heroin addiction, but I imagine I might read the article less generously if I had.

Cheers!

[0]: https://xkcd.com/1053/

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