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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

#241

Post by Broken_Hippo »

koheripbal wrote: post #107
rmac wrote: post #5

Man, I read this as someone who tried to use opioids and I just couldn't chip. It spiraled into full blown physical dependence. I guess i'm the type with an underlying psychiatric illness which drove my usage and denial. That there exists people like this person who can chip (controlled use of opiates) always intrigues me -- as this drug was the ultimate pathway to euphoria and thus I became the mouse hitting the but…

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…

They aren't instantly addictive, though: As in, I've had opioids prescribed, took as needed, and still have some in the cabinet that are probably expired.

I've smoked opium a handful of times. It smells wonderfully.

And yet, if I take any drug regularly, I'm using something with THC in it (hash or pot, in general). I currently do not, however, and tend to have a few drinks and get high on the weekends. Not a big deal if I don't, though.

I've had medical grade heroin in the hospital (morphine didn't take care of the pain). No withdrawal, though I was wonderfully high. Haven't gone to a morphine habit.

The prudent thing to do is not to say, "opioids are instantly addictive", but to give folks safe ways to detox from them and give folks information on signs of addiction - because not everyone has such experiences.

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

#242

Post by varispeed »

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.

The dangers of the drug mostly come from its legal status and that it is being adulterated with various substances in the unregulated market. People also don't get a leaflet that they can consult on the strength or dosage so often they overdose. Medical grade heroin is not as dangerous as people supporting prohibition would like it to be. You can take clean heroin for decades and be perfectly fine. This would rather not apply to alcohol or other legal drugs.

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

#243

Post by drewmassey »

Oh man I've seen Hart making the rounds. The obvious privilege of being a tenured Ivy League professor aside, a few things jump out

- Yes it would be nice if drugs were decriminalized ... but they aren't ... and the supply chain for heroin causes a lot of suffering in the world.

- Shrugging and leading with "only 30% of people have addictions" is astoundingly innumerate. If there were a 30% chance of a potentially fatal outcome in almost any other context it would be a big deal.

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

#244

Post by rflrob »

jboog wrote: post #223
Grustaf wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That's not the problem though. The issues is "drug decriminalization" people treating addictions like it's not a real problem for many people. Many of these folks want it to get to a point where you can quite easily buy heroin and suffer no legal consequences. I'm not saying our drug laws are just or can't be reformed but the fact that heroin is illegal prevents a LOT of people from using it. How many people will the…

> I'm not saying our drug laws are just or can't be reformed but the fact that heroin is illegal prevents a LOT of people from using it. How many people will then use, aided by these pronouncements that "Heroin isn't actually that addictive!" and ruin their lives?

Do you know a lot of people who have expressed to you that they would use heroin recreationally if only it were legal? My gut is that the number isn’t large.

My impression of the evidence from places that have tried decriminalization (eg Portugal) is that the number of people who use and then are able to get their lives back on the rails is higher than the extra people who use because it’s decriminalized.

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

#245

Post by ta11a »

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 can't verify the 10%, but I can say 10 drinks a day is well below what I was doing in the height of my madness. That's one pint of vodka. And when I landed in a rehab center, 10+ drinks a day was more common than not when listening to the stories.

A fair amount of the 10+ drinks isn't to "feel good" or "get drunk" once you're hooked. It's to stop the shaking and be able to minimally function.

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

#246

Post by lostgame »

umvi wrote: post #111

> “My heroin use is as rational as my alcohol use” What an incredibly dangerous idea to promote. Do not mess with opioids. You think you are in control, until you are not.

Ugh. Come on. Be part of the solution, not the problem. We should be promoting safe use and harm reduction education, not these bullshit blanket statements such as 'do not mess with opioids'/'say no to drugs', and stop using them quick.

Otherwise the people who inevitably will/do use, only hear and have only heard, 'don't do it to start' or get ostracized instead of getting the help they need or the education they need to know when they are overdoing it or not in control any more.

We also need more clinics and support for safely quitting or managing drugs and tools for it similar to what we have for tobacco.

Shamefully, here in Canada, some of these clinics in Vancouver are getting shut down, rather than more of them popping up, during the worst opioid crisis this country has ever seen.

These closures are a direct result of a 'don't ever do/touch drugs' policy and the stigma and ostracization that come with it.

Speaking from experience...education is better than 'don't'. I have had friends who have died from using drugs, and I have many, many friends who are regular users but not abusers - pull an insane variety of different full-time jobs. (And well!)

The huge difference between these two groups of people for me is education (for instance, preexisting mental health conditions that would be made worse by a particular substance and the knowledge to avoid it), and having a support system, etc..

It is fascinating and inspiring that someone has chosen to put themselves in the very vulnerable position of coming out about their personal use, and I believe the intention is to help remove the stigma around drug use, so education can be bettered. :)

Edit: Maybe better to say 'Drugs can be extremely harmful and addictive. If you choose to use them, please be sure you are educated, safe, and have someone nearby.'

In fact, that doesn't seem dissimilar to the surgeon general warnings on cigarette packs, anyway.

What kind of warning labels will we see on cocaine, heroin, etc - in countries where its sale will inevitably be legalized? These are the kinds of statements we should be making rather than 'just stay away from opioids.'

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

#248

Post by mod »

f1refly wrote: post #125
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…

I can't confirm your experience at all. I've had a serious car accident after which they kept me on opium in the hospital for three days. After they replaced it with weaker pain treatment compounds I didn't have any desire to go back, despite how I was feeling when taking opium. I wouldn't say they're instantly addictive.

I can confirm his experience via my brother's nearly identical experience. He asked for a non-addictive painkiller, as he knows he has an addictive personality. He was prescribed an opiod anyway, I don't recall which, for a serious abscessed tooth.

After a couple of days he was experiencing identical symptoms as the GP.

I'm not trying to chime in on how strictly we're interpreting "instantly," but for me I will definitely do my best to avoid opiods. Taking the prescribed amount for 2-3 days, and literally not taking the rest of the pills (both GP and my brother), and having serious physical withdrawals--that's fast enough that I would rather avoid it.

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

#249

Post by jessebro »

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.

You aren't hungover if you never stop drinking - which is the point.

It's really, really prevalent in some industries. I've hired concrete finishers before (multiple times), and I've never NOT had a bunch of empty cans crushed up and hidden somewhere random on the worksite afterwords, even if it's only for a couple hours. When I worked with some writers years ago, they kept bottles of cheap scotch and 2 buck chuck in their desks, and had to replenish them regularly.

The go to drug selection in tech skews our perception a bit (weed being incredibly pervasive, but lsd,shrooms,stimulatns far from absent).

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

#250

Post by ohnemint »

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #156

Three years ago, I decided, for New Years, to try getting addicted to caffeine and alcohol. The caffeine was a rapid success, the effects of which which I still enjoy. After half a dozen bottles of bourbon, I gave up on the alcohol for a lack of interest/effect. Peoples bodies and neurochemistry are simply different.

> I decided, for New Years, to try getting addicted to caffeine and alcohol

Why did you decide this?

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