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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

#391

Post by soperj »

sandworm101 wrote: post #384
nimbius wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>> 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. No. The worst that can happen to him is that he is pulled over by a cop in the parking lot. Gets charged with possession of heroin. Goes to jail for a couple nights, then looses his job/pension/car/house/wife/kids (in whatever order) and winds up on the str…

I don't know if you've ever worked a blue collar job with a drug user, but what they were saying is that the Carl isn't going to lose a limb, kill himself, or worse, kill me on the job as a professor because he's on drugs. That can be a very different story working on a drilling rig for instance.

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

#392

Post by csunbird »

wl wrote: post #316
csunbird wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone I know had a basic nose surgery (bone deviation) and then she experienced withdrawal symptoms after the surgery because of the anesthetics, which required intervention by professionals and she was unable to work for a month. Edit: Just to clarify, she was not prescribed any opioids/drugs to be taken post surgery, it was purely the anesthetics.

An anesthetic would typically consist of something like a small dose of a short-acting benzo before surgery for anxiety, propofol (very short acting) for induction, an opioid for pain management, an anesthetic gas like sevoflurane to maintain anesthesia, pressors to bring up blood pressure if necessary, and a few other drugs that probably don't merit mention. Of these drugs, the only ones that might cause withdrawal…

To be honest, a lot of people, including the doctors themselves, doubted her as well.

I am fuzzy on the details, because the person was just an acquaintance. There was a huge investigation on her history, looking for substance abuse. They found nothing.

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

#393

Post by omginternets »

ajkdhcb2 wrote: post #321
whatshisface wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Metaphysically maybe but physically, not really.

Alcohol literally destroys your brain and gives you dementia. It is objectively more physically damaging than opiate usage.

This is dose-dependent. You're comparing alcohol abuse to heroine use. That's not a fair comparison.

You should also examine the proportion of heroin "users" who become abusers. You should then do the same comparison for alcohol use.

I'm willing to entertain the notion that the risks of heroin are overblown. I'm even willing to believe it. What seems entirely unsupported by evidence is the notion that alcohol and heroin are in remotely the same league.

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

#394

Post by fbelzile »

mfer wrote: post #358
fbelzile wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not defending drug use at work, but if you're to be fired it should be for the performance related issues you mentioned caused by the drug, not because of the drug itself. Edit for more context: Depending on the drug, substances consumed outside of working hours would still show up in a drug test. Firing someone for something they do outside of work shouldn't be acceptable. If you can prove they consumed drugs that w…

In many places there are safety issues to deal with. You have to be proactive to avoid an incident. Here's a non-drug related one. In many places road construction companies will disallow workers from wearing headphones. This is because of the heavy machinery and you need to hear the beeps of a machine backing up. Drivers of those do not have good sight around the machinery and large trailers. Headphones on can mean…

In this case, the grounds for dismissal are for wearing headphones during working hours. Drug test results can be positive for things done outside of working hours.

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

#395

Post by frakkingcylons »

So many comments in this thread are misconstruing Hart's arguments. He's not being open about his drug use in order to encourage everyone else to start using opiates and amphetamines willy-nilly. We can't just keep applying the same Reagan-era drug prohibition policies and expect anything to change.

People are never going to stop using these drugs, so we should take steps to make their use safer. Thanks to widespread education, most people know the basics about how to drink safely (e.g. don't drink and then take NSAIDs). Because alcohol is sold legally, nobody has to worry about going blind or dying from moonshine. We should be applying the same principles to drugs like opioids. You should be able to buy them in precise dosages and know that they're not contaminated with something way too strong like fentanyl. People should be educated about unsafe drug combinations, which is the other major cause of overdoses.

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

#396

Post by bjourne »

rflrob wrote: post #244
jboog wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 larg…

Decriminalized isn't the same thing as legalized. Legalized means that you will have multinational companies promoting heroin nonstop through massive advertising campaigns. That would completely change peoples' usage patterns. Like how many people would smoke if tobacco was legal? Answer: many.

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

#397

Post by CapitalistCartr »

ohnemint wrote: post #250
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?

I wanted to better understand the experience. I've known several addicts in my family. My wife and I adopted a deeply addicted family member's son, who was born with severe problems from her drug use.

Bear in mind, I am willing to take vacation from work and go cold turkey as needed. I do this a couple times a year for caffeine, just to be sure, and the headaches are brutal.

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

#398

Post by arpinum »

40four wrote: post #255
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…

"... how weak the beer is" Funny, I've never heard someone take a jab at the strength of American beer. I'm curious what is the ABV of a normal beer you're used to in the UK? The 'commercial grade' American domestics tend to be about 5% maybe 4.5%. In the last decade though, 'craft'/ micro breweries have exploded so it's very easy to find stronger at any bar. In almost any convenience/ grocery store, there are plenty…

Its more a comment on how popular your light beers are, and they seem to be in the low 4% range. We also say your cars can't go around turns, don't take it too literally.

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

#399

Post by mdip »

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.

  > That coupled with the fact of how heroin is treated in society makes it worse.
So this is sort of a problem with treating the thing "Heroin" as bad, versus treating the Heroin Addict as bad. Society makes it worse, mainly, by tossing addicts in jail and I'm generally against drug laws as they stand[0]. But making "everything legal" doesn't reduce the impact of the law on drug users as much as you'd expect. At least, anecdotally, every addict that I've known personally has had run-ins with law enforcement because of their drug use but having nothing to do with the drugs, themselves. In one case, a friend ended up with an "impeding traffic" charge when he fell asleep in the left-turn lane at an intersection.

The story, as it was told to me, was that he chased a few Vicodin with a single beer, which resulted in him registering a 0.03, but he fell asleep in an intersection with his foot on the brake pedal. Despite this, he passed the field sobriety test, but the officer judged him to be intoxicated, and he was arrested. Apparently he was supposed to get a blood test; he was taken in early on Saturday and held until Monday, but they didn't do the test until he was "on his way out". It turned up nothing and he got out with a lawyer bill.

[0] I'm convinced that things are so bad/ineffective right now, that I'm pretty close to support of all-out decriminalization (of possession), simply because it reduces the impact of addiction on the addicted.

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

#400

Post by basch »

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…

But, the response here seems to be "this is too dangerous an idea to talk about, or consider" which seems really shitty.

It's been 45 years since it was first established that heroin CAN be used safely when accompanied by a social ritual. Part of the problem IS the mindset and stigma around addiction, and that "insanely addictive drugs" have full power over people, and there is no ability to moderate their use, which is false. People are either 100% sober or a social pariah. The response in these comments mostly confirms this sort of black or white thinking. Maybe somebody should ask if its the lack of social ritual / social controls causing the problem, not the drug. Maybe society is failing otherwise responsible drug use by making all users outcasts. Or is a spectrum and complex interaction of multiple issues, and not just drugs. "This is too dangerous of a conversation to have" puts us in danger of not having productive conversations.

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