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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

#431

Post by yboris »

altcognito wrote: post #272
yboris wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is interesting to me how ready we sometimes are to dismiss others' self-reports. This is akin to doctors in early 1900's (and even now) simply ignoring women's self reports of pain. When a person reports something about their own life and internal state, you need to have overwhelming evidence before you can dismiss what they are saying. On what grounds do you dismiss the author's claims about their life? He clearl…

I'm not dismissing his account, so you should read my comment closer. I don't think I would use getting published as evidence that somebody "has their life together". Again, I don't care if he does have his life together. It may entirely fake, it can be temporary, and it can be one account. Look, I'm wholly for the idea of not shaming people who use drugs. I am also wholly against treating drugs which have establishe…

We do hear (literally) hundreds of stories about how drugs destroy lives. Growing up in the US, there would be nearly a yearly assembly where we were told about (exaggerated) dangers of drugs. One story was "a mother put her child in the oven" and other horrors.

Hearing an opposing point of view is a breath of fresh air for people who are fed up with the one sidedness and hysteria.

Stories distort reality. They oversimplify and hide details.

Think about a parallel: pizza. People in the US are notoriously (unhealthily) overweight. Should we be hysterical about someone who says "I can eat pizza without going overboard"?

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

#432

Post by gist »

> Carl Hart is a neuroscientist and Ziff Professor of Psychology at Columbia University—he was the first tenured African-American professor of sciences at Columbia.

This starts off reading like one of those spam emails of the past where some claim was made backed up by 'and my brother/sister/father/friend' 'is a professor at Harvard' (or similar) to get you to take it as authoritative and serious. [1]

The issue with drug use is the outliers. Just like the issue with driving fast is the driver who is not you it's not about what you or most capable drivers can do under the best circumstances and driving a well equipped and responsive modern car it's about 'the other guy/gal'.

[1] What is the name for the logical fallacy here?

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

#433

Post by Spinnaker_ »

I've been hearing about Carl Hart for a while. I can't find an answer to if he's ever tried stopping heroine use?

I would expect one of the first things to come up in a the conversation would be something along the lines of "yeah, I took a break for a month last year. It was easy, I had no cravings or other problems."

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

#434

Post by wizzwizz4 »

chimprich wrote: post #386
ordu wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Only responsible and healthy individuals should self-use drugs, generally speaking. The funny thing I've been reading the article and the tone of it reminded me of heroin addicts who was not hit by their addiction heavily yet. I mean, Carl Hart thinks he is a responsible user, that he have an ability to decide for himself. It doesn't seem so for me. It is hard to tell, having as a data only one interview with him.…

> I drink alcohol sometimes, and I know that I'm not an addict. > If Carl Hart wanted to prove that he is not an addict, he should stop using heroin for a couple of years, and then try to state his freedom from an addiction with a straight face. So by that logic... we should only believe that you're not an alcohol addict after you stop using alcohol for a couple of years?

Indeed. Why do you think this is a gotcha? Do you think the comment's author hasn't thought of that?

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

#435

Post by webkike »

bjourne wrote: post #396
rflrob wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

That is not necessarily true. Alcohol and tobacco are legal and there are massive restrictions on how they are aloud to be advertised. The point being made here is that not many people would by more of it if they felt that purchasing it was not going to put them in legal trouble. For example, how many people do you know that do whippets?

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

#436

Post by steve_adams_86 »

tptacek wrote: post #382
steve_adams_86 wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a teen I made opium from poppies around the neighbourhood. After smoking it once I threw the rest out. The intensity of how perfect it felt was alarming. I remember within minutes thinking I'll become addicted to it if I don't get rid of it. Despite that being a scary prospect, I kept feeling great the entire time. It really beats any bad feeling out of you. Incredibly creepy. I was a dumb teenager (I'm still not…

You grew up in a neighborhood full of opium poppies?

Not full of them, but I’ve always been especially fond of plants, and poppies in particular because my mom grew some spectacular varieties. Through boredom and interest I discovered a home nearby was growing a variety of poppy which could be processed into opium. I took some seed heads at the correct growth stage on an evening walk, then processed them later.

The process is very crude but works well for experimentation. I think if you were a serious opiate user it would probably be too inefficient and inconvenient to warrant over simply buying opium.

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

#437

Post by renewiltord »

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…

Everyone wealthy enough doesn't sell. They just share.

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

#438

Post by throwaway0a5e »

Grustaf wrote: post #204
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…

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

There's a balance to be struck.

You can't just lie to people and tell them that everything is deadly or they're gonna question everything else you've said. That's basically what DARE was.

I know a chainsaw is dangerous. But listening to every Youtuber lecture me about how I have lock out tag out to change a lightbulb my own home and every Redditor jump at the opportunity to engage in a monologue about how I should wear safety classes when I use a screwdriver sure lends a lot of legitimacy to the people who say their dad never wore PPE and retired with all his limbs so it must be fine.

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

#439

Post by cirgue »

shmageggy wrote: post #404
cirgue wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The funny thing I've been reading the article and the tone of it reminded me of heroin addicts who was not hit by their addiction heavily yet. Having known someone who was a responsible, highly educated adult with a fantastic career who died of a heroin overdose, this whole article sounded eerily familiar.

Do you know whether this person's overdose was due to an escalating addiction or due to mixing with other substances or impurities? That's the distinction the article is trying to make

It was due to an escalating addiction, not impurities.

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

#440

Post by Toutouxc »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #300
GordonS wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author is not suggesting you take heroin at work, any more than it would be acceptable to drink alcohol at work.

Are we equating alcohol with heroin?

Shouldn't we? Alcohol ruins more lives and causes more injuries and damage than heroin.
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