I am a heroin user. I do not have a drug problem • Hacker News Board

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

#461

Post by biolurker1 » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 6:11 PM UTC

lisper wrote: post #258

jboog wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I was a teetotaler until my late 20s when I decided to try to develop a taste for wine for social reasons. Fast-forward 30 years and today my wife and I have a cocktail and a glass of wine most nights. That sounds like two drinks, but one day I started measuring how much alcohol I was actually putting in to the cocktails and they turned out to be triples. So technically we're having 4 drinks a day. We get a slight bu…

It's very well established that over two drink increase multiple cancer rates, just keep that in mind.

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

#462

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 6:13 PM UTC

renewiltord wrote: post #414

The fascinating thing about this stuff is that you can have outlier people. For instance, tobacco is supposed to be highly addictive. Well, I picked up smoking from a girlfriend in college and we used to smoke all the time. Like ten cigs a day for a year and a half. Real bad, right? Well, one day, I decided "Meh. I'll just stop" and I did. Not because of any reason. I just chose not to. Now cigarettes are way addicti…

[deleted]

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

#463

Post by umvi » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 6:13 PM UTC

renewiltord wrote: post #414

The fascinating thing about this stuff is that you can have outlier people. For instance, tobacco is supposed to be highly addictive. Well, I picked up smoking from a girlfriend in college and we used to smoke all the time. Like ten cigs a day for a year and a half. Real bad, right? Well, one day, I decided "Meh. I'll just stop" and I did. Not because of any reason. I just chose not to. Now cigarettes are way addicti…

There most certainly are outliers, and you are likely one of them for nicotine at least. What you want to avoid though is using your outlier status to influence people into thinking "hey, maybe I'm an outlier too, maybe I can use highly addictive substances and still stay in control too" because statistically that's going to end in a public health disaster.

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

#464

Post by king_panic » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 6:13 PM UTC

renewiltord wrote: post #414

The fascinating thing about this stuff is that you can have outlier people. For instance, tobacco is supposed to be highly addictive. Well, I picked up smoking from a girlfriend in college and we used to smoke all the time. Like ten cigs a day for a year and a half. Real bad, right? Well, one day, I decided "Meh. I'll just stop" and I did. Not because of any reason. I just chose not to. Now cigarettes are way addicti…

The argument the author is making is that addiction is an outlier. Many many many people drink, snort cocaine, smoke cigarettes and in the author's case, use heroin, and never develop addiction.

I can understand why this infuriates people who've seen or known people who've died from an addiction but it's important for people to understand that alcohol, drugs, gambling, facebook, the internet, shopping, and everything that can turn into an addiction are not the problem. The problem is deep emotional pain from traumatic experiences.

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

#465

Post by codingdave » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 6:13 PM UTC

I've heard that statistic before, that 70% of drug users aren't addicted. But I've also heard that the 30% who do get addicted is less about good practices, and more of a genetic trait - if you have the brain chemistry to get addicted, you do. Most people don't, but 30% is non-trivial. If you are given a choice of "70% chance to feel good for a few hours with a 30% chance to ruin your life.", it doesn't feel like good odds to me. There surely are safer and more reliable ways to enjoy your life.

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

#466

Post by wittyreference » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 6:14 PM UTC

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…

"Opioids are insanely and ~~instantly~~ quickly addictive."

Do you have a source for this assertion? I'm just a physician with a particular specialty in medically managed (as opposed to procedurally managed) pain, and I've never seen a "I took it once and was instantly addicted." I don't mean to undercut your subjective experience, but I've seen a few folks on pain killers, and if what you described was more common than "very rare", I would have by now.

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

#467

Post by leetcrew » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 6:14 PM UTC

pif wrote: post #418

I'd like to understand where he buys his legal heroin. Because, if he is choosing to pour his money into the worst criminal businnes existing, either he is a piece of scum or he does have a drug problem!

kind of a weak jab. it's not that complicated to make heroin. morphine extraction is trivial; the conversion to heroin is just one more step. any chem major could probably do it if they had a way to source enough poppies without attracting attention. even if he does source his heroin through the usual channels, is that so much worse than the business practices we support when we buy clothes, iphones, meat, etc.?

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

#468

Post by sandworm101 » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 6:14 PM UTC

renewiltord wrote: post #437

sandworm101 wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> 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.

Most "dealers" are actually charged with 'intent to distribute', a crime that doesn't require evidence of money changing hands. Giving drugs to your friends, even for free, will result in basically the same drug charges as if you were selling. The law is setup this was specifically to avoid the need to money evidence. The cops only need to see you hand over the drugs. They don't need to also see you receive any money. (Actually, you don't even need to hand over the drugs. Possess a large amount, or a smaller amount divided into little bags, and that will be enough for intent to distribute.)

Many street-level drug dealers will still separate the drug and money handovers between different people. This isn't to avoid legal issues. It is to avoid the money being seized when the cops move on the guy they see handing over bags of drugs.

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

#469

Post by groby_b » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 6:14 PM UTC

renewiltord wrote: post #458

ecmascript wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here, stopping to smoke was really easy but my candy addiction is real hard. It's like day and night for me. I struggle and have been struggling in not eating candy for years (or at least a lot less) but I have failed each time. I think different substances are differently addictive to people.

Likewise, I found it impossible to quit sugar. Fruits especially still ruin me. I'll eat any amount of fruit you place before me.

With any kind of addiction, it's worth exploring what the triggers are. There might well be some underlying emotional thing that makes you eat fruit.

For me: I eat cookies because my Mom baked a lot, and I lost her early. This is a way to feel close to her. Knowing that makes it easier to not eat all the cookies. That doesn't mean all addictions are rooted in early childhood or psychological symptoms, or that your life gets fixed if you just talk about your parents a lot ;) But especially with addictions that only create mild physical addiction symptoms, it's worth looking at.

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

#470

Post by blamestross » Thu, Feb 18, 2021, 6:15 PM UTC

renewiltord wrote: post #414

The fascinating thing about this stuff is that you can have outlier people. For instance, tobacco is supposed to be highly addictive. Well, I picked up smoking from a girlfriend in college and we used to smoke all the time. Like ten cigs a day for a year and a half. Real bad, right? Well, one day, I decided "Meh. I'll just stop" and I did. Not because of any reason. I just chose not to. Now cigarettes are way addicti…

Nicotine is well established as a nootropic and use of it correlates with reduced incidence of dementia (even when corrected for mortality biases). I am at a really high risk for dementia and I keep trying to vape in hopes of that (possible) benefit but I keep forgetting to do it. Note that the logic for your health choices get weird when accounting for high odds of being a zombie after the age of 65. Plenty of room to dump externalities onto "zombie-you"