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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

#471

Post by king_panic »

ecmascript wrote: post #450
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…

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.

Sugar is one of the hardest addictions to kick. I've kicked cocaine and alcohol too.. sugar was by far the hardest physically. It's also hard to stay sober because it's so accessible in foods and accepted by society.

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

#472

Post by biolurker1 »

dariusj18 wrote: post #187
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…

This is like the textbook overconfidence that addicts have. They all think they have a complete understanding of their body and the chemicals they use.

Exactly and this spills over to gambling too. All addictions are the same and people try to convince everyone that they have been thinking about it wrong.

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

#473

Post by wittyreference »

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #265
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You're an outlier. The vast majority of people who smoke opium or experience euphoria from taking medical grade heroin will obtain the urge to do it more.

As a physician:

No, the 'vast majority' do not. I've supervised medical grade opioid administration to more than a few people, both acutely and chronically, and *folks without a pre-existing substance use problem* do not often develop one, especially if it's over the short term. The idea that "I give you an opioid and then BAM I want more!" is highly divergent from my clinical experience.

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

#474

Post by mrwh »

drewmassey wrote: post #243

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 fa…

Yes, this. If 1% of airline passengers died we would ground all planes immediately. 30% is awful.

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

#475

Post by the-dude »

lazide wrote: post #383
the-dude wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it seems to have worked ( source : Dutch and old enough to remember what it seemed like in the 80ies ).

Interestingly enough - all crime (including in the US with it's war on drugs) has dropped dramatically since the 80's. Lots of theories about leaded gasoline phase-outs, etc. but it's a complex multi-variate problem. Merely having the issues about use widely known (and the initial round of people super susceptible to it) can also cause many people to shy away, with significant decreases in abuse.

Dutch coffeeshops keep large amounts of people away from 'regular' drugs dealers who carry coke/heroin besides weed.

Economic tide : the 80ies was a different time with lots of youth unemployment in NL/NWE.

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

#476

Post by ta8645 »

king_panic wrote: post #464
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…

You had me until your last sentence. There are people who are born with huge lung capacity, they are able to swim faster and longer than anyone else. We would never believe that it's emotional pain that is keeping everyone else from swimming as well. And people are born colorblind, they don't lose that ability because of emotional pain. Physics and our individual body chemistry at birth plays a deep role in our unique life experiences. There's every reason to suspect the same mechanism affects addiction proclivity.

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

#477

Post by renewiltord »

sandworm101 wrote: post #468
renewiltord wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Consider me better informed now. Thanks.

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

#478

Post by biolurker1 »

mmlkrx wrote: post #283

There is a subreddit called /r/MuseumOfReddit that is "dedicated to cataloguing the posts and comments that will go down in reddit history." One of the more chilling posts on there[1] is the account of a user who randomly tried Heroin one day, got addicted within 2 weeks, overdosed and was clinically dead within a month, got revived and admitted, came clean, then posted an update to his story 7 years later. I would p…

I'm reading Freud book "civilization and it's discontent" and he says that some people can experience what others experience with substances, only by yoga and meditation. I'm really curious cause I have only done "simple yoga" and simple meditation like just breathing exercises.

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

#479

Post by staunch »

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…

This is a bit silly. You never developed an addiction to cigarettes so you were able to easily quit smoking them. Well, yeah, of course.

The hard part is quitting something when you want to but cannot make yourself i.e. addictions are what is hard to quit.

The majority of people are able to smoke, drink, eat, and fornicate without developing an addiction. The people that become addicted are the outliers.

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

#480

Post by biolurker1 »

mellavora wrote: post #126
yladiz wrote: post #25

> Hart strives to “present a more realistic image of the typical drug user: a responsible professional who happens to use drugs in his pursuit of happiness.” I think this is likely wrong. I guess it partly depends on the definition of a "drug user" (like, does it include alcohol drinkers) but I would be very surprised if most heroin users are responsible professionals - how can you do anything when you're high on her…

Friend of mine is from Pakistan. He says that the guys who drive heavy trucks through the mountains always take heroin first. Helps them keep calm when navigating a road which has sections only marginally wider than the truck, with a 500m drop on one side. I'm not promoting DUI (lost too many friends that way, mostly from OTHER people DUI'ing and hitting them), just saying that there are professions where the people…

That must be the definition of urban myth
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