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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

#501

Post by nickthemagicman »

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…

My dad quit smoking cold turkey one day and never thought about it again, my mom smoked until she died of lung cancer, she would take the oxygyn mask off to take a puff.

It's bizzarre the genetic/environmental differences in addiction.

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

#502

Post by achairapart »

swirepe wrote: post #197
achairapart wrote: post #143

I can see addiction like unpaid debt. Just like everyone may need a bank loan (which is totally socially acceptable), sometime you may need a happiness/energy/relief/whatever loan. The thing is, just like a money loan, you should be ready to pay your debt after. The day you think you can run away without paying, it's where the trouble begin. This is true even with alcohol: Go to a party, drink a few glasses. One or t…

I liked the way you framed drug use as temporary happiness loans. That's very insightful. >Now, I'm aware that this is quite complex, but still I wonder how many people there are out there who can self-control themself and diligently keep their debt in order. The analogy breaks down a bit here for me. Before I had a cat, I couldn't understand how people could pay so much for veterinary bills. After I got a cat, I cou…

There is a scene in the movie The Consequences of Love by Paolo Sorrentino where you find out one of the secrets of the mysterious leading character:

The first Wednesday of every month at 10am he shot himself heroin.

It's one of his extremely methodical routines. It can be seen as an habit, but you can't truly call him an addict.

If you reframe your happiness around your drug use you're already addicted. The question about my original post was more like: Are there people who have a drug habit without the addiction? If yes, how many of them are there?

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

#503

Post by renewiltord »

zappo2938 wrote: post #493
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 video about our primate cousins, the alcoholic vervet monkeys in St. Kitts, might give some insight into addiction. [0] [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSm7BcQHWXk

Very cool. Thanks.

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

#504

Post by bserge »

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…

Indeed, it's very dependent on the individual. Nicotine has me by the balls, very firmly. Alcohol even more so, it's something that I'm trying to quit for over a decade to no success.

Cannabis? Smoked for months every day, decided it wasn't for me and that was it. Same for many other chemicals, including cocaine. I just... stopped.

I feel like I could stop nicotine intake within a few weeks. Could be wrong about it. But not alcohol, that's the number 1 enemy. Every time I think about it, there's an insane urge to drink some, it's insane.

I mean, I literally have access to something with effects between alcohol and cannabis, yet I go with alcohol. Ridiculous.

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

#505

Post by renewiltord »

staunch wrote: post #479
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.

Are the majority of people able to smoke without developing an addiction? That's not been my experience growing up. I only know three people total who quit cold turkey and I'm one.

That's interesting, though.

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

#506

Post by matwood »

xibalba wrote: post #346
TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Several years ago, I read about the significant nootropic effects of nicotine and spent time on forums that downplayed the potential negative impacts. I ended up trying it and became addicted for years. Social contagion can have significant effects on social issues like this.

I've experimented with nicotine (in the form of gum) myself, but haven't really observed much in the way of benefits. Did you see benefits? What form(s) were you using? How did you end up quitting? (I was turned onto this after listening to an interview with Dr. Peter Attia [haven't yet made up my mind on whether he is a huckster])

> Dr. Peter Attia [haven't yet made up my mind on whether he is a huckster])

I've listened to him off and on, and think he's ok. He tests on himself pretty relentlessly, and still sees patients (though it's a boutique practice). He also appears open to new ideas as new research presents itself. And while crazy people can come from anywhere, he also has all the proper credentials.

There's this guy who hates him lol: https://www.libertariannews.org/2016/03/07/dr-peter-attia-re...

Finally, if you haven't already, you should find the podcast episode where he talks about Theranos. Pretty wild that he was asked to join and turned Holmes down.

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

#507

Post by spaetzleesser »

I used to know an engineer who used cocaine, heroin and drank a lot. He definitely wasn’t performing at his best and the long term outlook wasn’t good. But he was able to hold his job and didn’t miss work more often than other people with other health issues like cancer or back problems.

This definitely convinced me that it doesn’t make sense to pull drug users out of productive society and either fire them or put them to jail. It’s just very unproductive that makes things only worse.

It would be much cheaper to treat their addiction while they are working.

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

#508

Post by mdoms »

minitoar wrote: post #417
mdoms wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have the same attitude to other safety procedures? If an electrician routinely, consciously failed to check the mains had been turned off before working do you think he shouldn't be reprimanded until he electrocutes himself or someone else?

I know how to tell if mains is off — use a multimeter. Please provide a citation for the safety procedure for determining if my electrician has used drugs that might impact his judgement.

You're moving the goalposts.

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

#509

Post by chimprich »

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #434
chimprich wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

Why do I think it's a gotcha? Because there seems to be a double standard: ordu is allowed to innately know that they are not an alcohol addict, but the author of the article is not extended the same courtesy.

I don't know if ordu has thought of that, but they don't appear to have from their comment.

I find the idea that the only way to know if you're not an addict is to give up for a period of years to be very problematic. Most definitions of addict suggest they are unable to control their compulsion, but I couldn't see any indication of that from the article. If the author of the article can sustain occasional use while maintaining a high profile job (science professor), their use doesn't appear to be out of control.

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

#510

Post by spaetzleesser »

bane wrote: post #484
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…

Addiction is an incredibly fascinating endless hole to get into, including these outlier folks. My wife for example has struggled to quit smoking for at least 10 years. As in very hardcore struggle. When I was young my father managed to quit from a 3 pack a day habit to nothing cold turkey. But it was obviously pretty tough on him during the process and took a couple of years to really break out of. My brother has a…

I have repeatedly tried to stop eating pastries and candy but can’t do it. I can’t imagine how much willpower it takes to get off truly addictive drugs.
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