531–540 of 692 posts
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…
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Sure, but op is talking about someone who uses controlled substances outside of work. If they’re not under the influence of a substance at work, then it’s not the same situation you are talking about.
The effects of almost any narcotic last for 72 hours at least. Not as intense, for sure, but there are still symptoms.
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.…
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A few things. First, I'm attempting to describe how the system works rather than give my opinion on how it should be. Second, the headphones situation is meant to illustrate how safety plays in. This isn't a "what if" example. People on job sites wearing headphones have died because they missed the warning tones. I am aware of one case, personally. Safety is a big deal. It plays into the insurance companies who drive…
I agree Safety is the top priority. Don't risk people with drugs traces in their blood; it may degrade their competence. Also don't risk a guy that didn't sleep last night working - his competence will be degraded. I proposed my catch-all solution for this in another comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26183297 My ideal is we just ensure competence - guy who smoked weed last night may be more competent than…
It would be great if there was a way to test for competence. Some drugs cause long term issues with decision making and being able to see what's likely to happen. This reminds me of a job I had years ago framing houses. I remember some of the work men firing nails from a nail gun into a nearby woods. An area where neighborhood kids happen to play.
That's poor decision making and a liability. How do you test for complex things like that?
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I disagree with this view. I think the metaphor captures some elements of the experience, but it doesn't capture enough. A craving feeling arises to have fun. The craving exists there because it feels nice. This also implies that you feel less nice than you'd like to feel. This craving doesn't happen that often, but often enough that you're curious about taking drugs. You try cocaine. Suddenly you feel energized and…
The description of your craving process is both fascinating and horrifying. Well, mostly horrifying. Is there a scientific name for this very process? I'm not a drug addict either, but I can relate with some of it about my cigarette smoking habit (it's actually an addiction, I know). As for the metaphor, "every weekend" looks already like an enormous amount of debt to me.
Unfortunately, I don't know enough (anymore) on the science of craving, most of what I wrote is actually what I've noticed because of meditation and self-reflection, so it's a very subjective account. Though, what I stated about conditioning, that is scientifically proven, you can read the wiki of operant and classical conditioning.
> The description of your craving process is both fascinating and horrifying. Well, mostly horrifying.
In certain forms of mindfulness meditation you're asked to observe your sensations in your body. In practice this can translate to observing whatever craving you're experiencing :P
Let me think a bit what areas of research might be interesting to account a bit for my subjective experience...
- Wanting and Liking from Berridge's lab [1].
- Research on how to make slot machine's addictive [2]
But those ideas are a bit more circumstantial I believe.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivational_salience
[2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/247926701_Addictive...
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.
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.
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…
I did the same thing. In fact, everyone I know who successfully quit smoking for a long time quit the same way. I’m not really sure that proves that cigarettes were any less addictive for you, unless you’re saying you never had any significant craving or desire to resume.
And no, I don't really even 'want' a cigarette. I know what addiction is, in that I feel this strong pull towards sweet stuff. I must have any kind of dessert, and if I see a novel food, I must eat it. I just must. It's like a fugue state. Try as I might I fall. Also with online validation for comments I write or stories I tell. The dopamine hit from an upvote has a debilitating hold on me.
But with no drugs have I felt this desire. Not even shrooms which I enjoy or MDMA which has been my all time favourite. I have some shrooms and some LSD in my fridge so I can partake any time. I just don't.
I'm amenable to the Rat Park hypothesis too. Maybe it's all Rat Park stuff.
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…
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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?
https://depts.washington.edu/hortlib/resources/wp-resource_s...
Michael Pollan also wrote an essay about it (I think taking a slightly stronger position).