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

m.nautil.us

601–610 of 692 posts

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

#601

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The effects of almost any narcotic last for 72 hours at least. Not as intense, for sure, but there are still symptoms.

Should people who drink get fired because they might drink on a Sunday and come back hungover?

If they are putting other people's lives at risk, maybe!

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

#603

I read this a few hours ago and didn't decide to comment then. But I just have to. I just lost my brother-in-law to heroin overdose. He overdosed because he went into rehab, came out, and then used far more than his body could tolerate. This is unfortunately common. Not because he mixed it with alcohol or antihistamines or whatever. Overall, his entire life has been extremely tragic. He was a good guy at heart. He wa…

My hypothesis is that there is always a thin line between drug/substance abuse and doing them in moderation. > The way a lot of this is phrased, it makes it sound like drugs are fine and there is a conspiracy to demonize them. Those who cry foul at the imagined conspiracies may already be deep in the throes of an addiction.

I agree that "conspiracy" is loaded and inappropriate in this context. But the GP is referencing a social phenomenon that exists: https://archive.org/details/ceremonialchemist00szas

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

#604
post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article does this numerous times.

I read TFA, and didn't see any such mention. I've gone back to it with the search tool, and still don't see any such thing. Would you mind pointing to where these numerous points are please?

Really, dude?

> Hart reports that more than 70 percent of drug users—whether they use alcohol, cocaine, prescription medications, or heroin—do not meet the health criteria for drug addiction

> “My heroin use is as rational as my alcohol use,” Carl Hart writes

> Let’s just talk about alcohol first. When you’re at a wedding reception, alcohol serves as a social lubricant. People are more gregarious. They talk, they interact. The same is true with cocaine at parties, heroin among friends, or opium among friends, NDMA among lovers.

> It’s just like with alcohol. Most people drink alcohol on a regular basis, but they don’t become physically dependent

> I don’t know a term. I simply mean people who take drugs, like alcohol users, somebody who may have a glass of wine or two every night for dinner, whereas somebody else may only drink on the weekend. It’s a wide range. And the same can be true with cocaine or heroin

> Why do you use heroin? > That’s like saying, “Why do you use alcohol?”

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

#605

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the addiction. Opiate addiction comes along with flu like symptoms, insomnia, restless legs/arms AKA crazy legs, and an ever present anxiety that you really really want some that will make you do some weird shit just to get it. Other addictions are more subtle, some worse, but all of them I've experienced have the same feeling of stress/anxiety that can only be cured by the vice they are caused by. Many…

> Opiate addiction comes along with flu like symptoms, insomnia, restless legs/arms AKA crazy legs, and an ever present anxiety that you really really want some that will make you do some weird shit just to get it. ... Many are all in your head, or, can be overcome by willpower, but definitely not opiates Sure, but one can be dependent on e.g. SSRIs or SNRIs. But they aren't addictive! Dependence + addiction is a spe…

The two big dangerous things to withdraw from are alcohol and benzodiazepines. Opiates withdrawal won't kill you (but you'll want it to)

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

#606
post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oxycodone was the #1 recent example of patients and even doctors being lied to about the addictivene potential of the drug. For well over a decade, pharmaceutical marketers (from Purdue Pharma especially) straight up falsely claimed that habitual use of Oxycontin would not lead to opioid dependency.

Which is a very near mirror to Heroin, which was created as a less addictive/problematic alternative to Opium. Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but that doesn’t seem to address my core point? Legality can reduce some negative effects, but it isn’t a cure-all. There are also a lot of people that should just not use opiates or bad things will happen, and we can’t predict who those people will be reliably until it is too…

It’s easy to predict who will have problems with opiates, very few go from 0 to 100 without skipping steps. Just license the users.

Commit any infraction, drive or work heavy machinery while under the influence, your license is suspended until you complete rehab. Do it too many times and it’s suspended permanently. Use while unlicensed, it’s jail time.

This way there is a progression. We don’t have to waste police resources on those who can handle it. The minority who can’t are directed into rehab to deal with their issues first, and only the minority of that group who fail to shake up get jail time.

Meanwhile crime is down because drugs are affordable. New addicts are down because kids aren’t getting laced drugs. Deaths and overdoses are down for same reason.

And it all costs society less, less police, less crime, less hospitalization and less death means less taxes.

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

#608

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should people who drink get fired because they might drink on a Sunday and come back hungover?

Depends on what they are responsible for. Airline pilots, I believe, have a no-drink-within-X-hours rule. I'm not sure whether X is 12, 24, or more. So even one drink the night before a morning flight would be prohibited, even though logically a single drink with dinner the night before should be a non-issue.

“8 hours from bottle to throttle”

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

#609
post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 uniqu…

I think it makes sense that people who, due to trauma or other lived experiences (in addition to those who are genetically predisposed), have a brain chemistry that leaves them not feeling as well as they could, would be more vulnerable to getting addicted to substances that make them feel better (or ”normal”, even).

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

#610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. It is very simple, even common, to know exactly what the dose is and still OD. Look at any prescription opioid. The labels on those bottles are very accurate. People still OD and die.

The circumstances of the overdose are important though. Many of them occur because the victim consumed it with another respiratory depressant like alcohol.

Exactly. The level at which one might "OD" fluctuates. So even if you know the dose, you can be wrong about your ability to handle it.
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