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A Heroin Dealer Tells the Silk Road Jury What It Was Like to Sell Drugs Online

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Re: A Heroin Dealer Tells the Silk Road Jury What It Was Like to Sell Drugs Online

#61

Post by geographomics »

girvo wrote: post #49
hessenwolf wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is interesting, as it turns my viewpoint on its head. I firmly believed heroin addicts were all zombies. You are arguing they are quite completely saveable. It changes my view on whether it is useful to help somebody. Do you have any references for this?

I've shared my experiences a number of times, and you'd be amazed how many other programmers have contacted me to express their situation. "Functional" addicts are far more numerous than common knowledge would have you believe, but the stigma is so great that it's something that remains rather impossible to find out. Heres an interesting fact. About 23% of people who use heroin (not opiates in general, heroin specifi…

Your 23% statistic is very revealing; in recent years there's been a lot of research into the underlying neurobiology of addiction. Turns out that addicts are often quite predisposed to getting addicted, either through genetics (such as variants in the components of neurotransmitter systems) or their early environment. And through long-term changes in the brain from substance abuse - as an example, over-consuming alcohol over time can damage the frontal cortex, impairing decision-making, including deciding to stop drinking, so you end up with this feedback loop of sorts.

I find it very unfortunate that society hasn't caught up with this way of thinking and mostly still regards addiction as a moral vice, rather than a lifelong illness.

Re: A Heroin Dealer Tells the Silk Road Jury What It Was Like to Sell Drugs Online

#62

Post by afro88 »

shawabawa3 wrote: post #57
afro88 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I understand, heroin when injected is so addictive that using it even once can put you on a path you never would have gone anywhere near. It takes rational thought out of the occasion, changes your personality and your goals - your life becomes about getting your next fix and you'll do anything to get it. Beer, weed, ecstacy, etc don't have that same steep addictive power, so aren't dangerous in that way. S…

> From what I understand, heroin when injected is so addictive that using it even once can put you on a path you never would have gone anywhere near. It takes rational thought out of the occasion, changes your personality and your goals - your life becomes about getting your next fix and you'll do anything to get it. All bullshit. The vast majority of people who try heroin (even multiple times) do not get addicted.

I'd be interested to see some stats on IV heroin use and rate of addiction if you've got some

Re: A Heroin Dealer Tells the Silk Road Jury What It Was Like to Sell Drugs Online

#63

Post by tP5n »

afro88 wrote: post #41
byEngineer wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why not to legalize something that hurts just the one who takes it? The same logic would require us to delegalize alcohol. Remember, we had booze dealers with machine guns terrorizing whole cities, like Chicago, before we came back to our senses and legalized it. Can you see Corona dealers fighting with Coors dealers for a territory to sell beer? Why not? This is the EXACT reality of 1920s in this country. I don't ca…

From what I understand, heroin when injected is so addictive that using it even once can put you on a path you never would have gone anywhere near. It takes rational thought out of the occasion, changes your personality and your goals - your life becomes about getting your next fix and you'll do anything to get it. Beer, weed, ecstacy, etc don't have that same steep addictive power, so aren't dangerous in that way. S…

That's utter nonsense. Do you realize heroin is a fancy name for diacetylmorphine, an analgesic commonly used to treat chronic and post-surgical pain?

In other words, thousands of people around the world received that 'one shot' today and if you didn't tell them, probably wouldn't even know they just had a hit of h (and none of them suddenly loses their ability for rational thought or their life's goals).

Re: A Heroin Dealer Tells the Silk Road Jury What It Was Like to Sell Drugs Online

#64

Post by tP5n »

afro88 wrote: post #62
shawabawa3 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> From what I understand, heroin when injected is so addictive that using it even once can put you on a path you never would have gone anywhere near. It takes rational thought out of the occasion, changes your personality and your goals - your life becomes about getting your next fix and you'll do anything to get it. All bullshit. The vast majority of people who try heroin (even multiple times) do not get addicted.

I'd be interested to see some stats on IV heroin use and rate of addiction if you've got some

why would the route of administration have anything to do with that? it's the same substance hitting the same receptors.

every single addiction takes effort and time to develope, even heroin. anyway, google 'heroin + medical use' and be very suprised.

Re: A Heroin Dealer Tells the Silk Road Jury What It Was Like to Sell Drugs Online

#65

Post by afro88 »

girvo wrote: post #55
afro88 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I understand, heroin when injected is so addictive that using it even once can put you on a path you never would have gone anywhere near. It takes rational thought out of the occasion, changes your personality and your goals - your life becomes about getting your next fix and you'll do anything to get it. Beer, weed, ecstacy, etc don't have that same steep addictive power, so aren't dangerous in that way. S…

> From what I understand, heroin when injected is so addictive that using it even once can put you on a path you never would have gone anywhere near Entirely incorrect. You'll need to take it daily for at least a month or so for withdrawals to even begin to effect you. There are good arguments against heroin. We don't need to use propaganda and falsehoods to do so, in my opinion.

Interesting. I did some googling and found quite a few anecdotes saying similar things. Thanks for enlightening me.

Re: A Heroin Dealer Tells the Silk Road Jury What It Was Like to Sell Drugs Online

#66

Post by afro88 »

tP5n wrote: post #64
afro88 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be interested to see some stats on IV heroin use and rate of addiction if you've got some

why would the route of administration have anything to do with that? it's the same substance hitting the same receptors. every single addiction takes effort and time to develope, even heroin. anyway, google 'heroin + medical use' and be very suprised.

Route of administration changes how quickly, how hard and in what way drugs hit you. For example, someone could rub some coke on their gums and have a numb mouth and be slightly more alert, or snort the same amount and get a rush.

Re: A Heroin Dealer Tells the Silk Road Jury What It Was Like to Sell Drugs Online

#67

Post by afro88 »

tP5n wrote: post #63
afro88 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I understand, heroin when injected is so addictive that using it even once can put you on a path you never would have gone anywhere near. It takes rational thought out of the occasion, changes your personality and your goals - your life becomes about getting your next fix and you'll do anything to get it. Beer, weed, ecstacy, etc don't have that same steep addictive power, so aren't dangerous in that way. S…

That's utter nonsense. Do you realize heroin is a fancy name for diacetylmorphine, an analgesic commonly used to treat chronic and post-surgical pain? In other words, thousands of people around the world received that 'one shot' today and if you didn't tell them, probably wouldn't even know they just had a hit of h (and none of them suddenly loses their ability for rational thought or their life's goals).

Thousands of people are given heroin-like (or actually heroin in your case) pain killers for chronic and post-surgical pain and move onto illegal forms like heroin after because they're addicted. Like the dude in the article.

"One shot" is an exaggeration, apologies. My point was that heroin and it's analogues are highly addictive substances, in an aggressive way that beer weed and ecstacy aren't. You can't directly compare and equate beer with heroin for the sake of argument for legalization. Drugs aren't equal and the addictive properties of one are different from another. They have to be considered on a case by case basis.

Re: A Heroin Dealer Tells the Silk Road Jury What It Was Like to Sell Drugs Online

#69

Post by cryowaffle »

girvo wrote: post #50
andrey-p wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for sharing this. If you don't mind me asking, how did you find the experience of getting rid of that habit? What got you to finally try and defeat it?

Getting off it was difficult. I couldn't have done it without the amazing support of my government, despite it's rather draconian drug laws. I've been clean for three years now. The impetus for getting off of it were the cost (I was using 1.5 grams per day), the illegality (I didn't want to risk my future any more). But, the key reason? I didn't want to take it any more. A well known fact among addict circles, is tha…

I see... at first I thought you were complimenting America's drug rehab programs and then I read "country like mine" and quickly realized my error.

Re: A Heroin Dealer Tells the Silk Road Jury What It Was Like to Sell Drugs Online

#70

Post by atom-morgan »

afro88 wrote: post #67
tP5n wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's utter nonsense. Do you realize heroin is a fancy name for diacetylmorphine, an analgesic commonly used to treat chronic and post-surgical pain? In other words, thousands of people around the world received that 'one shot' today and if you didn't tell them, probably wouldn't even know they just had a hit of h (and none of them suddenly loses their ability for rational thought or their life's goals).

Thousands of people are given heroin-like (or actually heroin in your case) pain killers for chronic and post-surgical pain and move onto illegal forms like heroin after because they're addicted. Like the dude in the article. "One shot" is an exaggeration, apologies. My point was that heroin and it's analogues are highly addictive substances, in an aggressive way that beer weed and ecstacy aren't. You can't directly…

It's also worth watching episode 7 of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown where he goes back home to Massachusetts. A large portion of the episode is focused on this.

You have kids in high school who are injured in sports, are prescribed painkillers by their doctors which eventually gets them on heroin. The addicts didn't wake up one day thinking, "You know what? I think I'm going to try heroin today." It was legal pharmaceuticals with falsely advertised addiction rates that got them onto it.

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