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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

#131

Post by bostonsre »

sneak wrote: post #108
koheripbal wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Opioids are insanely and ~~instantly~~ quickly addictive. I accidentally became addicted after knee surgery. When the pain subsided, I stopped taking them, and within a day I found myself curled up in a ball and wanting to rip my own skin off. It's really true when addicts describe it as "being uncomfortable in your own skin". The moment I realized I was experiencing withdrawal, I flushed the meds down the toilet and…

> Opioids are insanely and instantly addictive. This is the kind of FUD that TFA is specifically addressing. Namely, that this is not always a true statement. Of course, for many people, it is, which is why people make such sweeping (and incorrect) statements. Your warning is valid, your claimed facts are not.

The assertions that the are made in the article seem like something that should be backed up with studies and not anecdotal evidence from one person (even if he is well respected).

It is an incredibly slippery slope for people to walk out on. It would be incredibly hard for someone to say whether or not they will spiral out of control if they try it and the consequences of becoming heavily addicted are life destroying. It seems like playing Russian roulette and I'm not sure it's a good thing to raise the idea that one can potentially manage it. Also, the person being interviewed could be one of the people that can't control it and will spiral out of control or him saying he manages it well and it's possible to do so could be a facade and he could be trying to do whatever possible to keep his habit alive, but we just don't know. Many people manage it fine for years without anyone knowing until they start their sharp decline towards bottom.

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

#133

Post by jtxx »

aminozuur wrote: post #6

I remember the early days of the Silk Road market. The members posted thoughtful reviews of their orders, sometimes containing lab-tests results of the drugs they'd ordered. It was a small community whose members looked more like the Hacker News crowds than the meth heads you'd see in the news.

yeah that was amazing. it felt like a lot of people on there were also fans of Erowid, which I now realize probably had a lot of the same people submitting experiences

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

#134

Post by mabbo »

rmac wrote: post #5

Man, I read this as someone who tried to use opioids and I just couldn't chip. It spiraled into full blown physical dependence. I guess i'm the type with an underlying psychiatric illness which drove my usage and denial. That there exists people like this person who can chip (controlled use of opiates) always intrigues me -- as this drug was the ultimate pathway to euphoria and thus I became the mouse hitting the but…

I can barely control my use of caffeine. Without it, I turn into a raging psychopath. And I'm consuming more and more of it all the time.

Heroin terrifies me.

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

#135

Post by ch4s3 »

read_if_gay_ wrote: post #114
sneak wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Opioids are insanely and instantly addictive. This is the kind of FUD that TFA is specifically addressing. Namely, that this is not always a true statement. Of course, for many people, it is, which is why people make such sweeping (and incorrect) statements. Your warning is valid, your claimed facts are not.

So even if it's not true for everyone that's a practically useless observation because how are you going to find out it's not true for you without risking becoming instantly addicted?

I don't have the reference at hand, but the rates of problematic use in the population seem to mirror alcohol. A small single digit percent of people will absolutely have a horrible problem, 8-10% will engage in disordered use, ~10% will over use in some way, and 80% will never develop a problem at all.

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

#136

Post by ChrisRR »

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 drugs but I don't think any of them are addicts

Which means that the other less common drugs must be a lot more addictive to bring the number down to 70%

I get the point the article is trying to make, but its headline and opening paragraphs frame it more as a "decriminalise all drugs" article

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

#137

Post by dionian »

I'm very worried about heroin addiction, but I am also worried about a pro-censorship culture. Reading the comments here, I see a lot of people worried about this 'dangerous' information. I think this kind of opinion is potentially dangerous, but I am very glad we are able to have it aired in public and discuss it rationally.

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

#138

Post by entropie »

lqet wrote: post #81
entropie wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am often wondering about how addiction "feels" It highly depends on the "thing" (it must not really be a thing). I would say "its the desire to plug a hole". Do you drink tea? Why dont you drink tea without sugar? There are lots of answers to this question. It can be "it tastes better". Thats what your mind is telling you. It probably would be more healthier to drink tea without sugar but you still add sugar to i…

But certainly it is much harder for an alcoholic to stop drinking, than for me to stop putting sugar in coffee or tea? I actually did that 15 years ago because I was too lazy to buy sugar. It tasted strange for 4-5 cups, then I was accustomed.

Alcohol is very addictive. Its one of the few drugs that can actually kill you on cold turkey. Your body will sign that it wants it and it feels very bad.

I generally tried to explain what addiction is and what it feels like. It really depends on the matter.

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