# First Dose of Heroin Free? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 14, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934 "2018-10-14T14:04:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/1 "2018-10-14T14:04:29Z")
Easy one, do drug dealers traditionally give away the first dose of some gruesome drug free in order to addict new customers? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/2 "2018-10-14T14:37:15Z")
Note you don’t get addicted after just one hit: > [@](#): > > Drugs can’t change brain chemistry fast enough to make someone instantly dependent. Indeed, a British study of 72 heroin users in 2002 found that it took on average more than a year for people to become hooked to heroin, and none claimed to have been instantly addicted. > **[Can You Really Become Addicted to a Drug After Just One Hit?](https://www.vice.com/en/article/exqm9j/reasons-why-you-cant-get-addicted-to-drugs-after-one-hit)** > > The idea that one toke on a crack pipe destroys your life is popular, but it contradicts what we know about brain chemistry. They do occasionally give out free samples to encourage buyers to switch to them. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/3 "2018-10-14T15:30:39Z")
Just out of high school I went to work at a place sanding furniture. The entire sanding room was heroin addicts. They would give me a free fix for transporting them back and forth to their connection. This went on for a couple of months. I never got hooked but I did have some desire to pick some of now and then for at least 20 years later. I think I was very close to getting hooked. Emotional states have more to do with it than the drug itself I believe. If you are feeling really bad about yourself it will fix that even though you will end up feeling worse later. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/4 "2018-10-14T15:31:33Z")
Heroin use has increased at least in part because of the epidemic of addiction to prescription opioids. People get hooked on prescription oxycontin, then it’s cheaper and easier to get heroin than black market pills. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/5 "2018-10-14T15:35:20Z")
Once I get that terminal diagnosis, I am flying to Lisbon to try all this stuff. Thank you all. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/6 "2018-10-14T15:48:59Z")
If I make it to 90 years old, I’m going to give heroin a try, along with wingsuit proximity flying. Well, perhaps not both at the same time. We’re all backwards in the relationship between age and our attitude to risk. Young people (men especially) think they are indestructible and do crazy risky stuff, at a point when death would mean a loss of 60 or 70 years of future life. Then we get more and more conservative and cautious as we get older. Really that should be completely reversed. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/7 "2018-10-14T15:49:55Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Note you don’t get addicted after just one hit: I guess in the same way, you don’t get addicted to Oxycontin after one prescription. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/8 "2018-10-15T01:15:13Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > If I make it to 90 years old, I’m going to give heroin a try, along with wingsuit proximity flying. Well, perhaps not both at the same time. > > We’re all backwards in the relationship between age and our attitude to risk. Young people (men especially) think they are indestructible and do crazy risky stuff, at a point when death would mean a loss of 60 or 70 years of future life. Then we get more and more conservative and cautious as we get older. Really that should be completely reversed. Part of it may be that only the conservative ones survive. But more likely it is because the body is no longer capable of the feats of youth as one increases in age. Most athletes peak in their late 20s or so. Certainly by the time you’re 40 there’s plenty you can’t actually do without hurting yourself compared to when you were 20. I suspect that you’d lack the agility necessary for any technical wingsuit flying at 90 years old, regardless of how well you kept yourself in shape. ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/9 "2018-10-15T01:30:36Z")
The myth of the “drug pusher” is an old one. Drug dealers don’t PUSH drugs, drugs sell themselves. Any body here know/live near a meth/coke dealer? The druggies will call, text, come by, bang on the door/window, they wait at his day job to see if he’s hooked up yet. Pot dealers, are potheads…if you want them to do their thing it’s like herding cats. Nobody is shoving drugs down other peoples throats, except the AMA. (talk to your doctor)🆒😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/10 "2018-10-15T01:58:42Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Note you don’t get addicted after just one hit: > > [Can You Really Become Addicted to a Drug After Just One Hit?](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/exqm9j/reasons-why-you-cant-get-addicted-to-drugs-after-one-hit) > > They do occasionally give out free samples to encourage buyers to switch to them. Dependence may not develop after one time but that is a different thing than addiction. Addiction to heroin is psychological. Yes, the dependence to heroin is a nasty beast that may make breaking the addiction that much harder but both conditions can exist independently of each other. I don’t believe there is an objective answer as to how fast an addiction can form, but it doesn’t strike me as implausible that for some it could be as soon as after the first time. All that being said, no, drug dealers don’t give a damn thing away. Especially drugs that are known to be needed on a regular basis to prevent withdrawal sickness. How would a dealer know you were telling the truth when you say its your first time trying heroin? To the dealer, you’re just another junkie trying to scam your way into a free pack. > [@Riemann](#): > > Heroin use has increased at least in part because of the epidemic of addiction to prescription opioids. People get hooked on prescription oxycontin, then it’s cheaper and easier to get heroin than black market pills. Especially with the relatively recent massive influx of cheap black tar heoin from China (I think it is China?). ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/11 "2018-10-15T03:02:23Z")
IDK, I am addictive and OCD to the max. If I did drugs I assume I would be dependant almost immediately. It the way my brain works. I come from a long line of drunks, in all stages of addiction. So I know I have the genes. I dodged the bullet by being diagnosed diabetic very young. Go figure that one out. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/12 "2018-10-15T04:50:13Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Especially with the relatively recent massive influx of cheap black tar heroin from China (I think it is China?). Fentanyl may be cheaper: > [@](#): > > A day’s supply of heroin used to cost him $100. Now, for that amount, he can get enough fentanyl to last more than three weeks. > **[The Surprising Ease of Buying Deadly Drugs Online](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/01/the-surprising-ease-of-buying-fentanyl-online/551915/)** > > To get extremely potent opioids, users turn to the dark web—and sometimes, Google. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/13 "2018-10-15T06:01:07Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Especially with the relatively recent massive influx of cheap black tar heoin from China (I think it is China?). Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/14 "2018-10-15T07:41:20Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > . . . Addiction to heroin is psychological. . . > > . . . Especially drugs that are known to be needed on a regular basis to prevent withdrawal sickness. . . You’re contradicting yourself here. Heroin, indeed all opiods, are both psychologically and physiologically addictive. Here’s the very brief explanation: your body produces it’s own opiods for use in the central nervous system as neurotransmitters. Drugs such as morphine (your body chemically alters all opiods into morphine), mimic the ones made by the body. The human body likes to save energy when it can, so if it doesn’t have to produce it’s own, it doesn’t. It’s much easier for the body to turn off these endorphins (_endo_genous m_orphin_es) than it is to turn them back on, particularly with long term drug use. And the drugs are more potent than the endogenous ones, anyway. Opiod drugs have an affinity for the opiod receptors in the pleasure, pain, and digestive parts of the CNS. When you take them away a REAL PHYSICAL REACTION of depression, pain, and nausea ensues. These withdrawal symptoms may be slight after short term use but the longer and more often you use the drugs, the more severe the symptoms get. The psychological part comes about because you body knows that these withdrawal symptoms can be mitigated with more drugs, so the cravings start right away. [And that’s not all](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin): > [@](#): > > Repeated heroin use changes the physical structure and physiology of the brain, creating long-term imbalances in neuronal and hormonal systems that are not easily reversed. Studies have shown some deterioration of the brain’s white matter due to heroin use, which may affect decision-making abilities, the ability to regulate behavior, and responses to stressful situations. Heroin also produces profound degrees of tolerance and physical dependence. Tolerance occurs when more and more of the drug is required to achieve the same effects. With physical dependence, the body adapts to the presence of the drug, and withdrawal symptoms occur if use is reduced abruptly ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/15 "2018-10-15T09:51:04Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > You’re contradicting yourself here. > Heroin, indeed all opiods, are both psychologically and physiologically addictive. > > Here’s the very brief explanation: your body produces it’s own opiods for use in the central nervous system as neurotransmitters. Drugs such as morphine (your body chemically alters all opiods into morphine), mimic the ones made by the body. The human body likes to save energy when it can, so if it doesn’t have to produce it’s own, it doesn’t. It’s much easier for the body to turn off these endorphins (_endo_genous m_orphin_es) than it is to turn them back on, particularly with long term drug use. And the drugs are more potent than the endogenous ones, anyway. Opiod drugs have an affinity for the opiod receptors in the pleasure, pain, and digestive parts of the CNS. When you take them away a REAL PHYSICAL REACTION of depression, pain, and nausea ensues. These withdrawal symptoms may be slight after short term use but the longer and more often you use the drugs, the more severe the symptoms get. The psychological part comes about because you body knows that these withdrawal symptoms can be mitigated with more drugs, so the cravings start right away. > > [And that’s not all](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin): You are describing dependence. Fear of withdrawal is not addiction. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/16 "2018-10-15T10:02:09Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > You are describing dependence. Fear of withdrawal is not addiction. The difference between [dependence and addiction](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_dependence). ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/17 "2018-10-15T20:26:13Z")
At the low levels drug dealers aren’t really drug dealers and users aren’t really users, they’re just friends and acquaintances. So in that sense the first one usually is free because everyone is just partying together. If after that you want more you ask your friend and they either get you some (the lowest level of dealing) or introduce you to their connection (the first time you meet an actual drug dealer). The actual drug dealer you meet has probably only been dealer for a short time and is probably some idiot who realized that if they bought in bulk they could sell a little and get their drugs for free. The whole point is that the idea of the big bad drug dealer is for the most part fake. The only way you might actually meet someone who could resemble a mythical drug dealer is by becoming a dealer yourself and at those levels they aren’t giving it away for free. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/18 "2018-10-15T20:52:53Z")
Yes, I’m fully aware of the distinction between addiction and dependence. But, statements like > [@Ambivalid](#): > > Addiction to heroin is psychological. > [@Ambivalid](#): > > Fear of withdrawal is not addiction. lead me to believe that you consider heroin addiction to just be pleasure seeking or displeasure avoidance behavior. Which couldn’t be farther from the truth. Heroin makes real physical changes to the body which all but make the addictive behavior compulsive. Heroin addiction is indistinguishable from heroin dependence. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/19 "2018-10-15T21:27:58Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > Yes, I’m fully aware of the distinction between addiction and dependence. But, statements like > > lead me to believe that you consider heroin addiction to just be pleasure seeking or displeasure avoidance behavior. Which couldn’t be farther from the truth. Heroin makes real physical changes to the body which all but make the addictive behavior compulsive. Heroin addiction is indistinguishable from heroin dependence. Im sorry but this is bullshit. You may assert that you know the difference between dependence and addiction but you’ve shown that you do not. If you remember, i did say that dependence can make addiction that much harder to kick but each condition can exist independently of each other. For example, someone who does heroin once a month can be addicted while not being dependent. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-dose-of-heroin-free/822934/20 "2018-10-15T21:47:22Z")
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