Doubtless you speak at least partly with your tongue in your cheek, but I actually have found the whole SDMB experience rather addicting, and I’ve been a guest member for less than a week! Sort of scary, huh?
Some interesting facts you mentioned there. Do you know why the sexual demographics of opiate addiction changed so radically after drugs of this type were banned? Also, could this observation be used to support (if perhaps in a weird sort of way) the (re?)legalization of this sort of stuff? After all, the taking of narcotics in such a “genteel” and socially acceptable fashion sounds a helluva lot more attractive than the current situation with regards to the use of heroin and other opiates ie malnourished, disease-ridden junkies taking their drug of choice in squalid surroundings, and supporting their habits with (in many instances) other people’s money. Are there some parallels with the experience of Prohibition to be drawn here?
Please excuse the rapid succession of postings from me on this subject. I have really only had a chance today to read most of the postings that other members have sent in, and many of them contain things I would like to comment on. Thankyou to everyone who has contributed to this thread so far. You raise some fascinating (if often disturbing) points.
Anyone (someone who knows a bit about neurochemistry perhaps) like to comment on this, and supply some further information?
Ah yes, crack cocaine. Another notorious drug (and perhaps deservedly so). Anyone know anything about that one? Where I come from (Australia), it’s not that big a problem (yet); from various things I’ve heard about it, I should probably hope that the situation remains that way!
Yes, I saw “Trainspotting” when it came out, and must admit that it didn’t do a great deal for me; my memories of it are of a long, depressing and rather dull movie, and I’d have to say that I found its ending rather annoying too. I find it hilarious, however, how a lot of people criticized it at the time of its release for supposedly “glamourizing” heroin use. Given that it seemed to do anything but, its critics must have been (as vocal critics of controversial movies so often are) people who hadn’t actually seen it. If any recent movie could be accused of glamourizing heroin, it’d have to be “Pulp Fiction”, I’d say (another movie I didn’t like terribly much).
A similar hazard I’ve heard of relates to the unreliable purity of heroin (given that it’s illegal and is therefore not subject to any form of quality control whatsoever). I’ve heard tales of users who have been used to taking heavily-cut rubbish, and OD after taking a hit of unusually high purity. I think something like this happened in Australia several years back when Vietnamese gangs (based in places like the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta) started selling very pure stuff (which, perhaps ironically, is better for you in the long-term if you’re going to become addicted to the drug) that was causing junkies to OD in rather alarming numbers.
Another danger I’ve been told of involves the way heroin apparently makes people vomit, particularly when they’re taking it for the first time. Apparently, some people shoot up; lie down to enjoy the warm, fuzzy feelings of oneness with the universe or whatever that they’re expecting from the drug; and then, when they’re in a semi-conscious (or unconscious) state, throw up, the result being that they choke on their own chunder. Interestingly, the person who mentioned this to me was a convicted murderer who I used to visit in prison several years back (really for something to do; seeing him became an addicting experience in itself). He also told me that heroin, marijuana and a sleeping pill called Rohypnol were the drugs of choice in his current place of incarceration at the time (the late 1990s). My getting to know him is really a story in itself, but let me just say that, as a way of shocking your parents (since mine found out about my visits to this guy eventually), visiting a murderer in prison sure-as-hell beats the usual boring things kids do to freak out their folks eg having sex, smoking dope etc. I think that mine were particularly horrified by the fact that the person in question was inside for murdering somebody much like myself, and I suppose that, in retrospect, I can’t really blame them!
Care to elaborate?
Yes, I believe smoking (“chasing the dragon”) is a more respectable way of taking heroin if you decide to experiment with it (apparently the risk of ODing is much less if you smoke the drug rather than inject it, though, sadly, not the risk of becoming addicted!). I did actually see a guy smoke a bit of the stuff recently (at a punk show), and it proved a somewhat humorous sight to behold. He was melting the heroin on a piece of foil and inhaling the resultant fumes through an empty ballpoint casing, but unfortunately the piece of foil was a little too small for his purposes, and he seemed to be getting a burnt thumb and index finger from trying to hold onto it! I was a bit surprised when I first heard that heroin could be smoked (apparently it has to be pretty pure to be taken in this fashion, however), but I suppose I shouldn’t have been. After all, heroin’s ultimate precursor - opium - is usually smoked.
My last post on this subject (at least for the time being)!
Yes, I’ve heard this as well. Apparently the name was coined to give people the impression that the drug would convey heroic properties if taken.
Da Cissy Pimp:
On the smoking-thereof process, or on my gut reaction?
To smoke it: it was smeared on rolling papers which were subsequently used to roll a marijuana joint.
The gut-reaction thing: mellow, warm, mindless, pleasant, with a nice big “do that again” smilieface welded onto it. More to the point, an awareness that at least for me, personally, I could get really dangerously fond of it real fast. That coupled with the ordinary awareness that it’s known to be addictive and damn hard to kick. Now, I’ve tried other things that have a similar reputation. Crack-smoking, mentioned a couple posts uphill, is one of them. But with crack my general reaction was “big deal, it’s like coffee on steroids and it makes me feel mean as well as easily panicked, maybe it gets addictive if you keep doing it but why would I want to?”, whereas with heroin it was “hmm, got any more of this I can take home with me? Uh oh, I am so not supposed to be thinking that after trying this just for once, good god can you imagine if this stuff was easily available in vending machines?”
I suspect different people have different affinities for different addictive recreational drugs, and for someone else cocaine, speed, crack, etc., would be the dangerously appealing ones; for me the opiates are the Bad Idea Bears.
According to this, nicotine is the most addictive drug - followed by heroin.
Makes you wonder why tobacco is legal.
Thanks for sharing your experiences; it’s good to see that you’re willing to try notorious drugs before passing judgement on them. On the subject of addictive things, this reminds me of a story from the comic “Judge Dredd” in 2000 AD magazine. In this story (there were probably several relating to the subject in question), a confectioner known as Uncle Ump makes the perfect candy, a product he dubs Umpty Gum (IIRC). Unfortunately, his invention is so delicious that people eating it become addicted to it and suffer rather frightening withdrawal symptoms if deprived of it. For the Greater Good of Mega City One and its innumerable citizens, the Judges outlaw Umpty Gum, and put its creator on a spaceship that they then send into deep space, so as to prevent anyone from forcing the secret recipe out of him. Unfortunately, however, the usual enterprising criminals (aided by good old fashioned police corruption) go after the spaceship, dock with it, and extract the recipe from Ump. Once they have done so (and dumped the unfortunate Ump into space for his troubles), they bring the knowledge they have obtained back to Earth, where they use it to start up a thriving black market in the contraband confectionery.
Good thing (or terribly horrible thing) is that pain killers do the oppisite effect on me, if they do anything at all. I got perscription pain killers for my migraines…and they made them worse. Motrin, ibuprofin, tylonal…all make my headaches worse. So the good thing is I don’t get addicted. Bad thing is…I have to deal with intense pain. Thats just life I guess.
Because, as noted above, the claim that nicotine is more addictive than heroin is untrue - did you read the thread before posting? It’s a pretty baseless piece of propaganda.
Psilocybe’s link is interesting and it’s the only one I’ve seen in this thread that actually contains something other than unsupported statements. I suggest you read it, or provide a link to data that supports your position, as insulting someone who posts a cite without providing one yourself is bad form.
In both of the addiction scales from Psilocybe’s cite, nicotine is listed as one tier (out of six) more serious in causing development of a dependency and one tier lower in the seriousness of withdrawal. Heroin outstrips it in the other categories, but if we’re talking about addiction, I would imagine creation of a dependency and seriousness of withdrawal would be major considerations.
A tangent and direct question to QtM (or anyone else who knows):
Someone told me that doctors used to be wary about giving to much morphine (and related drugs) to patients, say after surgery, because they didn’t want to make addicts out of them. Same person said that the attitude is more relaxed today, since current science claim that since the drug is curing real pain, the risk of addiction is very small. Or, IOW, the psychological factor behind addiction is taking front seat and some scientists claim that use doesn’t equal addiction. True or not?
You’re not the only one. Some people (such as myself) are resistant in some manner to opiates. The one period I’ve taken them (while convalescing from my tonsillectomy) I found them to be a mighty unpleasant experience. The morphine given immediately afer I came out of the OR I have little memory of (as I was still waking up from anaesthesia), but the vicodin I was given for the next few weeks did absolutely squat for pain, and caused perpetual headache, bone-dry mouth, and an unpleasant fuzzyness to all my senses (and intestinal pluggery as well!) Given this experience, I’m unlikely to ever try heroin, not because I’m afraid of addiction to it, but because I fully expect it to do nothing but give me a migraine.
There is little danger in addicting someone physically by using opiates for acute pain from significant trauma (like surgery). There are more problems associated with causing (or maintaining) addiction by using it for chronic non-malignant pain.
That whole discussion is a textbook in itself. I’m currently putting together a presentation for about 50 physicians and assorted health professionals next month on just when (and when not) to use opiates to treat chronic non-malignant pain. The correct answer appears to be “not often, and NOT as a first-line choice”.
Not only am I resistant to painkillers, but I’m immune to every antibiotic out there but 2 I believe. So I have to be careful to watch for infections, on account of I can’t really take anything to clear it up.
The Harrison Act (1914) which made opiate-base drugs like heroin and morphine illegal in the USA (exceptby a doctor’s prescription), was in response to a big upsuge in addiction. However, I have never read anything that describes what drug addicts of the early 1900’s were up to-were they robbing people and murdering old ladies tosupport their habit?
I get the impression that opiates are fairly cheap drugs to produce…I’ve been told that a “maintainence” dose of herion for a typical addict would cost about $10.00/week. In any case, since patent medicines 9containing high percentages of opiates) were readily available back then, were addicts a big percentage of the population? Was IV drug use commo 
n as well?
Looking at Psilocybes link, it just goes counter to everything that addicts tell me.
I have to ask myself who is likely to know most about the relative addictive properties of hard drugs, some researchers using what appear to be subjective tests, or actually speaking to drug users themselves.
Nowhere in that cite does it mention anything about talking to drug users, a bit of a weakness in the research I think.
The withdrawal symptons from heroin are of a completely differant order, and the social reinforcement mechanism for smoking as compared to heroin are far far differant.
Smokers can come under huge pressure to take up the habit again by advertisers, or by just being around places where smoking is common, and there are far more places where smoking routinely occurs than heroin.
CASDAVE: does the UK still allowregitered addicts to obtain heroin by prescription? I read once that this had been tried…is the program still on going? And doesit reduce addiction rates?