H - The surprising truth about heroin and addiction

As someone in the medical field, this article does a very good up job of restoring the balance and correcting some preconceptions regarding substance dependence and addiction - ie. that not all substances are going to lead to lifelong dependence and addiction, and in fact it only occurs to a small percentage. This is established medical fact and is taught in all medical schools now. However I worry that it might make people consider heroin as something that will be okay to have a crack at... There are very real psychosocial dangers of heroin should you end up being dependent and addicted - and the depths of despair that users end up in should not be ignored. No-one can predict ahead of time if you will be okay on it, or if you will follow the stereotypical pattern with which we are familiar with from popular culture.<p>The article also fails to mention that once addicted, and then having returned their lives to some base level where they are able to seek help (assuming they have not died of an overdose), 90% of patients that start on the methadone program are still on it 10 years later- in Australia the methadone program grows at about 4-6% per year, representing new people coming on and no-one really leaving. Not cool, and not a good lifestyle!

Addiction is a weird beast. As I understand it is has two parts:<p>1. Physiological dependence as evidenced by tolerance and withdrawal symptoms; and<p>2. Psychological addiction.<p>(2) can manifest itself in many ways that go well beyond drugs--gambling, adrenalin junkies, even Farmville.<p>The danger of some hard drugs is that they can, for some unfortunate segment of the population, be a potent mix of (1) and (2).<p>Further to (1) is that genes seem to play a role [1]. My personal view is that like many complex "traits", genetics will give certain people a predisposition to addiction.<p>The real danger of certain hard drugs (IMHO) is that you often don't you're predisposed to something until it's too late. It's almost certainly the exception rather than the norm but (I believe) you can get addicted to certain drugs very very quickly.<p>You may be able to use them just fine and not get addicted. Or you may not. Is it really worth the risk in case you turn into one of those people who spends the rest of their (much shortened) lives chasing that initial high?<p>[1]: <a href="http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/genetics/" rel="nofollow">http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/genetics/</a>

i think this quote really sums it up, "I try very hard not to use when I'm miserable, because that's what gets me into trouble."<p>it all depends on your personality. if you can get high and be responsible you can probably cope with using in moderation. unfortunately, i imagine a majority of people are not like that. i know several friends that have very addictive personalities and getting into junk would have ruined their lives.<p>a lot of it depends on how its taken as well. mainlining vs snorting vs smoking are all significantly different experiences, the amount taken as well. one can function when its only a small amount taken, increase the dose and you'll be lying around not being able or wanting to move.<p>i've tried everything under the moon though and i consider heroin pretty dangerous. i would not advise anyone to try it unless they have a very strong head. it is also one of the most amazing experiences i have ever had. the singer of sublime thought he could jump in and get out when he wanted, he overdosed, quite a sad story.

Never tried heroin, but I had to come off oxycodone cold turkey (from about 40mg a day). My pain doctor was trying to slowly bring my down from a peak in the hospital of 150mg of Demerol every 4 hours. It was going too slowly for my patience, so (out of the hospital) I just stopped. The withdrawal sucked--about 4 days of sweats, shaking, tachycardia, and a real hard time sleeping. I ended up using pot to help get me through it.<p>But ultimately, despite the physical dependance, it was easy to quit because I wanted to. Most people that fail to get off opiates fail because they don't entirely want to get off. They may think they want off, or think the need to get off, but at some level they still want the drug, and that is the essence of addiction.

Of my two friends who started using heroin as teenagers, both destroyed their pancreas by their early thirties. As of now (age 37), one of them has died from an overdose. The other is intermittently homeless.

According to this article[0] the street price of a dose of heroin is $10-$25 dollars. However, that street place is suffering 40-50 times inflation[1]. If heroin were relieved of price inflation, a dose would cost between 20 cents and 63 cents.<p>Compare that to cigarettes. I once heard from a foreign cigarette manufacture that the cost of manufacture for a pack of cigarettes if 50 cents. A pack of cigarettes contains 20 doses of nicotine and costs around 14 dollars (in New York City, American Spirit Brand). Each dose (cigarette) costs 70 cents inflated and took only two cents to produce. Nicotine suffers from a 35 times price inflation due to legalization.<p>These look like two industries that are ripe for disruption.<p>[0]<a href="http://heroin.net/about/how-much-does-heroin-cost/" rel="nofollow">http://heroin.net/about/how-much-does-heroin-cost/</a><p>[1]<a href="http://reason.com/archives/2003/06/01/h/1" rel="nofollow">http://reason.com/archives/2003/06/01/h/1</a>

Having struggled with addiction off and on for more than half my life, I would say that the opiates are some of the more enjoyable drugs, though they can be quite difficult to kick, and the legal and financial risks are very high. Cigarettes are far harder to kick. And pot isn't nearly as harmless as most make it out to be, since it literally makes people stupid with regular long-term use.<p>I kicked everything except cigarettes for nearly 20 years, then went back to some of them during a difficult time. I was hooked again for longer than I intended, and it was much harder to kick again when I was older. (I've been abstinent again for some years now, including cigarettes (after 30 years ... finally!!).)<p>The vast majority of those who experiment never become addicted. But for those who do, it is very costly, and fatal frequently enough that it is not worth the risk, at least from my minority experience perspective. There are lots of other ways to relieve stress and/or alter your consciousness.<p>I have a libertarian bent, and think drug laws have mostly accomplished the militarization of the police forces in America. They certainly have not reduced the availability of high-quality drugs. But that does not mean I agree with the idea that using heroin is just some harmless fun to be had from time to time. Reserve that category for things like skydiving or working out in a gym or getting a massage or writing some code.<p>(What's that? Writing code isn't fun, it's something you have to do? Maybe it's time for you to kick the habit then.)

Had a good friend who was educated, healthy and ran his own business. He died from an heroin overdose shortly after selling off most of his business assets to pay for his addiction.<p>Yes, this is one anecdote. But I bet you my anecdote is a fuck load more common than that of the successful New York business man cited in the article.

Disregarding the pro/con heroin issue, this article also illuminates that anti-drug campaigns are having a "facts crisis". If you say "x drug is bad for you", you should also be able to say why and how.<p>To memory-quote from a pregnancy leaflet we got a few years back:<p>- You should avoid drinking alcohol during pregnancy, because it can cause harm to the child's nervous system in the early stages.<p>- You should avoid smoking tobacco during pregnancy, because it can cause oxygen deficiency and low muscle mass in the child.<p>- You should avoid smoking hashish during pregnancy, because <i>it is illegal.</i><p>I'm not exaggerating - that was literally all the evils of hashish they could list.

I think addiction has less to do with the 'drug' and more to do with the person. Be it heroin, pain killers, sex, gambling, smoking, or alcohol segments of society are able to use these in a way that does not interfere with their own life or those of people around them.<p>There are also people who use these as a means of escape or have limited coping resources. It is not that the cigarette is bad, or the pain killer is bad, or sex is bad.<p>In saying that, having a methadone dispensary four doors down from where I am sitting, I see first hand the obvious effects of drug addiction and how people struggle to escape it's grasp.

I wonder how this business man was doing with his teeth, pancreas and kidneys.<p>I also wonder how his control of heroin would hold should he lose his job or his wife.<p>Isn't the danger of such drugs in the things they whisper to your ears when you're beholding the abyss?

Theordore Dalrymple, a prison doctor that writes under a pseudonym, has long maintaind that a) heroin isn't as addictive as people claim, and b) withdrawal symptoms are minor.<p><a href="http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_wsj-poppycock.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_wsj-poppycock.htm</a>

If you'd like a deeper look into this issue across a wider variety of substances, I highly recommend the book "Saying Yes":<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Saying-Yes-Defense-Drug-Use/dp/1585422274" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Saying-Yes-Defense-Drug-Use/dp/1585422...</a>

I can't see any good reason why someone would go to so much trouble to defend heroin, other than to assume that this is some kind of PR requested by establishment and/or intelligence groups which profit from heroin grown in places like Afghanistan (or, in the previous era, India).

&#62;If heroin really is "so good," why does it have such a tiny share of the illegal drug market? Marijuana is more than 45 times as popular.<p>One possible reason is that people are squeamish about needles and uncomfortable consuming drugs intravenously.

Heroin is so awesome but so profoundly bad for your life. Please be careful with your opiates.

Yes, some people can have functional lives on heroin.<p>But almost none of them stop using, ever.