Nod Responsibly

[BorisB]

I'm making this post to gather a collective opinion.

I intend to continue using opiates (Heroin and Morphine) as I have, in morderation and with temperance. That is, to never experience addiction. Opiates and addiction do not necessarily go hand in hand anymore than casual drinking and alcoholism do, or speeding and injurious car crashes.

Personally, in my recent experiences, I have found that the day after using is the time where I am most driven to use again, yet find it relatively easy to curb any desire and by the day after, find desire to use negligable.

So, the question, how many people believe it is plausible to use casually and with temperance, never facing addiction (as most people who drink would not have to face alcoholism)?

To give a better perspective, I just read Saying Yes in defense of drug use and its chapter on opiates (specifically heroin and morphine) supports the view that they can be used by healthy, functioning people (BTW, I highly suggest the book).

[ventrue]

well, personally i believe that to be able to say you are not addicted. you have to truly know what addiction is, and seeing it on tv or in a book, or even in a friend is not enough. i use/abuse speed on a regular basis, why? because i like it. its my cigarettes/coffee/beer whatever. I too, only have the urge to do more when i'm on it, and that is less and less. I go longer and longer between "uses". I make it a point not to use it to "wake up" every morning.
i guess my question for you is...have you ever been addicted, and can you say, yes i AM technically addicted, and thats ok with me.

[motorhead]

Your method of usage will be a determining factor on how much your body becomes dependand on opiates. What i mean is if you are injecting this stuff there is a greater chance of addiction. However this doesnt guarentee that you will face withdrawl symptoms, swim didnt. Swim used various opiates, mainly dilaudids, for more than a year mainly with the dart and never once experienced a physical withdrawl symptom.
I beleive, as you do, that any drug can be used recreationally. However, that doesnt change the fact that opiates are very addictive, and that when people with addictive personalities use them the end result is usually the same.

[BorisB]

Ventrue, I agree and disagree with you. I agree in the sense that to truly understand what addiction is and how it comes about, you would have to experience it yourself. However, I disagree with you in the sense that we cannot learn from others' actions and avoid physical and resist psychological addiction altogether ourselves.

Motorhead, as far as my understanding of potential for addiction goes, I have learned this: the faster the pleasurable chemical goes to the brain, the more likelihood of addiction. Thereby, hard alcohol gives alcohol to the brain at a quicker rate than beer, heroin creates morphine in the brain faster than other opiates, and IV/IM gives any injected chemical to the brain at a much quicker rate than any other means of administration. Thereby, those types of things will be more addictive than counterparts such as beer, hydrocodone, or injestion.

Motorhead, I think you've made an important point, one that I forgot to phrase and that I've really gathered the significance of from the book I cited.

Originally Posted by motorhead

However, that doesnt change the fact that opiates are very addictive, and that when people with addictive personalities use them the end result is usually the same.

Legal, nonlegal, and whatnot, people who are apt to become addicted to substances are going to be abusers. This is the act that destroys the reputation of drug use. My belief is that the majority of people who would desire to use opiates of any degree could use them responsibly.

But in your opinion, would it be safe to have opiates (including opium, morphine, heroin) avaliable to the public?

Would the public be endangered by making these substances readily avaliable to people with addictive personalities?

What types of people desire to use these substances, and of those people, how many of them are able to use responsibly?

[ventrue]

i see what you are saying, for instance, you dont have to go find out that getting hit by a car will fuck you up. but banking on the fact that you will see addiction coming and be able to stem it off without any fore knowledge (because everyone is different right) is a risky gamble. but i am no one to talk. honestly in the long run, most of the stand up people in this forum and that i know in real life have fought, conquered, and controlled their addiction(s). its like a medal that lets u speak without raising your hand lol