Should heroin be prescribed to heroin misusers? Yes or No?

[rocksmokinmachine]

It is used in the UK, currently 0.5% of addicts in treatment have a diamorphine prescription.

Buprenorphine is by far the best medication available for heroin addiction SWIM says, methadone just exasperates the situation and engourages the addict to "top up". Most of the addicts SWIM knew provided positive urine samples for both opiates and methadone on a regular basis. On a plus side it was something to "fall back on". But that was it.

[oggy]

No I don't think it should ever be prescribed to addicts, this is just asking people to get addicted. Mmmmmmm pharmaceutical grade heroin

But seriously they should open up more government funded rehab centres, not start dealing more drugs.

[SuicidalSoldier]

if that's true then same can be said for benzodiazepines(well..most of them), or barbiturates, or other opiates(tramadol,codeine,etc) but i personally think it would work similar to methadone. basically you must do some tests and prove you need it to be prescribed.
although this could be a number of reasons.
such as people who inject but are at risk from dodgy gear(or have had bad reactions to cuts); people who have out-of-control habits who could benefit from a steady intake(like SWIM except the out-of-control part ); or even people who could benefit from the emotional..ehh..benefits from the euphoric well-being state that heroin produces. perhaps people with severe suicidal tendencies, or people with anger problems, or maybe even people who have bad pain(in short term like, for instance, benzodiazepines).
heroin is a drug just like any other. there will be upsides and downsides but all drugs have good cause for use. they just need to be respected and used in a manageable way that prevents them from influencing the user's thughts, feelings and behaviour to the point that it becomes an obsession.
/rant> :P
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on a side note...SWIM is on heroin at the moment and, to be honest, he is VERY happy with my writing there.
I knw..it sounds a little silly but its been a while since I wrote anything of much meaning. sorry to those who have read through all this just to find it leads to nothing.
heres something to make it all worth while :::
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Reputation Comments on this post:

remember to not self-incriminate

[mickey_bee]

Originally Posted by oggy

No I don't think it should ever be prescribed to addicts, this is just asking people to get addicted. Mmmmmmm pharmaceutical grade heroin

But seriously they should open up more government funded rehab centres, not start dealing more drugs.

I don't think you really understand how this would be implemented. Members of the public wouldn't be able to just go to the pharmacy or doctor and ask for a half gram of 99.9999999% pure heroin.

This would be prescribed in a similar way to methadone/buprenorphine. I.e. the patient would undergo interviews, health checks, and drug testing to ensure that they were in fact addicts.

You can't turn an addict into an addict. But you can and should, in a civilised, humane society, try and give them the best and safest possible life.
And at the same time greatly reduce the number of hard drug dealers, new heroin users and cost to the taxpayer.

Basically, if you believe in harm minimisation then it's pretty much impossible to not believe in this.
And if you don't believe in harm minimisation then you're simply unrealistic, or a downright nasty person!

[oggy]

Originally Posted by mickey_bee

I don't think you really understand how this would be implemented. Members of the public wouldn't be able to just go to the pharmacy or doctor and ask for a half gram of 99.9999999% pure heroin.

I meant that more people would get addicted to street heroin because they would know they would be getting a treat at the end of it. Pure heroin everyone would love pure heroin even my mother enjoyed the morphine in hospital. Some people even get hooked just for the free methadone. I do agree with what Psych0naut said for the crime reduction when methadone hasn't worked heroin should be prescribed but not for everyone.

[oggy]

SWIM thinks that instead of dealing the heroin to us why not just make it legal to grow the flower in our gardens. That should sort the problem out.

In fact people should be allowed to cultivate their own drugs, this would stop all drug crime. No dealers, no illicit drugs, no thief's, no illegal imports etc etc... and if anyone gets hurt then they only have themselves to blame. Problem solved!

[nick23]

Ummm pretty hard to grow acetic anhydride.

[oggy]

Yes but if everything was organic and in its natural state then it would be much much safer. We don't need to make any chemicals toxins in this planet we already have everything we need in nature. Anyway its not all about getting high when it comes to "whatever the government are trying to do by making drugs illegal", its about reducing crime. TBH I don't think they care about our health or whether we over dose or not, or alcohol and cigarettes would have been banned years ago and so would junk food. Its about order and control, but is this not taking our freedom away? Taking our freedom away is the only reason we commit crimes because its human nature to want to get high, other animals enjoy getting high and they don't have laws to obey. What the hell is going on?

[SuicidalSoldier]

the government has become power-hungry.
same as religion.
i wrote a paper on religion, ill post it sometime.
it was basically "religion mas made for the purpose of bringing people together. that aim has changed to money. for instance, look at the bobble-head pope things for cars. not only do they need to merchandise it to make reyalty money, but they sued the people who made it for having it the wrong colour"

i mean honestly, do you REALLY think that 'ALMIGHTY GOD' cares what colour the pope is wearing?

didnt think so!

[Psych0naut]

It's being done in the big cities in the Netherlands, under very strict circumstances and only to opioid addict to whom Methadone and Buprenorphine maintenance treatment has failed, and who have comitted criminal acts in recent period to obtain money for their illegal Heroin use. Any addicts living in our big cities and who comply to the demands of the Heroin prescription program may enter it to be treated with prescription Heroin. Crime figures among these addicts have plumitted dramatically, and many of them were able to live normal lifes again, getting a job and a house. It's a shame though, that the option of prescription Heroin is only available to those who have commited criminal acts in recent period and to whom all other treatments have failed. I can understand that they demand that all other treatments have failed, but why they demand someone to have commited criminal acts, I don't know ... That would force someone to commit crimes if they've never or hardly ever done so in the past, which is a very stupid thing. Hopefully they are going to change the demand for having commited criminal behaviour, cause it could help out a lot of addicts.

Reputation Comments on this post:

WOW! that's an amazing fact there! very intersting. thanks

[Junkhead23]

In Darlington in the UK they had a trial last year giving out pharmaceutical grade heroin to the beyond help addicts and SWIM thinks this is a good idea. SWIM thinks if there is no chance of getting an addict off the heroin they might as well give them heroin. It would stop crime almost immediately.

[dyingtomorrow]

Yes.

SWIM has been severely depressed ever since adolesence. SWIM has been to all kinds of doctors, and tried all kinds of RX meds for long periods of time. All of them just made SWIM feel sick, more depressed, or had some awful side effect worse than depression (what kind of sick fuck wouldn't take depression over a limp dick? lol).

SWIM has done all kinds of illegal drugs throughout his life, and ecstacy made him feel a little better for a while during college.

SWIM pulled thru all this shit, and was a year into law school. SWIM has also had serious insomnia which doctors also never were able to help him with. (SWIM always scored in the top 99th percentile on all standardized tests in school, and scored off the chart on the IQ test he took - so there's definitely something biologically weird about SWIM's brain). SWIM tried all kinds of illegal drug types from shrooms to crack, and never had a problem with any. SWIM was offered heroin to help him sleep after his first year in law school, and it worked. It also made him feel happy and brought out the best of him for the first time in his life. SWIM was at the top of his class, had a 100% secure job and job offer upon graduation with a huge international Fortune 100 company, and was happy with life for the first time since he was 14, thanks to being addicted to heroin for the past year. It made him happy, smarter, more perceptive, more sensitive, confident, and just loving life, when he otherwise spent the past 10 years trying to get over his fear enough to just kill himself and get this misery over with.

Everything was heaven. Everything was going perfectly - the life, job, productivity, and happiness every person longs for, all thanks to finding Heroin. Then SWIM's money ran out, and his life was completely destroyed. He's out of law school, $200,000 in debt, more depressed than ever, and just lucky to be good looking and have a girl to stay with.

If they sold heroin like they do beer, or prescribed it to people like SWIM, SWIM could accomplish anything. Instead SWIM is just totally 100% done with life at the age of 26. After knowing what it's like to love life and be happy, and going back into the uncurable gray that 10 years of doctors have been unable to treat - there really is nothing left for SWIM. SWIM's saving right now for a shitload of xanax and enough H to OD (gonna be a couple weeks at least), and is really happy to think about the end. Heroin isn't any worse than alcohol. Heroin is only a problem because of it's cost, and it's only financially unfeasible for lower and middle class people because of a stupid racist old law from the 1920s. It's too bad that, even though humans have been doing opiates for long over 4,000 years, all the sudden we're denied them, no matter how much they help you, or how happy and socially productive they make you.

Oh well, who gives a shit. It is what it is.

[Richard_smoker]

Originally Posted by dyingtomorrow

there really is nothing left for SWIM. SWIM's saving right now for a shitload of xanax and enough H to OD (gonna be a couple weeks at least), and is really happy to think about the end.

dude, i certainly hope this attitude has changed...if not, please send me a pm. reach out to someone now. no problem or drug is worth taking your life for. For christ's sake, 26 years old is FAR TOO YOUNG to make this kind of decision! -DICK

[Lobsang]

Well I would say that there are problems worth taking your life for but this gentleman has not experienced them and is as you say way to young to do it. But fuck yea are good reasons. But not this kid. No not at all.

[dyingtomorrow]

Originally Posted by Lobsang

Well I would say that there are problems worth taking your life for but this gentleman has not experienced them and is as you say way to young to do it. But fuck yea are good reasons. But not this kid. No not at all.

I don't see what the big deal about it is if you don't believe in heaven or hell. I'd say reaching the heights of pleasure for a couple years, being so in debt you'll never have money again, and hating bare subsistence and 9-5 life is a pretty good reason to just take a shortcut through the bullshit after you've had your cake. The only thing I can think of on the opposite scale is the chance of winning the lotto, or maybe hitting my head and become the kind of simp who can tolerate emotionally unfulfilling monotony, and those are pretty stupid reasons.

[Richard_smoker]

well, i hate that this is going to sound like i'm talking DOWN to you. but, i'm afraid there's no other way to say what i'm thinking.

when i was 26, i had similar beliefs, similar world view. hell, even now, I sometimes struggle with thoughts like 'what's the point?'

but if i'd tuned out for good at that age, i would have really done one giant negative number on my life-story. there's so much that seemed to be the most important things in the world at 26, that are now ranked in the 'least important' category.

but, that's not to say that i don't empathize with ya. hopefully you will be shown some tiny fraction of the life you still can have before you before you make such a drastic, irreversible decision. -DICK

[humdroid]

Yes, because its heroins illegality that makes the dodgy and unsafe elements of it possible.

Y dosen't or has no intention of using H.
Y uses kratom from time to time, which if Y is not mistaken, like a little heroin.