Opinions - If heroin was free and in unlimited supply

[Wehr]

Would swiy want to get off the junk or continue using well into old age if the dope was constantly available with no end in sight and FREE of any cost to swiy??

SwiWehr would never ever even consider quiting regardless of all the negative health effects! It's running out and paying for the shit that sucks!

How about swiy, what would swiy do? Still want to quit?

[fnord]

Im assuming its also legal? If so then id be dead pretty quick,or id learn my limits and find a happy medium in between dead and drooling.

Do they sell narcan/naloxon in IV bags?

[Junkhead23]

If it was pure people could inject it into the muscle with no ill effects

[BastardoFatsquardo]

SWIM would probably be living a much better quality of life, SWIM wouldnt mind paying for it as well, just the fact of having a reliable steady source where SWIM actually knew the potency of it would be amazing. SWIM would then not have to waste so much time trying to get it, waiting for people, etc. SWIM would not OD, as SWIM has a very high tolerance, and barely gets anything from street gear etc.

[chinpokomaster]

Well it's expensive and it's sometimes shite or not even there, and SWIM STILL goes after it. So what do you think? :P

[sandoz1943]

SWIM would do heroin if it was free, trust worthy quality, and free. This is why after smoking opium SWIM understands she cant do opiates ever. SWIM knows she likes them and addiction would be too easy. She likes drugs too much to limit herself to just any one of them.

[cra$h]

opiates are swim's love. unlimited FREE heroin? damn, swim wouldn't care if it was only 1% smack, 99% cut. He'd invest in purification or something. But that would be swim's dream! (and thanks to some poppy plants, the dream isn't far away!)

[Spucky]

Swim becomes a Terrorist and will fight that Stuff!

[Hapworth]

SWIM would never quite using dope, and he wouldn't mind. SWIM believes that he is a better person on dope. The problems come from all the stigma associated with the drug, as well as the financial strain caused by street prices. If H were legalized and made available at a reasonable cost (imagining H to be free as the OP does is a bit far-fetched), SWIM would be one high and happy camper.

[Junkhead23]

Originally Posted by Hapworth

SWIM would never quite using dope, and he wouldn't mind. SWIM believes that he is a better person on dope. The problems come from all the stigma associated with the drug, as well as the financial strain caused by street prices. If H were legalized and made available at a reasonable cost (imagining H to be free as the OP does is a bit far-fetched), SWIM would be one high and happy camper.

Its funny how much SWIY sound like Pacman was when he first started using H.

[dyingtomorrow]

Originally Posted by Hapworth

SWIM would never quite using dope, and he wouldn't mind. SWIM believes that he is a better person on dope. The problems come from all the stigma associated with the drug, as well as the financial strain caused by street prices. If H were legalized and made available at a reasonable cost (imagining H to be free as the OP does is a bit far-fetched), SWIM would be one high and happy camper.

SWIM feels exactly the same as you do.

The bad things that have happened in SWIM's life from Heroin use are all 100% attributable to the fact that it's illegal, and SWIM really looks down on people who start blaming the chemical "diacetylmorphine" for all their problems. It's a double cop-out - they are not only trying to point the finger at "someone" else, but they are picking the easiest target and scapegoating the chemical, rather than the truly responsible party: (themselves in an abstract sense but more so) the government and its "[Scortched Earth] War [of Attrition] on [Tens of Millions of American Citizens Who Use] Drugs."

It's cowardice really. They know everyone wants to hear them say how evil Heroin is so they'll forgive them, and because their society/friends/family/loved ones want to trust them again and believe that it was all the chemical's fault, and X would never actually mean to steal from them. From a self-survival perspective, you can't really blame these people who sacrifice social progress for immediate expediency. They know it is the cop out people want to hear, and that it will give them a better chance to get along with a semi-normal life if they just say it. But really it's just pawning the problem off on everyone else; on present addicts, people who really need help, people who will be addicted in the future, and themselves, again, in all probability.

When alcohol was illegalized in the U.S. in the 1920s, we saw an almost completely analogous case as with the current War on Drugs. The social problems and costs multiplied exponentially compared to the minor harmful effects that alcohol previously had on American society. The government needlessly began destroying countless productive lives for drinking, as well as nipping future productivity in the bud from members of society with its permanent brand of CRIMINAL. It vastly increased violence, ancillary crime related to the black market, public danger from drinking toxic alcohol, and so on. When it regulated alcohol again and allowed people to buy it, all of these problems went away - just like they would with Heroin. The only difference is that the results would be even better for society in the case of Heroin, because most people become MORE functional on opiates (when they don't have the extreme stress of money, source, and law enforcement problems) - whereas alcohol stupefies people and makes them LESS functional.


--------------------------------

To answer the OP:

SWIM would fluctuate his use - the same way people fluctuate on their alcohol use. SWIM would be using it for the same reasons as the people who come home from work and have some beers. If it were free it would also imply that there would be easy ways to get off it available to the public, which are now illegal and highly controled for some reason, such as Suboxone, Ibogaine, Ketamine, Benzos, so the problems that people have with getting off H would totally disappear over night.

SWIM's use would definitely go up and down. Sometimes he knows he would get off it just because he is kind of restless like that. Also there would be other motivations like traveling and such not to bother with it - but again if it were legal and free getting off H would take like 2 days max and wouldn't be a problem.

All and all SWIM probably would end up doing a lot less, and a lot less frequently.

[kant]

Originally Posted by Hapworth

SWIM would never quite using dope, and he wouldn't mind. SWIM believes that he is a better person on dope. The problems come from all the stigma associated with the drug, as well as the financial strain caused by street prices. If H were legalized and made available at a reasonable cost (imagining H to be free as the OP does is a bit far-fetched), SWIM would be one high and happy camper.

Originally Posted by dyingtomorrow

When it regulated alcohol again and allowed people to buy it, all of these problems went away - just like they would with Heroin. The only difference is that the results would be even better for society in the case of Heroin, because most people become MORE functional on opiates (when they don't have the extreme stress of money, source, and law enforcement problems) - whereas alcohol stupefies people and makes them LESS functional.

SWIM likes the idea that heroin makes one a better person, and, although he hasn't touched any H himself, believes he has sufficient opiate experience to agree. From the inner harmony with oneself which opiates establish, all improvement in a person's relationship with the world and the society derives. SWIM went to all his exams under opiates and is absolutely sure that he had never performed so well. Also, the benefits of opiates on social life are immense. And it is astounding how ridiculously simple certain things become while under the drug. Everything loses its authority. You look at things that once demanded your complete seriousness with a sort of fatherly smirk. Why not, if everyone else are just children engaged in the silly games they themselves have made up - and they are so ridiculously serious about them.

In the short-run, at least. What SWIM thinks is that the positive effects of opiates on a person's life on the whole are questionable. Even without the hardships in acquiring the drug, it does take a lot of your time. Now it can be argued whether this "lost" time could be better spent, since it would have been dedicated to certain kind of pleasure-seeking activities anyway, although not nearly as direct and as immediately successful. But it just might be the case, and very likely is, that a more permanent and complete fulfilment is found outside the realm of psychoactive substances. However, it obviously depends on the person, and SWIM is not afraid to claim that a life on ever-available opiates would certainly be a good life.

However, SWIM does not want to claim so readily that open use of opiates would be good for the society. There were times when opium was available to the public at a very low cost, which resulted in an enormous level of addiction. If SWIM is not mistaken, no less than a fifth of the whole population of China in the 18th-19th century was addicted. SWIM, however, has no sources on just how damaging this was, so perhaps the negative effect might have been even less harmful than that of alcohol. Alcohol, on the other hand, does not claim as many victims - it takes a lot to get seriously addicted to it.

Coleridge, for example, found that opium decreased his poetic ability. The enthusiasm to do things disappears, it becomes unnecessary, as the ends - which can always be reduced to pure pleasures - can now be reached by much simpler means. However, you might still sail the seas of opium pleasures and think how much better still it would be to be famous or rich and powerful. Opium does not attack and destroy the abilities themselves, nor your reason or skill - it most likely enhances them - but the real problem is that it renders them unnecessary. So you are always stuck with the dream of writing a major philosophical work, like De Quincey and many other intellectual addicts of the Victorian era, or your amazing work of literature, which you have already completed in your mind, while being robbed of the real impulse to carry your intentions out.

Opiates do make a person better, but it is very unclear whether this would still hold with unlimited supply and constant use. Of course, of course - who has said that the society of the form that we have today is something worth maintaining? An opium state would be a whole lot different from any political system seen so far. But SWIM is still very unsure whether it would be a truly happy one.

SWIM is VERY sorry to have talked off topic, but hopes that it will be acknowledged that the deviation is merely formal.

[Master_Khan]

Originally Posted by kant

But it just might be the case, and very likely is, that a more permanent and complete fulfilment is found outside the realm of psychoactive substances.

Swim will testify.

Nice place to visit, etc.

[BrownStreakRailroad]

Originally Posted by kant

Alcohol, on the other hand, does not claim as many victims - it takes a lot to get seriously addicted to it.
.

Are SWIY for real? Alcohol claims many more thousands of lives every year in the UK alone and the amount of money and resources dedicated to repairing the damage caused by alcohol is ridiculous and Heroin addiction rates pale in significance.....SWIM beleives that Heroin has given him some interesting life lessons and has given SWIM a extra 'sense' that he may not have had were it not for the life that H inevitably brings....however, SWIM does not beleive Heroin use has made him 'a better person', infact quite the opposite.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good correction given and good experience shared

[kant]

Originally Posted by BrownStreakRailroad

Are SWIY for real? Alcohol claims many more thousands of lives every year in the UK alone and the amount of money and resources dedicated to repairing the damage caused by alcohol is ridiculous and Heroin addiction rates pale in significance.....SWIM beleives that Heroin has given him some interesting life lessons and has given SWIM a extra 'sense' that he may not have had were it not for the life that H inevitably brings....however, SWIM does not beleive Heroin use has made him 'a better person', infact quite the opposite.

What I meant to say was that it is harder to get addicted to alcohol, I mean, if heroin was legal, cheap and available at any pharmacy, a vast number of people would be addicted, no doubt, and this number would be much greater than that which a history of legal alcohol use has generated. But alcohol is more damaging health-wise, true.

It is not heroin that makes one a worse person, it is the illegality of it. It is drug dealers who force junkies steal, not heroin. Theoretically, would heroin, if there were no problems using it, make one a better person? SWIM thinks it would, in certain ways, although it would be negative in others. To think of this question requires removing oneself from the drug-paranoid world, where saying stuff like "heroin use is beneficial" sounds wrong.

[Roscco]

Swim thinks he'd be dead prtty quickly, In this swims life, enough is never enough.

[mickey_bee]

Originally Posted by Roscco

Swim thinks he'd be dead prtty quickly, In this swims life, enough is never enough.

If it was pure, then you'd know your dose. So if you died from it, then you'd know beforehand- it would be suicide!


If it were legal I think I'd probably get off it later in life, just like I think I will at the moment.
However, my life until I chose to give up would be a hell of alot happier, easier, safer, and more productive than it is given heroin's current illegality.
Oh well.

[BrownStreakRailroad]

SWIM feels how SWIdyingtomorrow does about this, he would become more productive and would be able to minimise the bullshit that comes with heroin to a visit to the doc every couple of weeks and a trip to the chemist every few days or even once a day!! as this would be insignificant compared to the drama SWIM goes through on a daily basis at the moment, which inhibits him from doing alot of things. SWIM feels that he would not abuse the privilege of controlled, prescribed diacetylmorphine as it is not everyone who wants to be out of their head all the time, SWIM often will only have enough heroin to function properly, to get him through work or whatever but SWIM also feels that this kind of prescription could be open to abuse with some people and should be awarded on an individual basis, due to circumstances, health, dependants and the impact it would have on the persons life. Also, SWIM doesnt think giving an addict who has only just got into heroin a prescription is a good idea, they may not require such treatment as lower level opiates and councelling may be enough to detter somone at that point, however, where would you draw the line??? its an interesting debate that will continue for a long while i suspect, before any action would be taken here, and alot more people will die unecessarilly due to prohibition.

[Spucky]

My Cats idea is that many People, of course not all, will go for a New Drug!
As Far we understand now "Addiction" it is not a Matter of "one" Drug.
When we look to the Heroin- or Methadone/ Subutex Program we will see that
many People start to chose a new Drug!

So, she, the Cat, thinks it is very normal for many User of this Forum
to go on with the Habit of their Addiction-Habit.
Maybe they will choose Crack or Meth.

[Junkhead23]

If heroin wasn't addictive people wouldn't then try another drug purely because it is addictive if that's what SWIYSpucky meant. Pacman finds it hard to understand SWIY sometimes. The addictive part is what users of heroin do not like. In an ideal world if heroin was not addictive pacman thinks that many many people would use it.

[Spucky]

Swim try to say that many User are Addicted to Addiction and everything surround that!
(Sorry, but swim try to learn more English to make it easy`r for you to understand the Ideas of my Cat!)

Some People feel at Home at the "Drug-Scene",
they will stay inside and use other Drugs together with the Main Drug.

Swim guess this is comprehensible because they know no other Things to do!
Many "Friends", something happen, and most important Self-affirmation!

Mostly H-User are in a way social impoverished, unemployed and total out of the normal Society.
If they get a unlimited supply of Heroin they start to feel lonely,
they become instabilo, maybe like retired People in the first Years
after retirement!

[Benniboi]

To be honest, when swim was involved in illict activities and had access to as big a habit as swim wanted, swim found himself pretty unhappy. could have been the 16th of crack swim was banging a day as well that contributed to this general feeling of unease! or maybe not lol

Benniboi added 1 Minutes and 52 Seconds later...

swim doesn't like the absolute murder of his libido though through opiate use- that pisses him off, but every cloud eh.............

[Dicemanstyle]

If the junk was free and unlimited one would be dead probably. If not one would continue to use till old age or death. Without a doubt. Although one might get bored of it one day. Who knows. Im waiting for the day my doctor can prescribe me pure diamorphine for months at a time. till then , hmm, well.