Ok , we know about the scare tactics regarding pot , but what about Heroin ?

[UndertheOcean]

Is it really the bogey man they make it out to be , so dangerous , that even taking it once out of curiosity is life shattering. Impossible to resist , like romantic love ? Just consumes you to the bone.

I would rather not take my chances , personally , unless I turn 80 or something , or find out I have terminal illness.

But , childhood memories about pamphlets with a joint superimposed on a skeleton make me wonder if they are inflating the dangers of Heroin too.

[LeftistGorilla]

1. Ask Artie about it....or read his book...

[piratefish08]

15. just read it - that's scary shit!

[JonQ]

2. I think heroin really is that dangerous

which is a perfect illustration of why we shouldn't lie/embellish to get kids to avoid pot. Once they find out you're lying/embellishing that brings in to doubt every other statement you've made about drugs in general (which may be perfectly legit).

[BlueInMass]

26. I agree wholeheartedly...

I had two friends' lives destroyed by heroine. I don't know anyone who has had their lives destroyed by pot, except my borther-in-law, who is an idiot anyway.

[htuttle]

3. That's the danger, isn't it?

If you lie to people about one thing, and they find out, they'll think you're lying about lots of other things.

That being said, heroin sucks. OTOH, it isn't quite the 'instant addiction' that many say. Tobacco and especially barbiturates are probably more physically addicting.

I do know a number of people who have only done heroin once or twice. However I know far more people who's lives were destroyed (or ended) by it.

And dat's the truth.

[madrchsod]

7. yes barbiturates are the worse to kick than heroin

the withdraw systems are far worse than smack or tobacco. crystal meth and barbiturates are the worse i`ve ever seen

[Buzz Clik]

4. Heroin. Opium. Nothing. It's all hype. Snort. Mainline. Whatever.

It's actually good for you.

[madrchsod]

5. heroin is one of the worse drugs known to mankind.

yes, i have known people who have one fix and became addicted. i`ve had to bring people back from overdoses.

a wise man of the streets once told me..."you can offer a junkie a whole loaf of bread but they`ll only take half"

[asthmaticeog]

6. You should try some, then.

Once you've pissed away a decade or so of your life, come back and let us know whether the dangers are exaggerated.

Happy fixin'! :hi:

[alphafemale]

8. I figured out by about the time I was 10 or 11 that Heroin is not something to mess with

That was just by observation. People on Heroin always seemed to think they were Jesus and get really wasted away and unkempt looking really fast.

Kind of like Tweakers now. (Meth)

I'm talking about the 70's btw. I think there may have been more Heroin abuse then.

Marijuana users, on the other hand, never seemed to have a life-altering change. Sure, there is the occasional pothead that wants to stay high all the time and doesn't do much in life...but honestly...these are generally the people that were pretty much losers to begin with.

And if the pot makes them feel better about that?

Better a blissed out loser stoner than a bitter loser drunk.

[rhiannon55]

12. "Better a blissed out loser stoner than a bitter loser drunk."

Is that ever the truth...I'll take the stoner any time. Much much safer and saner.

[Warpy]

9. Heroin is a lot less damaging to body systems even at high doses

than alcohol or tobacco are. Most junkies will titrate their dose up to a certain level, then maintain that level for years. What makes street heroin so dangerous is the lack of quality control: it can be cut with nearly anything including baking soda, cement dust or Drano and there is no control of dosage strength. Junkies kill themselves when they get some that's a little hotter than what they're used to.

60% of hard core heroin addicts have jobs. Crime is a sideline to support a habit that requires paying high black market prices.

Personally, I think the consequences of the war on drugs are far worse than the consequences of OTC opiates would be. Yes, some people with unfortunate brain chemistry would be addicts. Others might become dependent over time and need detox. However, the per capita rate of addiction hasn't changed since opiates were over the counter, no matter how Draconian the drug laws have gotten.

Most people who get IV narcotics don't want them again. In a study of 10,800 people getting IV narcotics in the hospital in Boston during the 1980s, only FOUR new addictions were found. That's right, FOUR.

I tried heroin in the 60s and didn't like it. I know a lot of people who tried it and didn't like it. I also saw a few people try it and fall in love with it. There was no way to predict who would love it and who would leave it. That's the main danger, right there.

That danger could be alleviated by ending the stupid and wasteful drug war. We lost. The drugs won. It's time to try something else.

[librechik]

10. nicotine is far more addictive, and heroin is a superior painkiller to morphine

but the scare tactics have kept it out of the hands of doctors in the US (it can be prescribed for pain just about anywhere in the world except here)

Crazy people making a big profit over craziness have screwed up our society beyond repair.

[Mike K]

22. I absolutely agree with what you've said here -

- but I respectfully offer one suggestion: The fear mongering profiteers are far from "crazy" but are in fact insidiously competent in their ability to bribe our legislators to maintain the counterproductive status quo of America's perverse disposition toward drug use. There is a good reason why newly elected President Obama refused to address the issue of marijuana prohibition in spite of the encouraging hints to the contrary he'd dropped during his candidacy.

Too many powerful industries would be seriously compromised by legalized marijuana: Once the general public becomes aware of the relative safety and superior effect of pot in relation to booze the liquor industry would suffer, as would the pharmaceutical industry when the public discovers how many common maladies are effectively treated by marijuana, which, for one thing, is far superior to Valium as a tranquilizer -- and is not addictive. (Valium is one of the most commonly prescribed and profitable prescription drugs.)

Legalized marijuana would naturally renew the hemp industry which would quickly decimate the cotton and paper industries and would be a prolific source of bio-fuel.

The bottom line is our corrupt Congress is responsible for the continued prohibition of marijuana.

[frog92969]

11. My sister almost died from quiting heroin

As you use it, your chemistry changes and your body believes it's a needed chemical.
When you quit, your system thinks it's lost something critical and starts to shut down.

As for getting hooked, I wouldn't know, I've only smoked opium a few times without a steady connection.
My fight was with coke in the 80's, and my self disgust made it fairly "easy".

Heroin is a good reason not to lie to kids about harmless "drugs" like pot and shrooms, as was said upthread.

[bulldogge]

16. shrooms

are toxic and one can overdose on shrums....just to clarify

[gwashington2650]

13. I heard heroin is the most dangerous drug out there

According to a medical journal.

[Mike K]

20. Not so.

Most of the danger associated with heroin use resides in effects imposed on the user's life by the wholly counterproductive and irrational excesses of drug law enforcement.

Users are forced to live like rats, pursued and harrassed like bounty animals by mindless, sadistic narcs, forced to steal to survive and "score" their next fix. Their access is restricted to purchasing highly over-priced "junk," never knowing the potency of or what the illegally marketed product contains, and their access to preparation and injecting apparatus is limited to unsanitary improvised devices. Thus the "danger" of heroin use.

It is likely that the medical journal you refer to is in fact a drug warrior propaganda medium. If you wish to know what the really dangerous drugs are, Google up statistics on the number of annual deaths and deadly afflictions caused by beverage alcohol and tobacco and compare the numbers to those referring to heroin -- or any other illegal drug. I think you'll be quite surprised.

[NikRik]

25. Crank is #1 of illegal drugs !

I've seen people I know look twenty years older in a few months of daily use of this man made drug ! Its big bis for gangs and probably not going away ! This is not the type of thing you fix with a war on it ,education and help for those who find themselves to much dependant of this terrible drug.I like to sleep so I wont be using that crap anytime in my life and at 52 years old Iam sure if I started using it I would stroke out or die from a heart attack !
Take Care,NikRik

[Glory89fan]

14. Heroin and Pot should not be compared

Pot has medical benefits; heroin is just a dangerous drug.

[Flaneur]

21. I'm sorry, but that's just silly.

Heroin is also known as diacetylmorphine. In Great Britain, it is used as a serious pain reliever, just like morphine.

All opiates are great pain relievers, it's pure bias that we don't use it medically here.

All opiates also have addictive potential.

All opiates can kill you if you take too much.

[Taitertots]

17. Here is the difference

Pot gets you addicted, like you can get addicted to the internet or sex

Heroin gets you addicted, like you get addicted to breathing or eating

[noamnety]

18. One of my former students developed a heroin habit

it was awful. Beyond awful. She ruined her liver, treatment for that made her hair fall out, she was in my room sobbing because they couldn't tell her even with the treatment if she was going to survive. Some of the details of it, I wouldn't even retype here.

[Mike K]

19. One can lead a relatively normal life -

- while addicted to heroin provided a reliable source of accurately measured, clean, consistently stable dosages and sterile syringe equipment is available. The problem with heroin usage in contemporary society is the quality and unknown potency of product available to addicts from the illegal drug trade and the unsanitary condition of the "works" used to prepare and inject it.

Another factor which is rarely mentioned in discussions of heroin addiction is the psyche of the average "strung-out" addict who in many examples is motivated by a masochistic compulsion to pursue the degraded, self-destructive lifestyle of a "junkie." The fanatical persecution of drug users in the U.S. effectively facilitates this pursuit. The most common example of this perverse state of mind is the drug-addicted prostitute who knowingly and willfully allowed herself to fall into the inevitable trap and become the property of an abusive pimp.

[unlegendary]

24. It wasn't heroin that caused her problems

She likely had Hepatitis C which will ruin your liver real quick under certain conditions or she ingested to much acetaminophen or other crap cut into the dope she was using, but heroin itself is fairly benign and sure as hell won't make your hair fall out. There's no doubt she went through a period of hell, but it wasn't purely the heroin that caused it.

[unlegendary]

23. I'm a former addict and here's the real story..

Yes, heroin is very addictive, but what really makes it particularly bad isn't using heroin itself. The drug itself is fairly benign.
I've known many addicts. I worked with plenty of addicts and they can work just fine, can drive cars just fine and in fact function just fine in society and nobody ever knows they use heroin. I ran a small company and even worked for a cop who ran a real estate cleaning business in Ohio (on the side) and he never knew that along with myself most of my crew were also heroin addicts until one day I told him and he was fine with it because we were great workers. When I used I knew addicts from almost every neighborhood in town and most didn't come from the ghetto's. They come from the lily white suburbs.

The problems arise in a couple ways. First is prohibition. When it's outlawed the only people who use are now criminals not because they are freaking out and stealing, but they have to buy all heroin on the black market and so on.
The cost is prohibitive and tough to get so many do turn to stealing to support an artificially high price. That's where the crime aspect comes in. If it were perfectly legal and readily available there would be almost zero crime associated with heroin. If it were true that heroin makes people into criminals wouldn't it make sense that everyone ever given a pain killer by their doctor would also turn to crime automatically? It's from the exact same drug as all opiate based drugs. Vicodin comes from the same plant as heroin and is derived from opium.. How many elderly old ladies are breaking into houses to support their fix?
The other problem comes from lack of education of how to use heroin. To much and you die.. I think it's known as an overdose, but hey, you can OD on water too and drown.. When was the last time someone had to steal to get a glass of water?
One author wrote, and I agree that if water distribution were turned over to organized crime as in the mafia NOBODY would drink it or bath in it. It would be cut with so many pollutants to make it go further just the very same way heroin is cut with all kinds of toxins. The other problem is that nearly all heroin addicts live life on the edge of poverty and end up using dirty works and shooting dirty dope cut with all kinds of garbage.

Withdraw is painful and messy, but nobody should really have to go through withdraw because opium poppies can be grown in nearly every nation on earth. Supply should never be a problem, but it is because we MAKE it a problem.

So yes, the tired old paranoia is just that. You are lied to about its effects and will likely always be lied to about it. Pure, clean heroin is relatively harmless if you don't overdo it and don't run out and of course, don't get caught by the big bad gummit! (government)
By the way...I've also been a nicotine addict since the age of fifteen. I'll be 51 in July and still smoke more now than I ever did at fifteen.

[Mike K]

27. That is as clear, accurate and honest -

- an explanation of the facts about heroin as I've ever read.

My thoughts:

In addition to fear of addiction, the main reason I wouldn't consider trying heroin is I am needle-phobic. And while there are other ways of using this drug I'm told that once the addiction takes hold the compulsion to inject becomes irresistible. For this reason I've always suspected there is a strongly self-destructive component in the personality of anyone who knows how powerfully addictive heroin is and tries it anyway.

I would appreciate your comments about that.

[David Tea]

28. I would say

It's around 90% true, cuz when you inject heroin most kinds slow done the blood stream so blood doesn't flow properly from and to the brain which means every time you do heroin you more or less premanently destroy relatively large areas of the brain, as well as your entire body. Also the chemicals and shit they put into it is ridiculous, i highly encourage you not to ever try.