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I think you're using the incorrect mental model of addicts popularized by DARE, etc. I mean first - > If you get a prescription for heroin that would probably

I think you're using the incorrect mental model of addicts popularized by DARE, etc. I mean first - > If you get a prescription for heroin that would probably lead to addiction right? Decently sure OP is suggesting replacing obtaining heroin from the street with obtaining it through a doctor. As such, only existing (and new) addicts are effected; you would not create addicts. Alternatively, this story you have told is already the case with other prescription opiates. > Now as an addict you want more > continually up the dosages prescribed, no? I mean, do alcoholics do this? Or gamblers? Adrenaline junkies? Yes and no. Basically, most of what you know about drugs is inaccurate, and addiction (and escalation of addiction) is complicated. For instance, the rat park experiments indicate that addiction is a coping mechanism - rats in individual cages experience addiction; rats in group cages, not so much. Simply by obtaining the drugs from a sympathetic ear, you can reduce the dependence on the drugs. Here's a thing: https://mic.com/articles/110344/14-years-after-portugal-decriminalized-all-drugs-here-s-what-s-happening#.wSN9OEbNe https://mic.com/articles/110344/14-years-after-portugal-decr...

loeg 10y ago
You have a great comment, and I agree with much of it. However, Rat Park doesn't replicate and probably shouldn't be touted as a good example of addiction behavior.
- RangerScience 10y ago
  Interesting. I sure as shit don't know enough about Rat Park. Do you have some links to the failure to replicate?
  - loeg 10y ago
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9148292?dopt=Abstract https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9148292?dopt=Abstract https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11072395?dopt=Abstract https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11072395?dopt=Abstract https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park#Reaction_to_the_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park#Reaction_to_the_exper...
    - RangerScience 10y ago
      Interesting. However, those are attempting to replicate the results, and not the experiment; from my level of education and based on the abstracts, that sounds more like "significant results" rather than "disproving results". The first abstract actually describes a theory that cannot be correct given the Rat Park experiment as described on Wikipedia, due to group PC (no new rats were supplied to that group). Or, rather, a theory that does not explain group PC.

loeg 10y ago

You have a great comment, and I agree with much of it. However, Rat Park doesn't replicate and probably shouldn't be touted as a good example of addiction behavior.

RangerScience 10y ago
Interesting. I sure as shit don't know enough about Rat Park. Do you have some links to the failure to replicate?
- loeg 10y ago
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9148292?dopt=Abstract https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9148292?dopt=Abstract https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11072395?dopt=Abstract https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11072395?dopt=Abstract https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park#Reaction_to_the_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park#Reaction_to_the_exper...
  - RangerScience 10y ago
    Interesting. However, those are attempting to replicate the results, and not the experiment; from my level of education and based on the abstracts, that sounds more like "significant results" rather than "disproving results". The first abstract actually describes a theory that cannot be correct given the Rat Park experiment as described on Wikipedia, due to group PC (no new rats were supplied to that group). Or, rather, a theory that does not explain group PC.