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Of all the things that make me wish I were smarter, being able to do something with public policy about heroin addiction is very near the top of the list. I gr

Of all the things that make me wish I were smarter, being able to do something with public policy about heroin addiction is very near the top of the list. I grew up in the nineties and my set of friends and I were all self-medicating our way through our teenage angst and emotional problems to some degree or another. It seems like almost overnight heroin showed up in our scene, not because anyone was addicted to opiate pain medication, but just because someone's dealer got some, exactly like this article describes. Within just a couple of years, the collection of friends had an enormous rift right down the middle: half had tried and become addicted to heroin, and the other half of us felt like we had no choice but to get out of the scene and get our shit together. To this day, I have no idea what factors other than chance put someone in the former group vs. the latter. Those of us that went into the latter group weren't any smarter and we didn't have better support networks. Of the dozen or so people in the former, maybe only 2-3 came out of it successful in the long-term. Everyone else is either dead, in jail, or living as addicts. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this to no effect. Becoming a heroin addict isn't something I would wish on my worst enemy. It's the most awful thing to see someone you love go through that I can think of. Treating it as a criminal matter instead of a public health matter is absolutely the worst possible way to deal with it.

kleer001 9y ago
> wish I were smarter & > public policy IMHO there's a sweet spot where intelligence is only a small (but essential) part of the personality matrix necessary to tilt the game towards justice and healing, prevention and empathy, and just ramping good ol' raw smarts up to 11 ain't gunna help ya hit the target. What are the other parts besides intelligence? ('O_O) Ummm... Charisma, symmetric features, healthy microbiome, height, conscientiousness, good humor, preternatural patience, great parents/teahers/mentors (and what does THAT mean?), a thirst for politics, etc...
motherdearest 9y ago
My experience as a 28 year old former heroin addict is equally as anecdotal but contradictory. As preteen and teenager I was a big pot smoker and later cocaine enthusiast. I medicated throughout those teenage years but never saw opioid pain medication or heroin even though I was fairly deep into the NYC drug scene. If you had asked then if I would ever inject heroin I would laugh at you. Around my freshmen year of college (2007) pain pills started showing up. They were an instant hit and all my friends start doing them. I explicitly remember sniffing my first oxycodone in my dorm and thinking "this is what I've been missing my entire life". My life spiraled downhill quickly. As a lifelong programmer / math enthusiast I managed to get to my second semester junior year before my lifestyle really caught up. By then I was homeless, facing serious felony charges, OD countless times, doing whatever I could for my fix. Oxycodone was around for a few years before they reformulated and then you needed heroin to get high. I was shooting it only a week after first trying it. For the next several years I went from a middle class college student to a IV homeless heroin junkie. I caught very serious charges and took drug court. Violated drug court 3 years in and then spent a year in a bad NY jail where I leaserned to fight and throw urine on people. I learned to act like a fucking savage. I got out and finished drug court only to get addicted again. I finally got on Suboxone about 4 years ago. I finished my degree and went from homeless to making 6 figures in those years. I'm literally the only success story I know. For most of my peers they died or are doing long prison bids. We all started from pills, and I can honestly say I would never have started if it weren't for them. However I recognize the need for them and don't know if serious restriction is the right way either
- natecavanaugh 9y ago
  Wow... It sounds like you and OP are roughly the same age, and the same age as my youngest brother, who also kicked heroin addiction (he kicked it a couple of years ago). What I'm wondering is if there is something generational here. My father also kicked heroin before I was born in the late 70s, and since his recovery was such an important part of our life as a family, when we learned my brother was using, it shocked us, because it seemed so obvious not to do it. What I've been wondering is why the current crisis is affecting your generation more heavily than the ones between (or maybe I'm selectively seeing it in your generation). Was it the easy access of oxycontin in the late 90s that finally trickled it's way through the culture and started a resurgence? Was it some other factor (the fashion cycle that goes in and out every 20-30 years)? I do know my brother was exposed to it from a friend around his age, and of course during a painful part of his life, but I'm curious as to the origin because I see how culture and influence work it's way though our lives, but I'd love to have some hints as to why heroin itself made such a comeback.

kleer001 9y ago

> wish I were smarter & > public policy IMHO there's a sweet spot where intelligence is only a small (but essential) part of the personality matrix necessary to tilt the game towards justice and healing, prevention and empathy, and just ramping good ol' raw smarts up to 11 ain't gunna help ya hit the target. What are the other parts besides intelligence? ('O_O) Ummm... Charisma, symmetric features, healthy microbiome, height, conscientiousness, good humor, preternatural patience, great parents/teahers/mentors (and what does THAT mean?), a thirst for politics, etc...

motherdearest 9y ago

My experience as a 28 year old former heroin addict is equally as anecdotal but contradictory. As preteen and teenager I was a big pot smoker and later cocaine enthusiast. I medicated throughout those teenage years but never saw opioid pain medication or heroin even though I was fairly deep into the NYC drug scene. If you had asked then if I would ever inject heroin I would laugh at you. Around my freshmen year of college (2007) pain pills started showing up. They were an instant hit and all my friends start doing them. I explicitly remember sniffing my first oxycodone in my dorm and thinking "this is what I've been missing my entire life". My life spiraled downhill quickly. As a lifelong programmer / math enthusiast I managed to get to my second semester junior year before my lifestyle really caught up. By then I was homeless, facing serious felony charges, OD countless times, doing whatever I could for my fix. Oxycodone was around for a few years before they reformulated and then you needed heroin to get high. I was shooting it only a week after first trying it. For the next several years I went from a middle class college student to a IV homeless heroin junkie. I caught very serious charges and took drug court. Violated drug court 3 years in and then spent a year in a bad NY jail where I leaserned to fight and throw urine on people. I learned to act like a fucking savage. I got out and finished drug court only to get addicted again. I finally got on Suboxone about 4 years ago. I finished my degree and went from homeless to making 6 figures in those years. I'm literally the only success story I know. For most of my peers they died or are doing long prison bids. We all started from pills, and I can honestly say I would never have started if it weren't for them. However I recognize the need for them and don't know if serious restriction is the right way either

natecavanaugh 9y ago
Wow... It sounds like you and OP are roughly the same age, and the same age as my youngest brother, who also kicked heroin addiction (he kicked it a couple of years ago). What I'm wondering is if there is something generational here. My father also kicked heroin before I was born in the late 70s, and since his recovery was such an important part of our life as a family, when we learned my brother was using, it shocked us, because it seemed so obvious not to do it. What I've been wondering is why the current crisis is affecting your generation more heavily than the ones between (or maybe I'm selectively seeing it in your generation). Was it the easy access of oxycontin in the late 90s that finally trickled it's way through the culture and started a resurgence? Was it some other factor (the fashion cycle that goes in and out every 20-30 years)? I do know my brother was exposed to it from a friend around his age, and of course during a painful part of his life, but I'm curious as to the origin because I see how culture and influence work it's way though our lives, but I'd love to have some hints as to why heroin itself made such a comeback.