5 ms·

The vast majority of drug users out there are non addicted recreational users. I guess it also depends on how you classify “drug user” or “addict”.

whimsicalism 3y ago
What drugs are we talking about? I would say someone who has used a drug in the past year is a user, someone who compulsively uses or would experience withdrawal if they stopped using is an addict. I am not sure where you are getting these 'vast majority' numbers from - if you look at publicly available stats it is evidence that there is a significant proportion of people who are addicted. Look at cocaine - 4.8 million American users in last year, 1.4 million addicts - ~30% [0]. For opioids, the proportion who is addicts is even higher. We explicitly are not discussing tobacco/weed/alcohol, which have much higher non-addict uses. I guess I didn't count anabolic steroids, I am not sure what 'addiction' really means in that context. [0]: https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/cocaine/what-scope-cocaine-use-in-united-states https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/cocaine/w...
- boomboomsubban 3y ago
  >Look at cocaine - 4.8 million American users in last year, 1.4 million addicts - ~30% Is 70% not addicted not a "vast majority?" 50.1% would be a majority, 70% seems high enough for "vast."
  - whimsicalism 3y ago
    Most drug use in America is opioids and meth both of which have higher rates of addiction. Colloquially I don't think most people would refer to 70% as a 'vast majority' or 30% as a 'tiny subset.' But if the GP meant 30-50% (when factoring in other drugs) as a 'tiny subset', then I guess we don't disagree :) See usage notes [0] [0]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vast_majority https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vast_majority
    - boomboomsubban 3y ago
      A quick search shows my personal definition of "vast majority" and "overwhelming majority" may be reversed. I would consider overwhelming>vast, so 70% is fine for vast but apparently I'm wrong.
- fullspectrumdev 3y ago
  I mean, I’d consider 70% to be the vast majority, and I also suspect there’s more than 4.8 million cocaine users in the US in the last year. Excluding commonly used drugs like alcohol, weed or tobacco doesn’t seem very useful, but I can see why. Tobacco being included would massively spike the addict numbers, alcohol and weed would drop them.
chasd00 3y ago
to me "addict" is someone who is prioritizing getting high over every other aspect of their life. Addicts eventually lose jobs, families, stability in order to get high. When getting high is the highest (no pun intended) priority in your life and remains without external intervention then you're an addict.

whimsicalism 3y ago

What drugs are we talking about? I would say someone who has used a drug in the past year is a user, someone who compulsively uses or would experience withdrawal if they stopped using is an addict. I am not sure where you are getting these 'vast majority' numbers from - if you look at publicly available stats it is evidence that there is a significant proportion of people who are addicted. Look at cocaine - 4.8 million American users in last year, 1.4 million addicts - ~30% [0]. For opioids, the proportion who is addicts is even higher. We explicitly are not discussing tobacco/weed/alcohol, which have much higher non-addict uses. I guess I didn't count anabolic steroids, I am not sure what 'addiction' really means in that context. [0]: https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/cocaine/what-scope-cocaine-use-in-united-states https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/cocaine/w...

boomboomsubban 3y ago
>Look at cocaine - 4.8 million American users in last year, 1.4 million addicts - ~30% Is 70% not addicted not a "vast majority?" 50.1% would be a majority, 70% seems high enough for "vast."
- whimsicalism 3y ago
  Most drug use in America is opioids and meth both of which have higher rates of addiction. Colloquially I don't think most people would refer to 70% as a 'vast majority' or 30% as a 'tiny subset.' But if the GP meant 30-50% (when factoring in other drugs) as a 'tiny subset', then I guess we don't disagree :) See usage notes [0] [0]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vast_majority https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vast_majority
  - boomboomsubban 3y ago
    A quick search shows my personal definition of "vast majority" and "overwhelming majority" may be reversed. I would consider overwhelming>vast, so 70% is fine for vast but apparently I'm wrong.
fullspectrumdev 3y ago
I mean, I’d consider 70% to be the vast majority, and I also suspect there’s more than 4.8 million cocaine users in the US in the last year. Excluding commonly used drugs like alcohol, weed or tobacco doesn’t seem very useful, but I can see why. Tobacco being included would massively spike the addict numbers, alcohol and weed would drop them.

chasd00 3y ago

to me "addict" is someone who is prioritizing getting high over every other aspect of their life. Addicts eventually lose jobs, families, stability in order to get high. When getting high is the highest (no pun intended) priority in your life and remains without external intervention then you're an addict.