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It seems with all the media that's been produced about heroin addiction (movies like Requiem for a Dream, Trainspotting, Traffic, etc...) that the risks of shoo

It seems with all the media that's been produced about heroin addiction (movies like Requiem for a Dream, Trainspotting, Traffic, etc...) that the risks of shooting up are fairly well known. Yet, people still continue to use and get addicted to the drug. I feel a great deal of pity for the people whose lives have been destroyed by heroin, not just because of their addiction, but because of the underlying pain that must have been there for them to get to that point.

Alex3917 12y ago
This is sort of the key point. There's nothing especially inherently dangerous about heroin, but because of the way it's marketed it attracts people who have been basically rejected by society who don't really care much whether they live or die. If you marketed caffeine the same way you would see the same patterns of behaviors around coffee, the fact that it's heroin where we see these issues is fairly arbitrary.
- pstuart 12y ago
  Don't care whether they live or die? Kind of moralizing a bit there. I don't think my brother had a death wish when he was introduced to heroin. He had an addictive personality and quickly became an addict. When he OD'd it likely was not a suicide but an attempt to get high. He apparently had progressed from having others shoot him up to doing it solo. Yes, heroin is more medically benign than alcohol if used correctly, but the addictive power of all opiates is something that makes it dangerous for abuse. It should be legal and well regulated, and drug education should be shifted to awareness of addiction and how to avoid it.
  - Alex3917 12y ago
    > Don't care whether they live or die? Kind of moralizing a bit there. I mean if you look at the research, it's the same childhood factors that predict both drug abuse and suicide, e.g. the Adverse Childhood Experience study.
hedning 12y ago
I think the public at large thinks heroin is much more dangerous than it actually is. The rate of addiction is about 23%[1], compared to alcohols 15%. You don't get addicted just by shooting up one time. And opiates aren't actually that destructive on the body either, the lifestyle of a junkie is though. [1]: Comparative Epidemiology of Dependence on Tobacco, Alcohol, Controlled Substances, and Inhalants: Basic Findings From the National Comorbidity Survey (http://www.umbrellasociety.ca/web/files/u1/Comp_epidemiology_addiction.pdf http://www.umbrellasociety.ca/web/files/u1/Comp_epidemiology...)
- orbifold 12y ago
  15% of people who drink alcohol become alcoholics? That seems steep...
  - klibertp 12y ago
    Not really, but it depends on your definition of alcoholism a lot. For example, if you treat every alcoholic as "alcoholic for life, with some of them sober" it makes sense.
    - orbifold 12y ago
      I took a look at the study and indeed they defined it as Alcohol dependent at one time in life.

Alex3917 12y ago

This is sort of the key point. There's nothing especially inherently dangerous about heroin, but because of the way it's marketed it attracts people who have been basically rejected by society who don't really care much whether they live or die. If you marketed caffeine the same way you would see the same patterns of behaviors around coffee, the fact that it's heroin where we see these issues is fairly arbitrary.

pstuart 12y ago
Don't care whether they live or die? Kind of moralizing a bit there. I don't think my brother had a death wish when he was introduced to heroin. He had an addictive personality and quickly became an addict. When he OD'd it likely was not a suicide but an attempt to get high. He apparently had progressed from having others shoot him up to doing it solo. Yes, heroin is more medically benign than alcohol if used correctly, but the addictive power of all opiates is something that makes it dangerous for abuse. It should be legal and well regulated, and drug education should be shifted to awareness of addiction and how to avoid it.
- Alex3917 12y ago
  > Don't care whether they live or die? Kind of moralizing a bit there. I mean if you look at the research, it's the same childhood factors that predict both drug abuse and suicide, e.g. the Adverse Childhood Experience study.

hedning 12y ago

I think the public at large thinks heroin is much more dangerous than it actually is. The rate of addiction is about 23%[1], compared to alcohols 15%. You don't get addicted just by shooting up one time. And opiates aren't actually that destructive on the body either, the lifestyle of a junkie is though. [1]: Comparative Epidemiology of Dependence on Tobacco, Alcohol, Controlled Substances, and Inhalants: Basic Findings From the National Comorbidity Survey (http://www.umbrellasociety.ca/web/files/u1/Comp_epidemiology_addiction.pdf http://www.umbrellasociety.ca/web/files/u1/Comp_epidemiology...)

orbifold 12y ago
15% of people who drink alcohol become alcoholics? That seems steep...
- klibertp 12y ago
  Not really, but it depends on your definition of alcoholism a lot. For example, if you treat every alcoholic as "alcoholic for life, with some of them sober" it makes sense.
  - orbifold 12y ago
    I took a look at the study and indeed they defined it as Alcohol dependent at one time in life.