(no subject)
I find it slightly amusing that, even after heroin hooked and almost killed me, I still maintain that it's less addictive than alcohol and will cheerfully debate anybody on the subject...
For some reason my intolerance for ignorance about drugs has risen to a new level over the last week. I think it's a combination of frustration at several people in AA who think that the key to not drinking is to smoke a lot of pot and that smoking it all day every day somehow doesn't count as addictive behavior. Also, I had some dumb bitch at work talking the other night about how Amy Winehouse would have been all right if she'd just stuck to booze and pot and not touched heroin because "if you do heroin once, you'll be hooked for life."
This ignorance annoys the hell out of me. Just because pot isn't physically addictive doesn't mean people don't use it addictively. Tons of people do. If you have a hard time functioning and dealing with life without your drug of choice that's addictive behavior. I've known lots of people who had just as much trouble stopping their marijuana use as I had with my opiate use. THAT'S addiction.
As for the heroin vs. alcohol thing, while it's true that a higher percentage of people who try heroin get hooked on it than on alcohol, it's usually ignored that most people who try heroin already have a problem whereas most people who try alcohol are plain, normal people. I don't know anybody who tried heroin who wasn't a heavy drug user/addict BEFORE trying it. Most heroin addicts start with vicodin and move on to heroin when they need something stronger. In my experience, people are much more likely to enjoy alcohol than vicodin. If I offered every drug using friend the choice of a bottle of vodka or a bottle of vicodin, most would rather have the vodka. Most people who have experienced both prefer alcohol over the milder opiates.
Heroin is much stronger but otherwise no different from the mild opiates. If somebody likes alcohol better than vicodin, probably they'd like alcohol more than heroin. By my experience thus, I find that people are more inclined to enjoy alcohol than opiates and if we stop separating heroin from the other opiates than we find that heroin is less addictive than alcohol.
This isn't to say that opiates aren't highly addictive. I was part of that minority who strongly preferred them to alcohol and thus eventually made that transition to heroin. Opiates, when injected, are also FAR more dangerous than alcohol in terms of likelihood of killing yourself. I'm simply frustrated by people's misconceptions about drugs becau
For some reason my intolerance for ignorance about drugs has risen to a new level over the last week. I think it's a combination of frustration at several people in AA who think that the key to not drinking is to smoke a lot of pot and that smoking it all day every day somehow doesn't count as addictive behavior. Also, I had some dumb bitch at work talking the other night about how Amy Winehouse would have been all right if she'd just stuck to booze and pot and not touched heroin because "if you do heroin once, you'll be hooked for life."
This ignorance annoys the hell out of me. Just because pot isn't physically addictive doesn't mean people don't use it addictively. Tons of people do. If you have a hard time functioning and dealing with life without your drug of choice that's addictive behavior. I've known lots of people who had just as much trouble stopping their marijuana use as I had with my opiate use. THAT'S addiction.
As for the heroin vs. alcohol thing, while it's true that a higher percentage of people who try heroin get hooked on it than on alcohol, it's usually ignored that most people who try heroin already have a problem whereas most people who try alcohol are plain, normal people. I don't know anybody who tried heroin who wasn't a heavy drug user/addict BEFORE trying it. Most heroin addicts start with vicodin and move on to heroin when they need something stronger. In my experience, people are much more likely to enjoy alcohol than vicodin. If I offered every drug using friend the choice of a bottle of vodka or a bottle of vicodin, most would rather have the vodka. Most people who have experienced both prefer alcohol over the milder opiates.
Heroin is much stronger but otherwise no different from the mild opiates. If somebody likes alcohol better than vicodin, probably they'd like alcohol more than heroin. By my experience thus, I find that people are more inclined to enjoy alcohol than opiates and if we stop separating heroin from the other opiates than we find that heroin is less addictive than alcohol.
This isn't to say that opiates aren't highly addictive. I was part of that minority who strongly preferred them to alcohol and thus eventually made that transition to heroin. Opiates, when injected, are also FAR more dangerous than alcohol in terms of likelihood of killing yourself. I'm simply frustrated by people's misconceptions about drugs becau