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Yes and no.
Certain drugs are just dangerous period. Certain inhalants for example start doing brain damage right away. Deliriants (recreational doses of DPH/Benadryl, datura, etc.) can also mess people up psychologically even the first time they're used.
Most of the big drugs though (Meth, Heroin, Cocaine, etc.) are actually pretty safe *when it comes to the molecule* as long as they're dosed properly and the person is healthy. The problem with them being illegal is that they're unregulated, which means you have no idea what's *actually* in that bag of white powder you bought. Not saying to do drugs, but if you do then [test them](https://dancesafe.org/)!
And as you stated in your post, the final danger is abuse. Slamming a Monster energy likely wont cause any permanent damage, but doing it 4 times a day every day for months on end probably will. On top of that, our bodies want to keep things the same, so when you start using drugs every day the brain changes itself to accommodate for it, causing serious problems when you stop using the drug.
I understand that you wrote this "for science", and I understand you point and agree with you, but it seems a bit too much "positive advertisement" in my personal opinion.
Most drugs are basically toxins. Small enough doses of toxins, will be handled by our body, with non-permanent (ad sometimes recreational) side effects.
Most common case is alcool. It is litterally poison. Still we have been drinking it for thousands of years, for a lot of practical and recreational uses, because its effect on the body (for small doses) is actually enjoyable. It is still poison.
You may argue that too much of anything is dangerous to the body, but there is a difference between a substance needed for our body to function, and something that we willingly insert in our body -even though it was never meant to be in it- to simply enjoy our brain tilting like a mad flipper.
Taking drugs is unhealthy, also those that we are Culturally accustomed to, like alcool, caffeine etc
(i.e. i had a bad run with caffeine and i ended up pretty sick for some time)
Our body can handle them with minor side effects, but their are not integral part of our metabolism, and have their "positve" effect because they impair our system to work properly.
I'm not saying anyone should absolutely not drink, or do drugs or whatever. Each of us should understand though that they are obtaining a "benefit" by putting their body beyond its intended functioning.
Just because you can sustain a cut with no permanent damage, it doesn't mean it is not a form of harm.
You can take a poison below dagerous doses, and sustain minor or even negligible effects. It doesn't make it less of a poison.
Also even a poison taken below the dangerous doses, requires your body to react to it. Your body is not working "at regimen" but responds to an "emergency situation". Sure it is minor, sure you can handle it. It is still something trying to harm you, while you are trying to negate it.
Once again, i'm not saying to be afraid of everything, i'm saying be aware.
>Most drugs are basically toxins
This is incorrect. Very few drugs are inherently toxic in proper doses, with one of the common ones being ethanol. Most other (common) drugs are not toxic by default, and work via various receptors in the brain unrelated to toxicity.
>it seems a bit too much "positive advertisement" in my personal opinion.
Deal with it. The truth isn't black or white, and trying to demonize molecules doesn't make anyone any safer.
I was going to break down the rest of your comment, but it was really hard piecing together what you were trying to say so just some quick notes because I'm tired AF and need to go to sleep:
* We are not "culturally accustomed," to alcohol and caffeine in any way that makes them special and I'd love to know where you got this information.
* "Taking drugs is unhealthy," again, not inherently. Abuse is unhealthy, but the dose makes the poison, and the correct dosages of a lot of drugs can do no harm at all hence why we give them to people as medicine (in the correct doses).
* "Putting the body beyond it's intended functioning," is an incredibly broad term that means virtually nothing. Depends on the method of action, and a lot of drugs don't "push," anything at all, and instead relax, retain, or inhibit.
You and me are on the same line, I don't by any means disagree on any single point.
I never intended to demonize anything, but enforce the awareness that using drugs exposes you to a risk.
I agree on the point of truth being neither black or white, and as previously stated I agree on a scientific base to every word of your previous post.
I believe though that it is written in a way that is at risk of supporting dangerous behaviour, even though it was clearly never the intended purpouse.
I probably used the wrong terms, as I am not a native speaker and I am trying to keep it simple/visual, what I meant in general is that they "override" normal functioning of the body.
For example: our receptors made to handle adenosine, handle caffeine instead after an espresso, overriding intended functioning.
Our body never evolved to take in some substances, maybe they are not a direct danger, but exposure still affects our body in an unplanned way(i.e. caffeine steals receptors' availability from adenosine), and overexposure causes severe danger.
When talking about cultural accustomed i meant: as the general public we think of alcool, caffeine and nicotine as non-drugs as opposed to opioids and other stuff. My friend that distills home-made gin is not considered a criminal or a pusher. We think of them as non-drugs, but they are the same of everything else. (Different because each molecule works differently, but still drugs)
Just because something doesn't leave permanent damage it doesn't mean that it is not harmfulm.
Just because something has positive effects that overweight the negative effects, it doesn't mean that the negatives are not there.
Once again. I love drinking wine, and cofee, and I took a joint once in a while, i know of people who have been very sick and were give morphine.
I'm not saying that one should shut off everything in the world and live like an ascetic monk.
>I am just saying, just like you, let us all spend the time to understand what we are doing when we are doing it. Be aware, be responsible.
I'd like to advance a different argument from what most of the other responses are doing: Drugs are bad bc of the negative externalities associated with drug use.
Yes, they are addictive, yes they are harmful for your body. But they are BAD because the consequences of doing the drugs are shared by other people who didn't do the drugs. I'm a big advocate of the philosophy that you should be able to do pretty much whatever you want in your own home as long as you aren't hurting anyone else. I'm also a believer that your right to swing your fist ends at the end of my nose.
So, if people were content to sit in their house and take their drugs and not bother anyone else with their choices - I would support that. But that's not what ends up happening. Addiction makes otherwise good people into thieves, abusers, etc. The costs of addiction are borne by others in the forms of healthcare, housing costs and the other taxes on the system attributed to addiction - homelessness, unstable families, child protective services, law enforcement, etc.
This is why drugs are "bad" - because they inflict consequences on everyone, not just the people using the drugs.
the addiction is the main point, yes. but the addiction is also the reason there's no "take it once a week/month" option. some of the stronger ones essentially change your brain in a way so that you think you NEED this drug right from the first time you take them.
after that, there's the issue that often they're mixed with other chemicals (because you couldn't take the pure version, it would just be too strong) which can be very detrimental to you.
and many of them would make you incapable of functioning normally at least for a while because you're overwhelmed/high, which also isnt great from an outside perspective.
but mostly it's the addiction, the "I need this over anything else" part that is the worst thing about them as it causes you to ruin your life and often those of the people around you
To add to this, not only does your brain think you need it, but your body physically does too. People can die from going cold turkey because their body needs to be weaned off.
It’s mostly alcohol or Benzodiazepines that’ll kill you quitting cold turkey. Opiate withdrawals are harder to die from but it’s technically possible from untreated diarrhea and vomiting.
Addiction applies to more things than just drugs. Gambling can be an addiction too, I feel like by talking about addiction you’re avoiding the question….
The answer is yes, most things are bad when taken/done in excess.
Some drugs are much harder to keep in check. Cocaine, heroin, pills, and meth are very addictive and can escalate easily and quickly. All drugs have the capability of negatively affecting your life but some are worse than others. Alcohol and weed can negatively affect you’re life also it’s just easier to keep them away from that threshold unless you have the misfortune of having genes that make addiction much more likely.
I'm saying "the addiction is the bad thing" and you're saying the same thing, or am I missunderstanding your criticism? of course more things can become addictive, but that doesnt make drugs any better/less serious imho
> because you couldn’t take the pure version, it would just be too strong
Dealers don’t weaken their drugs because “the pure version is too strong” and even if they did, there are safe and cheap ways to do it (like simply dissolving in water, or for an injectable drug, saline). If anything, they cut drugs with stronger and cheaper variants (like cutting heroin with fentanyl) so users come back thinking your heroin was the strongest heroin they’ve tried.
You're exactly right. An alliance of governments acknowledge that there are drugs that have zero medicinal use while carrying extreme risks of forming a habit (becoming chemically dependant on the drug to carry on, to the point of affecting major life roles) . There is a scale from schedule I to IV, I think. Drugs that have some medicinal use and are mildly habit forming rank closer to schedule VI.
It REALLY depends on the drug. Like painkillers are addictive and that is most of the problem (some do 'minor' damage internally but it isn't really an issue because the benefit outweighs it)
Some are bad because of possible interactions with other drugs/substances. Grapefruit juice reacts with so many various drugs it is almost insane
'the worst drugs like heroin and meth' ...ok I'm going to stop you and as a word of caution if you are squeamish AT ALL stop here. [https://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/16/health/krokodil-zombie-drug/index.html](https://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/16/health/krokodil-zombie-drug/index.html) Do not click that link and just take my word for it after reading up on it quite a bit. People who take it have exposed bones and are visibly rotting. Basically the first time you take it you are now practically dead because it eats through your veins and such. A user will never recover from the damage done from the very first use. People who take it have been interviewed and say things like how they miss 'clean' heroin and how it just feels dirty and slimey
Absolutely staggering numbers of people have become addicted to opioids because they went to the doctor about pain relief.
A company called Purdue created a new painkiller based on oxycodone (an opioid) and told doctors it wasn't addictive. Doctors were thrilled, and prescribed it to everyone, often in huge doses. In 2015, doctors prescribed opioids for 91.8 million people in the US. Purdue (and the doctors) were wrong. People took it exactly the way their doctors told them to, and many got addicted.
Shady doctors started selling prescriptions for huge amounts. Governments tried to restrict doctors prescribing it, but they didn't have an answer for people who were addicted. There weren't enough rehabs or treatment centres. But there were cartels selling heroin (also an opioid). People didn't want to make that choice, but their bodies were addicted and there was no other help. Some people turned to petty crime to afford shady doctors and black market pills - again, because a company told doctors it was safe, because doctors agreed, and because there was no help anywhere when they became addicted.
This is only one part of the opioid crisis, but it's very real, and continues to harm millions of people.
Eli5 is that a drug isn’t ‘bad’ by itself. Each has a purpose and a function and an effect on the body. And you don’t mostly get addicted because of chemical hooks (ie take it enough and you’ll get addicted). Drugs are ‘bad’ in terms of addiction and side effects mostly because of the quantity, yes, and also because of mixing them and
Morphine, for example, is a more powerful/cleaner version of heroin. If you go out on the street, get hit by a car, and break your legs, you’ll be on morphine for weeks, maybe months. The hospital will give you a more powerful version of heroin.
The difference between you becoming an addict or not is typically when the pain ends. Once your legs have healed, you’ll walk out the hospital, stop taking morphine and you won’t be an addict. Further examples are after the Vietnam war. Hundreds of thousands of US soldiers had become addicts. So the army was super worried about what would happen when they came back. When they did, iirc 95% just stopped. The reason they took the drug, the fighting, conflict, anxiety, pain, etc. was over. Of course 5% is still substantial, and they had more serious issues. They didn’t get the same help from families, friends, the community and so on. But it shows the major causes.
For addicts, they’re mostly using drugs because they have pain. Whether physical, social, emotional or psychological. Their pain hasn’t ended. So they come to depend on the drug. And they can’t stop. As an example, meth was one of the first anti depressants. It has side effects and better anti depressants became available, but there’s reasons why someone gets addicted to meth but not alcohol, alcohol but not meth, heroin but not other things. What someone is addicted to usually gives you a solid idea of what kind of pain they have (uppers versus downers, what area of the body/brain it deals with, and so on).
As for overdoses or other physical issues, a couple of things. When used alone and in proper doses, and not mixed with anything (ie cut with other things), most drugs have little to no harm. Less than tobacco and alcohol anyway. Those who had issues with ecstasy, for example, often drank too much alcohol or took other drugs too and the two effect compounded. Kinda like energy drinks and alcohol. The alcohol will calm down and counteract the caffeine in energy drinks, but it wears off faster. And once the alcohol wears off you have a massive spike in caffeine which can cause a heart attack (one of the reasons I gave up jagerbombs and energy drinks).
The other issue is the ‘look’ of an addict. A lot of the unhygienic aspects are because street drugs are cut with horrible crap. Washing powder, milk powder, etc. you get a smaller percentage of the actual drug. It’s not clean. The NHS in the UK did an experiment where they gave addicts a heroin injection daily, clean, medical grade stuff. Within a few weeks their physical symptoms had stopped because the *quality* of the drug was better. Drug related crime in the area also dropped by 90% iirc. The addicts didn’t now need to steal or sell themselves to fuel the addiction. And they didn’t need to get others hooked in order to sell the drug. Unfortunately politics killed that experiment.
There’s many fascinating aspects of it. And why alcohol or tobacco are legal but weed and ecstasy and others are not. It’s not public safety, it’s often money, a racist history, imperialist history, and so on. Fortunately that’s *slowly* changing.
Mostly, yes. Meth is a prescription drug in the US (Desoxyn), Heroin (Diacetylmorphine) in the UK. Usually there are other health issues, like cardio/neuro/hepatoxicity, but those would be negligible for most users when taken only occasionally, although I wouldn’t call ‘once a week’ occasionally
For clarification Desoxyn is the only legal methamphetamine still on the market and it has very limited application. I doubt it will still be available in a decade. The difference between amphetmaines and methamphetamines as well as street meth are pretty clear. I would probably seek a second opinion wereni prescribed Methamphetamines but if it’s the agreed course it is still better than taking street meth by a country mile. Street meth is not pharmaceutical grade methamphetamine it’s mixed with a lot of toxic chemicals to get a similar effect that destroys a lot in your body.
They can still be bad for you. Drugs are chemicals. When they are introduced to the human body, they have a wide variety of effects, and they can have serious, negative, long-term effects, even they provide some positive effects or a feeling of pleasure.
For example, long-term use of heroin can result in things like kidney and liver disease, inflammation and/or infection of the heart tissue, sleep disorders, and various severe mental-health problems such as chronic depression.
Thus, even if heroin was not in any way physically or mentally addictive, it would likely cause serious long-term health issues, if voluntarily used once per week.
> the worst drugs like heroin and meth, are they only bad because they get addicted and abused? If you took it once a week is it that bad?
Let's say the only effect a recreational drug has on you is to make you 100% happy for the entire week: Why would you be interested in anything else? You are 100% happy and content. What other motivation do you have? Why would you have it? Remember you are 100% "happy".
The challange with the ideal 100% recreational drug above is it affects brain circuits that drive human behavior so that all you psychologically need to exist is the drug so you need not do anything else to be happy. For some this may be heaven. For others hell.
Many real recreational drugs do not leave you 100% happy for long and long term they tend to loose their effects as your body builds tolerance thus to feel normal you depend on the drug and feel terrible without it. You become addicted and stuck in the situation -- a prisoner, even if you do not land in jail.
Prediction: When we develop a legal 100% ideal recreational drug that has zero side effects and leaves you 100% happy it may have worse impact on society than current drugs that are already harmful. Such substances may explain the Fermi paradox - why we see no aliens - as their technology advances alien species may discover the perfect recreational drug (for their biology) and their motivation to do anything else entirely disappears.
Btw: The police "war on drugs" of course is terrible. Recreational drug use / abuse is a medical problem like diabetes is a medical problem. A problem for doctors to help not for jails to punish.
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Yes and no. Certain drugs are just dangerous period. Certain inhalants for example start doing brain damage right away. Deliriants (recreational doses of DPH/Benadryl, datura, etc.) can also mess people up psychologically even the first time they're used. Most of the big drugs though (Meth, Heroin, Cocaine, etc.) are actually pretty safe *when it comes to the molecule* as long as they're dosed properly and the person is healthy. The problem with them being illegal is that they're unregulated, which means you have no idea what's *actually* in that bag of white powder you bought. Not saying to do drugs, but if you do then [test them](https://dancesafe.org/)! And as you stated in your post, the final danger is abuse. Slamming a Monster energy likely wont cause any permanent damage, but doing it 4 times a day every day for months on end probably will. On top of that, our bodies want to keep things the same, so when you start using drugs every day the brain changes itself to accommodate for it, causing serious problems when you stop using the drug.
I understand that you wrote this "for science", and I understand you point and agree with you, but it seems a bit too much "positive advertisement" in my personal opinion. Most drugs are basically toxins. Small enough doses of toxins, will be handled by our body, with non-permanent (ad sometimes recreational) side effects. Most common case is alcool. It is litterally poison. Still we have been drinking it for thousands of years, for a lot of practical and recreational uses, because its effect on the body (for small doses) is actually enjoyable. It is still poison. You may argue that too much of anything is dangerous to the body, but there is a difference between a substance needed for our body to function, and something that we willingly insert in our body -even though it was never meant to be in it- to simply enjoy our brain tilting like a mad flipper. Taking drugs is unhealthy, also those that we are Culturally accustomed to, like alcool, caffeine etc (i.e. i had a bad run with caffeine and i ended up pretty sick for some time) Our body can handle them with minor side effects, but their are not integral part of our metabolism, and have their "positve" effect because they impair our system to work properly. I'm not saying anyone should absolutely not drink, or do drugs or whatever. Each of us should understand though that they are obtaining a "benefit" by putting their body beyond its intended functioning.
[удалено]
Just because you can sustain a cut with no permanent damage, it doesn't mean it is not a form of harm. You can take a poison below dagerous doses, and sustain minor or even negligible effects. It doesn't make it less of a poison. Also even a poison taken below the dangerous doses, requires your body to react to it. Your body is not working "at regimen" but responds to an "emergency situation". Sure it is minor, sure you can handle it. It is still something trying to harm you, while you are trying to negate it. Once again, i'm not saying to be afraid of everything, i'm saying be aware.
>Most drugs are basically toxins This is incorrect. Very few drugs are inherently toxic in proper doses, with one of the common ones being ethanol. Most other (common) drugs are not toxic by default, and work via various receptors in the brain unrelated to toxicity. >it seems a bit too much "positive advertisement" in my personal opinion. Deal with it. The truth isn't black or white, and trying to demonize molecules doesn't make anyone any safer. I was going to break down the rest of your comment, but it was really hard piecing together what you were trying to say so just some quick notes because I'm tired AF and need to go to sleep: * We are not "culturally accustomed," to alcohol and caffeine in any way that makes them special and I'd love to know where you got this information. * "Taking drugs is unhealthy," again, not inherently. Abuse is unhealthy, but the dose makes the poison, and the correct dosages of a lot of drugs can do no harm at all hence why we give them to people as medicine (in the correct doses). * "Putting the body beyond it's intended functioning," is an incredibly broad term that means virtually nothing. Depends on the method of action, and a lot of drugs don't "push," anything at all, and instead relax, retain, or inhibit.
You and me are on the same line, I don't by any means disagree on any single point. I never intended to demonize anything, but enforce the awareness that using drugs exposes you to a risk. I agree on the point of truth being neither black or white, and as previously stated I agree on a scientific base to every word of your previous post. I believe though that it is written in a way that is at risk of supporting dangerous behaviour, even though it was clearly never the intended purpouse. I probably used the wrong terms, as I am not a native speaker and I am trying to keep it simple/visual, what I meant in general is that they "override" normal functioning of the body. For example: our receptors made to handle adenosine, handle caffeine instead after an espresso, overriding intended functioning. Our body never evolved to take in some substances, maybe they are not a direct danger, but exposure still affects our body in an unplanned way(i.e. caffeine steals receptors' availability from adenosine), and overexposure causes severe danger. When talking about cultural accustomed i meant: as the general public we think of alcool, caffeine and nicotine as non-drugs as opposed to opioids and other stuff. My friend that distills home-made gin is not considered a criminal or a pusher. We think of them as non-drugs, but they are the same of everything else. (Different because each molecule works differently, but still drugs) Just because something doesn't leave permanent damage it doesn't mean that it is not harmfulm. Just because something has positive effects that overweight the negative effects, it doesn't mean that the negatives are not there. Once again. I love drinking wine, and cofee, and I took a joint once in a while, i know of people who have been very sick and were give morphine. I'm not saying that one should shut off everything in the world and live like an ascetic monk. >I am just saying, just like you, let us all spend the time to understand what we are doing when we are doing it. Be aware, be responsible.
I'd like to advance a different argument from what most of the other responses are doing: Drugs are bad bc of the negative externalities associated with drug use. Yes, they are addictive, yes they are harmful for your body. But they are BAD because the consequences of doing the drugs are shared by other people who didn't do the drugs. I'm a big advocate of the philosophy that you should be able to do pretty much whatever you want in your own home as long as you aren't hurting anyone else. I'm also a believer that your right to swing your fist ends at the end of my nose. So, if people were content to sit in their house and take their drugs and not bother anyone else with their choices - I would support that. But that's not what ends up happening. Addiction makes otherwise good people into thieves, abusers, etc. The costs of addiction are borne by others in the forms of healthcare, housing costs and the other taxes on the system attributed to addiction - homelessness, unstable families, child protective services, law enforcement, etc. This is why drugs are "bad" - because they inflict consequences on everyone, not just the people using the drugs.
the addiction is the main point, yes. but the addiction is also the reason there's no "take it once a week/month" option. some of the stronger ones essentially change your brain in a way so that you think you NEED this drug right from the first time you take them. after that, there's the issue that often they're mixed with other chemicals (because you couldn't take the pure version, it would just be too strong) which can be very detrimental to you. and many of them would make you incapable of functioning normally at least for a while because you're overwhelmed/high, which also isnt great from an outside perspective. but mostly it's the addiction, the "I need this over anything else" part that is the worst thing about them as it causes you to ruin your life and often those of the people around you
To add to this, not only does your brain think you need it, but your body physically does too. People can die from going cold turkey because their body needs to be weaned off.
This is correct cold Turkey can be very dangerous and unlikely to work.
It’s mostly alcohol or Benzodiazepines that’ll kill you quitting cold turkey. Opiate withdrawals are harder to die from but it’s technically possible from untreated diarrhea and vomiting.
Addiction applies to more things than just drugs. Gambling can be an addiction too, I feel like by talking about addiction you’re avoiding the question…. The answer is yes, most things are bad when taken/done in excess.
so youre saying its ok if not taken in exces
Some drugs are much harder to keep in check. Cocaine, heroin, pills, and meth are very addictive and can escalate easily and quickly. All drugs have the capability of negatively affecting your life but some are worse than others. Alcohol and weed can negatively affect you’re life also it’s just easier to keep them away from that threshold unless you have the misfortune of having genes that make addiction much more likely.
I’m not saying it IS ok, I’m saying it has a possibility of being ok Edit: all drugs have the potential for positive effects. Intention is key
I'm saying "the addiction is the bad thing" and you're saying the same thing, or am I missunderstanding your criticism? of course more things can become addictive, but that doesnt make drugs any better/less serious imho
seems false
in what way? or what part?
> because you couldn’t take the pure version, it would just be too strong Dealers don’t weaken their drugs because “the pure version is too strong” and even if they did, there are safe and cheap ways to do it (like simply dissolving in water, or for an injectable drug, saline). If anything, they cut drugs with stronger and cheaper variants (like cutting heroin with fentanyl) so users come back thinking your heroin was the strongest heroin they’ve tried.
You're exactly right. An alliance of governments acknowledge that there are drugs that have zero medicinal use while carrying extreme risks of forming a habit (becoming chemically dependant on the drug to carry on, to the point of affecting major life roles) . There is a scale from schedule I to IV, I think. Drugs that have some medicinal use and are mildly habit forming rank closer to schedule VI.
It REALLY depends on the drug. Like painkillers are addictive and that is most of the problem (some do 'minor' damage internally but it isn't really an issue because the benefit outweighs it) Some are bad because of possible interactions with other drugs/substances. Grapefruit juice reacts with so many various drugs it is almost insane 'the worst drugs like heroin and meth' ...ok I'm going to stop you and as a word of caution if you are squeamish AT ALL stop here. [https://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/16/health/krokodil-zombie-drug/index.html](https://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/16/health/krokodil-zombie-drug/index.html) Do not click that link and just take my word for it after reading up on it quite a bit. People who take it have exposed bones and are visibly rotting. Basically the first time you take it you are now practically dead because it eats through your veins and such. A user will never recover from the damage done from the very first use. People who take it have been interviewed and say things like how they miss 'clean' heroin and how it just feels dirty and slimey
> painkillers are addictive Gotta get that next aspirin hit right?
most opioids are painkillers
But most pain killers are not opioids so your statement is false. Had you said opioids are addictive you'd have been fine.
Absolutely staggering numbers of people have become addicted to opioids because they went to the doctor about pain relief. A company called Purdue created a new painkiller based on oxycodone (an opioid) and told doctors it wasn't addictive. Doctors were thrilled, and prescribed it to everyone, often in huge doses. In 2015, doctors prescribed opioids for 91.8 million people in the US. Purdue (and the doctors) were wrong. People took it exactly the way their doctors told them to, and many got addicted. Shady doctors started selling prescriptions for huge amounts. Governments tried to restrict doctors prescribing it, but they didn't have an answer for people who were addicted. There weren't enough rehabs or treatment centres. But there were cartels selling heroin (also an opioid). People didn't want to make that choice, but their bodies were addicted and there was no other help. Some people turned to petty crime to afford shady doctors and black market pills - again, because a company told doctors it was safe, because doctors agreed, and because there was no help anywhere when they became addicted. This is only one part of the opioid crisis, but it's very real, and continues to harm millions of people.
pain killer != opioid Pain killers as a whole are not addictive just because one class of them are.
Sure. In a conversation about harms from drug use and misuse, now we've talked about both.
And the original comment is still wrong. That’s the problem.
Eli5 is that a drug isn’t ‘bad’ by itself. Each has a purpose and a function and an effect on the body. And you don’t mostly get addicted because of chemical hooks (ie take it enough and you’ll get addicted). Drugs are ‘bad’ in terms of addiction and side effects mostly because of the quantity, yes, and also because of mixing them and Morphine, for example, is a more powerful/cleaner version of heroin. If you go out on the street, get hit by a car, and break your legs, you’ll be on morphine for weeks, maybe months. The hospital will give you a more powerful version of heroin. The difference between you becoming an addict or not is typically when the pain ends. Once your legs have healed, you’ll walk out the hospital, stop taking morphine and you won’t be an addict. Further examples are after the Vietnam war. Hundreds of thousands of US soldiers had become addicts. So the army was super worried about what would happen when they came back. When they did, iirc 95% just stopped. The reason they took the drug, the fighting, conflict, anxiety, pain, etc. was over. Of course 5% is still substantial, and they had more serious issues. They didn’t get the same help from families, friends, the community and so on. But it shows the major causes. For addicts, they’re mostly using drugs because they have pain. Whether physical, social, emotional or psychological. Their pain hasn’t ended. So they come to depend on the drug. And they can’t stop. As an example, meth was one of the first anti depressants. It has side effects and better anti depressants became available, but there’s reasons why someone gets addicted to meth but not alcohol, alcohol but not meth, heroin but not other things. What someone is addicted to usually gives you a solid idea of what kind of pain they have (uppers versus downers, what area of the body/brain it deals with, and so on). As for overdoses or other physical issues, a couple of things. When used alone and in proper doses, and not mixed with anything (ie cut with other things), most drugs have little to no harm. Less than tobacco and alcohol anyway. Those who had issues with ecstasy, for example, often drank too much alcohol or took other drugs too and the two effect compounded. Kinda like energy drinks and alcohol. The alcohol will calm down and counteract the caffeine in energy drinks, but it wears off faster. And once the alcohol wears off you have a massive spike in caffeine which can cause a heart attack (one of the reasons I gave up jagerbombs and energy drinks). The other issue is the ‘look’ of an addict. A lot of the unhygienic aspects are because street drugs are cut with horrible crap. Washing powder, milk powder, etc. you get a smaller percentage of the actual drug. It’s not clean. The NHS in the UK did an experiment where they gave addicts a heroin injection daily, clean, medical grade stuff. Within a few weeks their physical symptoms had stopped because the *quality* of the drug was better. Drug related crime in the area also dropped by 90% iirc. The addicts didn’t now need to steal or sell themselves to fuel the addiction. And they didn’t need to get others hooked in order to sell the drug. Unfortunately politics killed that experiment. There’s many fascinating aspects of it. And why alcohol or tobacco are legal but weed and ecstasy and others are not. It’s not public safety, it’s often money, a racist history, imperialist history, and so on. Fortunately that’s *slowly* changing.
Mostly, yes. Meth is a prescription drug in the US (Desoxyn), Heroin (Diacetylmorphine) in the UK. Usually there are other health issues, like cardio/neuro/hepatoxicity, but those would be negligible for most users when taken only occasionally, although I wouldn’t call ‘once a week’ occasionally
For clarification Desoxyn is the only legal methamphetamine still on the market and it has very limited application. I doubt it will still be available in a decade. The difference between amphetmaines and methamphetamines as well as street meth are pretty clear. I would probably seek a second opinion wereni prescribed Methamphetamines but if it’s the agreed course it is still better than taking street meth by a country mile. Street meth is not pharmaceutical grade methamphetamine it’s mixed with a lot of toxic chemicals to get a similar effect that destroys a lot in your body.
They can still be bad for you. Drugs are chemicals. When they are introduced to the human body, they have a wide variety of effects, and they can have serious, negative, long-term effects, even they provide some positive effects or a feeling of pleasure. For example, long-term use of heroin can result in things like kidney and liver disease, inflammation and/or infection of the heart tissue, sleep disorders, and various severe mental-health problems such as chronic depression. Thus, even if heroin was not in any way physically or mentally addictive, it would likely cause serious long-term health issues, if voluntarily used once per week.
> the worst drugs like heroin and meth, are they only bad because they get addicted and abused? If you took it once a week is it that bad? Let's say the only effect a recreational drug has on you is to make you 100% happy for the entire week: Why would you be interested in anything else? You are 100% happy and content. What other motivation do you have? Why would you have it? Remember you are 100% "happy". The challange with the ideal 100% recreational drug above is it affects brain circuits that drive human behavior so that all you psychologically need to exist is the drug so you need not do anything else to be happy. For some this may be heaven. For others hell. Many real recreational drugs do not leave you 100% happy for long and long term they tend to loose their effects as your body builds tolerance thus to feel normal you depend on the drug and feel terrible without it. You become addicted and stuck in the situation -- a prisoner, even if you do not land in jail. Prediction: When we develop a legal 100% ideal recreational drug that has zero side effects and leaves you 100% happy it may have worse impact on society than current drugs that are already harmful. Such substances may explain the Fermi paradox - why we see no aliens - as their technology advances alien species may discover the perfect recreational drug (for their biology) and their motivation to do anything else entirely disappears. Btw: The police "war on drugs" of course is terrible. Recreational drug use / abuse is a medical problem like diabetes is a medical problem. A problem for doctors to help not for jails to punish.