Silk Road forums

Discussion => Philosophy, Economics and Justice => Topic started by: bbd82584 on August 15, 2013, 03:17 pm

Title: A Junkie Manifesto
Post by: bbd82584 on August 15, 2013, 03:17 pm
So,  as I have grown up I have spent many years being physically dependent on opiates.  The mention of heroin, IV drug use, and prescription pain killers stir strong emotions amongst many, but consider this: only 1 in 10 Americans will ever even physically encounter heroin in their lifetime; yet 10 in 10 Americans believe they know what heroin is all about.  For most of those 90%, they don't need to see heroin, they know it's a dangerous and dirty drug associated with painful overdoses popularized by tv and film and it's associated with HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and a generally miserable existence.  While this stereotype, like most stereotypes is based in fact, the extrapolation is a work of fiction. 

What most don't consider is that many of the negative aspects associated with a "heroin-addicted" lifestyle are actually created as a direct result of opiate prohibition.  In an exciting time where many are waking up to the nonsensical nightmares perpetuated by the War on Marijuana, far too few are waking up to the absolute hell-on-earth brought on by opiate prohibition.  It is my hope that in the near future it becomes popular opinion to believe that it is childish to believe that making any idea, product, practice or system which already exists and is supported in the real-world illegal will EVER do anything but serve to feed into the more dangerous aspects of said idea, product, ect. 

While I am not a fan of allowing the state control over any aspect of human life, I do believe that lifting these ridiculous bans on opiates will serve to drag these problems into the light of day, and be dealt with in a mature manner.  It is often argued that legalizing opiates will create a rise in opiate use and addiction.  While I can't say for sure either way, I can say that whatever the rate of use is, what those users will actually be encountering will be safe, clean product with well known effects and contents.  They will be using in safer places, under safer conditions, while using safer drugs in known concentrations.  It will become common knowledge that opiate overdoses NEVER have to be fatal, because the antidote is simple oxygen and a dose of dirt-cheap Narcan.  People won't be forced to re-use disease carrying and blunt-as-shit needles which spread disease and damage the body because the cost of a disposable piece of plastic and steel will be true to real market factors and not driven up by an artificially manufactured sense of scarcity.

As for a false sense of scarcity, it would be beneficial to all that the prevailing attitude states that opiates are nothing more than simple concentrations and/or chemical alterations of what amounts to a substance which literally grows out of the dirt.  It is outrageous that the latex of a flower that will grow damn near anyplace should be sold at hundreds of dollars a GRAM.

Any thoughts? 
Title: Re: A Junkie Manifesto
Post by: CannabisCrusader on August 15, 2013, 05:53 pm
I agree, but good luck ever getting that to happen. I can picture a future society where the war on drugs is completely gone and you can go into heroin parlors and sit in a comfy ass chair and nod.

But it probably would cause more use and then more addicts, because I would definitely try it if it was that easy but I don't want to go through the effort to get H, and what is probably not that great H.
Title: Re: A Junkie Manifesto
Post by: bbd82584 on August 15, 2013, 09:41 pm
The argument that making Heroin legal is tantamount to condoning its use is a fallacy.  Tobacco is legal, but you go to New York city and tell me that it's condoned.  Freedom of information and education about using tobacco and the nasty effects associated with smoking has cultivated a negative public opinion of it.  So it's very unpopular, and rightfully so, but all are still free to buy and use tobacco in NYC.

I also want to address another part of your comment where you spoke about increased use creating more addicts; the words "addict", "addiction" and "addicted" have become ubiquitous in today's society and popular culture.  Everyone's addicted to this, has a (fill in the blank) addiction, or is a (insert anything) addict.  I believe this could be a sign of a consumer culture beginning to come to terms with it's own gluttony but I think we need to examine the WIDE range of behaviors and thought-patterns that we slap the "a"-word on.

When we talk about addiction, we talk about a preoccupation with some idea or act or object that has reached the point of becoming unhealthy.  Now where that point is has been contended by professionals in the field for as long as we've examined this kind of thing.  Some say that the point is where one's neurological make-up becomes wired in such away that they feel discomfort or malaise when not engaged in "addict behaviors", while others contend that there is only a problem when the "addict" becomes so preoccupied that they become a socio-economic burden on the society they operate in (example- The wealthy are rarely recognized as being "addicts" because their access to wealth creates a situation where socio-economic responsibilities never go unattended.) 

This is all relevant to the original topic in that one would be hard pressed to have a conversation about Heroin without the topic of "addiction" being brought up rather quickly.  What I have personally come to believe is that there are some dis-services done to all when they are labeled an "addict" and lumped in with other "addicts" who may have, in reality, very different problems and solutions from one another.  For example, AA/NA dogma often preaches that "a drug is a drug is a drug".  While the harms caused by AA/NA are plentiful, this gem is particularly damaging because it has resulted in poular thought about "addiction" to include the notion that all "addicts" are fundamentally the same and that all drugs fundamentally damage lives in the same way.  While there is some truth to this, the reality is that the inner working of a cocaine addict's brain much more closely resemble that of a person with impulse control issues such as gambling addiction and kleptomania than that of an opiate addict's.  You can see where a one-size-fits-all therapeutic approach to these two issues could produce results that could hardly be called "therapeutic"(Just a note, the numbers confirm this.  The only published numbers on AA/NA show that less that 3% of AA/NA members succeed in adhering to program's picture of healthy living).

I have long considered myself an "opiate-dependent" individual.  It has been a long time since I considered myself an "addict".  I believe the difference is that opiate addiction should be characterized not by the level of physical dependence, but on the level of pre-occupation of the mind of the individual in question.  While I still use "street" opiates with some frequency,  being a patient at an opiate maintenance program has allowed me the freedom to examine myself, my thinking and behavior so that I no longer feel obsessed with using opiates.  I believe that methadone clinics are far from perfect, and I also believe that the maintenance drug a person is prescribed should be a decision that is made between an individual and his/her doctor, but in the US methadone maintenance is the closest thing to freedom I have experienced in my years of being physically dependent on opiates.

Again, I believe that prohibition of opiates has created an artificial and false sense of scarcity surrounding opiates and that the very prohibition which was intended to eradicate opiates has served to drive up demand and price while driving down quality, safety and safe availability.  Prohibition itself has created the "dope fiend", the "heroin addict" and it continues to drive the unnecessary obsession and false mystique that is at the heart of true heroin/opiate addiction to newer and scarier heights.  Yet I have faith,  I believe that people like DPR are making headway in the popularizing these issues and the effort to cultivate an atmosphere where free exchange of goods and ideas will one day soon render the hopelessly immature war on drugs obsolete.
Title: Re: A Junkie Manifesto
Post by: Bluto on August 16, 2013, 02:38 am
I don't worry so much about labels. Calling someone a junkie or whatever is just bullshit. There is good and bad in everyone regardless of the products they consume.

I'm actually opiate resistant. I've done heroin and it really doesn't give me that thing that others find so appealing.  Just stay safe. Use clean needles and keep a job so you can pay for your habit.
Title: Re: A Junkie Manifesto
Post by: hoobydoobydoo on August 16, 2013, 03:26 am
I don't get the allure of opiates either.  Not my thing.

As I read your posts they appear to me more like an attempt to rationalize and legitimize an addiction by calling it different names (opiate dependence).

Not trying to be mean but honestly that is the perception I get from reading through this.
Title: Re: A Junkie Manifesto
Post by: Bluto on August 16, 2013, 11:41 am
Heroin and opiates are some of the stupidest things you can put into your body besides benzodiazepines. When you start injecting your veins with poison you lose all self respect and certainly my respect. You cannot trust an opiate addict. I've completely phased junkies out of my life and am no worse for doing so.

“Hip - Someone who knows the score. Someone who understands "jive talk." Someone who is "with it." The expression is not subject to definition because, if you don't "dig" what it means, no one can ever tell you.”
― William S. Burroughs, Junky