NASADD Social - so we all smoked outta a cucumber

Why can't wiggi figure out how to change the poll?

  • Good Question

    Votes: 10 45.5%

  • Lefty, step away from the kangaroo and zip your pants up

    Votes: 12 54.5%
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Yes, that's the cycle of addiction, it's not exclusive to drug addiction though, most addictions can be put into that scenario. The obsession is the mental illness, the method is the choice.
 
Yeah, I used to mostly blame the government for drug addiction problems.

Like, by making heroin illegal, the result is that it's expensive and cut up. I mean, if you could get it at any gas station along with your coffee and smokes, then folks wouldn't be breaking into houses and pawning their souls. And if the doses were known, you'd probably see fewer overdosesl. Likewise, if it weren't illegal, you wouldn't have addicts coming out of jail after a forced week or more long detox and accidently overdosing. Seems almost like a lot of addicts intentionally take dangerous doses out of depression, but even that very depression may have resulted from all their financial and legal problems that have their origin in the government regs.

On the other hand, long before becoming addicts, we are well aware that dope is very expensive and illegal. So, by analogy, if the government were to attach known negatives to, say, chocolate (beyond just calories--like, say every bit of chocolate was laced with a chemical that would kill a person if they ate it over a ten year period or so). In that case, if we still had "chocoholics" running around, then it would be very obvious that they had some psychological issues (which, by my hypothesis are related to an inability to weigh pros and cons)...they couldn't just say, "Man, I'm just a normal person who enjoys chocolate, but I'm being screwed by 'the system'".
 
Who do you blame for addiction problems now?

Legalization wouldn't prevent addiction but it would help prevent death due to contamination. Prohibition in any form has never worked. Regulation and consistent methods of formulating the drugs in a lab setting would save lives. Taxation would make the politicians even wealthier. Everyone wins.
 
Well, I try not to think of it in terms of "blame", because really, it's a harsh term, and I don't think beating myself up would do much good.

I think what's important here is realizing and acknowledging that I have poor decision making skills.

And this poor decision making ability seems to be coupled with a desire to follow my own course and not necessarily listen to what society has to say. A dangerous combination, IMO. Not really sure how to fix that, but I suppose at least knowing that's a problem is a step in the right direction.
 
Binge Artist said:
Well, I try not to think of it in terms of "blame", because really, it's a harsh term, and I don't think beating myself up would do much good.

I think what's important here is realizing and acknowledging that I have poor decision making skills.

And this poor decision making ability seems to be coupled with a desire to follow my own course and not necessarily listen to what society has to say. A dangerous combination, IMO. Not really sure how to fix that, but I suppose at least knowing that's a problem is a step in the right direction.
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i have the same problem. have horrible decision making skills and just want to do my own thing regardless of what society says/thinks/feels. it just sucks that i want to live in this society so bad. i have/had to make sacrifices to remain in good standards in this society....hasnt really led to kicking dope completely but it has brought me to a point where i am motivated to try to get things under control in a way that society accepts (pain management).

i gave up thinking that i can live my life without opiate help a long time ago and its not a mental thing anymore, its a pain thing. i seriously do not see myself living my life with my back and being able to live with the pain....you might as well hand me a gun, at the same time i have conditioned myself to opiates that doctors simply will not prescribe regardless of how much pain you are in....its a nasty fucking situation tbqh.
 
as long as these nerve blocks keep working and i can get a few good weeks out of a month, im happy tbh. btw the blocks are starting to wear off, didnt sleep last night, so i guess the idea that it would last the full 2 weeks was a bit far fetched. oh well, another week and ill be able to get another one.
 
Yeah, that's the thing with opiates--some people actually NEED them.

But, IDK if it's only folks with physical pain that need them. I mean, is it possible that some people who are depressed a lot would actually live a normal, happy life if opiates were cheap and legal? It's actually kinda tricky to look at opiates in a purely objective way, because so much of what we "know" about them has been influenced by regulation. I suppose there were quite a few evils with them back in the day, otherwise they'd still be legal. I guess we'd need a time machine to know what level of regulation was "better".
 
Long term opiate use does not cure or even aid depression. It's helpfulness diminishes over time and the only thing you're left with is a costly habit and just as much depression and anxiety as you started with.
 
purplefirefly said:
I love traveling to the south, I get called "m'am" everywhere I go. .
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Shit, I call everyone mam and sir here, regardless of their occupation, race, or social standing. Everyone says mam and sir to people that other people probably just ignore, including janitors, fast food workers, etc. I am pretty sure that I've told a homeless man, "No sir, I don't have any money."
 
Manners are a lost art in many parts of the country. I've lost my patience for people in the north east. I've lived here my whole life and never really noticed it until I started traveling. People are angry assholes up here.
 
brutus said:
Shit, I call everyone mam and sir here, regardless of their occupation, race, or social standing. Everyone says mam and sir to people that other people probably just ignore, including janitors, fast food workers, etc. I am pretty sure that I've told a homeless man, "No sir, I don't have any money."
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im the same way. its a respect thing, and i respect everyone. i didnt think it was a southern thing tbqh. so people up north dont hit you with no ma'am or yes ma'am pff?
 
Huh.

I've had Southern women chew me out for calling them ma'am.

"You calling me an old lady, boy?!?"
 
purplefirefly said:
Long term opiate use does not cure or even aid depression. It's helpfulness diminishes over time and the only thing you're left with is a costly habit and just as much depression and anxiety as you started with.
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i agree to an extent. its does seem opiate use only exacerbates depression and anxiety, but at the same time with bingey's argument, does it increase depression because of the chemical make up of the brain/the drug or does it increase depression because of the social aspects that are inevitably involved with opiates?


i believe that a great deal of the negative side effects of opiates are sociologically driven. like if they werent so restricted and we took the things out you have to do to obtain them, which, in turn, would eiliminate negative things like shame from the situation, would that improve the depressive aspects of the situation? i believe it would. i think a large majority of the negative feelings that are attached to opiate use would diminish if the government took a different stance on them and didnt influence the majority to look down on opiate addicts.
 
i cant wait until a president has the balls to tell the world that the drug war is an all out failure, but then also has the balls to do a complete overhall. i want to say Obama has already said its a failure but then he just didnt do anything about it.

edit: i tell my sister this all the time but i truly believe that when the above DOES happen that this same president will make a public apology to every single person ever effected by the drug war.....that goes for arrests, evictions, loss of jobs, overdoses, i mean everything. i strongly believe that its only a matter of time before someone finally does away with the drug war and also apologizes to the american public for its 40 years of bullshit.
 
MemphisX3 said:
im the same way. its a respect thing, and i respect everyone. i didnt think it was a southern thing tbqh. so people up north dont hit you with no ma'am or yes ma'am pff?
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Good god no! I'm lucky to get a cashier to acknowledge me let alone exchange pleasantries or be polite to me. It's very much a southern thing. They don't behave that way in California either.
 
MemphisX3 said:
i agree to an extent. its does seem opiate use only exacerbates depression and anxiety, but at the same time with bingey's argument, does it increase depression because of the chemical make up of the brain/the drug or does it increase depression because of the social aspects that are inevitably involved with opiates?


i believe that a great deal of the negative side effects of opiates are sociologically driven. like if they werent so restricted and we took the things out you have to do to obtain them, which, in turn, would eiliminate negative things like shame from the situation, would that improve the depressive aspects of the situation? i believe it would. i think a large majority of the negative feelings that are attached to opiate use would diminish if the government took a different stance on them and didnt influence the majority to look down on opiate addicts.
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I think it has to do with the existing neurochemistry of the drug user. People become addicts because they are trying to escape something. There is something in their brain that isn't working correctly (either situational or an imbalance), or in your case, the aspect of intolerable pain. Opiates are looked to for relief. The problem is that the symptom is being treated but not the disease (this would apply to depression and anxiety for example). If you don't learn how to think differently or fix the imbalance then nothing will change. Your tolerance just goes up and up and it's harder to escape.

Honestly, I never thought I would say this but....the majority of negative light that shines on drug users is self inflicted. The majority of users, particularly addicts, are not at the top of the intellectual food chain. I've known a lot of users and many of them are low life thieves and liars. Sometimes stereotypes exist for a reason. They have trouble holding jobs and maintaining relationships, their lives revolve pretty exclusively around doing drugs. Everything else is secondary. Maybe legalization would help sway that, provided drugs were actually made affordable, even with taxation. That verdict is still out though.
 
Gosh do you guys ever have anything to say on an intellectual level?
 
purplefirefly said:
I think it has to do with the existing neurochemistry of the drug user. People become addicts because they are trying to escape something. There is something in their brain that isn't working correctly (either situational or an imbalance), or in your case, the aspect of intolerable pain. Opiates are looked to for relief. The problem is that the symptom is being treated but not the disease (this would apply to depression and anxiety for example). If you don't learn how to think differently or fix the imbalance then nothing will change. Your tolerance just goes up and up and it's harder to escape.

Honestly, I never thought I would say this but....the majority of negative light that shines on drug users is self inflicted. The majority of users, particularly addicts, are not at the top of the intellectual food chain. I've known a lot of users and many of them are low life thieves and liars. Sometimes stereotypes exist for a reason. They have trouble holding jobs and maintaining relationships, their lives revolve pretty exclusively around doing drugs. Everything else is secondary. Maybe legalization would help sway that, provided drugs were actually made affordable, even with taxation. That verdict is still out though.
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verdict will be out for awhile i assume. at the same time what a great fucking social experiment it would be....get like 20 hardcore junkies and move them somewhere they MUST have relationships and jobs and such and get free health care etc and give them their DOC at a cheap price (they must pay with funds from their job) and see if there is any gigantic change in their psyche


edit: i would also like to point out that at one time my usage most definitely was an escape from mental shit just as much as physical. i was running from a lot, but i have dealt with and moved on from the mental/emotional things that bothered me....i always like to say this but often i wonder if its true....i dont think i would have had such a tough time with opiates had it not been for pain. oh how many times i went back to it just because i would be sitting there thinking how much my back hurt and how awesome it would be if it were like every other bone in my body and i just couldnt feel it....
 
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