Are 'downer' drugs more addictive than 'uppers'?

[cowardescent]

I've heard this statement echoed alot in the internet and by the recreational drug users I know in real life. It seems that generally, people can consume (disputable but bear with me) coke, ecstasy, amphetamines etc... without suffering much withdrawal effects. In fact, doctors prescribe in the U.S. stimulants long-term for patients.

Downers like benzos and opiates on the other hand are not recommended long term at all and people who have been prescribed these on the past experience horrific withdrawals that last very long. The worst thing about stimulant withdrawal may be a very low mood and suicidal thoughts, the worst thing about benzo/opiate withdrawal is low mood, suicidal thoughts, body aches, seizures, restless legs, vomiting, insomnia etc... Far worse.

 

[Hylight]

I didn't know that about amphetamine withdrawal. I do need to find something to get my energy levels up if I can get energy at all ☹. I might have to turn to illicit substance if there isn't anything else that can work.

More of the on topic subject though, the withdrawal from the benzo/opiate seems to go on for eternity and may not end at all.

 

[Flower Fairy]

For me definitely but everyone is different

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

I would argue that stimulants are actually more addictive than depressants. But to understand this you need to understand the difference between addiction and dependence, which isn't always obvious.

Addiction is largely psychological. It is an intense desire to repeat taking a substance for its pleasurable effects. Both stimulants and depressants display this.

However, dependence is largely physical, characterised by the need to continue taking a substance in order to function properly.

The addiction to stimulants can be overwhelming, but even the most hardened speed freak will take a day or two off to recover every now and then.

With dependence to depressants, taking a day off isn't an option. You need that drug to function normally otherwise you become sick. This continues even when the pleasurable effects have long gone and you have no desire to take that drug any more. In effect, the addiction has gone but the dependence remains. In fact, true dependence is largely characterised by the intense desire, but total inability to stop taking that drug.

Cessation of both stimulants and depressants will cause physical symptoms. But with stimulants, these are more akin to physical exhaustion, dehydration and malnutrition - all of which are easily remedied with a few days of rest and recuperation. But once recovered, the cravings for pleasure usually kick in again leading to a repeating cycle of speeding and crashing.

However, cessation of depressants is more like contracting a nasty illness - the only cure for which is more of the same. In the case of benzos and booze, this 'illness' can kill you. In the case of opiates, you just wish you were dead.

But for me, the most significant difference is that withdrawal from stimulants can largely be slept off. But withdrawal from depressants is like the most uncomfortable, dysphoric, cracked out stimulant feeling that you can imagine, on top of a bad mushroom trip and a heavy dose of flu where sleep is an absolute impossibility.

Give me stimulant withdrawal anytime. I can cope with psychological cravings, but I can't cope with feeling like dying...

 

[atara]

But for me, the most significant difference is that withdrawal from stimulants can largely be slept off. But withdrawal from depressants is like the most uncomfortable, dysphoric, cracked out stimulant feeling that you can imagine, on top of a bad mushroom trip and a heavy dose of flu where sleep is an absolute impossibility.

I was about to say the same thing.

Stimulant addiction becomes pernicious when you use the stimulants to work; you start to think you need them to perform well. Once this goes away, it's gone, pretty much. It can be a very hard cycle to break, but because working is something that is evaluated externally, former addicts don't look back and think "I was more productive back then". There is too much evidence to the contrary.

(A milder version is when people depend on psychedelics or entactogens for socializing. But again, after you stop, you realize it's not good to be tripping all of the time.)

Opioid/benzo/etc addiction on the other hand takes over your means of relaxation. This is not externally evaluated, and so people relapse more, because their fond memories of being high aren't contradicted by external evidence. It's easy to look back and think "I was happier using", because the statement has no truth value outside of your feelings.

 

[Nagelfar]

I was always of the opinion that depressants were more addictive chronically, and stimulants more addictive accutely. So it's just a matter of chronically addictive versus accutely addictive; i.e. in the long term or in the short term. More addiction after a long period use or more addictive potential at first exposure.

 

[kush407smoke]

totally depends on the person some people dislike downers and only do uppers

 

[allone]

its hard to know since i have always used an upper than a downer. then downer and upper. arent they going hand in hand naturally like yin-yang? well, at least in my professional addiction experience they have been going on like yin yang. so i guess ill never really be sure which is more addictive...

 

[Shady's Fox]

Simple but subjective.

Downers = Anxiety/stability. Down to Earth
Uppers = Social environment/ambivert/depressed

It boils down to preference and how someone choose to see it.

 

[dopamimetic]

Both can cause post acute withdrawal which is usually doubted by both professionels and users who don't get it (yet). Acute withdrawal can be hell but with access to the right things (drugs, time to rest and sleep, no pressure) it is often manageable. Against PAWS, which probably includes prolonged benzo withdrawal, we have nothing real than continuing on drugs.

Fully agreed that downers have a worse acute w/d and stims, when not abused to hell and back, tend to be limited to some days of hypersomnia and some of anhedonia but opioids for example are notorious for PAWS and it is cross tolerant to the pleasurable effects of stims, so of dopaminergic nature.