I didn't ever want to be accused of misguiding people, but this whole Opioids in relation to aging thing has always interested me.
I think it's so true that sticking needles into your skin constantly is just not tenable. We have skin. It's meant to protect us from bad shit, yet we develop ways of bypassing the city walls of our own biology. I think repeated injections, coupled with a graudal reduction in hygiene, self-care, access to sterile water et cetera all contribute to what we all know and understand as one of the many "junkie diseases".
I have known women, beauties, who have been able to return from Opioid use to their previously beautiful and thriving state. I could only hope a lady would say the same of myself. Yet, I have also seen many "good girls" go down the rabbit hole of Crack Cocaine and Methamphetamine and these drugs appear to be much less forgiving than Opioids. I think we have known this for a long time, but it's not so obvious that I shouldn't point it out here. Stimulants burn people out faster than stuff like Opioids.
You can live to be 100 with a serious Heroin addiction and in this day and age, even the most conservative of doctors is inclined to admit that there are no glittering, obvious consequences of Opioid use. I guess I would have to say in the end, that stimulants really seem to take the body, the physical first, but Opioids are so.... bliss. They wrap up the mind. It's like a gilded cage. It's got soft walls to bounce around in, but you're stuck in that little soft room.