Op-Ed Opioids Feel Like Love. That’s Why They’re Deadly in Tough Times.

[thegreenhand]

Opioids Feel Like Love. That’s Why They’re Deadly in Tough Times.​

Maia Salavitz
New York Times
6 Dec 2021

I had told myself that I’d never try heroin because it sounded too perfect. It’s like “warm, buttery love,” a friend told me.

When I did yield to temptation — in a fit of rage over a boyfriend’s infidelity in the mid-1980s — that’s what I experienced. It wasn’t euphoria that hooked me. It was relief from my dread and anxiety, and a soothing sense that I was safe, nurtured and unconditionally loved.

Read the full story here (paywalled).

 

[Burnt Offerings]

The analogy I've always been fond of is, they turn the volume down on life. I wouldn't necessarily compare it to love, that hasn't been my experience, but it's more like life (in general) is a blaring television set constantly bombarding you with stuff that you need to do, or stuff that you need to buy, or just annoying the everloving shit out of you at 100 decibels. Where the hell is the goddamn remote control for this thing? Ah, there it is (grabs opioids)

 

['medicine cabinet']

Like a warm blanket that hides you from everything bad in life for a short time

 

[Cream Gravy?]

I honestly don’t think the repercussions of occasional opioid addiction are even that bad. I’m over three weeks off a 4 month long opioid addiction and I’m not craving that hard... it just helped me through a particularly bad patch of the year. Sure I lost a few nights sleep when I quit but it wasn’t really THAT bad. Not the way the media makes it out.

But I’ve never tried heroin. I’ve used buprenorphine and Methadone but in low doses. So maybe it’s tougher to quit the harder the opioid is, idk.

I just think people should be allowed to have relief, if only just occasionally. It’s nice to feel good.