POLY DRUG ABUSE meaning

[GodPecheMode]

Hi there, I just had a conversation with a friend and am curious to see what other people's takes are regarding polydrug use and what it means.

To you - does polydrug use mean using more than one drug or does it mean using a large quantity of drugs, around 5 or 6?

Thanks

 

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

I don't think it has a hard and fast definition. The use of several drugs concurrently will suffice...

 

[fugme]

For me it means more about being addicted to multiple drugs at once.

 

[Pickledlemons]

Poly means more than one.... so two would be enough in my mind.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I guess there is a medical definition somewhere for polydrug use vs polydrug addiction. When someone goes to detox (or simply tries to quit themselves) and they are addicted to / dependent on multiple substances the protocols for getting them clean may vary.

For example a person might be dependent on benzos, heroin, alcohol, and meth and there is probably an ideal order to wean them off that particular set of drugs rather than all at once.

That’s just my speculation though.

 

[Joey]

Polydrug means more than one drug by the definition of poly. Whatever you add onto that whether its use, abuse, addiction, whatever. Self-explanatory.

 

[SKL]

Everyone on this site, basically. It's just a term of art meaning people use more than one drug. Like basically everything else drug-related, it's used in a somewhat specious way by clinicians much if not most of the time. It implies (often accurately) clinical complexity due to multiple drug effects and/or addictions, e.g. withdrawing from more than one drug at a time, increased risk of opiate overdose use due to concomitant benzo/EtOH/(for other reasons) stimulant use, etc.