While I'll admit I dont' know heroin from the perspective you do as I've never touched it and never will, don't you think the bolded statement is going just a LITTLE bit overboard????
Surely if opioids were harmless they would not have killed so many people...
I might be willing to buy that Heroin (without Fentanyl in it) isn't AS dangerous overall as the media makes it out to be, but I have to assume SOME of its' reputation as being dangerous is at least PARTIALLY based on truth.
Yea, I agree. Calling Opioids harmless is probably going a little overboard. Let me provide you with the context in which I was working. We all know Opioids can actually kill quite easily, but I was essentially trying to speak to the chronic effects of Opioid use. Kind of like how the main issue with Tobacco doesn't come directly after smoking a cigarette, it generally comes after years of exposure. Nicotine, we know is a carcinogen and is thus terrible for you. Opioids, at least those of which I know, are not toxic. There are some synthetics like Pethidine (Demerol) that are known to produce toxic effects after prolonged administration, but things like this are the exception.
Part of why I said that so explicitly, and I was probably irresponsible to do so, was because I got into a pretty heated argument with a couple of coworkers who drink Alcohol pretty excessively like 4-5 days a week. They were both hungover and I told them it's "a symptom of introducing poison into your body, you guys would be better off using Heroin than drinking like you do". Naturally, like religion and politics, discussing your hard drug use with "normies" invariably leads to bullshit. They found my statement that Alcohol was more acutely harmful to the body than Opioids,
hilarious. It's a little aggravating, so I came home with a little chip on the shoulder.
When we discuss drugs like Methamphetamine, Cocaine and Alcohol, they all have their respective negative impacts on the body in the acute and chronic sense; neurotoxicity, Cardiovascular Stress and the myriad effects of Alcohol metabolism respectively, among others. What do Opioids cause? Constipation and depression upon cessation, which it seems is for the most part, reversible with abstinence.
Now, please don't flame me people. Accidents can happen no matter how safe you are, but in general, if you follow basic safety procedures you can really minimize the risk of death or injury. If you do 4 bags every time you pick up regardless of quality, you have a high likelihood of eventually overdosing. If you do the smart thing and test one, then do the other 3 if needed, then you have less chance of catastrophe. Opioids are powerful and can kill easily, but it's not like this shit happens by some accident of nature. You overdose because you have introduce entirely too much Opiate into your system at once.
So, I guess I should have clarified. Opiates including Heroin are very dangerous, but if you take some simple precautions, there's no reason why you can't live a long, (and relatively) happy life.
. It's like politics to a certain degree. Each side has gripes about the other. I just want to make clear that there's no judgment or disdain in my statement. I don't think that stimulant users are bad people, I just think the stimulants can really wreck their personality. Opioids can to, but I feel like they wreck your personality more just through cravings and the need to quickly acquire money, which tends to cause problems.