Apologies in advance for what is going to be multiple posts, but I'm drunk (read on some more about this), and quoting multiple peeps in one post is too much to handle at the moment.... gotta love the "Quote" button at times like this.
...it can ruin lives, destroy careers....
First off, in my experience, the best guard against
serious addiction, is to get a career/job, and be serious about it. Don't make time off work getting high a habit (granted, I did and still do this from time to time, but not regularly - if you are serious about getting by, and for that matter, having cash for your next score, you need to take work seriously). I know this saved me from going toooo far down the road.
If you are already mildly addicted to something stronger, days off using codeine (being
aware of the deadly properties of APAP/Paracetamol, and complications of Ibuprofen, and thus being sensible of course), will probably enforce the
habit, but will also help to minimise the
physical addiction, IMO. Probably not really worth my mentioning, to be honest (drunk, as I've mentioned...read on)
Methampehetamine - Crystal, Ice, speed
Sneaky one, that. In my experience, not too addictive nasally, but once done with a needle, it's best that you don't have a regular hookup.
Coke is the same, if you have a regular supply, don't shoot it - very addictive, need shots every 30 mins at least. Though it is mostly psychological, and less physical, its still a sneaky one...
Benzos:
Valium (diazepam)
Temazepam
Clonazepam
Lots more
I should just mention here, that Alprazolam (spelling?) better known as Xanax, is highly addictive, just do a search here on BL. Perhaps more "overtly" addictive than others, in that it happens quicker, is noticed quicker, and is shorter in terms of withdrawal than for example Diazepam.....
Diazepam is possibly the worst offender, but don't be fooled
BENZO WITHDRAWAL CAN KILL YOU (if you are addicted enough) - one of the very few classes that can - opioid W/D is no doubt painful, but
rarely deadly. Check out various threads by negrogesic on how extreme benzo wd can be. (Will try to dig up a link later, but they were terror stories)
Edit: Do a search for posts "started by: negrogesic" and "keywords: diazepam" for a bunch of stories - there's one in particular I'm trying to find, and will post it as soon as I find it, but they all give good reason to take care with benzos.....
Edit #2: This thread:
http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=183604
has some craziness from Benzo WD
....needless to say, I can't stop quoting this guy - his "fall from grace" (he was a moderator) has shown me a thing or twenty about benzo dangers..... as I reach for another valium... hmm
Edit #3 Looks like negrogesic is still on BL, at least this year - great to see man, for a while there I didn't know where you got to. Horror stories still haunt tho, and I'm gonna dig up what I thought was the worst, as I think it worthwhile 4 this thread...
....and my original post continues....
I just feel lucky that my access to benzos is limited (if I lived in Hong Kong or India, this would of course be a much different story)
suboxone or methadone.... they can be just as hard to break as you drug of choice.
From my own experience, and many other's BL posts, suboxone (buprenorphine or bupe) is not the hardest to kick, but (from other's anecdotes) methodone is. Chances are that if you are really having a hard time kicking bupe, it probably isnt holding you that well either, and methodone is the only thing that will.... though I wouldn't recommend it. Bupe is so long lasting, that you can taper gradually, for example taking 90% of your dose every second day for a month, then moving on to that steady dose, and so on. For me, I was even able to do this with a 25% reduction, without noticing too much. 'done on the other hand sounds like a bitch if you just reduce by 5%.
I also found that much of what I had ended up using heroin for (anxiety, depression, aside from addiction) was alleviated more by bupe than dope had done for me - rather than remove myself from these things (as dope did), it removed these things from me, and gave me time to sort them out while I slowly got off it. Not without setbacks, and the occasional W/Ding on purpose just so I could feel my next shot of dope, but nevertheless, for me, overall it worked.
I highly recommend you avoid opiates if you suffer from anxiety or depression as when you quit theres a very high likelihood you will worsen the depression making it far harder to quit.
100% on the money.
Now for two drugs I think were missed.
Alcohol!
Us junkies tend to dismiss this, or at leas think an alcoholic is an alcoholic, but a junkie is not. I have been fortunate enough to be able to take myself away from the opioid scene, by keeping a job long enough to move to another country, in which I have no contacts (though I occasionally try to make some). As a result, whenever I feel like a fix, which I cannot get, I turn to alcohol. And this has become more frequent of late (which is why this post has taken me thus far the better part of an hour to write).
And as with Benzos, its one of the few drugs that withdrawal from can kill you. And it is so socially accepted, that it is almost impossible to remove yourself from. Moving country will only help if you move somewhere its illegal, and even then I'm sure theres a trade for it. I cant help but think that if I still had access to opioids, perhaps I'd be more together than I am now....
The second one of note
- whilst addiction/dependance to it is not really that bad, is...
weed.
Whilst I think it is BullS**t that it is a "gateway drug" (soooo many people do it regularly and never touch anything stronger), if you are the sort of person who *is* going to experiment with heroin for example, then getting yourself in the habit of smoking weed daily/hourly/etc, is definitely setting you up for the dependant "attitude", which you can easily bring with you when you start taking heroin more than once a year.......