^ I clearly stated that I am not pitching for heroin, I don't know why every time I state the fact that not everyone who uses heroin becomes addicted, in fact not even a majority do, people take that as me somehow pitching for heroin. Heroin is a seriously addictive drug and its use carries serious dangers, these facts alone are enough reason why the risks associated with heroin use do not need to be overstated, and to my mind this thread does overstate those risks, so I am voicing my concern and opposing viewpoint, as I am entitled to do.
I did say I was glad I tried heroin, I said that because Tommyboy said on the previous page he is yet to meet anybody to have said that, I didn't say it to be controversial or to get some reaction, I said it because it is the truth and I wanted to add a more balanced perspective to this thread. Should I censor my personal experience with a drug because it isn't negative? To me doing so would not be in the interest of harm reduction, everyone should be entitled to unbiased facts when they are weighing a decision to take a drug or not, it is not like I neglected to mention that heroin has dangers and is addictive.
I would wholeheartedly agree that trying heroin is a bad idea, there is probably no benefit associated with the drug that is worth the potential harms the drug can cause, although that is arguably the case with a number of other drugs that don't get their own stickied thread on OD on why not to take them...
Whether using heroin is a good or a bad idea, I truly feel is a topic that is outside the scope of this forum, which exists in acknowledgement that people will use dangerous drugs, regardless of the risks, and the best approach to reducing harm is to provide those people with real information on how to use in the safest manner possible, not to preach abstinence to them. If it was deemed to be absolutely necessary to include this abstinence based advice then I would at least ask that the claims being made are based on real evidence and not exaggerated on the basis that those exaggerations fit with the anecdotal experience of a select number of people and are being made in complete ignorance of evidence to the contrary, as is the current situation.
I really wish people would actually rebut what I have to say with some real evidence, or at least address any of the number of points I have made in a way more meaningful than essentially saying, "heroin is bad, everybody knows that, discouraging it, regardless of whether the claims being made are even based on science or facts, is a good thing", or "my experience as one heroin user is enough to definitively say a majority who use it become addicted", to my mind neither of those ideas are very intelligent.
I feel like I am repeating myself in this thread and so my contribution might stop here, I didn't come in here to insult anybody but I have some concerns that I felt needed a voice in this thread. I would love it if a more constructive conversation on this issue could take place, but at this stage it seems like people would rather either ignore me, or argue against me with nothing but personal experience on their side. The thing about your personal experience is that other peoples can differ, and the only statistics I can find seem to suggest that a majority of people do not get addicted to heroin after they try it.