I think misery is the original gateway drug

[soulless_curiousity]

I see so much talk about how some drugs are a slippery slope into worse drugs.
But so little on the role of human misery.

In my opinion the only thing you need in order to get into the "bad" stuff is some amount of cash and a lack of belief in your own future.

How many of us are here "just for fun"? Probably not most. Not me at least.

 

[deficiT]

You're definitely right. I think it's similar to how society views crime. Instead of recognizing poverty, scarcity, and social alienation as the root cause of most all crime, we view it as a moral failing on an individual basis, that can be fixed with a strong enough backhand.

Most people that use drugs in a destructive manner, likely have something underlying that they are incapable of dealing with for whatever reason.

It's just more convenient for pencil pushers and bean counters to appear busy or productive by saying "hey we told all the kids, just say no to drugs!" "Don't ever smoke pot you'll become a junkie!" Or "we locked up ten criminals today!" "We're solving the problem!"

But the root cause is left to fester, and dysfunction and neuroses will continue to compound until they are handled radically.

 

[Pissed_and_messed]

How many of us are here "just for fun"? Probably not most. Not me at least.

Not many, but it happens sometimes.

Rat park rats stopped most drugs when they were offered natural recreation, but most of them kept administering cocaine for some reason. Although the habit had developed under different circumstances.

I have read few people stating in BL they got seriously addicted even tho they had their shit together. Not many, but some.

Generally I suggest people to stay away from meth, cocaine and opioids, even if they had it all good. They have a lot to lose, then.

 

[washingtonbound]

I see so much talk about how some drugs are a slippery slope into worse drugs.
But so little on the role of human misery.

In my opinion the only thing you need in order to get into the "bad" stuff is some amount of cash and a lack of belief in your own future.

How many of us are here "just for fun"? Probably not most. Not me at least.

In my case I would say the gateway was curiosity. The idea of altering your consciousness in general was really intriguing to me in high school, especially since I was brought up in a small conservative town with very limited access to substances. Psychedelics were part of my identity in my early 20s and I was naive enough to think I was a better person for doing them. As I got older and observed my life going nowhere, drugs became more of an escape from ennui.

It can start out innocently and some walk away from it as they age while it becomes a very ugly rabbit hole for others.

 

[streaM Freak]

I feel strongly @soulless_curiousity s comment about lack of belief in future.

And @deficiT about lack of concern about the systemic part of social issues.

Both these things lead to guilt over using once caught up in it, which can perpetuate addiction.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

I find that really interesting. I never heard it said that way. Yeah people will self medicate if they're in a lot of pain. It makes the descent into addiction seem less bad than it is.

 

[M!$TER-ED]

At first my desire to use was rebellious in nature, however, later changed to self destruction. I didn’t know enough about life to understand what I was doing or if there any alternatives in life besides my own limited view.

Psychedelics opened a temporary window of awareness that although faded into nothingness. I knew the knowledge was still there the way I knew I would embrace someday as a permanent way of life.

That knowledge I knew was always available to me during some very dark times in my life, lost and confused by mental illness. This state of consciousness lasted 30 years before a miracle came to my aide in the form of an accidental overdose that committed me the local psyche-ward for 3 weeks.

I was a pill popper and I used medication and herbal supplements to try and feel differently because I didn’t care. The time of year was near Easter, I called my wife at her workplace, but I was incoherent, the secretary could not understand me. Frustrated and mindless I tore the phone wire from the wall and moved to the bathroom where I disrobed and turned the shower on.

I recall specifically, pulling back the front of the shower curtain and stepping under the warm flowing water beneath the sower head, I lingered, almost knowingly it was time to move on…I turned off the water and exited from the opposite side of the shower I had previously entered from.

When I was admitted into the psych-ward the staff was overly concerned about my condition, so they put me in an observation room across from the nurses station. There was camera inside the room, however it was to my benefit they put me there. I didn’t have to share my space with anyone, I had a private bathroom and shower, everyone else had to share and wait their turn to use bathroom facilities.

Medications were evaluated and disposed of and new medications were prescribed. Psychosis wiped away my memories and I had to start over again. During this time of recovery I experimented with different ways of thinking, by not doing what came natural but with the intention to do just the opposite of what I was hardwired to do.

This was an opportunity to expand my ability to think and reason outside of the box I was accustomed to live. My window of awareness grew through trial and error until I was able to claim the space and time as my own. At the beginning of understanding life and your role within it, your new way of thinking is often called enlightenment and sometimes spiritual awareness. The truth however, understanding yourself at this level is nothing more than a sense of human development that may or may not occur in the human condition.

If you are there already, you learn this stage of development is one of many all you have to do is be who you are.

 

[emkee_reinvented]

What a detailed and conscious description of reinventing yourself @M!$TER-ED.




Shower scene such a good metaphor. And familiar, know can t stay under forever.
But having a OD must be one of those a rock bottom moment s.

Can t relate what might happened would Nicotine never entered my brain.
But it did lay a nice fundament for addictive seeking behaviour. First drug to consciously reach my developing brain.

Under disguise of 'toking Weed' which seems way less prone to the behaviour Tobacco causes. Like in take hit and get a direct rush of whatever it does. Kinda like smoking Crack or injecting Heroin. Both which lucky never happened. Kid s can do dumb shit.
By lacking the essential information.

Alcohol slipped under my radar. When time was tough fell in it, eventually had to manually climb out. No outside help when push comes to shove no one can help you out. Help is a wax nose ime. Eventually i learned the lesson myself still working on it.

Wonder if it is preventable, there was no harm reduction or Bluelight then. Or internet.

 

[Jnowhere]

I feel strongly @soulless_curiousity s comment about lack of belief in future.

And @deficiT about lack of concern about the systemic part of social issues.

Both these things lead to guilt over using once caught up in it, which can perpetuate addiction.

You guys are only looking through a narrow lens.

What about people who just like to party and have fun? Alcohol is a big gateway drug; as in there are countless millions who just drank some and ended up ruining their lives. I know this, first hand.

How about people who have a predisposition to OUD; and get a script for a weaker opiod like the 7.5 mg of Hydrocodone in a vicidin and are hooked before their first bottle is through?

What about people in severe chronic pain; who can't get prescription opiods legally?

As a teenager; Most who are predisposed to addiction; aren't thinking about how alcohol, pills, pot, psychedelics, ect... are going to ruin there future.

You are focusing on one segment, of users. There are so many drugs people get( mostly in the past) legally prescribed and get addicted( yes I know the difference between physical dependency and addiction.) I am a long term lower dose pain patient. I know there are a lot of people who find Oxycodone enjoyable.

The mood lift and euphoria of a good dose when you are opiate naive, is great for many. Some hate it. It worked along with the morpine script I had for~ 6 years.
I liked that and it still can happen at a low dose even after all these years.

Many people are wimps and think opiods are supposed to get rid of all their pain. No more like pain easers. They take and take because they want absolute relief from pain and their scripts can't handle that.( not strong enough for them and they use them up too quickly).

When the pain subsided( pancreatitus), I tapered for a week and got comfort meds, and I suppose keeping the Oxy script helped( I am in pain and I can only get so much. Unfortunately I can't have Tylenol so many weaker opiods are out of the question.) I have had no real psychological addiction to opiods and benzos.

Nicotine has been an issue for billions. Does that count? If given a choice( provided I wasn't in pain or would face any wd's): I would take a carton of Pall Mall 100's unfiltered over a bottle of pain killers.( provided that doctors would prescribe me necessary pain killers if it were really needed).

Alcohol was the opposite. I just loved it. Many people, consider themselves opiod enthusiasts. I only quit drinking because I got allergic to it.

Being told I had a year to live without a liver transplant; I decided that since I would have to drive to a lab in Detroit everyday and piss clean( besides my list of prescribed drugs), for six months; I said no.

I like, Not being in a lot of pain. The energy boost and Euphoria is long gone. But, even so, it was not alcohol; my DOC. By just being a college kid and drinking beer. I pretty sure there are others.

Living in areas with little to do, can also get people into drugs. Especially in areas with awful weather.

There is more to it ;than just the people trying to hide pain.

 

[streaM Freak]

@Jnowhere good points there are many gateways to get there. Different mindset too.

Addiction has a strong negative connotation which is why I was focusing on the negative aspects of it - or more specifically the things that keep us there.

 

[Jnowhere]

Withdrawals, don't keep people there?
Ah, tolerance and not being sick. That was a major issue with alcohol. I hear other drugs have wd's also.lol

The wd's are such a key part. whether just mental or both physical and mental.
Withdrawals, are a huge driving force.

I thought the topic was about misery being the gateway drug?

Hold it, I am in the right place. I was disagreeing politely. I was on topic.
Is this about, a way to save face?

Misery, keeps people there. Too many factors to say misery. Sorry, I am not an emo or goth type. Why is is so hard for people to say, that drug use can start without all the drama. My parents didn't get me so, I became a druggie.

How about honesty. I'll start. I loved getting drunk.

Why? The same reason there are~8 billion people on Earth. Like sex it was fun and I enjoyed it; till it turned on me.

 

[streaM Freak]

Yeah dude you're on topic and on point

I apologize for my shitty posts that didn't cover all the basis and didn't answer the question to the best of my ability

You make really good points

 

[streaM Freak]

I'm often lacking passion. And insight to an extent.

Sometimes I seem to hold it together, but really I'm just pieces I found, glued together

 

[M!$TER-ED]

I cannot say the reason I started using was because I was miserable, but maybe it was..if I were happy and content with life perhaps I would have taken life more seriously and would not have tried to destroy myself.

 

[paranoid android]

I agree my highest peroid of opiate useage was when i was in the most pain. Now that im not in much pain i dont use much.