• BASIC DRUG
    DISCUSSION
    Welcome to Bluelight!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Benzo Chart Opioids Chart
    Drug Terms Need Help??
    Drugs 101 Brain & Addiction
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums
  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Do you believe a Heroin habbit would be a problem if it was fully legal?

J

jakiejo

Greenlighter
Joined
Nov 4, 2014
Messages
8
So lets pretend for a minute "controlled substances" were actually controlled (Not meaning illegal but had a Drug Facts label so you knew what you were consuming) and heroin could be bought over the counter do you believe that using every day like tobacco users would be a bad thing?

I think no because Heroin would be inexpensive (like cigarettes if not cheaper tobacco is hard to grow) and thus you would not throw your life away trying to pay for a habit. By definition somebody could use heroin every day and not become addicted just as long as there are no adverse problems (most of which come from the laws against the drug).
 
What you're saying doesn't really make sense... No one could use "just a little" heroin every day... A tolerance will be built and more will be needed to achieve the same high. And how would there be "no adverse problems"? People die from heroin overdoses all the time. And what exactly do you mean about "laws against the drug"'?

If it heroin wasn't a controlled substance, and if it wasn't addictive, then it wouldn't really be heroin, now would it?
 
I can honestly tell you that if morphine or heroin had been legal when I got addicted, opioids would have ruined me even faster. Although they are extremely addictive drugs no matter what, I'm sure the reason why you decide to use them matters a lot too. I somehow think that if I had a limitless supply of morphine or even codeine now, I could take it every day more or less in the fashion that I take Suboxone now. I wouldn't start injecting anything though. I got so deeply addicted and ended up on higher and higher doses so fast because I didn't even think twice about it, I was extremely anxious with my life and I just couldn't live a normal life without something to chill me out. It was so unbearable that I simply preferred to be addicted and feel peaceful than to experience the same irrational anxiety and fear every day. I was such a mess that I didn't even consider looking for a different solution, I thought I was unable to. Anyway, in the end I couldn't afford heroin from the black market and I switched to methadone. The truth is methadone only helped me with withdrawals but instead of giving me peace and letting me live normally, it slowly turned me into an emotional zombie. It wasn't really morphine or heroin that turned me into a wreck. In the end I was so sick and tired of it that I spontaneously decided to quit. Although I suffered much more than I would have if I had decided to quit morphine or heroin earlier, it was well worth it. I somehow doubt that I would have come to the same conclusion if I had continued to use morphine or heroin. So it was a positive thing that I switched to methadone in a way.

However, there are many factors that make the life of a heroin addict so difficult and it's not only the drug itself. The money is a problem, the same money that get dirty only to get laundered later and legally enter the market again. Why is it happening? This is obviously to take money from one group and give it to the other group. Drug business is only one of many methods used because one can't otherwise legally take someone's money and get away with it. However, it's perfectly legal when the same thing is done using a trick. The stigmatisation is a problem, so even if you want to quit, you don't really know where you could go to get real help and not be judged. Honestly, taking a drug because of problems shouldn't be seen as being weak or cowardly. Many people suffer and have no idea how to solve their problems and would try any possible solution including drugs if they weren't afraid of them actually. And when you are afraid and in spite of that you take a drug, well, I guess that says a lot how exhausted you are with your problems. Maintenance treatment is not really what it should be either. Where I live, programs can accommodate only a fraction of addicts who want to recover. In the U.S. the situation is opposite, if you only have money, there seems to be no problem to find a doctor who will prescribe you as much buprenorphine as he/she can, which doesn't serve you well either. The more I think about the problems of this world, the more I realise that people simply have a hard time of maintaining moderation in anything. I could go on and on but it's not one of my eloquent days today sadly.

Drugs are not the main problem though, drugs aren't good or bad. It doesn't help at all when they're made illegal. Let's re-evaluate our culture first, I mean all the movies and ads showing people the lifestyle they should pursue. Actually many people want to try various drugs because they perceive it as something unique as it's out of their reach.
 
Although I don't have time to give this answer the depth it deserves, I think the oft-repeated maxim of heroin not being a problem as long as it was freely available is total nonsense. Yes, it would reduce a lot of the associated problems, but in my personal experience when I was addicted to heroin, even when I wasn't stealing, robbing, lying or cheating, even when I had enough money to score enough to be happy, I still wasn't really living life. My whole life revolved around getting high and nodding out, and nothing else really mattered. I stopped trying new things, I stopped seeing my friends, I neglected my studies and career, I let everything slide. And it wasn't because I was always hustling money to try and score, it was just that a powerful opiate will make you happy doing absolutely nothing, ime heroin addicts will stop striving to improve themselves, and they just aren't truly living life when you're blissed out on smack most of the day. Sobriety feels so much better, my life is finally back on track again. I will return to this thread to give this a more in depth answer, that's just my preliminary 2 cents.
 
Opiates fuck with your immune system and the neurological processes relating to reward.
Yes, people can be functional addicts - but even if heroin were legal, problems would still present themselves.
Run out of money? You get sick.
Run low on supply? You get sick.
Travel? You'd sure be hoping heroin were legal worldwide, or you're in for a world of suffering.

And speaking of suffering - if you had access to limitless supplies of heroin, I've read reports of addicts living in heroin-producing parts of the world, and developing such enormous habits and accompanying tolerance that they're regular dose is enough to kill dozens of opiate naive people.
Which is all well and good if you can sustain it - but what happens if you have an accident and need pain relief?
I imagine that therapeutic use of painkillers would be nigh on impossible with such a monstrous habit and tolerance.

So, being all but immune to narcotic pain relieving treatment could certainly present a problem, to both users and medical care providers.

William Burroughs wrote extensively about heroin addiction, and made the astute observation that a heroin addict can never have enough gear. Access to more simply means using more to most addicts. And when you use more, you need more to get high/stay well/feel satisfied.
While I don't think drugs should be illegal, and that a lot of the degradation and hardship faced by heroin addicts (poverty, malnutrition, social stigma) is a direct result of prohibition - it is worth remembering that heroin addiction in and of itself is not exactly a glamorous or healthy way to live.
The constant fear of being separated or cut off from the drug you depend on is part of the reason opiate addicts become so fixated on their next hit - because with that sort of physical addiction you never really find meaning or direction in the constant need for drugs. There is always the need - and the fear - of constantly running away from the withdrawal sickness that awaits you at any wrong turn or bump in the road. You never "get there" - its just a constant chase, with momentary reward (at the best of times).

Even wealthy, materially successful heroin addicts (who don't seem desperate for money) appear to fall into the same pit of existential despair as any other (less financially secure) opiate dependent individual.
Prohibition makes heroin addiction expensive, dangerous and more harmful than it would be if heroin was clean, of consistent purity and cheap.
But this is not to say that heroin addiction would be totally harmless if prohibition wasnt an issue; there are still plenty of harms associated with habitual opiate use that have nothing to do with the ramifications of illegality.
 
Last edited:
1898- "Test subjects at the Bayer company loved Heroin, and it actually derived its name from the description given it by those individuals, as it made them feel "heroic;" likewise, the scientists considered it "heroic" because it was four times stronger than morphine, and without the addictive potential, they added."

"However, by 1902 researchers in the United States and Europe were reporting cases of addiction ("heroinism"). By 1913, Bayer stopped making heroin. "

So it's already been covered, really. Also look at alcohol, as shitty as it is, massive numbers of people still become addicted to it.
 
Heroin should be made legal and be taxed so the government makes money off of it instead of ruthless drug lords. Either this or make heroin matinence available to addicts in more places.

Sure it wouldn't be perfect but what is perfect? I'm surprised so many people are against it considering 90 percent of the problems that stem from heroin addiction are directly related to the fact that the drug is illegal not the drug itself. People are going to get high whether we like it or not that's not changing anytime soon. Why not let the economy thrive off it instead of getting destroyed by it. I don't see how alcohol is legal but heroin isn't. Heroin is not as hard on the body as most people think if its in the pure form that is.
 
If heroin were legal would I have used it? Would it still be a problem? Yes! Just 'how' it would manifest as problematic would be the issue.

Would I have lost my savings?
Hmm, well there was never enough for me. Perhaps I would have gotten clean earlier if it were legal as I would have bottomed out faster; although I was still working on heroin, functioning… but without that morning dose I was useless, so in reality I wasn't very functional.

How about alcohol? How about the prohibition, temperance movement? Look at how folks had to go underground to drink.

If it were legal, how would it be legal and in what way? Would it be served in restaurants? Cafes? Publicly visible people shooting up? People in parks meeting with case workers injecting themselves talking about their treatment plans to quit? With mj that happens here. Just some questions I ponder.

The drug war is indeed a total deadly failure at the expense of so many lives. People will continue to use no matter what, legal or illegal. The only difference might be the percentage that continues to use, the stigma of addicts verses alcoholics… and many other factors. What types of heroin would be legal, and how would it be distributed, divied out? Will it be buffered? If heroin is legal how about other opiate drugs? I would think they would be legal first and sold in pharmacies.
Will addiction increase or decrease if heroin were sold in stores?

Part of me feels all drugs should be legalized. It would release the stigma of addiction somewhat and perhaps delineate the line between addicts and 'alcoholics.'
Also if legal where in the world? Just here in America, and how would that work for smuggling drugs out. Would we start smuggling to other countries? How much could one buy at one time? How would tax rate be implemented?

How about the 1/2 life? People will become dependent rapidly … addicts or not if they use it daily.

How about work? One can't drink on the job, but if heroin is legal and one is working one needs to use in the morning to get to work.
How about treatment though for addicts if it were legal and insurance companies.

Many questions to an interesting idea.
 
Last edited:
Good point Smoky.
I believe 'alcoholics' have a worse problem than most addicts and everyone seems to be cool with that (society in general) or at least not as harsh as they are with heroin addicts.
One thing is crystal clear for me, the drug war is pointless. It simply does not work. Creative minds would have known better how to spend all that money..
E
 
Did anyone mention nations where heroin is currently legal in 'personal amounts', like Portugal for instance?

Do you know what would happen if heroin were made legal? There were would be higher rates of addiction, unemployment, and death to the heinous nature of this drug. Of course every addict wants all drugs legal, and honestly alot of drugs should be legal.

But when it comes to a drug like methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin, that serve no useful purpose where a much less addictive form of the same family/class of drug could fulfill said purpose, then one needs to find better serving solutions beyond the frame of the legal/illegal legality scope.
 
Erikmen said:
Good point Smoky.
I believe 'alcoholics' have a worse problem than most addicts and everyone seems to be cool with that (society in general) or at least not as harsh as they are with heroin addicts.
One thing is crystal clear for me, the drug war is pointless. It simply does not work. Creative minds would have known better how to spend all that money..
E
Click to expand...

Yes, it simply does.not.work.
 
SoaV said:
Did anyone mention nations where heroin is currently legal in 'personal amounts', like Portugal for instance?

Do you know what would happen if heroin were made legal? There were would be higher rates of addiction, unemployment, and death to the heinous nature of this drug. Of course every addict wants all drugs legal, and honestly alot of drugs should be legal.

But when it comes to a drug like methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin, that serve no useful purpose where a much less addictive form of the same family/class of drug could fulfill said purpose, then one needs to find better serving solutions beyond the frame of the legal/illegal legality scope.
Click to expand...


Are you saying that there were less instances of addiction, unemployment, and death BEFORE Portugal legalized "personal amounts" of Heroin?
 
0057 said:
Are you saying that there were less instances of addiction, unemployment, and death BEFORE Portugal legalized "personal amounts" of Heroin?
Click to expand...

No the reference to Portugal was out of mere curiosity to see how a drug being legal like heroin for personal use effects the nation. I only know that it is legal to possess like a 10 day's supply of a gram at a time or something.

I made the comment about the addiction, unemployment, and death mainly referring to what would happen in the United States, where I live, if heroin and like drugs were made legal. I feel that a drug like marijuana was made illegal mostly due to conflicts with Mexico back in the day and due to tax battles and the whole thing with alcohol prohibition, etc.

However with heroin, I feel that it is a dangerous drug by nature, and potentially fatal. And so from my own view and opinion I think that by giving people free rein to such a drug could have unintended/disastrous consquences. I say unemployment because someone in the grips of heroin addiction (Not always the case by any means as there are always functioning addicts as there are alcoholics) is not so much concerned with doing work as they are with nodding off.

Agree or disagree, I was simply stating an opinion, right or wrong doesn't matter to me lol.
 
Portugal has improved greatly since making these changes. Mainly because addicts aren't forced into the shadows anymore so help is easier to get. Instead of trying to lock them all up they give them the option of rehabilitation.
 
The Doc. said:
Portugal has improved greatly since making tjses changes. Mainly because addicts sent forced into the shadows anymore so help is easier to get. Instead if trying to lock them all uo they give them the option of rehabilitation.
Click to expand...

Option as in you go to rehab or you get locked up? Because that option isn't really effective in my experience. "Forced" treatment even when made to seem like an option is ineffective IMO compared to someone who is genuinely seeking help regardless of legal consequence. And so I could see how a complete decriminalization although with the same enforcement of responsible manufacturing and distribution that is placed on alcohol for instance would be most beneficial in the end.
 
No its not forced at all if you refuse the government paid rehab they offer you when the cops find you with drugs then you just go on your merry way and continue getting high until you feel you do want help. They won't lock you up for being a drug addict only offer you help so you know its there. Way better than they way we have it in my opinion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top