I used poppy seeds a lot due to the extreme difficultly of managing to source actual heroin in my city, whenever I've started using again. It's something where you just 'need to know' someone to get. A friend of mine apparently has no issues copping dope, but I've generally been shit out of luck for any long term use.
I had to go on maintenance therapy for it as I was using 1.5kg of seeds a day and the withdrawal was fucked. I'd get like 5-10 days into it and be dying knowing I was only halfway done.
When I did use heroin, just before I went on maintenance (bought from online) I bought what in the past would have to me been a good starting dose for someone with no tolerance, and it's a testament to how strong PST can be that I barely nodded.
There's a few reasons you cannot use PST to come off other opiates like heroin, although people do do it. For the most part I reckon they get lucky.
1. The duration of the WD is much longer, which renders doing so almost obsolete.
2. PST is impossible to standardise your dose. The inconsistency is a killer. I did batches that did nothing. I did other batches which had me nodding out so hard lying on my bedroom floor barely breathing and not able to move until I made myself crawl to my bedside table and narcan myself. Weird fucking feeling going from nodding to stone cold sober and not super pleasant. As my use increased my tolerance got so high I couldn't even get high. So if you can't make sure you are reducing the dose and amount of opiates in the batches you use each day to taper off (which you can't, it is entirely impossible) then unfortunately it cannot be done.
3. You're just as likely to end up hooked on PST.
The reason that you can't use heroin to get off PST is this.
1. If you shoot dope like I do, then if you *do* manage to get a rush, you absolutely will have difficulties not wanting to chase that rush in the future. That is, if you *are* getting heroin and not shitty fentadope, depending on where you live. Even if you don't shoot, you may very well end up with a heroin habit, which is objectively harder to maintain.
Why?
PST, for all it's downsides, lasts a remarkably long time (which is the bad part about the WD), when I used it I could go 1-2 days between uses if I had to take care of important stuff (like play sport) and not need to put any more opiates in my system as the PST would hold me. Heroin, and fentadope is not like that. Heroin lasts maybe 6-8 hours if it's good, and fentadope 1-2 hours apparently. So you'll go from being able to sort of maintain functioning on PST, at least to the extent you won't be spending all your free time getting money together and waiting for a heroin or fentanyl dealer to rock up 2-4 times a day.
Not worth it, imo.
A lot of people in my city are going on lower dose suboxone (2-4mg max) to deal with coming off PST and basically not staying on it ages, and then doing a slow taper off using 0.4mg subutex to reduce their dose to 0.4mg bupe which = 5mg more or less of Oxycodone. When I asked for suboxone for PST mid 2020 the state AOD clinic had no clue what PST was, then suddenly the next year it exploded. Explains why it was harder to find.
That would honestly be my recommendation to anyone in this situation. 6 months of maintenance therapy, no higher than 4mg to induce, drop to 2mg to stabilise, and I have a low dose taper schedule I can send to people who ask. I've gotten off suboxone 4 times, 3 with basically zero WD using this method. The one time I didn't I was pressed for time so cut the 10-12 weeks taper to 6-8.
