How Moderate is your Drug Use? Tips on Maintaining Moderation?

[yb62338]

Hey, I'm relatively new to the forum and I'm not sure if this is the most appropriate location for this post. Please move it if it's in the wrong place.

I'm curious as to how many people on here actually consider their drug use "moderate." I understand the definition of "moderate" is subjective and open to interpretation, so I'm going to say for the sake of discussion that "moderate" means the use of drugs has not interfered with your day to day life, compromised your goals, relationships, savings, or standard of living.

Of those that are moderate users, how many of you are IV users?

Anybody got any advice on maintaing moderation? I'm especially interested in IV heroin users (my drug of choice).

 

[Captain.Heroin]

I'll move this to Basic Drug Discussion.

 

[Altered Perception]

If you take drugs at every oppurtunity you find soon you find yourself being controlled by your drug use, I think its important to recognise addiction is a powerful and dangerous habbit to stay away from and keep ypurself in check at all times.

I've been on Oxycodone for 3 years now for chronic pain, in that 3 years Ive gone from 5mg to 20 mg a day which I beleive is still very moderate. I did it by only using ONCE a day and keeping off from taking it until I need it the most during my day, so usually later in the evening or several hours before bed.

For people who crave drugs if they take them too early during the day and they sober up by nightime and start feeling like another dose its becomes easy to just keep taking and abuse it. So my advice is find other things to occupy your mind during the day and if your going to use it make it the last thing you do at the end of the day so you only end up doing it once. For recreational users such as yourself I would recommend occupying yourself during the week with other activities and keeping your drugs to the weekend only. That way it becomes something to look forward to. Addiction happens from overuse.

 

[Pegasus]

IV use can be particularly troublesome because of the immediate effects. I never got into IV much but did snort certain opiates pretty often (also used fentanyl sublingually for awhile) which also delivers them pretty quickly. I'd say these ROAs definitely make it harder to avoid regular use as the lure of instantly feeling great is pretty strong. To be safe, I wouldn't go over like once or twice per week at the most, preferably less than that as it can be easy to slip from two days a week to most days in a week.

 

[NomNomNom]

IV Heroin, once every two weeks is moderate i'd say. Like you said that's ENTIRELY subjective, but the reason i pick two weeks is that let's be real, a "once a week" user likely has times where they use every 5 days, and for 3 of those days is daydreaming about dope.

Want to be a moderate drug user? It's all about not giving the beast life. If you want to try to not do drugs too much, don't think about and map out how you're going to just not use dope.

Do you have a significant other, full time job, healthy relationships with friends/family? Do you volunteer? Do you get some physical activity 1-2x per week?

Those are all the things that will help you stay at a moderate level of use. The things that are legitimately, and unequivocally MORE IMPORTANT than dropping out. The fewer of these that are in place, the easier it is to justify making dope a centerpiece of your life.

Alternatively:

Is money to cop no object, do you live near an open air market/have a steady connect, do you know a lot of other people who use, specifically who use more than you? If people you know found out that you were shooting dope here and there, would they be indifferent/shake their head, or at least not demonize you? The more yesses you have to questions like these, the more slippery your slope will likely be, should you start to slip.

I used responsibly for 10 years. I would rarely ever take more than 1/2 of a 7.5mg Perk or a whole 5mg vike. I had most of the things in place that i mentioned as being good, but opiates STILL had this pull on me. Even with not being physically addicted, and using what a lot of people on here would consider a downright laughable amount of opiates, i'd still fiend for pills. Then i discovered poppy seeds/pods, lost my job, had a lot of other life stress, broke up with a girlfriend, got kicked out of where i was living, got on unemployment, and suddenly had nothing but time and enough cash to get by.

I guess my caveat here is that even if you are extremely responsible, things external to your dope usage situation and all your good intentions WILL at some point affect you, encroach on you. Your situation will NOT remain static, things in your life will change, so be prepared for that.

I mean, it could be as easy as...wake up tomorrow, find out your work is cutting back hours, a week later a parent gets cancer, while this is going on, the dope has gotten better and you can now get a bundle for the price of 7 bags. Whoops, now you're a heroin addict. Everyone's situation is different, but it can be just that easy.

 

[Pegasus]

^Great post!

 

[duanomatic]

If you take drugs at every oppurtunity you find soon you find yourself being controlled by your drug use, I think its important to recognise addiction is a powerful and dangerous habbit to stay away from and keep ypurself in check at all times.

I've been on Oxycodone for 3 years now for chronic pain, in that 3 years Ive gone from 5mg to 20 mg a day which I beleive is still very moderate. I did it by only using ONCE a day and keeping off from taking it until I need it the most during my day, so usually later in the evening or several hours before bed.

For people who crave drugs if they take them too early during the day and they sober up by nightime and start feeling like another dose its becomes easy to just keep taking and abuse it. So my advice is find other things to occupy your mind during the day and if your going to use it make it the last thing you do at the end of the day so you only end up doing it once. For recreational users such as yourself I would recommend occupying yourself during the week with other activities and keeping your drugs to the weekend only. That way it becomes something to look forward to. Addiction happens from overuse.

5mg to 20mg in three years? That is an impressive feat in moderation. Also the key really is to save your drug use to...say...after sunset, lol. Once you slip into daytime use, you can really get into trouble. In my experience at least

 

[Methadone84]

Where would you guys say im at for my opiate tolerance. I just took 40mg of hydrocodone and didnt feel that much.

 

[laCster]

^^your tolerance is pretty low, mine is probably a little higher than yours but mine is also moderately low which is a good thing. i know one kid who gets w/d's if he doesnt dose, and he takes 100-150mgs a day just to feel normal. i know someone else who is sober at the moment, but used to need 200-250 to feel normal and 300 to get high.

 

[Sadie]

If you take drugs at every oppurtunity you find soon you find yourself being controlled by your drug use, I think its important to recognise addiction is a powerful and dangerous habbit to stay away from and keep ypurself in check at all times.

For people who crave drugs if they take them too early during the day and they sober up by nightime and start feeling like another dose its becomes easy to just keep taking and abuse it. So my advice is find other things to occupy your mind during the day and if your going to use it make it the last thing you do at the end of the day so you only end up doing it once. For recreational users such as yourself I would recommend occupying yourself during the week with other activities and keeping your drugs to the weekend only. That way it becomes something to look forward to. Addiction happens from overuse.

Spot on IMO.

Where would you guys say im at for my opiate tolerance. I just took 40mg of hydrocodone and didnt feel that much.

That is a very personal question. Depends on natural tolerance as well as tolerance through usage. No one can tell you if your dosage is too high because how you react is quite different to how others react. Take me for instance, I've naturally got a very VERY low tolerance where as my other half has an unholy naturally high tolerance.

If you're worried about your dosage of hydrocodone then ask why you're worried. If it's because you feel you use it too often then that's something you may want to look into. If your worry is simply the MG, perhaps you may just be naturally tolerant.


Saying that, those are just two theories. With out knowing you, your usage or your habits they are only theories. No one can really answer your question as YMMV and not everyone is the same.

 

[grrr8Dane]

I'm curious as to how many people on here actually consider their drug use "moderate." I understand the definition of "moderate" is subjective and open to interpretation, so I'm going to say for the sake of discussion that "moderate" means the use of drugs has not interfered with your day to day life, compromised your goals, relationships, savings, or standard of living.


Anybody got any advice on maintaing moderation? I'm especially interested in IV heroin users (my drug of choice).

I would consider my habits to be mostly moderate. There are times where I don't use for weeks and there are times where I use for anywhere from a couple days to a week straight.

I think several things keep my use "moderate":

First and foremost, running and proper nutrition. Running has been a tremendous help for me. It's totally an addiction for me now. I find It makes me less crazy and keeps me from feeling like I need something 24/7.

Second, the acceptance of a few things: (1) opiates are something I want, not something I need, (2) there will always be times when I will not have access to opiates for one reason or another, and (3) withdrawal is going to happen if I use for more than a couple days.

Third, my doctor has me on benzos. I don't take them everyday, but I like having them around. It makes me feel like I have something to fall back on if I get overwhelmed, and knowing that something is there is a huge help for me.

I have to admit that I'm honestly amazed anyone who bangs can maintain a level of moderate use by your definition of moderate and I know I couldn't do that. As an IV user, do you think that maintaining moderate use by your definition of moderate is possible?

 

[yb62338]

IV Heroin, once every two weeks is moderate i'd say. Like you said that's ENTIRELY subjective, but the reason i pick two weeks is that let's be real, a "once a week" user likely has times where they use every 5 days, and for 3 of those days is daydreaming about dope.

Want to be a moderate drug user? It's all about not giving the beast life. If you want to try to not do drugs too much, don't think about and map out how you're going to just not use dope.

Do you have a significant other, full time job, healthy relationships with friends/family? Do you volunteer? Do you get some physical activity 1-2x per week?

Those are all the things that will help you stay at a moderate level of use. The things that are legitimately, and unequivocally MORE IMPORTANT than dropping out. The fewer of these that are in place, the easier it is to justify making dope a centerpiece of your life.

Alternatively:

Is money to cop no object, do you live near an open air market/have a steady connect, do you know a lot of other people who use, specifically who use more than you? If people you know found out that you were shooting dope here and there, would they be indifferent/shake their head, or at least not demonize you? The more yesses you have to questions like these, the more slippery your slope will likely be, should you start to slip.

I used responsibly for 10 years. I would rarely ever take more than 1/2 of a 7.5mg Perk or a whole 5mg vike. I had most of the things in place that i mentioned as being good, but opiates STILL had this pull on me. Even with not being physically addicted, and using what a lot of people on here would consider a downright laughable amount of opiates, i'd still fiend for pills. Then i discovered poppy seeds/pods, lost my job, had a lot of other life stress, broke up with a girlfriend, got kicked out of where i was living, got on unemployment, and suddenly had nothing but time and enough cash to get by.

I guess my caveat here is that even if you are extremely responsible, things external to your dope usage situation and all your good intentions WILL at some point affect you, encroach on you. Your situation will NOT remain static, things in your life will change, so be prepared for that.

I mean, it could be as easy as...wake up tomorrow, find out your work is cutting back hours, a week later a parent gets cancer, while this is going on, the dope has gotten better and you can now get a bundle for the price of 7 bags. Whoops, now you're a heroin addict. Everyone's situation is different, but it can be just that easy.

Thanks for your input, that was great advice. To be honest, I have things going excellent at the moment and would like to think I am functioning successfully and happily. But it's certainly food for thought--the idea that the inability to cope with the stress and reality of life can provoke an addiction. I will keep this in mind...