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Pain pills vs Heroin

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eyeswideshuttoday

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Just wondering what everyone's take on this is. I find it funny(not really) that the same person who is completely opposed to heroin use, will go home and pop some prescribed pills for their back before bed. The irony kills me. Are people that dense? Is this most of the "straight laced" population or just my small close minded community?

I get that the media has a lot to do with this ideal. I totally get it. However, pill abuse is widely understood now as well. So are they just not putting two and two together? Are they just thinking one is okay because it's legal for them? Even people who buy pills illegally will sit there and argue w me about how heroin is sooo much worse. More often than not I just walk away because their opinions are right no matter what. Ha.

Sorry if this is coming off as rambling, I just got in a situation last night with someone who legit believed there was a HUGE difference. Their friends agreed with them, and I just sat their in disbelief. Throwing FACTS at all of them and....nothing. lol.

I probably answered my own question. Legality and media portrayal.

Any other thoughts welcome. Again, sorry for the rambling and jumbled thoughts.
 
First of all, the OP said "pop a few pills for their back".

That sounds like MEDICALLY prescribed usage, and taking one or two oxys or hydros ORALLY under doctor supervision is NOT the same as shooting a large amount of heroin recreationally.

Honestly, I DO think it's worse to shoot up some heroin intravenously than to take a few extra Oxycodones or Hydrocodones to get high, and the main reason I would think so is route of administration.

I mean am I incorrect that IV as a ROA is going to hit you harder than to take something orally??

The liver processes both regardless, but one passing through the stomach through the liver and taking effect in 20 minutes is probably not overall as powerful as the straight IV route.

Now if you compared IVing Oxycodone/Hydrocodne to IVing Heroin i'd think they are pretty close to the same thing, depending on the amount used and strength of each of course.

I don't know enough about Heroin to know if it is actually stronger per milligram or whatever than Oxy/Hydro.

I'd also assume that EATING a SMALL amount of heroin (or an equivalent amount to however many pills/mgs of Oxy/Hydro) is pretty close to the same as swallowing Oxy/hydro pills.

FOR EXAMPLE, imagine someone ORALLY takes 30mgs of Oxycodone.

You CANNOT HONESTLY tell me that they wouldn't get higher or be taking a bigger physical risk had they IV'd heroin straight into their arm instead.

I won't believe you.

I mean MAYBE it COULD be possible if it was a SUPER small amount...MAYBE...and granted that we made sure it didn't contain Fentanyl, but I still doubt it.

If you told me it might be the same they ATE a super small amount of Heroin, I'll probably believe you.

But we all know ROA is a HUGE difference.

Heroin, Oxy, Hydro, Dilaudid, etc are probably all pretty close to equally addictive and all can easily be overdosed on.

BUT, I do NOT believe I am self justifying in saying ORALLY taking a small amount of Oxycodone isn't the same risk of overdose or the same risk of addiction as IVing Heroin, and taking a prescribed amount of opiate orally under doctor supervision for an injury is not remotely in the same ball park as IVing random quantities of heroin recreationally.
 
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They're somewhat similar in terms of basic effects on the body and mind, but there is a key difference. There are little to no impurities in pain pills, and the dosages on them can be carefully measured. This likely greatly reduces the risk of suffering health problems, and it all but eliminates it if one is following the advice of a doctor. Even for those that are taking them recreationally, the dosage is known which reduces the overdose risk substantially but obviously doesn't eliminate it as people do overdose on pain pills. Heroin is far more dangerous, because it is often impure and the dosage thus isn't known. The fact that the dosage isn't known greatly increases the risk of an overdose. Also, the impurities can have negative health effects in and of themselves in many cases. So, the idea that they are the "same thing" simply isn't true. Although, they are in the same pharmacological family.
 
LandsUnknown said:
They're somewhat similar in terms of basic effects on the body and mind, but there is a key difference. There are little to no impurities in pain pills, and the dosages on them can be carefully measured. This likely greatly reduces the risk of suffering health problems, and it all but eliminates it if one is following the advice of a doctor. Even for those that are taking them recreationally, the dosage is known which reduces the overdose risk substantially but obviously doesn't eliminate it as people do overdose on pain pills. Heroin is far more dangerous, because it is often impure and the dosage thus isn't known. The fact that the dosage isn't known greatly increases the risk of an overdose. Also, the impurities can have negative health effects in and of themselves in many cases. So, the idea that they are the "same thing" simply isn't true. Although, they are in the same pharmacological family.
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Is it not also true that IVing as a ROA is overall more dangerous (regardless of what substance we are talking about) than using orally??

I mean the OP talks about "popping" pain pills as in swallowing them, and though I've never used Heroin (and never will) I think most Heroin users graduate quickly to the IV route than oral, intranasal, etc.

So I take this comparison overall to be between orally swallowing opiate pain pills (prescription or otherwise) vs IVing street heroin, and for both the reasons you've mentioned and the ones I have, I think IVing street heroin is pretty obviously much more dangerous.

I also think that this is where people are taking Dr. Carl Hart's comments about prescribed Adderall vs smoking crystal meth too far: while essentially the substances are close to identical, I would STRONGLY assume that the difference between swallowing, or even snorting, prescription Adderall/Dexadrine to smoking synthetic Crystal Meth to be HUGE.

Again, ROA, amount of drug used, and purity being the key differences, which could make all the difference in the world when it comes to long term side effects.
 
Abuse is abuse. OP is not talking about ROA. OP is saying people who abuse pills think it's not like abusing heroin. Plenty of people shoot their pills . Not the point of the post. I believe OP's point to be is an opiate abuser is an abuser.
 
My3sons said:
Abuse is abuse. OP is not talking about ROA. OP is saying people who abuse pills think it's not like abusing heroin. Plenty of people shoot their pills . Not the point of the post. I believe OP's point to be is an opiate abuser is an abuser.
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Well of course abuse is abuse, but first off, he opened his post by mentioning someone who would "pop some prescribed pills for their back before bed" and lets be real here, that's setting up a strawman, because the idea behind prescribed pills is using them as prescribed for pain, not abusing them.

I have an injury right now that doesn't allow me to sleep through the night without taking one perc and sometimes waking up needing another, but that's not abuse.

Now if I or anyone else DOES abuse them, that's entering the same MORAL territory (I don't believe morality belongs in drug discussions and that they should all be legal for recreation but whatever) but then of course it becomes a matter of DEGREE OF DANGER, or else why are we even talking about it in the first place??

We can talk about only 2 things: 1) intention of use (legitimate or recreational) or 2) degree of danger.

What he opens by discussing is NOT abuse, and then I don't see how whether or not one drug or ROA is more or less dangerous doesn't also enter into the equation.


Sure, if someone ABUSES pain pills and then considers themselves "high and mighty above Heroin users" and brags about how much worse they are, then they are being a hypocrite in a moral sense, but even so, and even with the fact that they are also most definitely risking their lives and risking addiction, they are most likely not taking the same level of physical risk as an IV heroin user.

In both cases, orally taking pain pills (as PRESCRIBED in particular, but even recreationally) or recreational IV use of street heroin, are not the same thing, and not on the same level in terms of physical risk, while medicinal use of pain pills is not even on the same level of "immorality" as abusing anything.
 
Yes, this is what i meant.
I apologies for not being more specific. However, i greatly appreciate everyone's opinions. I am ALWAYS open to learn and my own opinions are almost never set in stone.
 
Heroin destroys people's lives so quickly because of its potency at such a relatively low price. It's simply too euphoric and too powerful per dollar compared to pain pills, which seems like a good deal at first but quickly devolves into spending even more on heroin than pain pills and getting much more strung out than most people were during the peak of their painkiller addictions.
 
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