verso, you also have to consider that alcohol has always been socially acceptable and, with the exception of a few years, always been legal. I do not think that there would ever be studies sanctioned that would compare REAL (not in a lab setting) alcohol and heroin dependence rates.
I agree that by and large most people do not use substances in an addictive fashion. But, the original poster is asking about gradually increasing how often he uses with a history of being strung out for years. The issue of being addicted I think is moot.
It's true, and I think that its social acceptability and media attention is what damns heroin. However fashionable it may be to blame the media, the truth is that, well, it is, in part, the media.
No one has ever knocked on my door to talk to me about using heroin recreationally, and I do, I use heroin and other opiates recreationally. I have been for some time now, two, almost three years. It's just not a good story. No one is interested in reading about the average, twenty-three year old, middle class professional whatever who cops bundles on the weekend to unwind.
And I do not believe that I am the exception to the rule, that I am something extraordinary, or that "it's a matter of time." I know more addicts than I do occasional users, sure, but I also know others like me who use responsibly and only occasionally, even intravenous users.
We cannot help believing that substances are more powerful than they really are, but the truth is that substances cue maybe two or three minute physiological changes, say, to the salivatory glands or to the pupils, that in turn the user experiences as something ridiculous, the taste of food or the intensity of lights. The point is that substances actually "do" far less than they appear.
And similarly, no substance is inherently addictive. No chemist, doctor, or psychologist can point to the heroin molecule and identify its one physical property or attribute that makes it addictive. It's not
the substance, and it's not
the user, but it's both.
The user takes the substance; the substance cues two or three small physiological changes in the user; the user experiences these changes and if the experience is positive and the user is prone to addiction, then he or she may continue using and allow the substance to take first priority.
So then drugs are really just film directors. The experiences we have are films, and a positive experience will become a film that we may watch often. But for some, watching films may be all that they are ever interested in doing.
There's a great book that I think really helps to put all of this, substances, dependence and addiction into perspective. It's called
The Natural Mind by Andrew T. Weil.
