Actually heroin and other opioids are half as addictive as most people seem willing to believe. Carl Hart’s research, Bruce Alexander’s work and many others have been effectively demonstrating this ever since our drug policy began going downhill in the early 20th century.
Heroin doesn’t just hijack someone’s brain and take them over. On its own, unless someone is already in serious pain, heroin really isn’t very pleasant. It isn’t even particularly enjoyable or habit forming for a large majority of people who try it. Most people would never consider trying heroin, but even among those who do try it most will use once or twice and walk away, because it just isn’t very enjoyable unless life is already extremely painful.
The harder life gets, the more appealing drugs like heroin may become. But that’s not an issue with heroin half as much as it is with what’s causing ones QOL to deteriorate in the first place.
Heroin certainly can become powerfully habit forming for someone who’s life is otherwise miserable, but the problem here isn’t anything intrinsic to the drugs, it’s all about how shitty their QOL has become and failures on the part of our communities to provide them the meaningful kind of supports they need.
Opioid use in and of itself doesn’t lead to substance use disorder, it’s the way it is sometimes used that does. And they way people use drugs has waaaay more to do with the conditions of their lives than it does the drugs in particular.
It’s like the difference between access to free, unbiased, accurate and open resources and our conventional “just say no” “this is your brain on drugs” wisdom that treats people like children and tries to control them instead of supporting them figure things out for themselves.
The problem here I see is just how powerful antidrug dogma is when it comes to political capital. Any fear mongerer or desperate politician will happily endorse conventional wisdom and prohibitionist policies to try and sucker more supporters.
I dream of a gov’t that actually takes the public’s health seriously... is this really so much to ask as an American?
P.s. people also like to scapegoat drugs (and drug users) because it’s a socially acceptable cop out. Do you have problems with how your life is going? No problem, just blame drugs and drug users! The ideologues will thank you 8)
Anyhoo, great thread
).