What's one drug-related myth you wish would finally disappear?

[notsmokeymcpot420]

It is implied. In some cases it likely is.

Yea I know a guy -- well he was a kid but his dad was all "Drink as much as you want just stay away from those drugs" dude bought his kid 2 packs a day starting at like 16 too so not the best example...

but yea some ppl....I don't know if it is really "myth" level as much as "implied propaganda"

Look at me getting nitpicky in my old age lol

 

[cnnka]

And alcohol dosent feel as good as any other drug out there

 

[Ki3ly]

The real conspiracy theorists believe:

The war on drugs is really helping them,

The media would never mislead or lie
to them,

And the pharmaceutical industry that
makes billions off of sickness wants
to cure them !

 

[new2drugs]

Alcohol is absolutely a drug. I don't even know why we say "drugs and alcohol." It's just drugs. Just because alcohol is legal in most places and is generally more socially acceptable does not negate that fact. When I was really struggling at one point and trying to do the whole NA/AA thing (not for me, but if it helps you then good for you), the level of condescension from AA people when it came to NA people was disgusting ime.

Ironically, the AA people seemed way more dysfunctional to me than the NA people.

AA doesn't work.

Drugs and alcohol is short for illegal drugs and alcohol

 

[DeathIndustrial88]

But on a per-user basis, opioid use has a similar morbidity rate to BASE jumping.

I did do the homework and posted it with appropriate links a few months ago.

But on a per capita basis, alcohol kills around three times as many people as opioids. I cannot argue the fact.

It would be more useful if we had a more definite way of defining alcohol abuse - it's surprisingly easy to end up drinking two bottles of gin per day, quite hard to stop and while at 30 the body may recover, I lost someone only last week who while never visibly 'drunk' always had a drink in their hand. Alcohol is more socially acceptable, legal and while the majority of users don't develop dependence, it's certainly a slipperly slope. I had no idea just how much they drank until someone at the funeral told me.

Alcohol killed my sister.
She was an alcoholic her whole life into her 50s. To the point where it started shutting down her liver.
She was told if she could quit drinking for 6 months, she could heal & live. But she couldn't stop drinking & thus died from the liver failure.
Which I hear is incredibly painful. It took her weeks to actually die too. And she did it at home.

Some of my closest friends are on the same path. And I know some of them could quit drinking if they could take opioids instead.
I know that being on opioids keeps me from ever wanting to drink. Alcohol sounds absolutely abhorrent when I'm on an opioid.
Terrible buzz, induces depression & suicidal thoughts in me, dehydrates me, makes me feel sick.... Why anyone would want to consume it is beyond me. But I use to be an alcoholic, so I kind of get it too.

Alcohol even kills & harms people who don't use it too... I.e. - vehicular accidents (the drunk always miraculously survives too) and domestic violence. I know when I was drunk I would get pretty violent & nutty at times. Flipped my moms car into a panacake when I was 17 while drinking "Wapp" (where everyone at a party brings a bottle of liquor & we'd just dump all the bottles into a garbage bin & people would get their drinks from it that way). I was absolutely fucking hammered & should not have been driving. But the alcohol made me feel like I could do it.

The fact that the US allows this while demonizing pain medicine is so fuckin' disgusting.

 

[4DQSAR]

Alcohol killed my sister.
She was an alcoholic her whole life into her 50s. To the point where it started shutting down her liver.
She was told if she could quit drinking for 6 months, she could heal & live. But she couldn't stop drinking & thus died from the liver failure.
Which I hear is incredibly painful. It took her weeks to actually die too. And she did it at home.

Some of my closest friends are on the same path. And I know some of them could quit drinking if they could take opioids instead.
I know that being on opioids keeps me from ever wanting to drink. Alcohol sounds absolutely abhorrent when I'm on an opioid.
Terrible buzz, induces depression & suicidal thoughts in me, dehydrates me, makes me feel sick.... Why anyone would want to consume it is beyond me. But I use to be an alcoholic, so I kind of get it too. ,

The fact that the US allows this while demonizing pain medicine is so fuckin' disgusting.

Sorry for your loss but appeal to anecdote is a logical fallacy.

The data is out there and in fact many people have provided some pretty good data.

But the fact remains that on a per-user basis, opioids are a lot more dangerous. Legal control being key to that danger, which I did address.

 

[DeathIndustrial88]

Sorry for your loss but appeal to anecdote is a logical fallacy.

The data is out there and in fact many people have provided some pretty good data.

But the fact remains that on a per-user basis, opioids are a lot more dangerous. Legal control being key to that danger, which I did address.

Yeah dude I didn't bring up my sister for any other reason than to share my experience, so calling her death some "logical fallacy" here is a little insensitive.

Anecdotes are still evidence. I come from a huge family & it's funny how the alcoholic is the one that's dead & the opioid users have never come close to dying. I also had a brother who overdosed on alcohol when I was younger & he started vomiting black shit & had to be taken to a hospital to have his stomach pumped. These "anecdotes" don't get treated with as much scrutinity as opioids. Do you think they logged somewhere that my brother overdosed on alcohol back in 2002? Probably not. But if some one OD's on an opioid, you know they're tracking that shit so they can fear monger. The CDC here already admitted to fictitiously inflating opioid death numbers years ago. Most "opioid deaths" counted in America are poly-substance deaths.

If opioids are so much more dangerous we'd be seeing more deaths from them than alcohol,. especially considering there's a huge black market involving lots of potency issues & dangerous additives.

Now if they got rid of the black market & regulated things & accepted drug use as a fact of life & educated people instead of fear mongered, then they could cut those overdoses even lower.

I haven't read all your replies here, so I don't know what you've addressed. The last comment you tagged me in you said alcohol was worse than opioids & didn't get into anything about legal control of opioids. Only that opioids were as dangerous as "base jumping". But if you did say that then, then that's true & we're on the same page.

 

[BK38]

AA doesn't work.

Drugs and alcohol is short for illegal drugs and alcohol

Yeah, but "drugs and alcohol" being short for "illegal drugs and alcohol" is just disingenuous (by design imo). I'd rather be hooked on heroin than alcohol if I 100% knew what I was getting (ie. Not some fent-laced garbage or other potent synthetic crap).

As for the AA thing, it didn't help me much personally (though alcohol has never been my DOC tbh, there were just more meetings available). I do know people it has helped though, so I don't discount it entirely.

 

[4DQSAR]

Yeah dude I didn't bring up my sister for any other reason than to share my experience, so calling her death some "logical fallacy" here is a little insensitive.

Nobody forced you to share. I began by stating I was sorry for your loss...

The title of the thread SHOULD have given you an insight on the subject i.e. the 'big picture'. Macroscale damages.

We have several pages devoted for personal tragedies. You were oddly quiet on the fact I buried someone last week who alcohol killed. But I made that choice. BUT I pointed out it was anecdotal and made it clear sympathy wasn't expected.

We have an old saying about where a person can find 'sympathy' (noun)

 

[new2drugs]

Yeah, but "drugs and alcohol" being short for "illegal drugs and alcohol" is just disingenuous (by design imo). I'd rather be hooked on heroin than alcohol if I 100% knew what I was getting (ie. Not some fent-laced garbage or other potent synthetic crap).

As for the AA thing, it didn't help me much personally (though alcohol has never been my DOC tbh, there were just more meetings available). I do know people it has helped though, so I don't discount it entirely.

Heroin over alcohol??? No thanks.

I meant there are better quitting methods than AA. Alan Carr or Craig beck

 

[4DQSAR]

I don't think there is a single 'right way' to stop drinking. As long as nobody else is harmed, whatever works for an individual is fine.

I do think physical dependency to alcohol one of the most hazardous but suspect that almost all of the CNS depressants are AS hazardous.

 

[cnnka]

The thing with opiates vs alcohol is they’re incredibly addictive, you can’t just take heroin or an oxy casual and then forget about it like when you drink a beer and don’t care about it.

 

[BK38]

Heroin over alcohol??? No thanks.

I meant there are better quitting methods than AA. Alan Carr or Craig beck

That'd be my choice, thankfully I'm addicted to neither.

I've been addicted to heroin (4 years active with it and clean over 14 from h) and maybe mildly dependent on alcohol when I was pulling 60 hours a week in hospitality (like a 6 pack a night for 2 years)... I'd still choose a heroin addiction over an alcohol addiction (thankfully I quit before a lot of the potent synthetic opis were really on the scene).

That's me though. I'm not going to tell someone to do heroin, ever, it fucked my life up. Now with fent, nitz etc, there's no way I'd chance it. With that said, alcohol is such a shitty drug compared to heroin ime. As 4DSQR mentioned, the CNS depression is obviously really dangerous, but I'd rather be hooked on heroin (actual heroin, safe supply) than alcohol.

Also, it's a hell of a lot easier to avoid heroin than alcohol.

I just think with the likelihood of death from the withdrawal, the unpleasantness of said withdrawal and how it's probably one of the most prevalent and insidious drugs, being addicted to alcohol is worse in my opinion.

Again, my opinion. Thanks for clarifying your "AA doesn't work" statement. It came across as pretty fucking ignorant. AA/NA didn't help me much, but I have friends that are alive because of 12 step programs and I won't knock it if it helps others and ive seen it help some, not all. There are definitely better methods imo. Often a hybrid, wholistic approach works best with some initial maintenance from what I've seen.

Maybe I'm in a mood, but you pissed me right the fuck off earlier.

 

[BK38]

The thing with opiates vs alcohol is they’re incredibly addictive, you can’t just take heroin or an oxy casual and then forget about it like when you drink a beer and don’t care about it.

Eye of the user (beholder). Some people take that first drink and never stop. Opiates were that for me, though I don't really use them to get high as I ironically need them for legit pain now.

 

[4DQSAR]

I hope we can all agree that the rich and famous could and can 'choose their poison' on the basis that whatever they choose, price and availability will never become an issue. It's not a secret that some of the most successful rock and/or roll bands in history had a dealer who WAS a 'crew member'. Financial success = per diem = freedom to choose.

Yet alcohol is still right up there in an industry where drug use is almost an intrinsic.

Why a person is pre-disposed to choose one chemical over another is a very complicated subject.