experiences of Addiction

heya BL's,

if you have experiences with addiction or knowledge about addiction i was wondering if you would take the time to answer a few questions to help some of my research into addiction.

Currently i am putting together a therapeutic group discussion around addiction which is about two hours long and held at the residential withdrawal facility that i currently work in.

this group has been running for about 5 weeks so far and i am looking to build on some of the information that i get from participant responses: the aim of the group is to critique addiction on both a personal level and in the social sphere.

Questions:

Q- do you identify as having an addiction?


Q- what were you taught or brought up to believe about addiction


Q- where did you get this information from Prior to BL & what is the most influential source of information on addiction in your life now Other than BL (eg- friends, family, media)



thanks for your time it will greatly "speed up" the research and knowledge base for this group and my research. i will post findings if not the group session plan later on in the year

cheers............ mick

1) I identify as having had an addiction...some people, however, would say that I'm still an addict and that it's a lifelong disorder I need to fight against. I'm not sure if I buy into that, as I am currently using opioids in a moderate, responsible way and I have not fallen into the cycle again. I had one relapse though.

2) We were taught about addiction at school, but most of it was bullshit and there wasn't any real information. Being a very smart guy, I knew that there was something suss about the way they were teaching us about drugs and that's probably what led me to use drugs in the first place.

3) Most of the information I have concerning addiction comes from BL, some of those brochures they hand out to people when you get needles, and also from reading books about neuropharmacology and substance use.

I hope I answered your questions Ok

cheers

1. yes: nicotine, thc, amphetamines

2. lots of stuff... i think 95% was bullshit

3. books, erowid, friends, experiments...

1. yes, currently alcohol, drinking much less though.. sticking to beers as i just skull down spirits etc. if i were to not consume alcohol i would need another downer as a replacement

2. we were told about 3 drugs in high school, the drugs that were a problem in the area. pot, speed, and heroin. we werent told much about speed at all, it was mid 90s and even though a large group of high schoolers, year 8 and above, were injecting methamphetamine, as well as smoking pot. we were told heroin was too easy to overdose on and everyone pretty much didnt like the idea of needles in year 7, and it was an addiction for life. And alcohol can cause weight gain, muscle problems and violence.

Funnily enough the only thing we were taught about pot by the Physaical/Personal Development teacher was that it has never killed anyone, its not addictive by itself unless mixed with tobacco (which they told us, and we knew, was very addictive) and you smoke it out of a bong wqhich the teacher drew on the chalk board..... like he was saying if you're going to do anything, just do pot. heh

3. erowid, bluelight, friends (but most of their shit i read up the real facts on erowid and bluelight)

1. Don't have an addiction currently but i was addicted to pot for a while. I'd say it was obviously addiction to the nicotine, however combine that with the psychological cravings "to get high" and i'd definitely say i was addicted for a while.

2. I wasn't taught anything specific from memory. All i remember is being told that all drugs are bad, all drugs will kill you or put you in prison and other assorted bullshit like that. I remember my parents telling me about heroin and how its the most addictive etc, but i found out most of what i know myself.

3. Internet, vast amounts of reading over the years. The most powerful information i get these days on addiction is witnessing it first hand with mates. I see what some of them have gone through and am not in a hurry to experience it.

Funnily enough the only thing we were taught about pot by the Physaical/Personal Development teacher was that it has never killed anyone, its not addictive by itself unless mixed with tobacco (which they told us, and we knew, was very addictive) and you smoke it out of a bong wqhich the teacher drew on the chalk board..... like he was saying if you're going to do anything, just do pot. heh

Click to expand...

Sounds like a pretty cool teacher...if only there were people like him in charge of drug education and policy.

He was a hard ass P.E. teacher.
He always found me wagging sport cos i was banned from doing any outside of school sports

thanks for your responces, also i would very much like to hear from people who dont identify as having an addiction or problematic relationship with drugs , ill start compiling the answers from here and the groups asap with a narrative to go with it ..

cheers.......... mick

I use ecstasy, marijuana, meth and psychedelics on very rare occaisons. Its been a month since MDMA (because of NYE), meth its been since June. Psychedelics.. NYE.. but I hardly touch them, and pot its been a week but that was just because a vapourizer bag was put in front of me. I have pot here waiting for the next comedown that I have no intention of smoking before.

I used to be addicted to weed, daily all day user for 5 years.
MDMA I used to take every weekend. I can now store good mdma and pills for ages without temptation.

Speed/meth was getting towards a few times a week IV. Then once a week was enough, and the after effects were lasting until the next week anyway.

Psychedelics I once took on and off in binges.. For example if I had it, it would be gone that night easily, where as now i have rare ansd traditional psychedelics i dont wish to eat, and am just saving for the right time. I actually binged on 2c-i for every night for about a month, which caused a fair bit of head fuck (psycvhosis are "HPPD" for 6-9 months.. Basically a level +2 2ci trip for half a year after that abuse, visuals and mindstate all day all night..)...

The only thing I will abuse in my possession now are:

Alcohol, G, Benzos, stilnox.

Addictions:
1979 to 1981: d-l- methamphetamine. 1 gram daily (1.5 grams at peak of addiction). Cannabis daily. Tobacco daily. Most I was awake: 12 days. Used for 7-8 days and burned for 2 days.

1999 to 2001: crystallized d- methamphetamine. 2 grams daily. Cannabis daily. Tobacco daily. Most I was awake: 7 days. Used for 4-5 days and burned for 24 hours.

Education:
Yes. During final year of high school in 79. Already was using during weekdays. Warned about dangers of cannabis + addiction, cocaine + addiction, heroin + death from overdose. Speed freaks weren't an issue to the teachers. Shrugged it off.

Sources:
Older speed freaks who had been using continuously for 4 years prior to me. No surprise, most of my sources were methamphetamine-addled clandestine chemists for criminal groups. Use your searching skills to find who were responsible for the masses of 1970's methamphetamine manufacturing. Nowadays, Erowid and drug forums.

Peace and good health.

1. cigarettes and to a certain extent alcohol, i drink 95% of weekends and 95% of the time i binge, i rarely drink just for a drink, its always to get drunk. i was a daily pot smoker for about 4 years, smoke about 2-3 times a week now, dont get the same urge like i used to. i am very fond of other drugs, especially e and acid. i take e once or twice a month on average, i would take it more if i could, if it was better quality, if i could get it easily. acid i take less often, every 2-3 months or so.

2. i was bought up in a pretty straight laced family, my parents hardly drink and dont smoke so i never really had any exposure to the problems of addiction. my grandma smoked and my mum always told me never to smoke because of the various reasons, i guess thats about it. once i had left high school i met people with various drug problems, a number of my friends have alcohol or borderline alcohol addictions. one of my old friends has bad alcoholism, she drinks everyday and at really inappropriate times. she drink drives all the time. almost all of my friends smoke cigarettes and weed. i have met people (mainly dealers) with speed, meth and e problems and the occasional junkie.

3. mainly from surfing the net and from observing other people. some dicussions with friends and family too.

1. I had an addiction to amphetamines for 12 months using around a gram or more every day for 5 days then a 2 day rest.... Not anymore now though thank god! Haven't touched them in a long time now. I only ever do acid, coke and the 2c's and even then only like every 4-5 weeks or even longer. I do have a problem with weed though and have been trying to give it up since new years I smoke a cone nearly everyday I would say.... I'll quit soon I hope.

2. I was brought up in a straight edge family where drug's were the worst thing ever, I was always told how terrible and bad they were and to never ever touch them... My mother was a single mum and did a great job raising us she never smoked hated it actually and drunk maybe once every 2 years and didn't drink heavy....

3. As I got older I found out my older brother had an addiction to Heroin when he was 17 until he was 20 and that my older sister was smoking weed with my brother all time. So basically I got curious and my friends were doing it so I thought I would give it a go. I got bored with weed after about 6 months and wanted something that would actually do something better to me so I looked around until I found someone that had pill's and found somebody then I started to do them and then found amphetamines because I couldn't get pill's first I didn't like it cause it didn't really do anything to me except keep me awake then I couldn't get pill's for 3 weeks and got speed instead and that was it for me I was gone spending pretty much all my cash on it...

1, Mainly prescriptions drugs; Benzo's ( Ativan & Xanax), Painkillers (oxycontin, MS-contin & Ordine). I don't drink that much anymore or smoke weed but used to be a big user.

2, I was taught that all drug where bad and addictive when i was at school, but it did them anyway. When i was at Uni the nursing facilitaors constantly kept reminding us off the dangers off addiction to Benzo's, morph and barbituates.

3, I have to see a psyc. every month to make sure i'm on track, but he is just making me more Benzo dependent. The best info i have found in books and internet.