Some of you got your wish

[skarlorn]

You can get heroin in jail. My source is The Wire.

[skarlorn]

*massages the melon*

[maskedmelon]

lol, he not irking me too much cus I know he's not serious ^^ ty though


*melts*

[Lemonhead]

We seem to view this problem as "junkies" crawling the streets and alleys. This is simply a myth. The great majority are (semi)functioning adults, even many heroin addicts. They are your coworkers, your athlete heroes, your neighbors, your family. And I promise you, you won't know, even those close to you. It's a really easy addiction to hide for a long time. (maybe not shooting up, but most aren't doing that)

There are more deaths from prescription opiods than from street opiods. But deaths are only the tip of the spear. This addiction digs deeper into the soul than you can imagine (pot? what?). And coming out of it is NOT just a week or 2 of withdrawal.

It is a battle to take your mind back and the Demon does not give up for a long, long time, if ever. Do opiates long enough (especially addictively), and it rewrites what it means to be a mammal, much less human. All pleasure, reward, motivation, lust, love gets tied to the Beast and removed from all other action.

It takes a lot of work and a lot of self-awareness (like only an addict can truely experience in some ways) to re-write the reward system in the brain. The longer away from reality, the longer the re-write takes. That's why the solutions are not simple, and why they go back 90% of the time. (PS. I volunteer in this field some and obviously have some experience)

Add: And all addictions have some element of this. It's just that opiates are just so effective at mimicking pure joy, but any drug can have similar struggles.

[JurisDictum]

Originally Posted by Lemonhead [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

We seem to view this problem as "junkies" crawling the streets and alleys. This is simply a myth. The great majority are (semi)functioning adults, even many heroin addicts. They are your coworkers, your athlete heroes, your neighbors, your family. And I promise you, you won't know, even those close to you. It's a really easy addiction to hide for a long time. (maybe not shooting up, but most aren't doing that)

There are more deaths from prescription opiods than from street opiods. But deaths are only the tip of the spear. This addiction digs deeper into the soul than you can imagine (pot? what?). And coming out of it is NOT just a week or 2 of withdrawal.

It is a battle to take your mind back and the Demon does not give up for a long, long time, if ever. Do opiates long enough (especially addictively), and it rewrites what it means to be a mammal, much less human. All pleasure, reward, motivation, lust, love gets tied to the Beast and removed from all other action.

It takes a lot of work and a lot of self-awareness (like only an addict can truely experience in some ways) to re-write the reward system in the brain. The longer away from reality, the longer the re-write takes. That's why the solutions are not simple, and why they go back 90% of the time. (PS. I volunteer in this field some and obviously have some experience)

Add: And all addictions have some element of this. It's just that opiates are just so effective at mimicking pure joy, but any drug can have similar struggles.

That's a very good point. But the article on the OP was more about addressing seemingly hopeless junkies that can't hold down jobs (or jobs that are well-enough paying) and support their addiction through crime and other shitty behavior. Giving these people enough to get through the day sometimes -- generally over a long period of time -- will give them enough breathing room to become a more functional addict like you describe above.

Eventually -- sometimes due to age, enough personal work on themselves, and changes occuring in their life -- some of these people become 100% sober...or perhaps just become begin potheads.

[Lemonhead]

Originally Posted by JurisDictum [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

That's a very good point. But the article on the OP was more about addressing seemingly hopeless junkies that can't hold down jobs (or jobs that are well-enough paying) and support their addiction through crime and other shitty behavior. Giving these people enough to get through the day sometimes -- generally over a long period of time -- will give them enough breathing room to become a more functional addict like you describe above.

Eventually -- sometimes due to age, enough personal work on themselves, and changes occuring in their life -- some of these people become 100% sober...or perhaps just become begin potheads.

That's also a good point. I am off topic a bit. I just wanted people to get a feel for this addiction a bit.

As far the type of person who shoots up in the street, you know, being from a smaller town, I really don't know them, but I'd imagine many of them started as the more benign addict. Or they are people with severe mental disorders. Or they were just living shitty lives and made them shittier.

I have never met an addict who blames society or "their disease" or anyone else. They all blame themselves and it is, in fact, their fault. Accepting full responsibility is very important to healing. It is not like cancer. It is a disease but of a different kind. But that doesn't mean we can't have compassion. That doesn't mean we shouldn't help. True strength is seeing ourselves in the most deplorable.

Anyways, to actually get on topic, I think these places (ideally) are a way to reach out to the deepest of addicts, to try to push them into sub/methadone treatment. Now, replacement therapy is no panacea and not right for everyone, but it can be hope for those most deeply entrenched. It allows someone to stabilize and start working on underlying causes. Or they can just stay on it forever if need be, especially suboxone, as it has a ceiling effect and overdose is virtually impossible. A very normal life can be lived on it.

[Lhancelot]

Originally Posted by Lemonhead [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

We seem to view this problem as "junkies" crawling the streets and alleys. This is simply a myth. The great majority are (semi)functioning adults, even many heroin addicts. They are your coworkers, your athlete heroes, your neighbors, your family. And I promise you, you won't know, even those close to you. It's a really easy addiction to hide for a long time. (maybe not shooting up, but most aren't doing that)

There are more deaths from prescription opiods than from street opiods. But deaths are only the tip of the spear. This addiction digs deeper into the soul than you can imagine (pot? what?). And coming out of it is NOT just a week or 2 of withdrawal.

It is a battle to take your mind back and the Demon does not give up for a long, long time, if ever. Do opiates long enough (especially addictively), and it rewrites what it means to be a mammal, much less human. All pleasure, reward, motivation, lust, love gets tied to the Beast and removed from all other action.

It takes a lot of work and a lot of self-awareness (like only an addict can truely experience in some ways) to re-write the reward system in the brain. The longer away from reality, the longer the re-write takes. That's why the solutions are not simple, and why they go back 90% of the time. (PS. I volunteer in this field some and obviously have some experience)

Add: And all addictions have some element of this. It's just that opiates are just so effective at mimicking pure joy, but any drug can have similar struggles.

I really liked this post. agree with it. ^

These centers don't enable the drug users, not one bit. The drug addicts are going to continue the drug use whether a center is giving out free needles or not.

To get an addict off drugs it will take more than simply getting them through the withdrawal stage, it requires proper socialization of the person, re-wiring their brain by changing life habits not just removing the drugs from their life.

There are programs that do just this too, halfway houses. At best in my city halfway houses seem to be half-ass attempts to help drug addicts get off drugs and learn new living habits that would make it so they are less likely to go back to drugs.

Maybe there are some good ones out there, but all the men I talked to told me their halfway houses were corrupt and dysfunctional and I believe it seeing how many of them are still addicts and ending up back in jail.

If our country really wanted to get people off heroin and cocaine, I am sure people much smarter than me could figure out ways to implement social programs that actually worked.

Instead, we have this mentality where we think drug addiction goes hand in hand with criminality and drug addicts typically land in jail, where they should be. I don't agree with this.

Once in the correctional system, the chances for a drug addict to rewire their brains and get off the drugs for good is highly unlikely. Jail and the programs involved with jails are not working.

[Lulz~Sect]

tragically accurate

+1

[Lulz~Sect]

high apple pie in the sky hopes

[Lemonhead]

Idk for sure but legalizing it could be a solution of sorts. I always found opiates to kill pain by just making you feel better about everything. Weed can do that.

Opiates loose their efficacy over time, weed doesn't. And then your dealer only has weed and booze and nuclear weapons.