Drugs and addiction

[Bluebiyou]

I have a hypothesis and a question.

The Hypothesis:
There is a 'neutralizing' or 'normalizing' tendency of humans regarding drug usage.
When you first take a (recreational/feel-good) drug, you feel great and wonderful. Over time the 'normalizing effect' takes hold, so when you are not under the influence, you feel relatively bad/depressed. Then, in advanced addiction, you're not taking the drug to feel good, you're just taking it to feel 'okay'; and that's the trap.

The question:
A new drug? Perhaps I'm getting old and losing touch with the latest thing. I saw an article about someone who regularly used recreational drugs, including cocaine. The person said they tried 'ice'. Once they tried 'ice' they said cocaine immediately became an (inferior) thing of the past.
What the hell is 'ice'?

[gfofbiguy]

Ice is meth...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methamphetamine

[Skater Boy]

I have a hypothesis and a question.

The Hypothesis:
There is a 'neutralizing' or 'normalizing' tendency of humans regarding drug usage.
When you first take a (recreational/feel-good) drug, you feel great and wonderful. Over time the 'normalizing effect' takes hold, so when you are not under the influence, you feel relatively bad/depressed. Then, in advanced addiction, you're not taking the drug to feel good, you're just taking it to feel 'okay'; and that's the trap.

The question:
A new drug? Perhaps I'm getting old and losing touch with the latest thing. I saw an article about someone who regularly used recreational drugs, including cocaine. The person said they tried 'ice'. Once they tried 'ice' they said cocaine immediately became an (inferior) thing of the past.
What the hell is 'ice'?

There are a lot of factors involved. But generally if you come to associate positive experiences with drug use, coupled with the natural chemical responses in your brain, the times when you're NOT using can seem comparatively bad. But with prolonged exposure to certain drugs, you soon realize that even the GOOD times aren't as good as they may at first seem.

I tried the Asian equivalent of Crystal Meth once and yes- the high DID blow away that of the other drugs I had tried up until that point. I immediately wanted more. In fact, had I not had the negative example of the person who introduced the drug to persuade me otherwise, I may very well have followed a similar path.

[shameless agitator]

Your hypothesis is sound. At a pharmacological level what happens is that all drugs work by increasing the levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain. Your brain adapts to this by creating additional receptor sites for these transmitters. Once this happens, you need more than your body can produce just to feel normal. The greater the highs you get the worse the withdrawals. It's known as the rebound effect. What a lot of people never hear about is that prolonged use can cause aphoria, the inability to feel anything. I should clarify that I've only heard of aphoria occurring with opiate use (Morphine & Codeine based drugs including heroine, methadone & most prescription painkillers). I know that these besides increasing the levels of certain endorphins also block the production of a transmitter called substance p which conveys the signal that you're in pain. It works for both physical & emotional pain. It may occur with other drugs, but I don't really know & don't have my texts any more.

[the mage]

Well the normal is that there is a constant level of addiction across society.
1.3% of the population is addicted to something, be it sex, drugs, video games or other at all times and that rate has not changed since ww1 despite the "drug war" and imprisonment of half a million men.

Do not confuse addiction and habituation PLEASE!

Addictive drugs kill because the user does not have control of their dosage on the street. not because they are deadly in them selves. A human can die of old age as heroine addict. Morphine can be used by people in pain (legal-hospital supervised) in self administered doses that would kill a new user instantly.
Exposure, quality of drug, method of delivery, safety of surroundings all decide the persons life span not the drug use.

Quantity of drug used increases to a point then levels off over time. The issue for the addicted is the crime needed to support the illegal drug use. It should be a medical issue all over the world, not a criminal one.

[shameless agitator]

Good points Mage. The variation of quality & strength is definitely a huge factor in overdoses. The other thing to bear in mind is that there are actually 2 tolerance levels. There's the tolerance for an effective dose (how much you need to get high) & the tolerance for a lethal dose (how much you can take without dying). Unfortunately the effective dose tolerance increases more rapidly than the lethal dose, so they can wind up being nearly identical. I absolutely agree that the whole issue should be treated as a medical concern rather than a criminal one. The "War on Drugs" is a complete failure & you will never be able to make an impact by fighting the supply side. Education, prevention & cessation are what it will take. That said, there will always be those who want to use recreational drugs. For them we need to work on harm reduction. I think Holland has the right idea. Drug dealers are licensed & their product inspected for purity. You therefore get a uniform strength & don't wind up with shit like arsenic being used for cut. This is why, per capita, they have more drug use, but fewer, drug related fatalities & lower crime rates.

[Azrael]

I tried the Asian equivalent of Crystal Meth once and yes- the high DID blow away that of the other drugs I had tried up until that point. I immediately wanted more. In fact, had I not had the negative example of the person who introduced the drug to persuade me otherwise, I may very well have followed a similar path.

Methacathinone?

[Skater Boy]

Methacathinone?

It was called "Shabu" in Asian, and I had NO IDEA what it was when I tried it. But I just searched it on wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabu

And apparently it IS "meth", just given its Asian name. I guess that makes me a Meth-head or something! J/k... I only tried it ONCE!

[31cho]

I have a hypothesis and a question.

The Hypothesis:
There is a 'neutralizing' or 'normalizing' tendency of humans regarding drug usage.
When you first take a (recreational/feel-good) drug, you feel great and wonderful. Over time the 'normalizing effect' takes hold, so when you are not under the influence, you feel relatively bad/depressed. Then, in advanced addiction, you're not taking the drug to feel good, you're just taking it to feel 'okay'; and that's the trap.

The question:
A new drug? Perhaps I'm getting old and losing touch with the latest thing. I saw an article about someone who regularly used recreational drugs, including cocaine. The person said they tried 'ice'. Once they tried 'ice' they said cocaine immediately became an (inferior) thing of the past.
What the hell is 'ice'?
Ice is meth.I know from experince how that works. I used to work in a rehab for many years.The depression kicks in afterward.They feel guilty for doing it in the first place.But on the other hand they have to do it more becuse their bodies need it. And thats called addiction.Most people start at an early age like 12 and up. They start with beer or what ever they can find.If they like it they will advance to something else like pot.(Most teenagers).Some people might stop others will advance to bigger and "better" things.People who advance need to move on to bigger and better things to chase that high.

[Azrael]

I know well from experience that drugs can fuck you in the ass. I've taken all sorts of pills(HEAVY opiates, oxys, roxys, morphine sulfate, demerol, tranquilizers- thorazine, haldol. quietapine which I currently take, risperdal, xanax, valium, klonipin, prescribed and not, smoked LOTS of opium, almost destroyed my whole life with a coke habit twice, eaten way too much acid and shrooms, and am still somewhat sane from a decent dose of seroquel. I burn a bit o' herb now n then, but that's about the extent of it. I'm trying to take better care of myself now that I'm permatripping and borderline nuts. After losing my mind from severe manic fits about a year and a half ago, I'm finally getting back to functional and on top of my game. I'm sane as long as I eat well, sleep well, and don't do hard drugs. A lot of this shit amounts to mind over matter. Fuck it. I done my best with what I got. I ain't sayin this to brag. Not at all, just sharing my experience. And let me tall yas, I'd take A LOT of it back if I could. I'm a thousand times more aggressive, paranoid and delusional for it. But, I am still in here, exerting what control I can over my mind and what parts I choose to expose others to. And I have to admit, I'm a lot more in control and rational with a moderate dose of a single antipsychotic drug. My thoughts are organized and not impossibly fast. I don't hallucinate. Much. Also, I sleep regularly and sleep deep thanks to astrazeneca and their flagship neurological drug.
I never fucked with meth, crack, or heroin. That's about all I haven't done.
I have taken adderal- a capsule of amphetamine salts given to severe ADD folks, like one friend of mine. It did what I needed it to do (made me insanely productive one hellish day at work), but I felt that shit SERIOUSLY putting the hurt on my heart. Never again.

[liquidcandycain]

Your hypothesis is in many ways true after you become a heavy addict you take the drugs of choice to feel better i myself used to be addicted to certain drugs(meth being one of the first) and I wanted it all the time i was a teenager at the time(14) I could still get out of bed but I WAS NOT a nice person to be around. I moved completely out of state to get a fresh start cause I seen what was going on around me and what it was doing to everybody else and I knew I didnt want to be that person that stereo typical meth addict however instead of quitting everything and actually getting a FRESH start I just "substituted" it with pills. I was on pills for a while and when I finally met the man of my dreams whom I am married to I realized that I didnt need the drug to "feel better" because I was happy and that I knew I could do it successfully my only concern after that was that after 5 years of snorting and popping what I got in my hands that I would have to face this entire world "on my own" without anything to make myself believe that everything was always ok and thats why alot of people do drugs is because they dont want to deal with the problems that are holding them back from being great now with me being clean for a little over a year:) I realized although I'm still scared of messing up that I CAN face the world without drugs and although there will be bumps in the road if I could defeat my addiction I can handle the world too. Anyway sorry I wrote so much but I hope what I say answers your question. and all ice is is pure uncut meth pretty much is the best way I can describe it.

[CuddlyKate]

[QUOTE=liquidcandycain;88795] I realized although I'm still scared of messing up that I CAN face the world without drugs and although there will be bumps in the road if I could defeat my addiction I can handle the world too. QUOTE]

I can empathise with that completely liquidcandycane. As the weeks and months passed after the hell of of heroin use I began to see and enjoy the world once again. There shall always be bumps on the road and times still when the stresses of life pressure us into needing more than just the joy of life to sustain us. Memory of that time and the shame, humiliation and pain I endured and brought upon others is enough to keep me clean, and the certain knowledge that those strains will pass. I have a life worth living and with a family worth livng for.