Quote:
Originally posted by greatwhitenorthchick
Not like heroin, which seems to be pretty dangerous no matter how much you take.
sort of like alcohol.
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Heroin doesn't appear to be quite as bad as everyone commonly thinks it is. It is apparently only slightly more addictive than alcohol, and not nearly so much as cigarettes (though, of course, the cognitive impairment is quite different). Right about on par with speed, which my mother's generation still fondly remembers as "diet pills."
I've known a few (OK, 2) people whom I would qualify as "occasional recreational users without undue negative side effects" of heroin, and one whom I would qualify as a "she needs to cut that shit out" user. Worse odds than among my alcohol-using acquaintances, but that may have more to do with (i) my socioeconomic group and/or (ii) statistically insignificant sample size and/or (iii) give the drinkers a bit more time. In any event, my understanding (from a reasonable amount of unexpert and quasi-interested reading on the subject) is that the real problems with heroin stem from it being illegal (irregular dosage, cutting with soap, crime both among suppliers and users, etc.) and from the fact that the self-selected group motivated enough to seek out big-stigma illegal drugs like heroin have psychological profiles rather given to drug addition, more than the opiate per se.
But then the only crack smoker I've known personally (not counting the change-jangling guy on the corner a couple blocks from my place) also fits into the "occasional recreational user without undue negative side effects" category, so YMMV. I've known an awful lot of people who use coke, none of whom seem to have come down with a "problem." Which makes coke one hell of a lot safer than drink, pot or acid in the universe as defined by DS's annecdotal experience.
BR(legalize it, regulate it, tax it, arrest people operating cars or oil tankers on it)C
