to wonder how good heroin must feel

[complexnumber]

I've tried lots of recreational drugs over the years, but never heroin
But what is it about the 'hit' heroin gives you that makes you want it again... and again...

I tried pretty much everything in the late 70s. Ecstasy didn't exist I've never tried that.

Nothing was that good I tried it again.

I know that I have seen the research and brain scans which I'm pretty sure is an accurate measure.

Hydroponically grown opium, there has to be a market for that

IntheFace

Back to the drugs - what a great sign off!

yes Hydroponically grown opium but you'd need quite a tall ceiling and can you imagine the soporific atmosphere of that room? Would any harvesting actually get done ?

Autumn thank you for sharing your story. It's interesting to hear and I think you should be very proud of yourself for coming through

Gossip your service is so important and valuable to so many.

Bertie, you dont come across as snobby at all...seems to me that you're just explaining that you're not comfortable with drug use and things that are often concurrent with it.

Of course many of those things are due to the illegality of the substances concerned

Yes it is Suzanne. Although I do think on balance that it's probably best off illegal, perhaps available on prescription for medical reasons. There was a very good point made a few pages back about how people act around "legal highs".

Plus I think that sometimes if something is "officially" recommended against (or even illegal) because it is risky, it does make people think twice and perhaps do a bit of research before they enter into it.

you might be right about legalisation Bertie I'm mainly on the fence but it's very difficult to predict how these sorts of things will pan out, there are so many variables to consider, the law of unintended consequences and all that.

If I had to take a punt I'd say that legalisation of many currently illegal rec drugs will come in the next decade or two, but thats just a guess...time will tell

CotedAzur it's not fun. People don't get addicted to heroin, prostitute themselves and steal because it's 'fun'.

As Autumn so eloquently said it's taken by most addicts as a way to numb overwhelming mental pain.

Sebastian described it as or me it was 'unsociable, slightly boring and highly overated.' That's what it's going to be like for most well balanced happy people if they take it.

It's not like E, it's a means to an end, but it's not fun.

I've been discussing this with my husband tonight. I've concluded that I think some drugs should be legalised. Heavily, heavily regulated but legalised. Taxed heavily as well which could then go back into drug education programmes and rehabilitation programmes. The advantage would be taxes to fund those education programmes, the drugs would be regulated and so non of the additional rubbish in them and hopefully the price even with tax would be cheaper than they are illegally. I have no idea if this works out economically but I think if it could be done, it might be a sensible way of doing things.

I'm sure there are loads of flaws to this but the way things are at the moment don't seem to work either.

I've done my share of stuff,but never wondered what heroin is like.

I think I've always known it's too big a beast for me to want to get involved with. And I've been fortunate enough not to have known anyone taking heroin at the time I knew them so there was no ready availability.

The other thing I drew the line at was glue sniffing.Not sure why really - maybe because it was the casuals doing it,and I wasn't really in that scene....(that makes me feel so very very old....)

I was kind of out of the scene by the time e's came along so that was never a dilemma.

Laza I agree with that. I think if heroin addicts were given heroin on prescription the number of addicts would fall dramatically.

Dealer want addicts who will become addicted to the drug and provide them with a reliable source of income as they keep buying the drug when they are addicted.

If that income stream is taken away because they have it prescribed then what would be the point in dealing it in the first place when the income will disappear when they can have it prescribed?

I think it would make the number of pushers trying to get people hooked on it fall dramatically.

I know someone who used to take a variety of drugs. Once he tried heroin, he quit them all. He said it was because he could see how easy it would be to get sucked into the drug scene more than he already was, & end up a heroin addict. AFAIK he's never touched anything stronger than booze or cigarettes since. Really scared him as he knew he didn't have the willpower to keep saying no if he was around it.

if drugs were legalised what would all the drug dealers do...work in macdonalds...?

Without ever having tried it, I know heroin isn't for me. It's for people with something to escape and I have nothing to hide from.

They gave me morphine after my c section for dd2 and I hated it. Weird spaced out dream feeling, I didn't feel safe and I didn't feel in less pain. I wanted to be sharp and know what was happening, I had a preemie baby a sheet white DH and a massive wound on my stomach, I didn't need to be elsewhere.

When I had septicemia and nearly died, it was the best thing ever. I had gone through three and a half days of peritonitis with no painkillers, 42 degree temp and towards the end couldnt move. I didn't want to be there. The pain was so immense I just wanted it to stop. I can only use my own experience to base things on but on those two events, it's for people who don't want to be there and dealing with things because it takes you away from it.

gossip unless you've seen tbse exact brain scans from the same people who have not used exstacy then the research is flawed.

Its impossible to know if folk who are prone to depression are more lkely to use exstacy or if exstacy causes depressiom. Same as the cannabis/schizophrenia link.

Organic means tested soil, less artificial spray on the crops (pesticides) the thought is that all the non-organic produce use as much pesticide possible meaning that our bodies ingest far too much of it.

I wish I could still afford organic :(

Nothing wrong with working in MacDonalds. They work bloody hard. I don't like seeing the jobs there seen as a pejorative.

try it once and you are hooked.

This is such a pervasive myth, and obviously untrue, since multiple posters have said they tried it once and hated it.
I agree with what AutumnFire said - it's a painkiller for mental pain, and sometimes that's what people need.
I think legalising it and regulating it would be the best approach (for this drug, not necessarily for others). Not only does a major revenue stream disappear, it also makes it kind of uncool, and removes some of the 'ooh, how edgy!' mystique.
Oh, and I have never, ever, met a drug 'pusher'. Pretty much as soon as the news gets around that someone is dealing, their door is nearly broken down by the rush. Pushing stuff isn't necessary.

Pushing stuff IME tends to be by friends or partners. Usually slightly older friends or partners who quite like the feeling of having power over someone younger and more vulnerable. But they don't want to sell it to you, so not the same as the idea of the "drugs pusher".

I do remember ridiculous stories about "When you start secondary school there is a tree in the playground and if you stand under it it means you want drugs and the big kids will MAKE you take them"

Yes, the old myth of dealers hanging out by the school gate.

They need to be secretive to avoid detection. There is often a slight shortage or interruption of supply so only enough at a given time for known customers. Introducing yourself and getting known to dealers (especially in smaller towns) takes time. They won't sell to anybody. You tend to be introduced by a regular and have to really seek it out. Often dealers are users buying a gram/two grams or whatever and selling on some of it to existing users in order to fund his own habit. On the 'street, this is the most commonly occurring system of distribution.

There is no link with Cannabis and Schizophrenia - is Cannabis and Psychosis - your knowledge is flawed.

Gossip I have nursed many many floridly psychotic teenagers who have been heavily indulging in cannabis. They stabilise, are discharged off their sections and when they relapse it is nearly always because they started smoking again.

This may be in part, an acquired technique of self medication also but the link between cannabis and psychosis is clear.

They are quite shockingly psychotic too. They get sick so quickly they are admitted in a florid state that would take other people with a psychotic type illness some months to develop.

Yes that's a good point. I've lived my whole life in major cities, and spent many years partying fairly hard. I've never been offered anything more interesting than an occasional joint. Nobody has pushed anything near me.

I was talking about cannabis and schizophrenia, not cannabis psychosis.