[OvidNaso]

Heroin is an opiate, and opiates do almost zero damage to the body. I know meth and heroin have culturally maintained their status as horrific amoungst young people despite the drug war's campaign of misinformation, and opiate addiction is a horrific thing, but clearly these drugs are not what you think they are.

[shabble]

Whilst this is largely true, there are plenty of opportunities for harm from contaminated or adulterated drugs, blood-bourne disease from needle sharing, and all manner of peripheral damage from poor injection technique or inappropriate routes of administration. And, of course, the ever-present risk of overdose due to wildly varying purity.

Of course, almost all of those things apply to other drugs when injected as well, but there is some evidence to suggest long-term use, even medically, can lead to Opioid Induced Hyperalgesia[1], which is definitely not harmless.

I'm not disagreeing with you entirely, but I wouldn't paint quite such a rosy picture.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid-induced_hyperalgesia

[function_seven]

Regarding your first paragraph, almost every hazard you mention is a consequence of prohibition, not an innate hazard of opiates themselves.

Illegal drugs get adulterated due to black market actors looking to pad their margins. Needles get shared because they're not legal to buy OTC. Poor injection technique and inappropriate routes of administration occur (in part) due to the desire to hide drug use. Those two items would probably be lessened if addicts had the same access to education that diabetics do.

And wildly varying purity is not something you find in drugs bought from a pharmacy, but is found from sellers operating in the shadows.

Cigarettes and alcohol do not suffer from these things, because they're legal and regulated.

[alsetmusic]

> Regarding your first paragraph, almost every hazard you mention is a consequence of prohibition, not an innate hazard of opiates themselves. > Illegal drugs get adulterated due to black market actors looking to pad their margins.

There was a group that offered free purity checks for MDMA (ecstasy) around 1999-2000 and they performed the service at raves. They announced that they would appear at a party I went to in the Midwest, but didn't operate because the police announced that the group would be arrested on site if they ran any tests. A warehouse of people took unknown substances without a basic safety net because the cops weren't willing to concede that this would have been a public service that might actually do some good.

I stopped taking ecstasy about a year later because the increasing impurities made us feel awful the following day, but not before taking many doses that had who knows what in them. As such, while I am somewhat moderate in my stance on decrimianization, I also believe that the authorities are largely responsible for the mess that drug use can create.

[prodmerc]

> Needles get shared because they're not legal to buy OTC

-_-

Seriously, fuck this bullshit. Syringes with needles and isopropyl alcohol not being sold without prescription. I'd laugh if it wasn't so sad.

I complain about anti-depressants and some other drugs not being available OTC, but this... just why...

[lsaferite]

This is me being naive I guess, but isn't anti-depressant withdrawal super dangerous mentally? Not sure I'd want that to be OTC if that's the actual case.

[prodmerc]

Yes it is, but imo it's also a reason for it being OTC - you get diagnosed by a doctor, you go get what you're prescribed (without that piece of (e)paper).

If you can't get a prescription, or if you move, you're gonna have some bad time...

Then again, I think people should be able to get what they want, but that's clearly stupid if applied to the average...

[random_upvoter]

> opiates do almost zero damage to the body

People overdose on opiates and die.

[guard-of-terra]

They also do that with acetaminophen awfully lot.