Comments on: Heroin

By: laurynangela

laurynangela — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:43:30 +0000

I tried to talk to a colleague about this same issue recently (http://laurynangela.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/why-are-morals-and-laws-so-difficult-to-separate/)… People seem to have difficulty relinquishing the notion that “if it’s bad for you, the government should get involved”. If heroin was legalised and regulated, a lot of the issues associated with it would be minimised, and the ones that wouldn’t could be addressed for what they are: personal addiction, or health problems. Not crimes.

By: Decriminalising Heroin? « Thoughts on Freedom

Decriminalising Heroin? « Thoughts on Freedom — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:54:00 +0000

[...] In March last year I shared my view that Heroin should be decriminalised in Australia. Harry Clarke didn’t agree with my stance [...]

By: How to Get Six Pack Fast

How to Get Six Pack Fast — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:09:41 +0000

This topic is quite hot on the Internet right now. What do you pay the most attention to while choosing what to write ?

By: njdevils1789

njdevils1789 — Tue, 27 May 2008 13:45:04 +0000

Heroin is a strong drug. some may say after doing heroin first your hooked and is a point of “no-return”. what do you guys think? is it really a point of no return?

By: Tim Quilty

Tim Quilty — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:10:27 +0000

Heroin is my libertarian purity test. Either you can look past the decades of government propoganda and embrace the idea of freedom or you can’t. You decide. No spirited defence of freedom of speech will buy you a pass – we all support freedom of speech.

By: John Hasenkam

John Hasenkam — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:59:50 +0000

Terje,

There is not hard measure. The classifications are educated guesses but nonetheless reasonable guides. There is no way to accurate define how addictive a drug is, that depends on the person and the circumstances of drug usage. Context of use is very important in determining response to a drug. There are also psychosocial factors at play. For example, there are some subtle changes in receptor density for dopamine D2 receptor which can occur during social deprivation and this appears to predispose towards latter addiction. Tentatively, one could argue that chronic poverty, alienation, and a sense of not belonging to a group may predipose some individuals towards addiction.

By: Mark Hill

Mark Hill — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:53:00 +0000

From the wikipedia article Terje links:

“In the United Kingdom, heroin is available by prescription, though it is a restricted Class A drug. According to the British National Formulary (BNF) edition 50, diamorphine hydrochloride may be used in the treatment of acute pain, myocardial infarction, acute pulmonary oedema, and chronic pain.”

Sounds like the kind of thing you want when you’re old and sick.

By: Terje (say tay-a)

Terje (say tay-a) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:40:59 +0000

I wonder how one measures the “hardness” of a drug. Heroin is commonly characterised as harder than tobacco but I can’t figure out the basis for this description. Is it related to how much pleasure the drug brings, how much damage the drug does to you, how addictive it is or merely how long you will spend in jail? Maybe it comes from the notion of doing “hard time” or maybe from the type of people that deal in the product.

By: pommygranate

pommygranate — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:27:46 +0000

This report seems to imply that the downgrading of cannabis to a Class C drug in the UK has led to lower useage. Good news. However, at the same time, use of harder drugs has increased. Not so good.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2738569.ece

I wonder whether a lot of the allure of drug using is its illegality and hence ‘cool factor’. Perhaps legalisation would remove the fashion victims.

Perhaps the way forward is to make free trade coffee illegal.

By: Terje Petersen

Terje Petersen — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:31:54 +0000

Bravo, Terje, for taking on a tough, unpopular subject and recommending an effective but (again) unpopular stance.

Cheers. However on this blog it seems like a reasonably popular stance. Of course I think that it would be a tough nut to sell politically because heroin has been demonised for decades.