News (Media Awareness Project) - Australia: PUB LTE: Heroin Not Always A Death Sentence |
| Title: | Australia: PUB LTE: Heroin Not Always A Death Sentence |
| Published On: | 2000-08-23 |
| Source: | Canberra Times (Australia) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-03 11:41:37 |
HEROIN NOT ALWAYS A DEATH SENTENCE
Pretty good article by Leah de Forest on heroin ("Counting the cost", CT, 19 August, p.C5), but I disagreed with her when she said that it grabs and squeezes till there's nothing left to fight; that for some the battle is quick and for the others it lasts a lifetime.
She seemed to imply that once it gets you, it'll never let go. Not so. I knew several junkies in my youth. All but two are still alive, and one of those gassed himself in his car - heroin-related maybe, but not an overdose.
The others have all quit without the help of any formal program, though most used other (legal and illegal) drugs in the process.
They just used less and less until they gave up; mainly a process of giving up the lifestyle and the company that went with it. In some cases it took 20 years; a long time in politics, but only a quarter of a modern life-span. Drugs in our society is an interesting subject, about which there are many misapprehensions. For example, counting caffeine, nicotine and alcohol as drugs (which they are), how many people do you know who don't take drugs on a regular basis?
Add in mild analgesics, antidepressants, anti-inflammatories, sleeping pills, pick-me-ups, flu remedies and the like. How many drug-free citizens now? We love drugs; it's a quick, easy fix. Only a tiny number of us are prepared to say "no" to all non-essential drugs, and those are generally regarded as weirdos.
And, speaking of overdoses, the ratio of therapeutic dose (the smallest amount that will have a noticeable effect on one's biochemistry) to fatal dose for heroin is about 1:50. This compares with aspirin, 1:25, and cannabis, 1:40,000 (estimated). It is one of my favourite comments on drugs, so I may as well reiterate it here: to my knowledge, there has never been a death due to cannabis toxicity.
S. W. Davey, Torrens
Pretty good article by Leah de Forest on heroin ("Counting the cost", CT, 19 August, p.C5), but I disagreed with her when she said that it grabs and squeezes till there's nothing left to fight; that for some the battle is quick and for the others it lasts a lifetime.
She seemed to imply that once it gets you, it'll never let go. Not so. I knew several junkies in my youth. All but two are still alive, and one of those gassed himself in his car - heroin-related maybe, but not an overdose.
The others have all quit without the help of any formal program, though most used other (legal and illegal) drugs in the process.
They just used less and less until they gave up; mainly a process of giving up the lifestyle and the company that went with it. In some cases it took 20 years; a long time in politics, but only a quarter of a modern life-span. Drugs in our society is an interesting subject, about which there are many misapprehensions. For example, counting caffeine, nicotine and alcohol as drugs (which they are), how many people do you know who don't take drugs on a regular basis?
Add in mild analgesics, antidepressants, anti-inflammatories, sleeping pills, pick-me-ups, flu remedies and the like. How many drug-free citizens now? We love drugs; it's a quick, easy fix. Only a tiny number of us are prepared to say "no" to all non-essential drugs, and those are generally regarded as weirdos.
And, speaking of overdoses, the ratio of therapeutic dose (the smallest amount that will have a noticeable effect on one's biochemistry) to fatal dose for heroin is about 1:50. This compares with aspirin, 1:25, and cannabis, 1:40,000 (estimated). It is one of my favourite comments on drugs, so I may as well reiterate it here: to my knowledge, there has never been a death due to cannabis toxicity.
S. W. Davey, Torrens
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