Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SPINOZA]

An Essay by SPIN: I have only touched on this in previous drugs/prohibition threads. It hasn't been fully explored on Daves as far as I know.

The misconceptions about heroin that run rampant in our War on Drugs/prohibition Western societies are staggering. I know, I know�.�legalize heroin� just sounds mad. You mightn�t even be comfortable with �legalize cannabis�. But it only sounds mad because you�re entirely unfamiliar with issues surrounding narcotics. By contrast, I�m considered something of an authority. Most people don�t even know what heroin is, and I�ll bet that some of you lot don�t. What you�re about to read will change your life for the better, and who knows, maybe we can build a better world. If you�ve given the prohibition issue even the briefest consideration, you�ll find the following familiar.

I know people will get upset about this thread because of what the Koreans reading will think it implies about foreign teachers, but if my beliefs are gonna cause problems for others even though I�m an individual and a 100% law-obiding one at that, then I say that�s a bit silly.

Nobody is neutral on this subject. People either believe we should definitely decriminalize heroin or we definitely should not. The latter camp are either innocently unfamiliar with the issues and are open to rational consideration of the merits of anti-prohibition, or totally ignorant, and deliberately so, which is unforgivable. If you�re one of these people, you�re an oxygen thief. You�re a sad old fart and I HATE you. YOU cost ME money! Your existence, your beliefs, make us ALL less rich! But do read on.

Prohibition of heroin is a truly dangerous and expensive thing. I�m gonna TOTALLY SMASH every single myth � possibly beliefs held by yourself (with all due respect) � about why heroin is bad. I�m not gonna provide any links because they won�t be read and, besides, I don�t want to. My arguments are solidly backable and I�m happy with thatt. Think of my enlightenment, my revelations, as a basis for your own much-needed independent research.

There are huge, gaping holes in public knowledge about drugs. First, let me say heroin is a dangerous drug that can ruin your life and/or kill you. There is no doubt about that. I don't advocate the use of heroin; it's a good way to totally **** up your life. But those problems are unnecessary consequences.

Item of crap #1: Heroin is just SOOOOO addictive. The truth: whilst heroin is physically addictive, addiction occurs very gradually, like alcohol addiction, like nicotine addiction. Physical dependence that produces withdrawal symptoms only sets in after a period of weeks or months of continuous daily usage. I once heard someone on the BBC, that great bastion of liberalism, say that heroin gets you hooked �as soon as it touches your blood�. All the stupid mums and dads listening to that uncritically lap it all up. Their immitation of thinking beings disgusts me!

Item of crap #2: Heroin is just SOOOOOO bad for you, melts/fries your brain etc etc. Why are people allowed to pass this stuff off as fact? So many people have done so in the past (actual drugs �education� in schools and government anti-drugs campaigns � see youtube). The truth: whilst heroin has numerous adverse effects on the continuous user (constipation, weight loss, reduced libido, others) there is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that heroin causes lasting damage, mental or physical. Hell, they use it in hospitals in many countries (not the United states). Even in the USA, however, they use morphine in hospitals (which heroin is obtained from, and indeed heroin is metabolized back into morphine when consumed, thus their effects are almost the same). Actually, heroin (called diamorphine when used medically) is a superior painkiller/sedative to its parent drug � a fact. It is quicker-acting, more potent (requires less to achieve the same effects) and has a lesser effect on the respiratory system. If Heroin or Morphine were so dangerous, so addictive, why in God�s name would they use it in HOSPITALS?? Overdose and death are distinct possibilities but relatively uncommon and are insignificant compared to the health and social problems caused by legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco. Which leads me on to�.

Item of utter crap #3: Most people who use heroin eventually overdose and/or die. The facts: A heroin overdose causes the respiratory and cardiac systems (breathing, pulse and blood pressure) to slow down for a period of 4-6 hours until eventually (if untreated) respiration ceases entirely. For most of this period (4-6 HOURS) it is possible to reverse the effects of the overdose by stimulating the central nervous system. This is done with a drug like naloxone (trade name Narcan) which stimulates the central nervous system and blocks opiate receptors. However, due to general paranoia about criminal repercussions, many overdoses are either treated late or not at all.

So, the drug itself isn't the problem. The problem is social. Humans have a problem integrating this substance into our lives. Society has a problem dealing with the fact of its existence. Obviously, governments� strategies haven�t worked, since prohibition has been around for decades and there is now more heroin on the streets, there are now more addicts, there is now more drug-related crime (what percentage of crrime is caused by the prohibition of heroin I wonder?), than ever before, and it will get worse. So, there alone is the prohibition argument down the toilet like the digusting turd that it is. Governments are made up of stupid old men who want to maintain the status quo because the change is too drastic for their little minds to deal with. General ignorance about drugs means there�s no pressure from the bottom anyway. History has shown that you can't hide social problems with guns and jail, instead you run the risk of enriching the illegal arms industry and drug trade. Having the buying and selling of heroin simultaneously illegal AND in high demand is a disease on society. It has created this funny thing called "the black market". Part of the nature of the black market is that things there are grossly overpriced. The high cost coupled with addiction makes people do things for money (or drugs) they wouldn't normally do, like: sell their cars, not pay bills, not buy food for their children, rob banks, prostitute themselves, and the all the other things they tell you drugs themselves will make you do. The black market makes drug dealers, terrorists and organized crime types RICH. My solution is decriminalize heroin. By doing that, you eliminate much of the black market, significantly reduce costs on society (fruitless policing, crime) and also tax revenue generated from the legal sale and distribution of heroin can be re-invested back into society and the benefit can be everyone�s and not some disgusting crime boss profiting from misery.

[RACETRAITOR]

Is it a myth that heroin users are dirtbags who you should not turn your back on?

[SPINOZA]

Is it a myth that H-users are dirtbags who you should NOT turn your back on?

That's cryptic.

Hint: the presence of 'not' reverses the meaning of a sentence.

[Qinella]

[RACETRAITOR]

Some drugs are dangerous. I wouldn't say any good ever came from crystal meth. People should not be allowed to take certain drugs, just like people should be prevented from jumping in front of subways or attacking old women for their purses.

[Qinella]

[Antrugha]

[RACETRAITOR]

All I can say about alcohol is it's a human tradition and is directly responsible for the creation of human civilisation. Fast food isn't very nutritious but it still fills a void. Cigarettes make you look cool. All heroin did was enlighten a few artists, kill a few junkies and wound a few convenience store clerks.

[SPINOZA]

[Tiger Beer]

I'd agree drugs should be decriminalized.

But I disagree with many of these heroin facts however.

[Tiberious aka Sparkles]

Sign me up. I want to become the very first non-self-loathing, non-suicidal, casually addicted, functional heroin user who has a semi-regular job.

It's either that, or beat Billy Mitchell at Pac-Man. And there's no way I'm beating that guy.

Mark*_*

[flotsam]

Mostly with Tiger Beer, but let me complicate his analysis a bit:

1. See #2 and #3.
2. See #3.
3. What heroin does is make you complacent--more complacent than you ever thought you could be. You don't care about anything, or anyone. You don't even care about getting out of the chair you're in. You lose track of time until you figure it's time to take another hit. You stop going to the bathroom--for hours or even days. You feel no need to eat, or have sex or talk to the people around you who have become so inconsequential and devoid of meaning and worth to you that you lose track of their names and don't notice when new people come in--sometimes you find yourself sitting in a room with people you never met and have no idea where the people you know even are. You grow consciously aware, and accepting, all of you, that the only reason you are together is that maintaining the numbed status quo--gathering money for, purchasing and processing the next fix--is best accomplished as a loosely affiliated tribe.

This--this state of mind caused by heroin--is addictive, melts your brain and makes people die. Like a wet pillow on your face that you can't be bothered to push out of your nose and off your tongue.

But yeah, Spin, you're right: Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

[Hyeon Een]

I remember one time in Australia I got locked in a very small public bathroom (about 2x2 metres)with a heroin addict. His arms were covered in track marks. He was bleeding openly. He was shaking. It was just me and him. One on one. (But he was about 1' taller and 1kg heavier than me)

Anyway I only realised this when he saw me pop out the stall. The noise FREAKED HIM THE HELL OUT. As I opened the door he screamed some obsceneties and generally acted like a bleeding mental case with trackmarks.

So it was just me and this smacked-outnutjob in a tiny public toilet. Anyway as I reached to open the main door of the bathroom to get the hell out of there and run for the hills I realised that the door-knob had actually been stolen. There was just a little metal stick sticking out. I figured, hey I'll just grab it and twist it, so i tried to open it with my hands. But it was tapered so that you couldn't do that without a knob. My hands couldn't get a grip on the tiny spindle except to make a vague rattling noise.

If you know anything about people coming down from heroin, you'll know they're very sensitive to sounds. Any sounds. My hand touching this piece of metal upset him. His exact words were "Touch that again I kill you! SHUT UP! STOP IT! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

As he said that he pulled out a 14" screwdriver and wielded it in his fist. As you can imagine, I wasn't too happy with that turn of events. I thought I was going to end my days trying to Save The Children (my job at the time) in a public bathroom with a screwdriver through my neck.

The dude brought his arm back and swung the screwdriver like a maniac.. at the door. I was terrified-relieved. Apparantely the sensitive-to-sound thing was only when I was making the sound not him. He stabbed away at the door for a minute before falling over.

By then my fight-or-how-the-hell-can-I-get-out-of-here-without-dying reflex was going at full swing. As the guy fell over I thought "Hey, I just need a way to get a grip on that door". So I pulled my Save-The-Children name badge from around my neck and wrapped the rope around the door handle. Luckily the rope on the badge actually gripped around the spindle and allowed me to open the door.

And that's how Save-The-Children managed to Save-Me-From-The-Heroin-Addict.

Apart from that story, I'm pretty in favour of ending prohibition on drugs.

(I only have 2 heroin-addicts-scaring-the-hell-out-of-me-stories so I'm probably biased in favor of the end of prohibition. I'm sure most of you pro-prohibition folk have hundreds of stories.. let's here them!)

[SPINOZA]

[flotsam]