Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/07/10/smoking-heroin-doesnt-make-i.html
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Anyone watch ‘Trainspotting II’?
Is it good?
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I would say so. I liked it as much as the first…in a different way; its 20 years later and so is the world and their protagonists as are we. we learnend, we grew, but we will sometimes still fall into old, unhealthy habits. the point may be, that we can deal with stuff like that better as we get older. and that reflects quite brilliant in the film. so, yes, it is very good, at least in my humble opinion.
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It’s strange to me that smoking heroin would cause brain damage when people smoked opium for centuries, and heroin comes from opium. But I understand that it’s not the same, it’s chemically synthesized out of opium and is much stronger.
I can never get over the irony that heroin was originally supposed to be a non-addictive form of morphine.
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And the harm to others … ?
Say whatever else (and I don’t use anything stronger then whiskey) at least smoke’s not contagious to others.
And it doesn’t leave sketchy, skanky old fits in laneways, doorsteps and parks, etc…
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Seems likely the increased availability of vaping gear is driving this.
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Not as good as the original, but better than I expected. I thought it would be a cynical studio cash grab, but it’s not. Nor does it try to repeat the original. I’d say definitely worth a watch, but don’t expect lightening to strike twice.
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Thanks for the review, I want to check it out still.
As for the topic…
When I was getting my blood drawn I told the lady doing it I didn’t know how heroin users did it with the needles. She proceeded to tell me how it destroys their veins and is hard to draw blood. I was like, “Well you convinced me, I am sticking to cocaine.”
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No. None of those will vaporize heroin. try harder noble paladin.
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“chasing the dragon” is a term I have heard only once before, around 1986. It sounded pretty awful then too.
Or it could be a sign that lots of users have no idea of the risks of inhalation and are thinking “OMG this is so much easier and less horrible than using syringes!”
Likely some of each I suppose!
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It’s a much older term than 1986 and was coined first in China, IIRC.
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You must not watch South Park.
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It is at least as old as 1980.
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Really more than I need to know but…
“Users of heroin have been “vaping” it for a long time. However, they have used high heat (placing the heroin in a metal foil and using a lighter to heat it) in order to “vape” the heroin. Inhaling vapors is preferred, as it reaches the brain almost as fast as injecting the drug. Luckily, as of now, heroin and cocaine in their most common crystal form cannot be used in vaping devices, as the tight crystal structures in heroin and cocaine bind molecules strongly, making them “un-vapable” in the low heat that the vaping devices produce. However, it is predictable that drug cartels will make heroin and cocaine “vapable” down the road by mixing them with weak alkalis to create freebases that could be used in vaping devices. Anecdotal evidence suggests flakka, a synthetic drug, is already being vaped.”
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Smoking heroin doesn’t make it any safer
It does, though. Maybe what you mean is “smoking heroin has its own less-recognized health risks, and isn’t a perfect solution” but compared to the health risks associated with injection, it’s often going to be a safer choice.
Look, no matter how you use it, heroin is going to fuck you up, in one way or another.
Even active users know that, they’re not using because they think it’s healthy. There’s no great option here, but harm reduction is about making the best you can out of a bad situation rather than denying the situation outright.
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the gizmodo-article is pretty unclear on that and to me the whole study seems pretty far-fetched. sounds more like a thesis than theory with lot of somewhat baseless speculation.
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If a scientific article is locked behind a paywall, you can email the researchers and they will usually be happy to send it to you for free.
Also, maybe heroin could be dissolved in DMSO and applied to the skin? It’s obviously not good to use it in the first place, but this might serve as harm reduction for people who are already addicted.
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I think it dates back hundreds of years - pre Opium Wars.
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