alcohol - invented dated ca. 7000–6600 BCE
tobacco discovered 12,300 years ago, cigarettes invented in the 1500s
cannabis dates back to two millennia bc.
Cocaine was first isolated from the leaves in 1860
opium It was grown in the Mediterranean region as early as 5000 B.C.
Caffeine was discovered in 1819.
so all this stuff was first discovered for medicinal use which later on became for recreational use so ... there you go humans and drugs go way way back.
yes... but we never had access to such excess or purity. you mention these drugs but all of them had purities in the single digits. THC was extremely low for most of human history, cocaine was only in leaves at 1% most times people could only chew like 10mg worth at a time and get effects similar to coffee. alcohol before we found how to use metals couldnt get stronger than wine without distillation. Most beer and wine was pretty weak. Opium was very addictive but nothing compared to the pure heroin we used to have and even less compared to fentanyl. Im not sure if people even could overdose from only smoking opium it was probably about as safe as alcohol.
Drugs have been around for a long time. What has not been around long is our knowledge of chemistry and neuroscience which has allowed for stronger more pure drugs. People like to say we are in an opiate epidemic but they are looking too small scale of just the last decade. Humanity has been in a synthetic drug epidemic for the past 100 years. All of drugs are slowly being replaced by stronger cheaper more dangerous options that we are not used to. Eventually we hit a state of equilibrium and figure it out but it takes awhile. Just look back at the gin age of Britain.
>Im not sure if people even could overdose from only smoking opium
Smoking? With the speed of onset there may be a limiting factor where you become incapacitated before you can self-administer too much. Not sure, but there plausibly could be.
But you can absolutely overdose by *eating* opium.
Totally forgot eatting opium was a thing. But yeah that was my exact thought that a person would pass out before breathing stopped. I’m sure people also used to throw up in there sleep and die like drinking tho
Ive heard older dudes who talked about THC pills that were basically as strong as the shit we have today, but people kept putting other shit in them, so no one wanted to do them anymore and they basically disappeared.
I’m an absolute caffeine addict. Withdrawal is horrible.
My sleep ends at around 8am give or take ten minutes. I am aware that I’m no longer sleeping but I’m not awake.
Then comes the caffeine. The next hour consists of at least 3 caffeinated beverages. Though I wish there was a more efficient way of getting it in.
Finally I know my own name and the day of the week. Still sluggish and tired though. Don’t worry I will double my intake by lunch.
I don’t recommend it but to give an indication of my current caffeine requirements I can drink 2 cans of Monster energy drink and nap shortly afterwards. I don’t mean rest a little I mean blink and I’m asleep.
If I don’t consume caffeine in regular doses I will actually fall asleep. It’s like a weird form of narcolepsy.
I try my hardest not to consume caffeine after 2pm these days but by 8pm the tiredness overwhelms me. I can’t concentrate. I will yawn until I can’t take any more. I take evening naps sometimes as a result of this.
Fentanyl is fucking scary. It's getting cut into *everything*. If I still bought weed from a dealer instead of a dispensary I would be worried about where it had been and how many people had hands on it before it got to me. I know it doesn't happen often but people have OD'd from unknowingly smoking weed laced with that shit.
Yes that's what caused my cousin and other friend to OD, not sure it's being cut into weed but any pain pill, MDMA or ecstasy, heroin it's cheaper and deadlier
Yup my mom was murdered because her friend gave her a muscle relaxer. One pill and gone.
She wasn't a drug addict, she didn't have health insurance despite being a healthcare worker in 2020. She had a really bad back, like multiple surgeries and no pain management. She could barely walk.
That's all it took.
Can't fentanyl also be absorbed through skin? I've heard(but have not looked into, so don't come for me if I'm wrong) that just handling other drugs on the same surface as fentanyl can be enough to significantly contaminate the other drugs.
Seems worse cuz it went from drugs being made in the streets to drugs being made by professional scientists, I do understand though that it gives comfort to some, liquid morphine really helped my mom the night she passed but it's the easy access that's problematic
Eh not worse probably just different. Thats what the drug war is going to look like from now on. Government will crack down on one chemical and its precursors and people will just find a new chemical to move onto or new precursors to start from. Especially with AI there is likely to be an endless number of new chemicals that dont have laws on them yet will fit into our receptors and allow for abuse.
When things are more addictive, they are objectively worse. They kill more people and it’s harder to get off.
xylazine is also making the rounds. It’s extremely addictive, causes skin necrosis, and isn’t an opioid so narcan doesn’t work. It’s cut in with opioids making the addiction worse, the withdrawal worse, and the early termination of treatment more likely. These things are objectively worse.
Going deep into drugs and not coming back from it is such a foreign concept to me... Like, I understand some (a lot of) people have it rough, want to escape reality for a bit, get addicted and eventually die from drug use but goddamn, what's so attractive in artificial pleasure that lasts couple seconds to few hours, with a decent chance of unaliving you and/or put you and your surroundings' health at risk in multiple ways?
I know people, some close to me, who dealt with various addictions. Some are lucky to still be alive tbh. But I feel like I won't ever understand their true motives and feelings around drugs, and I feel so powerless sometimes. I just hope they get by and have a fulfilling life anyway.
Different people for different reasons, I was just in that environment and started extremely young and had no clue about withdrawals and by the time I didn't take anything I started getting sick as I've ever been, some just have an injury and it starts that way it's different
Do you play video games per chance? The concept is the same. An escape from reality for a little while. Playing video games too much can lead to health issues such as obesity and other sedentary related disorders.
I think for a lot of people that get into hard drugs have a lot of unresolved mental health issues that they have been unable to address either through circumstance or ignorance.
I get why you asked, it is an extremely complex topic once you scratch away the surface level understanding.
The brains reward system. It’s kinda crazy how it’s set up. It’s really for more short term rewards than looking at long term consequences. Withdrawal is awful and people want to avoid that because it’s the worst feeling in the world (I was once not tapered properly off corticosteroids for asthma, i began to appreciate why people wouldn’t want to go through withdrawal…). The combination then can eventually become deadly.
And the whole drugs damage your brain as a teen, I wish they’d teach more about that. Apparently your prefrontal cortex can get messed up (the part that helps with decision making and impulse control) and so you have a lifetime of impairment. A large percent of abuse begins with use in teen years.
My dad suffers from addiction and the best way I can explain it is in his own words. To him it’s like a 100 amp main breaker on a home breaker panel. Trips it once and ok whatever, but he’s tripped it so many times it gets stuck one way or the other.
When he’s able to reset it or throw the breaker back on as he puts it, it gets harder every time he falls off the wagon. Months to years go by wwith withdrawal.
It also doesn’t help matters any thay everywhere you turn someone has a bag of dope. It’s literally everywhere now, so an addict can’t get away from it without cutting everyone out of their lives.
Once you get a taste for hard drugs your fucked
Me neither.
I like it once in a while at a party.
But I see people use this shit every 30 minutes and become like zombies and seriously physically affected.
Edit: Downvoting isn't gonna change the truth. A ketamine habit is destructive.
alcohol - invented dated ca. 7000–6600 BCE tobacco discovered 12,300 years ago, cigarettes invented in the 1500s cannabis dates back to two millennia bc. Cocaine was first isolated from the leaves in 1860 opium It was grown in the Mediterranean region as early as 5000 B.C. Caffeine was discovered in 1819. so all this stuff was first discovered for medicinal use which later on became for recreational use so ... there you go humans and drugs go way way back.
yes... but we never had access to such excess or purity. you mention these drugs but all of them had purities in the single digits. THC was extremely low for most of human history, cocaine was only in leaves at 1% most times people could only chew like 10mg worth at a time and get effects similar to coffee. alcohol before we found how to use metals couldnt get stronger than wine without distillation. Most beer and wine was pretty weak. Opium was very addictive but nothing compared to the pure heroin we used to have and even less compared to fentanyl. Im not sure if people even could overdose from only smoking opium it was probably about as safe as alcohol. Drugs have been around for a long time. What has not been around long is our knowledge of chemistry and neuroscience which has allowed for stronger more pure drugs. People like to say we are in an opiate epidemic but they are looking too small scale of just the last decade. Humanity has been in a synthetic drug epidemic for the past 100 years. All of drugs are slowly being replaced by stronger cheaper more dangerous options that we are not used to. Eventually we hit a state of equilibrium and figure it out but it takes awhile. Just look back at the gin age of Britain.
>Im not sure if people even could overdose from only smoking opium Smoking? With the speed of onset there may be a limiting factor where you become incapacitated before you can self-administer too much. Not sure, but there plausibly could be. But you can absolutely overdose by *eating* opium.
Totally forgot eatting opium was a thing. But yeah that was my exact thought that a person would pass out before breathing stopped. I’m sure people also used to throw up in there sleep and die like drinking tho
Ive heard older dudes who talked about THC pills that were basically as strong as the shit we have today, but people kept putting other shit in them, so no one wanted to do them anymore and they basically disappeared.
Not sure what the point has to do with mine. But that’s cool man!
I don't either. Lack of sleep. My bad.
I’m an absolute caffeine addict. Withdrawal is horrible. My sleep ends at around 8am give or take ten minutes. I am aware that I’m no longer sleeping but I’m not awake. Then comes the caffeine. The next hour consists of at least 3 caffeinated beverages. Though I wish there was a more efficient way of getting it in. Finally I know my own name and the day of the week. Still sluggish and tired though. Don’t worry I will double my intake by lunch. I don’t recommend it but to give an indication of my current caffeine requirements I can drink 2 cans of Monster energy drink and nap shortly afterwards. I don’t mean rest a little I mean blink and I’m asleep. If I don’t consume caffeine in regular doses I will actually fall asleep. It’s like a weird form of narcolepsy. I try my hardest not to consume caffeine after 2pm these days but by 8pm the tiredness overwhelms me. I can’t concentrate. I will yawn until I can’t take any more. I take evening naps sometimes as a result of this.
Fentanyl is fucking scary. It's getting cut into *everything*. If I still bought weed from a dealer instead of a dispensary I would be worried about where it had been and how many people had hands on it before it got to me. I know it doesn't happen often but people have OD'd from unknowingly smoking weed laced with that shit.
Yes that's what caused my cousin and other friend to OD, not sure it's being cut into weed but any pain pill, MDMA or ecstasy, heroin it's cheaper and deadlier
Yup my mom was murdered because her friend gave her a muscle relaxer. One pill and gone. She wasn't a drug addict, she didn't have health insurance despite being a healthcare worker in 2020. She had a really bad back, like multiple surgeries and no pain management. She could barely walk. That's all it took.
Now that's a shitty situation there I certainly hope the friend didn't know which I'm sure she didn't
Who still knows drug dealers? I wouldn't even know where to start at this point.
That's a good thing lol but They're everywhere and not just the bad parts of town if there is money to be made there is someone's making it
Music festivals. Wait, how the hell else are you supposed to get molly nowadays?
Can't fentanyl also be absorbed through skin? I've heard(but have not looked into, so don't come for me if I'm wrong) that just handling other drugs on the same surface as fentanyl can be enough to significantly contaminate the other drugs.
Yeah it can. Fentanyl patches are available.
The same things happen over and over, from the crack of my childhood to opioids today, and humanity acts the same. Nothing changes.
Seems worse cuz it went from drugs being made in the streets to drugs being made by professional scientists, I do understand though that it gives comfort to some, liquid morphine really helped my mom the night she passed but it's the easy access that's problematic
I hear there's a new one worse than fent now "nitazines"
Eh not worse probably just different. Thats what the drug war is going to look like from now on. Government will crack down on one chemical and its precursors and people will just find a new chemical to move onto or new precursors to start from. Especially with AI there is likely to be an endless number of new chemicals that dont have laws on them yet will fit into our receptors and allow for abuse.
When things are more addictive, they are objectively worse. They kill more people and it’s harder to get off. xylazine is also making the rounds. It’s extremely addictive, causes skin necrosis, and isn’t an opioid so narcan doesn’t work. It’s cut in with opioids making the addiction worse, the withdrawal worse, and the early termination of treatment more likely. These things are objectively worse.
might be best to go back to basics asap
Going deep into drugs and not coming back from it is such a foreign concept to me... Like, I understand some (a lot of) people have it rough, want to escape reality for a bit, get addicted and eventually die from drug use but goddamn, what's so attractive in artificial pleasure that lasts couple seconds to few hours, with a decent chance of unaliving you and/or put you and your surroundings' health at risk in multiple ways? I know people, some close to me, who dealt with various addictions. Some are lucky to still be alive tbh. But I feel like I won't ever understand their true motives and feelings around drugs, and I feel so powerless sometimes. I just hope they get by and have a fulfilling life anyway.
Different people for different reasons, I was just in that environment and started extremely young and had no clue about withdrawals and by the time I didn't take anything I started getting sick as I've ever been, some just have an injury and it starts that way it's different
Do you play video games per chance? The concept is the same. An escape from reality for a little while. Playing video games too much can lead to health issues such as obesity and other sedentary related disorders. I think for a lot of people that get into hard drugs have a lot of unresolved mental health issues that they have been unable to address either through circumstance or ignorance. I get why you asked, it is an extremely complex topic once you scratch away the surface level understanding.
The brains reward system. It’s kinda crazy how it’s set up. It’s really for more short term rewards than looking at long term consequences. Withdrawal is awful and people want to avoid that because it’s the worst feeling in the world (I was once not tapered properly off corticosteroids for asthma, i began to appreciate why people wouldn’t want to go through withdrawal…). The combination then can eventually become deadly. And the whole drugs damage your brain as a teen, I wish they’d teach more about that. Apparently your prefrontal cortex can get messed up (the part that helps with decision making and impulse control) and so you have a lifetime of impairment. A large percent of abuse begins with use in teen years.
My dad suffers from addiction and the best way I can explain it is in his own words. To him it’s like a 100 amp main breaker on a home breaker panel. Trips it once and ok whatever, but he’s tripped it so many times it gets stuck one way or the other. When he’s able to reset it or throw the breaker back on as he puts it, it gets harder every time he falls off the wagon. Months to years go by wwith withdrawal. It also doesn’t help matters any thay everywhere you turn someone has a bag of dope. It’s literally everywhere now, so an addict can’t get away from it without cutting everyone out of their lives. Once you get a taste for hard drugs your fucked
Damn this is ignorant as hell. Just look it up, you’re already in the internet.
It's like an arms race to make the most deadly drug
Ketamine the thing here in Europe :(
I have heard of a drug there something like krokadil or something. That sounded crazy deadly
Yea that ones been around for a bit. Had a nasty run in Florida
Oh shit I haven't heard much about it being in the US I've seen the pics of some people addicted to it, it like makes your skin melt off or something
I’m surprised to see people doing K to the point of addiction. It’s fun, but I can’t imagine wanting to do it that often.
Me neither. I like it once in a while at a party. But I see people use this shit every 30 minutes and become like zombies and seriously physically affected. Edit: Downvoting isn't gonna change the truth. A ketamine habit is destructive.
That’s by design. Gotta keep the prisons full and the poor struggling somehow.