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Comment on Why not just let people use opioids? It's cheap. People like it. Arguably healthier than weed, alcohol or tobacco. Addiction isn't an issue if you can stay supplied.

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adespoton@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

Death by opioids happens because you need an ever increasing dose to achieve the same effect. Eventually the dose required is higher than what’s needed to kill you.

People turn to black market opioids because they’re often cheaper than prescription, and while the dose just keeps going up, so does the price, unless you can find a cheaper supplier.

Cheaper suppliers are usually cheaper because they don’t have the same quality control, which again leads to accidental overdose or poisoning.

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ShunkW@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

Because alcohol isn’t directly addictive

This is absolute nonsense. Alcohol is one of only two addictive substance types that can directly kill you in withdrawal. It is DIRECTLY and EXTREMELY addictive.

If your addiction is severe enough, going cold turkey from alcohol or benzodiazepines can directly kill you. You can have a stroke or seizures.

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- CameronDev@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  If you seperate “addiction” into habit forming and dependancy, alcohol seems to be far safer in terms of habit forming (millions of people drink alcohol at without falling into dependancy), and far more dangerous in terms of dependancy (as you said, can kill you with withdrawal).
  
  My (and presumably the person you quoted) internal definition of addictive skews towards the habit forming side of things, so in that respect its correctish?
  
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  - ShunkW@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Habit forming and addiction are two different things entirely. Addiction is dependency.
    
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    CameronDev@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    You’re right, i mis-typed, I meant addictive instead of addiction in that first sentence.
    
    Addiction is dependency, but addictive is used commonly to describe habit forming. That may not be medically accurate, but its how the word is commonly used. With that context, the statement “Alcohol is not directively addictive” is a reasonable statement.
    
    But you are correct, once you are addicted to alcohol, it is very dangerous.
    
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sun_is_ra@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
am not a doctor myself but from what i know, the reason you increase the dose in first place is that your body build tolerance. if a normal person were to take same dosage as a long time drug addict they would die in minutes

reasons for death of overdose:

someone went to rehab and lost their tolerance then went back to drugs with same dosage they used to take

someone missed a dosage and went through horrible withdrawal symptomps so when they finally got the pill they took too much

buying certain drug without knowing it is laced with a more powerfull one
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- Moobythegoldensock@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  You missed one: Chasing a bigger high.
  
  When people start dying of opioid overdoses, addicts tend to seek those suppliers out.
  
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