Comment by distribot | Hacker News Reader

Comment by distribot | Hacker News Reader

I'm surprised the NYT would give this position a platform. The author's position is that all drugs, even very hard ones like heroin, can be used recreationally. The author is a professor of psychology, so I find this surprising and really irresponsible. Very few are able to use opiates recreationally. Even the weakest opioid, codeine causes serious addiction problems via codeine-promethaize cough syrup. The extremely high risk of developing dependence, extremely painful withdrawals, and the fact that prices are inflated due to being accessible only on the black market make it a recipe for destroying your life. This is ignoring the risk of picking up a felony conviction for having it on your person.

I think many drugs can be used recreationally, my instinct is to let people do what they want, and I wish our drug policy was more technocratic, but it's really reckless to recommend people use certain substances.

This chart really drives home how dangerous heroin is.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Rational...

I have to wonder if the author's judgement is too heavily impaired by his own lived experience as someone with the chops rise to a position of success. He claims in the prologue to be a responsible recreational heroin user. Sustaining this without sliding into an ever-worsening spiral of addition would require an immense amount of willpower. And as someone with a PhD in neuroscience and a tenured position at an Ivy League institution, he clearly has plenty of personal willpower.

The typical person doesn't have that sort of willpower.

The slide with heroin doesn't happen overnight. Give the guy some time and he might tip over the edge.

>In the prologue, he writes, “I am now entering my fifth year as a regular heroin user.”

I've read stores, even posted to HN, where lawyers can go longer than that before their finances collapse.

> it's really reckless to recommend people use certain substances

Indeed, heroin is terrifyingly addictive. One of my friends from high school literally resorted to purse snatching from old ladies at nursing homes to fund his addiction.

That chart is devoid of objective numbers, and appears to be a statement of statement of opinion. Heroin might indeed be dangerous, but this chart shouldn't convince anyone.

Fair enough, I first came across the chart probably 10 years ago on Wikipedia. Here this is the original source. https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS014067360...

I was shocked by this article, and Dr. Hart also supports our work at http://dnnyc.org.

That said I’m fairly sure only something like 10% of Heroin users become addicted.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com