Are you obligated to get a friend off heroin?

Okay, some people here will know that this is on my mind because there is a whole fetish scene debate right now on the topic, but I'm wondering what people think in the hypothetical.

If someone you care about is doing heroin, are you obligated to try to stop them?

If someone you care about is doing heroin and wants to stop but can't, are you obligated to try to stop them?

If someone you care about is doing heroin and wants to continue, are you obligated to try to stop them?

If someone you care about is doing heroin and wants to overdose and leave this mortal coil, are you obligated to try to stop them?

I think you are somewhat obligated to make a good effort to help a friend if their life is out of control, no matter what the reason. But, I know that is not really fully answering your questions. I will have to think about my real answers.

Heroin is just one of those drugs I have drawn the line on, nothing good comes out of its use..none. If you have a friend who is on it, then you have two choices and that is it:

1. Help them with their problem.

2. Leave them alone and stop being their friend.

While solution #2 sounds F'd up to many, you need to remember that nothing good will come from their addiction. In the end your friendship is going to go sour anyways, end it now or help them out.

That is not being an asshole about it, it is just that I have dealt with situations like this too many times in my life. People either stop and realize they are in a fucked up situation and ask for your help, or they don't. If they continue down the path of self-destruction and you hang around them. Well prepare to see a friend hurt themself, do things painful to others, and worse of all become something that you do not want to be a friend to.

Well put Forrest. I definitely think that if someone you care about is doing heroin and wants to stop but can't it's your obligation as a friend/significant other to help them. I say this because a friend of mine was addicted to opioids, and I couldn't sit back and watch her destroy her life like that.

As for the other questions, I'll have to ponder those further.

You can make the effort but given the nature of the drug there is little any outside force can do unless the person is on some level willing to end their addiction. It's a vicious drug that really steals away a person and transforms them into a totally diffrent person...of friends I've had who suffered through it, dunno of any who rose above it...or were the same people I knew before the drug.

being the life long "connoisseur"/ researcher of substances i an only say so much:

if they actually have a problem,than yes try to stop them....


thing is with opiates,is you build a tolorance,so you have to up your dose the more you dose....which can become a deadly cycle...



i have no problem with resposible use,but it seems that that is harder and harder to find in people these days,and it kinda makes me sad...



(is it i ironic i'm enjoying some opiates right now?,hahah)

and i have to defend some things in this thread to,sorry....


heroin can be pretty bad drug,bud opiates are not the cause....it's the human factor....just as people kill people not guns....


responsible opiate use is not harmful physically or mentally.



i could go on for quite awhile,but that's not what the thread is about.


it's not the substance,it's the irresponsible user.

I have been in this situation. I have offered them help, and told them my concerns. If they refuse the help, I cut them out of my life. I will not subject myself to that bullshit. I will not allow it into my life.
It is your obligation, if you care about someone, to try to help them. If they dont want the help, you should not put yourself through hell because of it. And dealing with that is putting yourself through hell.

well put everyone. you can't really force someone to do something, and if you did, then is there really much of a distinction between yourself and the drugs? it's just another form of control. the sad fact is that if you choose to use heroin you only have two options, get sober or eventually die and when that time comes it's not going to be pretty.

I just have a few words of advice to anyone that chooses to use:
First of all don't share needles.
secondly, don't share needles.
if you are the only one using a needle and you have a doubt about whether it's clean or not, don't use it. in your town there may be a place that will exchange used needles for clean ones. I'd recomend doing this after every time that you use, as the chances of a needle becoming compromised after it's first use greatly increase as time goes on.
if you must share needles and even if you don't, please clean them after every use and before another person uses them. if you are the only one using then this will keep you safer and decrease the time until you have to get a new one (and let's face it, decrease the chance that you just blow off going accross town and use a compromised one instead.)
after using a needle try to avoid touching it with anything else until it is sterilized. this will prevent contaminants from coming both on and off the needle. to sterilze a needle fill it with water from a clean glass and then squirt the water out into another empty glass. repeat this at least three times. then fill the needle up with bleach and squirt it into the glass. repeat this at least three times. then get a new glass of water and fill the needle. you can squirt it into the same glass as the first water and bleach. repeat this at least three times. on this step do not use the same glass of water as you did the first time, because it is contaminated. also do not share the same glass of water with anyone else. after this the needle will be sterilised and safe for another peson to use.

this may seem like a lot of work, but it takes all of two minutes to do, and it's a whole hell of a lot better then getting infected with a disease.

oh yeah and also you should use a dose that's half of what you think that you normally should, it won't make a difference in the long run and it will make it less likely that you die from badly cut shit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Morning Glory

the sad fact is that if you choose to use heroin you only have two options, get sober or eventually die and when that time comes it's not going to be pretty.
.

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what the fuck is that.....no,man...your not gonna die unless you are too irresponsible to moderate your own usage. or are too stuipid to NOT know your sources.....

and to add a bit more,H is not used intravenously nearly as much as it used to be.


how would you even know,you've been the one giving subtances shit since i came to this board.....




i don't want this to turn into to a big shit,but come one...

If someone you care about is doing heroin, are you obligated to try to stop them?
no, although i would like to get them away from it, in the end its their choice

If someone you care about is doing heroin and wants to stop but can't, are you obligated to try to stop them?
yes, as a friend you should stand by your friend and help them when needed

If someone you care about is doing heroin and wants to continue, are you obligated to try to stop them?
nope, would be futile, like trying to tell a guy to stop wanking.

If someone you care about is doing heroin and wants to overdose and leave this mortal coil, are you obligated to try to stop them?
you should try to get them off the idea of suicide, but if thats honestly how they feel then if they cant do it through overdose, they will find another way.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by killerkat

what the fuck is that.....no,man...your not gonna die unless you are too irresponsible to moderate your own usage. or are too stuipid to NOT know your sources.....

and to add a bit more,H is not used intravenously nearly as much as it used to be.


how would you even know,you've been the one giving subtances shit since i came to this board.....


i don't want this to turn into to a big shit,but come one...

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you seem to think that everyone who uses drugs just does it "recreationally" to have a little bit of a good time or to "expand thier mind." ya know I'm sorry, but I just find that hard to believe. in my experience (ab)using drugs- alchohol, pot, pills, and hanging out with people that used and sold meth, crack, cocaine, inhalents, and the above listed, that nice little scenario was the exception and by no means the rule. what I saw and experienced were people that were psychologically, socially and physically damaged that use substances to escape from thier reality. my best freind had a heart attack at the age of 18 and the only thing that made him stop was the knowledge that if he used one more time that he had a 50% chance of dying. I know a guy that was partying with freinds and he gave his freind the drugs that killed him that night. now he has to live with that for the rest of his life. my other best freind was a heroin user, she disapeared one day and I never heard from her again.

so I'm going to say with confidencethat I kind of doubt that it's unlikely to use a debilitating, addictive substance over a period of time and not end up with adverse effects.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by killerkat

what the fuck is that.....no,man...your not gonna die unless you are too irresponsible to moderate your own usage. or are too stuipid to NOT know your sources.....

and to add a bit more,H is not used intravenously nearly as much as it used to be.

i don't want this to turn into to a big shit,but come one...

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I see people/patients overdose all the time, on minimal amounts, so what your saying is not accurate.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Morning Glory

all that

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i'm not saying all people use recreationally,hell i know that most do not....


but it's THEIR fault if they have isssues....that's what i'm saying....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kellie

I see people/patients overdose all the time, on minimal amounts, so what your saying is not accurate.

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that's the way heroin and many opiates are....diferent people are effected different ways,and from different ative amounts,i mentioned nothing of the actual dose ,just that if you keep a dose that YOU can handle than you are less likely to have complications...

every single person is different with their first dose,you more of less have to wing it,start VERY small and see where you limits are.....those people obviously didn't do that part,or made a miscalculation some where....

so maybe you just undertood it wrong ;) ....

It is more noble to fight what will likely be a losing battle than not fight at all. The question is: Can you?
A key issue is in fighting that you not destroy yourself as well. A person commited to self-destruction will inevitably find "success".

OEC

Quote:

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Originally Posted by killerkat

i'm not saying all people use recreationally,hell i know that most do not....


but it's THEIR fault if they have isssues....that's what i'm saying....

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a lot of people have issues. I don't think that it's always thier fault.

Ive known quite a few who have been hooked on one drug or another, be it Coke, pot, herion or other designer drugs, that talking to them about it after they got clean, they tell Me that there is really only person that can help them get clean, and stay clean. Themselves. They tell Me that it is a struggle to kep that way at first, but the temptation will always be there to fall back. but no matter if it is family, friend, priest or people at a clinic, it all falls to them to want to get clean that makes the difference. But they say the support to get clean from others is a big help to them as a confidence booster that they can get clean and stay. But I think if someone wants to get clean, they would take any help they could, even if it was "tough love" from a friend or family. and in some instances, having someone I love sent to a rehab where thay are locked up like in jail, to get them clean would help,. damn straight Id do what I could to help them, even if they resented me for it . Better for them to live and resent Me than be dead and resent Me for not hellping

oh yeah I forgot to mention that a freind's son started dabbling in heroin. he ditched his girlfreind and pretty much disapeared off the map for a long time, and his family didn't know where he was or how to reach him...
well after a while he realised he was an idiot, got his shit togther, and now he's clean and taking care of his kids and managing the tatoo shop of the guy that trained him. so there ya go, not all of my stories had bad endings.

as someone who has lost friends to Heroin and who has pretty much a zero tolerance policy for drugs i would say yes, you are obligated to at least try.

The best way to look at it, is like sex...

Doing opiates is like sex.

So telling someone to stop doing those drugs, is like telling someone to never
have any sexual contact anymore. No sex, no oral, no masturbation. Nothing...

It's very addictive, and very hard to say no to.
If you knew sex was bad for you, would you be able to stop forever?

So you really have to wait until they want help.
It's really totally impossible to try to help someone until they are the one who
really wants help. So my advice is to tell them that you are there to help them,
and want to help them, and will help them out, whenever they need you.

But don't give them money, and don't let them stay with you.
Otherwise they will probably steal your stuff...
But help them get into rehab, when they really decide they want to get clean...
But they will have to hit bottom before they really want to do that.