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Where is the line between being a junkie and not?
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2019-02-24 at 3:22 AM UTCObviously not everyone who's ever used opiates qualifies as a "junkie" but in particular separates junkies from others in your mind? We've had and have plenty of opiate users here, most of us have probably known some in real life, one striking thing about the "junkie" label is that no matter how seriously addicted a person is or how many problems their addiction causes them, I've never seen someone seriously describe themselves as a junkie. There's always some thing that junkies do that they don't which separates them.
So what is it to you that makes someone a junkie vs. not? -
2019-02-24 at 3:31 AM UTCwhen you have to ask yourself if your a junkie or not,
you already are a junkie.The following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire! -
2019-02-24 at 3:31 AM UTCor halfway there.
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2019-02-24 at 3:32 AM UTCprobably when you pick the drug over food, rent, bills
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2019-02-24 at 3:37 AM UTCI’m sure the word junkie is subjective. But, I would think that when a person does totally out of character, self demeaning things, in order to get their drug, that’s getting in pretty deep.
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2019-02-24 at 3:40 AM UTCDon't go looking for it.
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2019-02-24 at 4:44 AM UTCEx daily IV heroin user here chiming in...
I was legitimately a junkie.
I can't pinpoint an exact moment when that realization actually kicked in, but it was definitely a long way into the whole ordeal.
You actually go through a series of standard phases:
1. The "casual/recreational user" phase: The first time I did heroin was in 2005 (other opiates like codeine and oxycodone might have been a bit earlier, I don't remember for sure). During this phase, you LEGITIMATELY are not addicted. You can buy like a full gram of heroin and actually SAVE SOME for weeks if you have enough money to actually buy a gram (that's a lot of heroin... it's not like weed where a gram costs you pocket change). Tolerance is practically zero, which is something you come to dramatically envy in later years.
2. The "whenever I can get it" phase: For me, this was about FIVE YEARS after the start of phase 1. I had a couple friends who were dealing at the time (they NEVER used hard drugs at the time, but it was a quick and easy buck... heck, I even dabbled in it for a little while, but I was a user myself). I sometimes rode around with one friend while he did deliveries, and would get a bunch (of heroin) from him. It gradually turned from every other weekend to every weekend, then all weekend long, then on some weeknights, then every weeknight, and, ultimately, one day (it might have been as much as a year or more after the start this particular phase), you just plain need the stuff.
3. The "junkie in denial" phase: At this point, you are a certified junkie. BUT, the rub about this part here is that you actually have no idea. People will point it out to you, but you still feel like you're the "casual user" from phase 1. You will say anything to justify it. You will recite the ridiculously played out cliches from after school specials and all that like "I can stop anytime I want". You're an addict, you just don't know it yet.
4. The "oh fuck, I actually am addicted" phase: I'd mark this roughly around the time I transitioned from intranasal heroin use to IV use. Luckily for me, I was able to come to this realization a lot sooner than many addicts do, and I had JUST ENOUGH things going on in my life outside of opiates to motivate me to work towards quitting. Once you're in stage 4, opiates are no longer "the best thing" out there, they are "the only thing". Literally nothing else matters. Family, friends, previous goals and ambitions, etc. Your moral compass will at the very least bend a little bit, but in some cases, go straight up haywire.
So if you find yourself even in phase 2, CARRY ON WITH EXTREME CAUTION.
You will be fundamentally blind and deaf to all advice once you're well into stage 3.The following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire! -
2019-02-24 at 5:38 AM UTCMine is a very naïve assessment from somebody who was never impressed by opiates (or maybe didn't use them properly) but my opinion is that you can label someone a junkie when they favor one class of drugs beyond all others to pacify a neglected mode of being that won't remain neglected and sacrifice their civility in order to satisfy it.
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2019-02-24 at 6:47 AM UTCIt's When You Jump Out The Faulking Helicopter You Faulking Idiot.The following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire!
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2019-02-24 at 9:30 AM UTCYou have users and junkies. Users are using their drug or drugs of choice for pleasure, whereas a junkie is all about getting as completely twatted off their face as they can get as often as they can get, usually its to try and forget an experience or escape their shitty reality.
Obvs junkies will soon encounter heroin and opioids and will end up addicted so will use that all the time just like a heroin user will. which is why the general population will usually not see any distinction between the two, so will lump them into the same box. but they are two completely different animals.
Where a user will stay mostly exclusive to heroin and maybe some occasional use of select other chemicals of choice, a junkie will quite literally take absolutely anything they can get their hands on. You will regularly see a junkie with a needle in one hand while having a crack pipe in another a can of extra strength beer in another and then also have a handful of benzos and pharms in yet another hand, all at the same time.
.The following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire! -
2019-02-24 at 5:45 PM UTC
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2019-02-24 at 7:33 PM UTC
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2019-02-24 at 8:17 PM UTCAt McDonalds
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2019-02-24 at 8:31 PM UTCI'm lucky, I guess in that I can never see myself as a junkie. First off, I can't stand needles and always turn my head at the doctor's when they bring one out. Secondly, I don't like feeling stupid. I was given some Oxycodone a few years back when I broke my collarbone. They helped with the pain for a few days but I couldn't wait to get off of them. They just made me feel like I had lost half of my brain. I just felt like a moron.
I used to drink quite a bit but never could drink for more than a couple of days before my body required a "time out". I just couldn't sustain being consistently drunk.The following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire! -
2019-02-24 at 8:36 PM UTC
Originally posted by stl1 I'm lucky, I guess in that I can never see myself as a junkie. First off, I can't stand needles and always turn my head at the doctor's when they bring one out. Secondly, I don't like feeling stupid. I was given some Oxycodone a few years back when I broke my collarbone. They helped with the pain for a few days but I couldn't wait to get off of them. They just made me feel like I had lost half of my brain. I just felt like a moron.
I used to drink quite a bit but never could drink for more than a couple of days before my body required a "time out". I just couldn't sustain being consistently drunk.
Maybe you could smoke meth instead? -
2019-02-24 at 8:38 PM UTCSorry, not interested.
I'm old and set in my ways. -
2019-02-24 at 8:57 PM UTC
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2019-02-24 at 9:20 PM UTCThe following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire!
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2019-02-24 at 9:35 PM UTC
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2019-02-24 at 11:29 PM UTCI’m not sure, I think it was 5 or 23 miles back? I can’t rememebr
