the more I read Matts posts the more appealing fentanyl seems
I know you are joking, but on that note - I have been perhaps a little *too* good at advocating for opiates. These are amazing drugs that have two major drawbacks - [1] addiction, and [2] overdose. But if you can skirt these two major issues, opiates are remarkably safe and nontoxic. So if you are going to just sit back with 1/4 of an Oxycontin 80 pill on a Saturday night, I would be willing to bet that such a protocol is far less toxic to the organs than going out and drinking eight beers.
I am rather confident in that, since I was extensively health-tested during my opiate usage, and nothing indicated that opiates had a toxic effect on my organs, which is, incidentally, consistent with what we know about opiates.
Now - here is the cautionary part of this post: last summer a 23-year-old female friend of mine read my Facebook posts about opiates being relatively nontoxic. She was already using them, and - having considered me a smart guy because I was the Teaching Assistant for her Calculus course - she took my posts as being very credible.
So what happened?
She ramped up her intravenous hydromorphone use [specifically, Hydromorph Contin by Purdue Pharma], and within three months, she was entering herself into rehab.
So, despite being extremely specific about the two considerations about opiates that people should seek to avoid - addiction and overdose - she used them daily and eventually became dependent.
To be clear here - I am NOT saying that opiates come without risk. What I am say is that if you can skirt addiction, and if you use quantities that do not cause an overdose [and ideally, avoid intravenous use outright], you should be ok. Beyond ok - I would even say that a person drinking alcohol on the weekend for one year would be in worse health than a person getting high - within reason - on opiates every weekend for the same one year period of time.
The problem with this post is that a person can read it, and say to themselves "Hmm, maybe I will give opiates a try", then next thing you know, a week of daily use occurs, and they suddenly become addicted.
My post, in a vacuum, is correct - opiates are relatively non-toxic drugs. But if a person uses my post as advocacy for opiates, then uses a lot of them for an extended period of time they may well become addicted. Worse yet, they can die.
Lastly, every single one of us will eventually have to face death, and a good sized percentage of us will ultimately die of cancer. I can tell you that for the type of pain associated with cancer, very few things beat opiates. People during their end of life stage deserve to have a high quality of life. If opiates can take the pain away from these people, should we really deny them access to these drugs? Japan toils with this question, and is generally very much against narcotic use for any reason - even as end of life medicine.
Sadly, a very small percentage - and my understanding is that the actual figure is under 10% - of people who use or have used opiates can be properly classified as addicted. A much smaller percentage than that die from opiates [although in Ontario right now, the figure is rather high for young people - with 1 in 8 people between the ages of 18 to 34 dying from opiate overdoses]. As a result of these two groups of people, opiates are then becoming difficult or almost impossible for normal people in need to get. The end result of that has been a reduction in supply without a corresponding reduction in demand, which has then brought about the importation of Carfentanyl powder from China as discussed in this thread, and all the problems that come with it.
PS - another "problem" with opiates is that they make everything better, just about. So while you joke about Fentanyl seemingly becoming more appealing after reading my posts, it is because if you were high on Fentanyl or another opiate, you would actually be able to read my posts without wanting to stab yourself in the eye.
Opiates basically make everything better - this is why they should perhaps be avoided in certain circumstances because even something like a fight with your spouse can become enjoyable while using them. If MDMA is a truth serum, opiates are a serum that causes people to enjoy everything, which will give a false impression of their actual likes and dislikes. Long-term users can then find themselves withdrawing from mainstream areas of their life, avoiding friends, avoiding sex, and just sitting on their couch getting high. My point here is that, as with every drug, there are both costs and benefits to opiates. A major benefit to me would be that Matt C posts would be enjoyed by many people, if they were high on Oxycontin or Fentanyl while reading them.
PPS - this is from one of Rich's girlfriends. She added me to Facebook after she saw my 2012 Mr. Olympia expo interview with Rich, and she just wrote me this when I messaged her, asking what recreational drugs Rich used:
"Pretty much everything A-Z
I gave him to 50 to live so no surprise to me"
