Police Arrest Major Heroin Dealers With Evidence Worth 6.5 Million Baht

[Jai Dee]

Police arrest major Heroin dealers with evidences worthing 6.5 million baht

Polices successfully arrest another major Heroin distribution network in the nation, which leads to a seizure of 7 kilograms of Heroin worth more than 6.5 million baht.

The Narcotics Suppression Bureau Commander, Police Lieutenant General Wut Liptapanlop (วุฒิ ลิปตพัลลภ), announced yesterday (January 15) on the result of apprehending major Heroin dealers in the Northern region of Thailand, including Mr. Wiroj Jaranpornlertsin (วิโรจน์ จรัญพรเลิศสิน) and two members of the Heroin distribution network called “Mei Thachileik” which is run by Mrs. Supansa Saechin (สุพรรษา แซ่ฉิน), together with 7 kilograms of Heroin valuing more than 6.5 million baht.

The investigation team was informed that the Heroin network usually made order on several kilograms of Heroin from the Union of Myanmar and illegally transported them into Thailand via Mae Sai checkpoint of Chaing Rai province. Then the smuggled Heroin would be stored in Bangkok for a while before being distributed to other countries on cargo ships in the Southern region of Thailand. The police expected that the value of the seized Heroin would be raised up to 10 times once being sold abroad.

Heroin is a semi-synthetic opioid synthesized from morphine, a derivative of the opium poppy. The white crystalline form is commonly the hydrochloride salt diacetylmorphine hydrochloride; however heroin freebase may also appear as a white powder. As with other opiates, heroin is used both as a painkiller and a recreational drug. Frequent administration quickly leads to tolerance and dependence and has considered to be extremely addictive.

Source: National News Bureau of Thailand - 16 January 2009

[Kerryd]

Oh no !

Not another source mentioning that Heroin is bad for you ! The great conspiracy raises it's head again ! Poor ourman(woman)inbangers(pattaya) must be shaking his/her head in disbelief at another example of how the vast majority of the world seems to think Heroin is bad for you. Oh why, oh why can't the voice(s) of his/her one (oops sorry, it's two now isn't it ?) experts be heard above the roar of the thousands of experts that say otherwise ?

The sad part of this story is it's only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. 7 kilos ? Probably the left-overs from a much larger shipment that they couldn't squeeze in. Hopefully, facing the death sentence (a definite likelyhood for Thai dealers), they'll offer up some bigger fish in exchange for commuted sentences. At least they'll be comforted in knowing that some people out there support their efforts to get rich by exploiting people and (in some cases) giving them their own prolonged death sentences.

[MyphuketLife]

Oh no !

Not another source mentioning that Heroin is bad for you ! The great conspiracy raises it's head again ! Poor ourman(woman)inbangers(pattaya) must be shaking his/her head in disbelief at another example of how the vast majority of the world seems to think Heroin is bad for you. Oh why, oh why can't the voice(s) of his/her one (oops sorry, it's two now isn't it ?) experts be heard above the roar of the thousands of experts that say otherwise ?

Thanks for the chuckle... I can't believe any one really believes herion is not bad for you (unless of course they themselves shootup)....

I would also agree 7 kilos is probably just the tip of the iceburg... They have had a few fair sized busts recently.... I wonder what that does to the current street price for herion in Thailand... Maybe Poorourman inbangers can tell us?

[sunsamourai]

+1 . . .

7 Kg - 6.5 million bahts, that doesn't look like a big fishe to me. I guess the general just had to justify his wages to his superiors, and asked some gangs to help him out . . .

Hope I'm wrong !

[ourmaninbangers]

Oh no !

Not another source mentioning that Heroin is bad for you ! The great conspiracy raises it's head again ! Poor ourman(woman)inbangers(pattaya) must be shaking his/her head in disbelief at another example of how the vast majority of the world seems to think Heroin is bad for you. Oh why, oh why can't the voice(s) of his/her one (oops sorry, it's two now isn't it ?) experts be heard above the roar of the thousands of experts that say otherwise ?

The sad part of this story is it's only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. 7 kilos ? Probably the left-overs from a much larger shipment that they couldn't squeeze in. Hopefully, facing the death sentence (a definite likelyhood for Thai dealers), they'll offer up some bigger fish in exchange for commuted sentences. At least they'll be comforted in knowing that some people out there support their efforts to get rich by exploiting people and (in some cases) giving them their own prolonged death sentences.

shall we meet

go and talk to an expert about heroin?

there is use, and abuse

abuse of anything is bad, heroin in particular of course

not abusing it is not bad for you- this is about as established a fact as can be

I asked a doctor to post here saying this but she refused saying although this was true and everyone in the know knows this, she would be disciplined for saying this.

this is the same doctor who check's my friend who has been on smack since he was army in vietnam

perfect health...in every way.. and look's great he has good job, happy family, and there are many like him...this fact, not fiction

abuse vs use

do you understand the difference?

if not, lets meet I will help you adjust your compass

[henryalleman]

Oh no !

Not another source mentioning that Heroin is bad for you ! The great conspiracy raises it's head again ! Poor ourman(woman)inbangers(pattaya) must be shaking his/her head in disbelief at another example of how the vast majority of the world seems to think Heroin is bad for you. Oh why, oh why can't the voice(s) of his/her one (oops sorry, it's two now isn't it ?) experts be heard above the roar of the thousands of experts that say otherwise ?

The sad part of this story is it's only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. 7 kilos ? Probably the left-overs from a much larger shipment that they couldn't squeeze in. Hopefully, facing the death sentence (a definite likelyhood for Thai dealers), they'll offer up some bigger fish in exchange for commuted sentences. At least they'll be comforted in knowing that some people out there support their efforts to get rich by exploiting people and (in some cases) giving them their own prolonged death sentences.

shall we meet

go and talk to an expert about heroin?

there is use, and abuse

abuse of anything is bad, heroin in particular of course

not abusing it is not bad for you- this is about as established a fact as can be

I asked a doctor to post here saying this but she refused saying although this was true and everyone in the know knows this, she would be disciplined for saying this.

this is the same doctor who check's my friend who has been on smack since he was army in vietnam

perfect health...in every way.. and look's great he has good job, happy family, and there are many like him...this fact, not fiction

abuse vs use

do you understand the difference?

if not, lets meet I will help you adjust your compass

That's all I have to say

http://www.psychoactive.org.uk/heroin/risks.htm

[ourmaninbangers]

Oh no !

Not another source mentioning that Heroin is bad for you ! The great conspiracy raises it's head again ! Poor ourman(woman)inbangers(pattaya) must be shaking his/her head in disbelief at another example of how the vast majority of the world seems to think Heroin is bad for you. Oh why, oh why can't the voice(s) of his/her one (oops sorry, it's two now isn't it ?) experts be heard above the roar of the thousands of experts that say otherwise ?

The sad part of this story is it's only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. 7 kilos ? Probably the left-overs from a much larger shipment that they couldn't squeeze in. Hopefully, facing the death sentence (a definite likelyhood for Thai dealers), they'll offer up some bigger fish in exchange for commuted sentences. At least they'll be comforted in knowing that some people out there support their efforts to get rich by exploiting people and (in some cases) giving them their own prolonged death sentences.

shall we meet

go and talk to an expert about heroin?

there is use, and abuse

abuse of anything is bad, heroin in particular of course

not abusing it is not bad for you- this is about as established a fact as can be

I asked a doctor to post here saying this but she refused saying although this was true and everyone in the know knows this, she would be disciplined for saying this.

this is the same doctor who check's my friend who has been on smack since he was army in vietnam

perfect health...in every way.. and look's great he has good job, happy family, and there are many like him...this fact, not fiction

abuse vs use

do you understand the difference?

if not, lets meet I will help you adjust your compass

That's all I have to say

http://www.psychoactive.org.uk/heroin/risks.htm

in other words- no- you have made my point for me

you will not meet,

you do not wish to sit in a doctor's office, learn of their expertise, where they were trained, what they have done and seen, etc, etc

or meet a perfectly functional family man and see his latest health check cert ( they did a special recently at bumingrad- he is in great shape)

because you hate the the real and existing fact that many people do take heroin without any negative effect

as it just may cause you to consider that like so many things in life, we have been slightly misled

I understand why...it very easy to abuse, hence the lies and propaganda

in UK the government lied to it's own people when a young girl called leah betts died from what they said was XTC

now.. this is arguably the worlds leading nation in human right's, etc

and yet today they still want people to believe this is how she died

so, with this in mind, shall I still read the above..or shall I continue to see with my own eye's the truth

please Sir, do not believe all that you read.. the UK example illustrates this, no?

with your own eye's more can be learnt

[Master Chief]

Oh no !

Not another source mentioning that Heroin is bad for you ! The great conspiracy raises it's head again ! Poor ourman(woman)inbangers(pattaya) must be shaking his/her head in disbelief at another example of how the vast majority of the world seems to think Heroin is bad for you. Oh why, oh why can't the voice(s) of his/her one (oops sorry, it's two now isn't it ?) experts be heard above the roar of the thousands of experts that say otherwise ?

The sad part of this story is it's only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. 7 kilos ? Probably the left-overs from a much larger shipment that they couldn't squeeze in. Hopefully, facing the death sentence (a definite likelyhood for Thai dealers), they'll offer up some bigger fish in exchange for commuted sentences. At least they'll be comforted in knowing that some people out there support their efforts to get rich by exploiting people and (in some cases) giving them their own prolonged death sentences.

shall we meet

go and talk to an expert about heroin?

there is use, and abuse

abuse of anything is bad, heroin in particular of course

not abusing it is not bad for you- this is about as established a fact as can be

I asked a doctor to post here saying this but she refused saying although this was true and everyone in the know knows this, she would be disciplined for saying this.

this is the same doctor who check's my friend who has been on smack since he was army in vietnam

perfect health...in every way.. and look's great he has good job, happy family, and there are many like him...this fact, not fiction

abuse vs use

do you understand the difference?

if not, lets meet I will help you adjust your compass

That's all I have to say

http://www.psychoactive.org.uk/heroin/risks.htm

in other words- no- you have made my point for me

you will not meet,

you do not wish to sit in a doctor's office, learn of their expertise, where they were trained, what they have done and seen, etc, etc

or meet a perfectly functional family man and see his latest health check cert ( they did a special recently at bumingrad- he is in great shape)

because you hate the the real and existing fact that many people do take heroin without any negative effect

as it just may cause you to consider that like so many things in life, we have been slightly misled

I understand why...it very easy to abuse, hence the lies and propaganda

in UK the government lied to it's own people when a young girl called leah betts died from what they said was XTC

now.. this is arguably the worlds leading nation in human right's, etc

and yet today they still want people to believe this is how she died

so, with this in mind, shall I still read the above..or shall I continue to see with my own eye's the truth

please Sir, do not believe all that you read.. the UK example illustrates this, no?

with your own eye's more can be learnt

WHAT A WHOLE LOAD OF CRAP, tell that to your kids when they hook up this white shiite powder.

Think before you even ever come up such nonsens.

MC

[mrtoad]

I agree with the poster who said this is not likely to be a big fish, more likely a middle man, but at least it get's some of the crap off the streets, for the time being.

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

Oh no !

Not another source mentioning that Heroin is bad for you !

. . . their own prolonged death sentences.

Heroin addiction is its own death sentence. I'm not making a moral statement. I lost a loved one to it.

[Kerryd]

in UK the government lied to it's own people when a young girl called leah betts died from what they said was XTC

now.. this is arguably the worlds leading nation in human right's, etc

and yet today they still want people to believe this is how she died

Well, took me all of 2 minutes to see the BS in that. You really like bringing this one case up over and over again, don't you ? Lets see, she died in Nov 1995, this is 2009, that makes it a little over 13 years ago. Many of the articles I've just read were written within days of her death.

Leah Betts died from "water intoxication" (drinking too much water, reducing the sodium levels in the blood, resulting in too much water being "sucked" into the brain and causing it to swell)

But why was she drinking soooo much water that night ?

Because she took an Ecstasy tablet ! That's right. ONE tablet. But she had been "educated" that if you are going to take Ecstasy, you should drink a lot of water (although it was meant to counteract the fluid loss from dancing for hours on end, not just sitting around a party).

The problem was, Ecstasy caused "Syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone" (SIADH), which prevented her from urinating and expelling the excess fluids from her body.

At the inquest it was stated that if she had only taken the Ecstasy, or only drank that much water, she would have survived. Oh yeah, from the inquest " it was revealed that she had also had several strong alcoholic drinks and had smoked cannabis along with the Ecstasy" (note that those were apparently not determined to be contributing factors though).

What next ? Are you going to tell us that Ecstasy is harmless as well, just like you tried to tell us that Heroin is harmless ?

Ecstasy:

Ecstasy can cause the body temperature to rise to dangerously high levels, and short-term effects can include anxiety, panic attacks, first-time epileptic fits and paranoia. Long-term effects are still unclear, but can include depression, personality change and memory loss.

From an "expert" on a website devoted to Ecstasy:

"Some people are badly affected by small amounts and others take a lot without problems. There is also the risk that there may be long term effects due to neuronal damage; its not yet been seen, but many researchers believe it will be."

(hmmm, just like someone else, this site has a lot of answers from "experts" and "doctors" who all prefer to remain nameless and uncredited.)

Oh yeah, Leah Betts's best friend, who took Ecstasy with her that fateful night ? Hasn't touched drugs at all ever since that night. Won't associate with anyone that takes drugs. Plans on teaching her kids the dangers of drugs in the hopes they won't go near them either.

Oh but they are all just harmless, aren't they ?

[oevna]

In a sense, ourmaninbangers is right. Heroine, when taken in moderate doses, is not that bad for you. It is actually a very useful painkiller from a medical perspective, and I have also heard at least one doctor say that the only reason it is illegal (even for use in hospitals, in the US anyway) is because of its stigma as a drug of abuse.

As the article states at the end, heroine is diacetylmorphine. Once it enters the bloodstream, it is quickly converted to monoacetylmorphine, and once it crosses the blood-brain barrier, it is converted into plain old morphine. Heroine is basically just a fast way of delivering morphine to the brain.

The problem is:

• People buy it on the streets, so they don't know the purity (and thus strength) of the heroine that they are taking.
  
• They don't know what else is in the stuff they buy on the streets.
  
• They don't know how to regulate the dosage, even if they know how pure it is.
  
• They eventually end up addicted to the stuff, and spend all of their money on it, neglecting nutrition, hygiene, and safety.
  
• Some people mix heroine use with the use of other drugs or alcohol, which can increase the effects of the heroine as well as the effects of the other drugs (depending on which other drugs).
  
• They don't know if they are actually getting heroine at all. There are other synthetic narcotics that have been sold on the street as heroine, which in some cases have contained toxins from cutting corners in the synthesis, and which have caused an irreversible Parkinson-like syndrome in some cases.
  

So, if you are not getting it administered by a doctor in an environment where your vital signs are being monitored, then it is dangerous. Otherwise, no problem!

[deon]

Good i am glad they got that stuff of the streets ,that stuff is just pure evil.I have had many friends hooked on that <deleted> some still are .One of my friends died from od of that stuff.

You go to any town in the uk and see what smack has done to people ,Talk about big issue .I smoke weed always have done for over half my life .

But that stuff ,i would never touch, anything with ack on the end is bad be it smack or crack.

Though saying it is like E or Acid is wrong which i did take alot back in the rave days, though i did take alot more acid than i ever did e and when i say alot i mean alot, though i have not touched any of them for over 8 years now .

They dont mess you up and make you mug folks and steal from shops .Smack does though, that is if you cant get a job as a big issue seller lol.

Edited January 16, 2009 by deon

[oevna]

Good i am glad they got that stuff of the streets ,that stuff is just pure evil.I have had many friends hooked on that <deleted> some still are .One of my friends died from od of that stuff.

You go to any town in the uk and see what smack has done to people ,Talk about big issue .I smoke weed always have done for over half my life .

But that stuff ,i would never touch, anything with ack on the end is bad be it smack or crack.

Though saying it is like E or Acid is wrong which i did take alot back in the rave days, though i did take alot more acid than i ever did e and when i say alot i mean alot, though i have not touched any of them for over 8 years now .

They dont mess you up and make you mug folks and steal from shops .Smack does though, that is if you cant get a job as a big issue seller lol.

There are a couple good points in there. I'll add to my list:

• It is illegal, and possession is a crime. Getting caught in possession will make it hard to get a job, especially if you are caught selling it, which is a felony in the US.
  
• As deon pointed out, addicts who waste all their money on the stuff often turn to crime to support their habits.
  

[ourmaninbangers]

Good i am glad they got that stuff of the streets ,that stuff is just pure evil.I have had many friends hooked on that <deleted> some still are .One of my friends died from od of that stuff.

You go to any town in the uk and see what smack has done to people ,Talk about big issue .I smoke weed always have done for over half my life .

But that stuff ,i would never touch, anything with ack on the end is bad be it smack or crack.

Though saying it is like E or Acid is wrong which i did take alot back in the rave days, though i did take alot more acid than i ever did e and when i say alot i mean alot, though i have not touched any of them for over 8 years now .

They dont mess you up and make you mug folks and steal from shops .Smack does though, that is if you cant get a job as a big issue seller lol.

There are a couple good points in there. I'll add to my list:

• It is illegal, and possession is a crime. Getting caught in possession will make it hard to get a job, especially if you are caught selling it, which is a felony in the US.
  
• As deon pointed out, addicts who waste all their money on the stuff often turn to crime to support their habits.
  

yes, I 100% agree.. addict's- abuse... this is not use- can we understand this

please tell me this

if taking heroin is SO bad for you, how come i have many friend's who take and function perfectly? One just had full check up- great shape

sorry, but this is fact.. so where are we....?

how come so many top medical experts tell me in hushed voice ' actually it will do you no harm so long sas you do not abue it..."

these are men and women who have gone through full training....what going on...?

am I lying, dreaming, pro taking ( I am NOT, I am prochoice, pro- truth, pro good policys that work) if I am wrong I wanna know.. I have been wrong before and most probably will be again

my friend looks in great shape to me....

I hope people do not take, but they will and nothing wlil ever top this- FACT

another fact- we are losing the drug war.. are we not

current ;policy's lack a middle ground, making abuse more likely...maybe with better polices you would see less crime due to this

those who do not abuse, and do not become addict's, of which there are so many, but not so visible ( because of the way people think here- take drugs= ruin your life, become addict, will be of no use... etc... all have a little in truth, but a total truth NO, many do not suffer at all, when done correctly- FACT!)

As I said before I tried to get a local medical expert to post here- but they are nervous, nervous of people who like you will condemn them for telling the truth..

THEY ARE SCARED TO SPEAK THE TRUE

and when this happen's in anything it leads to the negitve- and here is one of the crux of why we are losing

[ourmaninbangers]

In a sense, ourmaninbangers is right. Heroine, when taken in moderate doses, is not that bad for you. It is actually a very useful painkiller from a medical perspective, and I have also heard at least one doctor say that the only reason it is illegal (even for use in hospitals, in the US anyway) is because of its stigma as a drug of abuse.

As the article states at the end, heroine is diacetylmorphine. Once it enters the bloodstream, it is quickly converted to monoacetylmorphine, and once it crosses the blood-brain barrier, it is converted into plain old morphine. Heroine is basically just a fast way of delivering morphine to the brain.

The problem is:

• People buy it on the streets, so they don't know the purity (and thus strength) of the heroine that they are taking.
  
• They don't know what else is in the stuff they buy on the streets.
  
• They don't know how to regulate the dosage, even if they know how pure it is.
  
• They eventually end up addicted to the stuff, and spend all of their money on it, neglecting nutrition, hygiene, and safety.
  
• Some people mix heroine use with the use of other drugs or alcohol, which can increase the effects of the heroine as well as the effects of the other drugs (depending on which other drugs).
  
• They don't know if they are actually getting heroine at all. There are other synthetic narcotics that have been sold on the street as heroine, which in some cases have contained toxins from cutting corners in the synthesis, and which have caused an irreversible Parkinson-like syndrome in some cases.
  

So, if you are not getting it administered by a doctor in an environment where your vital signs are being monitored, then it is dangerous. Otherwise, no problem!

THANK YOU SO MUCH

blessed are those to speak the true, without fear...without prejudiced

because it is the true that will set us free-let us progress- we are all on the same side

from all of us in this room now

many thank's

we cannot blame them, the governments have filled their heads with lie's

[ourmaninbangers]

in UK the government lied to it's own people when a young girl called leah betts died from what they said was XTC

now.. this is arguably the worlds leading nation in human right's, etc

and yet today they still want people to believe this is how she died

Well, took me all of 2 minutes to see the BS in that. You really like bringing this one case up over and over again, don't you ? Lets see, she died in Nov 1995, this is 2009, that makes it a little over 13 years ago. Many of the articles I've just read were written within days of her death.

Leah Betts died from "water intoxication" (drinking too much water, reducing the sodium levels in the blood, resulting in too much water being "sucked" into the brain and causing it to swell)

But why was she drinking soooo much water that night ?

Because she took an Ecstasy tablet ! That's right. ONE tablet. But she had been "educated" that if you are going to take Ecstasy, you should drink a lot of water (although it was meant to counteract the fluid loss from dancing for hours on end, not just sitting around a party).

The problem was, Ecstasy caused "Syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone" (SIADH), which prevented her from urinating and expelling the excess fluids from her body.

At the inquest it was stated that if she had only taken the Ecstasy, or only drank that much water, she would have survived. Oh yeah, from the inquest " it was revealed that she had also had several strong alcoholic drinks and had smoked cannabis along with the Ecstasy" (note that those were apparently not determined to be contributing factors though).

What next ? Are you going to tell us that Ecstasy is harmless as well, just like you tried to tell us that Heroin is harmless ?

Ecstasy:

Ecstasy can cause the body temperature to rise to dangerously high levels, and short-term effects can include anxiety, panic attacks, first-time epileptic fits and paranoia. Long-term effects are still unclear, but can include depression, personality change and memory loss.

From an "expert" on a website devoted to Ecstasy:

"Some people are badly affected by small amounts and others take a lot without problems. There is also the risk that there may be long term effects due to neuronal damage; its not yet been seen, but many researchers believe it will be."

(hmmm, just like someone else, this site has a lot of answers from "experts" and "doctors" who all prefer to remain nameless and uncredited.)

Oh yeah, Leah Betts's best friend, who took Ecstasy with her that fateful night ? Hasn't touched drugs at all ever since that night. Won't associate with anyone that takes drugs. Plans on teaching her kids the dangers of drugs in the hopes they won't go near them either.

Oh but they are all just harmless, aren't they ?

no sir, nothing taken in excess is harmless, thing taken correctly can lead to negative

again, I know many who take MDMA on regular basis with no ill signs....

I have not really tried to tell you anything, and as you can see, one brave person has posted agreeing with what happen's to be truethere are many, but sometimes we get not nice message's....

now, did you know this.... what did leah betts really take XTC? or something purported to be XTC do you know, if so how?

please send me your answer...before I answer

and why did UK government try to stop us getting true out? why did it take so long....?

if her friend will not see anyone who take drugs she must live on an island all alone, for the rest of her life... do you agree not agree?

oh, or are booze, and ciggys, and vally's not drug's??? and do they have no bad affect'?

and please tell me, if she met one of my friends who have no negative how would she know? has she some special power's?

see my point... if I was a male I would say something rude, like I have trashed another argument

chose your words carefully

this will lead to less own goals like this and maybe a way forward

again

we are all on the same side

[mrtoad]

Research Report Series - Heroin Abuse and Addiction

Source: National Institute of Drug Abuse

What are the immediate (short-term)

effects of heroin use?

Soon after injection (or inhalation), heroin crosses the blood-brain barrier. In the brain, heroin is converted to morphine and binds rapidly to opioid receptors. Abusers typically report feeling a surge of pleasurable sensation - a "rush." The intensity of the rush is a function of how much drug is taken and how rapidly the drug enters the brain and binds to the natural opioid receptors. Heroin is particularly addictive because it enters the brain so rapidly. With heroin, the rush is usually accompanied by a warm flushing of the skin, dry mouth, and a heavy feeling in the extremities, which may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and severe itching.

untitled.bmp

Opiates Act on Many Places in the Brain and Nervous System

After the initial effects, abusers usually will be drowsy for several hours. Mental function is clouded by heroin's effect on the central nervous system. Cardiac function slows. Breathing is also severely slowed, sometimes to the point of death. Heroin overdose is a particular risk on the street, where the amount and purity of the drug cannot be accurately known.

What are the long-term

effects of heroin use?

One of the most detrimental long-term effects of heroin use is addiction itself.

Addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease, characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, and by neurochemical and molecular changes in the brain. Heroin also produces profound degrees of tolerance and physical dependence, which are also powerful motivating factors for compulsive use and abuse. As with abusers of any addictive drug, heroin abusers gradually spend more and more time and energy obtaining and using the drug. Once they are addicted, the heroin abusers' primary purpose in life becomes seeking and using drugs. The drugs literally change their brains and their behavior.

Physical dependence develops with higher doses of the drug. With physical dependence, the body adapts to the presence of the drug and withdrawal symptoms occur if use is reduced abruptly. Withdrawal may occur within a few hours after the last time the drug is taken. Symptoms of withdrawal include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps ("cold turkey"), and leg movements. Major withdrawal symptoms peak between 24 and 48 hours after the last dose of heroin and subside after about a week. However, some people have shown persistent withdrawal signs for many months. Heroin withdrawal is never fatal to otherwise healthy adults, but it can cause death to the fetus of a pregnant addict.

At some point during continuous heroin use, a person can become addicted to the drug. Sometimes addicted individuals will endure many of the withdrawal symptoms to reduce their tolerance for the drug so that they can again experience the rush.

Physical dependence and the emergence of withdrawal symptoms were once believed to be the key features of heroin addiction. We now know this may not be the case entirely, since craving and relapse can occur weeks and months after withdrawal symptoms are long gone. We also know that patients with chronic pain who need opiates to function (sometimes over extended periods) have few if any problems leaving opiates after their pain is resolved by other means. This may be because the patient in pain is simply seeking relief of pain and not the rush sought by the addict.

Short- and Long-Term Effects of Heroin Use

Short-Term Effects

"Rush"

Depressed respiration

Clouded mental functioning

Nausea and vomiting

Spontaneous abortionng

Long-Term Effects

Spontaneous abortion

Addiction

Infectious diseases, for example, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B and C

Collapsed veins

Bacterial infections

Abscesses

Infection of heart lining and valves

Arthritis and other rheumatologic problems

What are the medical complications

of chronic heroin use?

Medical consequences of chronic heroin injection use include scarred and/or collapsed veins, bacterial infections of the blood vessels and heart valves, abscesses (boils) and other soft-tissue infections, and liver or kidney disease. Lung complications (including various types of pneumonia and tuberculosis) may result from the poor health condition of the abuser as well as from heroin's depressing effects on respiration. Many of the additives in street heroin may include substances that do not readily dissolve and result in clogging the blood vessels that lead to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain. This can cause infection or even death of small patches of cells in vital organs. Immune reactions to these or other contaminants can cause arthritis or other rheumatologic problems.

Of course, sharing of injection equipment or fluids can lead to some of the most severe consequences of heroin abuse- infections with hepatitis B and C, HIV, and a host of other bloodborne viruses, which drug abusers can then pass on to their sexual partners and children.

Clearly there are a number of factors that are related to drug abuse. It is easy to use certain examples of where heroin is used in a positive manner, this though is normally in a controlled environment, which is unlike the majority of the caeses that come to light in news paper in relationship to drug trafficking and drug dealing. General opiate abuse, from my experience can be extremmely crippling to the individual, both mentally and physically. Factor in the costs to society in general from malingering, crime, and the damge to family relationhips and it is hard to see any positive elemnets the heroin brings to society.

I suspect that a certain person will rubbish anything that is put on here, as they believe it is all a government conspiracy to protect people from the truth. Rather conveneint if you can bring relaalistic reasoned facts to the table.

There are a number of interesting articles which all point to causes and effects of drug miss use. Clealry to reduce miss use further programmes which reduce poverty and increase awareness, could certainly help reduce the use of illicit substanves.

http://www.unodc.org/pdf/technical_series_1995-03-01_1.pdf

I did find this artcle interesting as it has been researched in a developing country rather than a developed nation.

The second PDF, is also a rather hard hitting article, and lays a few other facts bare, which drug sympathiser choose to ignore.

http://www.unodc.org/pdf/technical_series_1998-01-01_1.pdf

Enjoy the reading. I'll post some more stuff when I have te time.

[Maigo6]

the governments have filled their heads with lie's

Whilst they happily promote and sell Government controlled and taxed drugs Alcohol and Tobacco which are responsible for more death and suffering than any illegal drug.

[Maigo6]

Heroin addiction is its own death sentence.

So is alcohol addiction, shall we hang all the Berwery owners, all the pub owners, all the governments that benefit from the tax, all the users of Alcohol ?

Of course I'm exagerrating, yet Alcohol abuse causes so much suffering in this world, just look at all the Alcohol fuelled violence in the world, rapes assaults, kilings, the list goes on and on.....

Why is Alcohol legal ?

[bunnaag]

Heroin addiction is its own death sentence.

So is alcohol addiction, shall we hang all the Berwery owners, all the pub owners, all the governments that benefit from the tax, all the users of Alcohol ?

Of course I'm exagerrating, yet Alcohol abuse causes so much suffering in this world, just look at all the Alcohol fuelled violence in the world, rapes assaults, kilings, the list goes on and on.....

Why is Alcohol legal ?

As you already mentioned it is a nice income for the government.Besides not all people who enjoy a few beers go around raping and killing.Are you a reformed beer drinker? Edited January 17, 2009 by bunnaag

[sunsamourai]

Heroin addiction is its own death sentence.

So is alcohol addiction, shall we hang all the Berwery owners, all the pub owners, all the governments that benefit from the tax, all the users of Alcohol ?

Of course I'm exagerrating, yet Alcohol abuse causes so much suffering in this world, just look at all the Alcohol fuelled violence in the world, rapes assaults, kilings, the list goes on and on.....

Why is Alcohol legal ?

As you already mentioned it is a nice income for the government.Besides not all people who enjoy a few beers go around raping and killing.Are you a reformed beer drinker?

As was said before, not all heroin users do harm either

Please, enlight me and make my day :

--> How the taxes perceived by the government may in the slightest be used as a justification to let go freehanded all the harm that alcool does ? "We get money so we close our eyes" ?

Sad, very sad...

We will never say it enough :

Alcohol abuse causes so much suffering in this world, just look at all the Alcohol fuelled violence in the world, rapes assaults, kilings, car accidents, fight, beaten children/women/men, broken families, broken couples, british sex, the list goes on and on.....

Why is Alcohol legal ?

There is no moraly sound justification.

++ ^^

Edited January 17, 2009 by sunsamourai

[sunsamourai]

Forgot to say :

(read with a deep, cold and shaky voice, kinda series Z ghost movie)

DRUUUUUUGZ IS EVIIIIIL !!!

That is all Marilyn Mansons' Fauuuuuult !!!

Edited January 17, 2009 by sunsamourai

[mrtoad]

My comeback

Heroin was killing Andrew Constantine. Desperate to survive, he signed up for radical detox. For five days he was drugged into near-unconsciousness. This is his compelling chronicle of that gruelling time - and what has happened in his life since he walked out of the clinic doorAndrew Constantine

The Guardian, Friday 2 September 2005

Article history

March 1 2004

Another grey, freezing Penzance morning. My waking ritual begins with 10 dihydrocodeine tablets, 30ml, lots of steaming coffee and a spell of chain smoking cannabis as I sit staring out the window at the backs of the houses opposite. Six weeks to go before I'm evicted from here.

The codeine tablets are meant to treat an ongoing ear infection. I keep them in the cupboard for emergencies when money or heroin are short. Soon the rotting feeling in my stomach dissipates enough for me to stop being aware of it and my mind begins groping around among last night's plans for an emotional foothold of some sort; plans devised in the darkness, out of bitterness, resentment and self-pity.

March 16

Birthday number 40, and my overriding thought is: my life might be falling apart, but I don't want to die yet. There was that overdose last Christmas - met a girl at Narcotics Anonymous, she took me home, cooked me up a hit and practically killed me ... So OK doctor, what's on offer?

As far as my GP is concerned, a referral to the local drugs team is on the cards. But for residential rehab there's an eight-month waiting list. So really, the team's only immediate resort is methadone. I have big misgivings. I run a boxing club, and come September I want to start a foundation degree at college. So does this make me special? Well no, but what it does make me is desperate not to become one of those walking methadone corpses.

Whatever the theory of maintaining people on methadone, the reality is on the streets of Penzance. Under the security cameras on the corner of Causewayhead, you will always find a contingent shooting the breeze, scoring heroin; addicts and alcoholics without hope, staggering and dazed. Because it's never just the methadone is it? It's the benzos and the sleepers and the anti-depressants and the barbiturates that seem to be dispensed like confetti.

But there is this other thing I've heard about. Apparently, it's a treatment that involves being put to sleep for five days and, when you come to, you are no longer dependent on opiates. This sounds a bit too good to be true.

April 5-12

Had to get away from Penzance. My cat is traumatised by the move: still in Cornwall, new town. Sorry, Tizer. The flat really is lovely, though. My guiding idea now is to undergo this programme, "Detox 5". I see it as my final chance.

My doctor has made inquiries and sent referral forms to the clinic I've chosen, in Harrogate, north Yorkshire. We're waiting for confirmation.

For most of the five days, I'll be heavily sedated - in effect, one bunch of drugs will keep me semi-unconscious while my system (so the plan goes) gets over its dependence on another lot, opiates. I also have to find a "nominated supervisor", who will escort me to and from Harrogate, and be available during the treatment. My long-time friend and mentor Elizabeth, who came to Cornwall when she and her husband retired, has agreed to do this. To her I owe deep thanks for never giving up on me. Ever.

I've read the glossy booklet I got in the post. One picture is of a dining hall. Resembles Trusthouse Forte. The second is of a girl lying on a couch, looking kind of smug. That's good then.

How will I feel after the five days? One of the clinic coordinators told me over the phone to imagine "getting over a really really bad bout of flu - and times it by 10". Don't like the sound of that.

April 14

We have it straight from the lab. My girlfriend Nadia is pregnant. Words inadequate.

April 24

The loose ends were tied up yesterday. I am booked into the Detox 5 clinic on May 10.

Dropped my partner off at her folks' place. An argument at 4am. Afterwards the weather was beautiful driving home, roof open. I slipped into Penzance and scored. Going back to the car park, I stopped a man in the street, pushing a pram, tiny little baby in there.

"My fiancee is three weeks gone," I said. "Can I look?"

"Sure." He stopped.

And together we adopted that crouched-over, hands-on-thighs thing. A beautiful little creature. Soon, I will be a father. Sixteen days to detox.

May 9

A glorious sunny morning and I have said all my goodbyes. The landlord and his wife. My pregnant partner. My cat, my second in command at the boxing club and, finally, my dealer.

We set off in Elizabeth's long silver monstrosity of a car. Having had my last fix, all I've got now is a bottle of about 30 dihydrocodeine. Half will go overnight, to get me to sleep.

By the time we have switched from the A30 on to the M5 my vague unease has focused into a dense cold mass of anxiety.

May 10

Before setting out on the final leg, from the cottage Elizabeth keeps in Stratford to Harrogate, I have taken my last 15 dihydrocodeine.

In the car I find myself telling Elizabeth a nightmare story of a detox (involuntary) at Wormwood Scrubs prison, about eight years ago, when I woke up lying in a pool of my own vomit. Those horrifyingly intense feelings of abject despair and physical torment will stay with me for a very long time.

"How many prison detoxes have you actually been through?" Elizabeth asks. In all honesty, I reply that I have lost count.

The clinic building is one of those fairly modern brick jobbos. A nurse with a ponytail shows me to what will be my room. His badge says he is Andy.

The room itself is quite cheerful, three-star hotel sort of thing. Great effort has clearly been made. It's the bed that gives it away. There are sidebars, that and the smell of sickness and suffering that no amount of disinfectant will ever eradicate.

Andy lights a smoke, and answers some questions. No, there will be no IV drip, I will be put under heavy sedation and woken every two hours to have my blood pressure and pulse checked. I will be required to drink half a pint of something that tastes not very nice during these checks. Afterwards I will remember very little. The price, by the way, is three grand, which of course renders it out of reach for almost every addict out there. The only way I can pay for this is that I've managed to find a (sort of) sponsor.

Then the troupe arrive, dragging equipment, lots of digital displays and dangly bits to check my weight, height, blood pressure, pulse. They take blood and urine samples. The resident psychiatrist, a serious straight-talking consultant, Amal Beaini, draws us some diagrams and discusses medicating individual symptoms of my impending withdrawal.

And then it's back to my room. Elizabeth is gone. I put on my knee-length boxing shorts. They arrive with the hypodermics.

May 13

Whatever cocktail of see-you-later drugs they are pouring into me, there must be a muscle relaxant. My facial muscles are so out of it I can't even raise my eyebrows, meaning my perspective is reduced to the bottom of two white tunics, one pair of trainers and one pair of black shoes - my life has become a series of being pulled into a sitting position to be checked and re-sedated as my mind gropes around the smog.

And the smell. Always the smell of those that have suffered before me in this same bed.

May 14

I watch them drag the monitoring equipment to the room across the hall. Its occupant arrived the same day as me. I caught sight of him in the car park, climbing out of a people carrier with an older lady, possibly his mother.

Quite often I call across to him, "All right there Tom?"

Sometimes a hand rises. Just a hand. And something about the way it falls again tells how he must be feeling and though I don't know him I love him for having the spirit to raise it.

Just before the latest sedative kicks in, I set about disengaging the bed's security bars. My legs collapse and for a long time I lie on the floor, desperate to muster the energy to crawl and then stand up using the sink for support. Finally, I am in front of the mirror, staring at a three-dimensional horror mask that is my own face.

May 15

"Am I going home today?"

"Yes, today is the big one," chirps nurse Bev.

The effort required to pull my trousers on leaves me weak. All I can think is I've done it, over and over I've done it, little old me sitting there, rocking backwards and forwards in the chair, eyes streaming. Euphoria.

We are back in Elizabeth's silver monster, driving back to the Stratford cottage to recover for a while in the peace and quiet before heading home to Cornwall. The clinic has given Elizabeth a big collection of pills to administer. She has put them in a biscuit tin. On arrival, I head for bed. Come early evening, the chemically-induced euphoria begins to expire. And when it does the result is a physical nightmare involving projectiles from both main orifices at the same time.

In four words: Extremely. Severe. Withdrawal. Symptoms.

May 16

It is five o'clock in the morning. Elizabeth has spent the past two hours trying to rouse a doctor, any doctor, from his warm bed to come over and take a look at this piece of shit pulsating on the bed. I am freezing and hot and throwing up.

The collection of follow-up drugs that the clinic sent with us includes: Buscopan for cramps, and trazodone, which is a sedative/ anti-depressant. There is chlorpromazine (most people know it as Largactyl); a note written in red pen on the box says it's for sickness. There is Gaviscon, to coat the stomach, and Imodium for diarrhoea. And there is naltrexone, a blocking drug that wraps itself round the opiate receptors in the brain, rendering the question of a relapse redundant. The Buscopan is taking care of the cramps. Otherwise, we are talking - on a suffering scale of one to 10 - about a seven as opposed to an eight. So what is a 10? Unbearable.

But this is unbearable. And here is poor Elizabeth with her apron and her rubber gloves. As I quiver under the covers the sound of her cleaning away an earlier accident in the bathroom penetrates my pain and registers my shame and self-loathing.

Come mid-afternoon we decide to try the hospital. This involves me getting up, taking a bath and getting dressed, which is no mean feat. Outside the light is too much. I have to shuffle along, holding on to Elizabeth for support, using the other hand to cover my eyes. The sun is blaring and Joe Public is in shorts and sandals. I have four layers of clothing up top and I am freezing cold.

In A&E a young girl is in some distress and I feel that wretchedness I always feel in such situations when I have to reveal that I am - in effect - a self-inflicted case. He examines my stomach and gives me a jab in the arm for the sickness. For this I have to remove my layers, and in a mirror I catch sight of this pale, emaciated me. Arrogant though it is to say it, I have - under normal circs - a very fit body. Every muscle is well developed and clearly defined; fast twitch athletic as opposed to beefcake.

I am disconcerted and depressed by the rinsed-out looking old guy staring back at me.

On our return home I am sick again. By now I have concluded that there is some sort of link between me taking the assortment of pills that the clinic gave me, and me spewing my guts up.

May 17

More of the same.

May 18

The sickness and diarrhoea have passed and I feel just plain old shit. I have gone from the one extreme of being insulated against my emotions to the other of being hyper-sensitive. The smell of Elizabeth cooking a home made chicken pie sets me salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs. The first mouthful is actually painful. Just being touched is unbearable.

Already the cracks are appearing through which my addiction attempts to squeeze. One song on a 16-track CD is my current addiction (The Lighthouse Family: Lifted, remix with the vocoder). I play it overandoverandoverandover. I dispose of a six-pack of crisps in as many minutes and then want moreandmoreandmore.

Elizabeth corners me in the conservatory - my favourite hangout - and confronts me about events in my recent past: fighting in the street (banging out liberty-takers); driving my black 2-litre GTi coupe like a <deleted>; shouting people down and refusing to listen at boxing club committee meetings; phoning friends at any hour asking for money.

I accept most of that. But the driving ... I think when the day dawns that I can regard the vehicle in front of me as anything but a challenge to overtake, it'll be about time to cook up the final big hit and put me out of my misery ...

May 23

The car sits loaded up on the gravel and we are bound for Cornwall and home. The previous time I visited Elizabeth's cottage I was a full-on, syringe-carrying smackhead. In fact, I was here to reduce myself from mainlining heroin to swallowing codeine tablets instead. Getting home to Penzance from that trip the first familiar face I encountered - on leaving the car park to walk to my flat - was that of my heroin dealer. I didn't know whether to punch him or score off him. Sadly I did the latter.

But hey, that was then. Now I have naltrexone in my system. Even so, I feel completely exposed and vulnerable.

May 26

As usual, since leaving the clinic I have had three hours of fitful sleep. After the anti- depressant sedative I take in the evenings, rising from the bed is a monumental effort but preferable to lying here, at the mercy of my thoughts. This particular morning I set about a bin liner full of laundry. I tackle the carpets, the dishes and the dusting and then it's down to the beach. At exactly 7.30 every morning an elderly lady appears and proceeds to cram her head into a rubber skull cap before dashing into the freezing cold sea. I am in awe of her.

It would be a distortion to say that I am enjoying my own company at the moment but I certainly prefer it to other people's. By what satanic route did I arrive at the point where I could tell my beautiful, pregnant partner: "I'm not sure if that baby is mine anyway." It happened in the street and it was loud and ugly. The effect was quite sobering. She feels rejected by me. Rejection becomes anger and anger becomes recrimination. The structure of our relationship - such as it was - has collapsed. At times we are like two strangers, trapped by proximity.

May 27

My GP looks long and hard at this resurrected vampire as I plonk myself down in his chair. Before leaving for Detox 5 I told him, "The next time you see me I will be asking for a repeat prescription of naltrexone", and here I am doing just that. I have gained more than a stone. I have colour in my cheeks too, but the real evidence of my detoxification is in my eyes. The demons have left them now. Back home, I go into the garden tool shed and punch the shit out of the maize bag hanging there for an hour or so. Afterwards, drenched in sweat, there is something missing. A sensation almost as familiar as the air I breathe, that feeling of serenity that comes from endorphins. Instead, my joints ache slightly and my stomach is churning. It is at this point that I retrieve the naltrexone box. The first paragraph of its consumer pamphlet explains: "Naltrexone hydrochloride is an opioid antagonist, which means that it blocks the effects of opioid drugs prescribed by your GP, (eg dihydrocodeine, morphine, and heroin) and the body's own opioids which occur naturally in the brain."

Side effects: difficulty sleeping, anxiety, cramps, nausea, lack of energy, joint and muscle pain, headaches, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, irritability, dizziness, reduced libido ...

I know, even before I have reached the end, that I will never take this drug again.

May 28

A fortnight out of detox. Pressure from family and friends since my decision to stop naltrexone, including a phone call this morning - this feels surreal - from a nurse at Harrogate ordering me to take it. I am torn between my revulsion at a drug that severely disagrees with me, and what I see as my responsibility to everybody, including my unborn child - who is due on Christmas day.

June 17

The back-slapping is all but behind me and now there is the business of carving out a future. A letter arrives inviting me to make an interview date at Cornwall College in Camborne, where I am hoping to go in September. I have already missed the standard Ucas entry system.

July 20

There is a problem with the baby. This morning there was a wake-up phone call from a specialist midwife. A blood test for spina bifida has come back "raised". We are given an emergency appointment for an ultrasound at Trelisk hospital. When our turn finally comes, the scan images show a perfectly formed baby. More blood to be taken tomorrow and then more days of waiting for the results. There is a brown A4 envelope on the doormat this evening. It is a letter from the college course coordinator, along with manuscripts I left for her to read when we met at interview. They cover my life as an addict, and the Detox 5 experience. She thanks me for my honesty. She would like to take this opportunity to offer me a place on the course. (Full title: "Management and Sport and Exercise Science".)

Another day

To any passing jogger I am just another driver sitting in my little black car at Long Rock beach. There is a wholesomeness about this scene: the dog walkers and, beyond, the wind and kite surfers skimming before a purple sunset. And I have no part to play in it. Dangling from my lips is a slim silver tube. In one hand is a clipper lighter and in the other a sheet of tin foil with a blob of molten heroin on it. Inside I am warm and comforted. The torture of whether to score has been wrestling with me all day. Tonight when I go to bed and switch the light off the shame will come smoking out of the darkness.

July 30

For every day I score some heroin there is a little red asterisk in my diary. There were two for the week before last, three for last week and by the end of this week I am vaulting over my dealer's back wall every other morning as the children on the estate make their way to school.

I need to get this under control before it is too late. My counsellor knows of another opiate blocker called Subutex. She will post me a pamphlet.

August 16

So doctor, the wheels have fallen off my dream wagon again. I need you to change my prescription from naltrexone to Subutex. Problem: only the local drugs team can prescribe this. A quick referral then? Minimum six-week waiting list, says my GP. By that time I will be addicted to heroin again.

We'll have to find a quicker route. Paul Wiggans runs the drug assessment and stabilisation programme based in Redruth. He has known me for many years. Based on that knowledge of my history, getting him to approve a Subutex prescription proves a simple matter of asking.

August 20

I collect my first prescription of Subutex. The white-coated pharmacist is polite. I notice that, unlike in Penzance, I haven't encountered a single other addict. Because Subutex, too, is an opiate blocker, it's likely I will have some withdrawal symptoms due to the heroin still in my system from last night. I toss the blister pack unopened into the car's console and reach for the ignition.

It has been a month since I began taking Subutex. Once a week I've come to see Paul Wiggans for a "quick chat" and a saliva drug test. This morning he has the lab results from the last four weeks. They are all negative. This comes as no surprise to me and yet it is immensely gratifying, with the autumn sun streaming through the window, to see it in black and white.

It seems too early to be openly rejoicing and yet I feel, for the very first time since my discharge from the clinic, that I am on solid ground. My emotions have a dry, healthy feel to them. After my 11 o'clock with Paul I resist a niggling urge to roll a joint in the car and make instead for the open beach.

Induction week at college has just finished. Yesterday the 15 individuals on my course introduced ourselves. I mentioned my ambition to work with young offenders in a sporting capacity. I spoke for maybe 10 minutes without mention of crime, prison, addiction. My portrait comes across as: one-dimensional do-gooder. November 11

Nadia feels slightly queasy - not unusual, but we decide to go to Trelisk hospital. The nurses quickly rig up a monitor. We are there most of the day, tense and yet reassured by the amplified sound of the little one's heart beating. A consultant decides Nadia should be admitted for observation. Just in case.

November 22

Exams. My tutor and fellow students know that Nadia is in hospital and I am moved by their interest and their kindness. Constant flitting between college, home and hospital. I am sleeping four hours a night and my weight has fallen quite dramatically.College life is good. I have a real reason to rise from my bed at 7 every grim, freezing morning. I am up to date on all my work. But as a group we have not gelled. There are a number of reasons for this, none of which are really important to me because there was never any question that I was going to get too close to anybody.

Christos is extracted from an incision in Nadia's abdomen as I stand holding her hand. His first scream is ear-splitting. Everything happening around me seems vivid and slightly out of sync, as though I am in shock.

A scan yesterday morning revealed that the amniotic fluid surrounding the baby was low. Nadia was distraught. The consultant was a grey-haired old gentleman in tweeds and half-moon glasses. His cheerful outlook priceless at that moment. I knew what was coming next, and sure enough they decided to perform the C section. After they left the room was very big. For a long time we sat holding hands. Later in the evening my mother set off from London to be here.

November 29

In class, a round of applause and I go red.

We take Christos out for the first time - to a restaurant to have dinner with Elizabeth. Almost everybody who walks past our table stops to look at him and occasionally to say how beautiful he is. By the end of it I am puffed up with pride.

Nadia and Christos were discharged on December 7. After college that day I drove to the hospital to collect them. Nadia's father and I had just moved her things from the tiny cottage in Penzance to another little place closer to mine. The idea was that this would become our home.

February 10 2005

My landlord and landlady have decided to sell their big house, which means that about a year after my arrival here I will have to say goodbye to my flat in paradise. But this time I will take with me a good reference. I walk to the beach and sit on the sand, in the exact spot I used to come to on those sleepless nights immediately after the Detox 5, when my body was still recovering from the shock and my emotions were all over the place.

The day-to-day routine that previously held my life together has now been swept away. Nothing can prepare you for nursing your own new-born little bundle. A typical day since going back to college after the Christmas break: Classes in the daytime. Boxing in the evening. Arrive home exhausted with two assignments to catch up on. Am still there with it at 2am. Three hours' sleepbefore baby wakes demanding a feed. Grab another hour's sleep before leaving for college at eight.

March 16

My 41st birthday. Nadia's mother looks after Christos and we go out for a meal.

At college there is a work placement module that requires a criminal records check. I am apprehensive about it. At what point - if ever - does a man with my background really put the past behind him?

May 23

Depression. In recent weeks this has intensified into bouts of paranoia and occasional panic in the street. My GP has prescribed anti-depressants, which sit in a drawer untouched. Taking more than Subutex does not appeal. I am glad when I receive an appointment through the post today to see a psychotherapist. I haven't a clue what psychotherapy involves.

Since my flat disappeared, I moved my possessions in early April to a little studio I managed to rent just behind the cottage. There has been a lot of friction between Nadia and me about my need to have a separate place. I love her completely and exclusively. But so much of my life has been in tiny prison cells - sometimes 24/7 for months - I need some solitude to function.

July 1

Down to Redruth for what will be my fifth session with Bill, my psychotherapist. To begin with I was sceptical but with each session I see more about why my life turned out the way it did. Sometimes I come out shaking and covered in sweat. I have more than my share of horror stories to tell. The stigma of my addiction and my criminal past cling to me and no matter how normal a person I become, I think this will always be so.

The first year of my course is over. In the college library during the days of June, only a few stragglers trying to catch up - I was one. Other students looked forward to the three-month break. I have been dreading it. College has provided structure in my life.

August

Now, Christos demands most of what I have by way of free time, and there is very little room for diary reflections about my life. Some things I can say. Towards the end of July the intermittent smog that has been my depression descended and decided to stick around for a while. There were days I could barely motivate myself to have a wash in the morning. Nothing had any meaning. One of the hardest aspects of an illness like this is that - to all outward appearances - my life contains all the ingredients of an enviable present and a bright future. That period of depression did pass.

Today

When it comes to recovering from heroin addiction I am now well into year two. I am almost unrecognisable from the character I was when I began this journal. That is not to say my life is a wheeze. It is not.

My struggle has shifted towards the matter of how, really, to be part of this small community. As a lifetime criminal I rarely spent more than a month or two in any location and as a convict I was constantly being ghosted from one jail to the next at the first sign of trouble.

I am unsure what the exact mechanics of assimilation are. My ignorance on the subject is quite profound. Father, boxing coach, fitness instructor, student, writer - I have no innate sense of public identity. If we are, in fact, merely the sum of what we think others think we are, then for the most part I am that geezer from London who pushes the pram along the cobbled streets every day.

Tentatively we have made a few friends. People to nod to in the street, shopkeepers passing the odd comment about the weather, the man from the pasty place on the corner who always asks if I am keeping out of trouble.

So I have, slowly, felt myself becoming assimilated here, as an individual and as the head of a small family. This has been difficult and at times painful. Social anxiety is the textbook name for it but in old money it amounts to caring what the neighbours think. And there it is in a nutshell. Today I care what the neighbours think, not least because that affects my family as well as me.

As each month passes, Christos becomes bigger, stronger and brighter. This might almost be a metaphor for the way I feel about myself.

· The cost of Andrew Constantine's detox was met by the Guardian in lieu of a fee for this article. Some names have been changed.

I don't think that there is any argument that suggests heroin enhances lifestyle, this is a refreshing story about a person trying to overcome his heroin addiction, which had created a very chaotic and anti social life style. Through a lot of hard work and perseverence Andrew got his life back in order. and has realised how heroin had ruined a number of years of his life.

Apologies for the long posting, just trying to provide a few more facts from a different perspective. BTW, I'm not going to disagree with the arguments about the damages that alcohol also does, but the actual thread is about Heroin dealers, so maybe we should try and discuss that, and the effects that heroind dealing, substance miss use etc, etc has on society in general.

Edited January 17, 2009 by mrtoad

[TAWP]

Substance abuse is very different substance use.

Until everybody is at home with the distinction this topic wont come anywhere but will be a repeat-posting of every other thread where we have yes vs no posts ad naseum.

[mrtoad]

Substance abuse is very different substance use.

Until everybody is at home with the distinction this topic wont come anywhere but will be a repeat-posting of every other thread where we have yes vs no posts ad naseum.

You are correct, however as certain person is using one side of the argument to justify the safety of such substances, then it is inevitable that this will happen.

In the end the substance in question in this thread is illegal anyhow in nearly every country in the world.

[oevna]

Heroin is not the same as alcohol or tobacco, and alcohol and tobacco are not the same as each other. They are all very different drugs, with different effects, and different degrees of addictiveness.

Some arguments have been made stating that nicotine is as addictive or more so than heroin, but clearly nicotine does not have the same effects on a person's ability to drive a car, take care of children, work on tasks that require attention and mental effort, etc.

The fact that heroin has some qualities in common with alcohol and tobacco to varying degrees does it mean that it should be treated with the same amount of regulation. The fact that there are harmful substances (like alcohol and tobacco) that are legal does not mean that we should legalize all other drugs.

To give a tangible example, most of the people I know who drink alcohol only drink small to moderate amounts, and are not addicted to it. Most who like to get very drunk only do so every once in a while, and sometimes go for long periods of time in between drinking moderately, or not at all. Of course there are exceptions, and we have all seen incurable alcoholics. I'm not saying that alcohol isn't addictive. But it is much harder to end up addicted to alcohol than to heroin.

Granted, I have known much fewer people who use heroin recreationally. But the ones I have known have all ended up addicted to it eventually, and spent more money than they can afford supporting their habits. The problem is, once you start using heroin, it's very hard to stop. If you happen to have the money to support an addiction, have a source of good quality heroin, and have the willpower to keep the dosage from getting too high over time, then it is possible to not suffer too many ill effects (other than inability to stop using it). However, not many people's situations match these criteria.

So, my suggestion to ourmaninbangers is, try asking your friends who use heroin to give it up for just one week and see what they do. Hint: don't stick around to see, because they'll tear you apart for more.

Now, ask your drinking friends to give up alcohol for one week. My guess is, nearly all of them can easily do it, and probably often go a week without drinking and don't even think about it.

[bunnaag]

Forgot to say :

(read with a deep, cold and shaky voice, kinda series Z ghost movie)

DRUUUUUUGZ IS EVIIIIIL !!!

That is all Marilyn Mansons' Fauuuuuult !!!

Heart cold cold I never said that the economic factor-which is huge considering all people invoved in the wine, beer and spirit field-should be a justification,but it is a fact.Besides the American Government tried it once during the days of Al Capone and found out it does not work.Production and distribution will go underground.Besides why should I make your day I dont know you.

[JacknDanny]

Oh no !

Not another source mentioning that Heroin is bad for you ! The great conspiracy raises it's head again ! Poor ourman(woman)inbangers(pattaya) must be shaking his/her head in disbelief at another example of how the vast majority of the world seems to think Heroin is bad for you. Oh why, oh why can't the voice(s) of his/her one (oops sorry, it's two now isn't it ?) experts be heard above the roar of the thousands of experts that say otherwise ?

The sad part of this story is it's only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. 7 kilos ? Probably the left-overs from a much larger shipment that they couldn't squeeze in. Hopefully, facing the death sentence (a definite likelyhood for Thai dealers), they'll offer up some bigger fish in exchange for commuted sentences. At least they'll be comforted in knowing that some people out there support their efforts to get rich by exploiting people and (in some cases) giving them their own prolonged death sentences.

shall we meet

go and talk to an expert about heroin?

there is use, and abuse

abuse of anything is bad, heroin in particular of course

not abusing it is not bad for you- this is about as established a fact as can be

I asked a doctor to post here saying this but she refused saying although this was true and everyone in the know knows this, she would be disciplined for saying this.

this is the same doctor who check's my friend who has been on smack since he was army in vietnam

perfect health...in every way.. and look's great he has good job, happy family, and there are many like him...this fact, not fiction

abuse vs use

do you understand the difference?

if not, lets meet I will help you adjust your compass

Meeting you would be like something out of a Jasper Carrott sketch, a la meeting the Nutter on the bus

[JacknDanny]

Oh no !

Not another source mentioning that Heroin is bad for you ! The great conspiracy raises it's head again ! Poor ourman(woman)inbangers(pattaya) must be shaking his/her head in disbelief at another example of how the vast majority of the world seems to think Heroin is bad for you. Oh why, oh why can't the voice(s) of his/her one (oops sorry, it's two now isn't it ?) experts be heard above the roar of the thousands of experts that say otherwise ?

The sad part of this story is it's only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. 7 kilos ? Probably the left-overs from a much larger shipment that they couldn't squeeze in. Hopefully, facing the death sentence (a definite likelyhood for Thai dealers), they'll offer up some bigger fish in exchange for commuted sentences. At least they'll be comforted in knowing that some people out there support their efforts to get rich by exploiting people and (in some cases) giving them their own prolonged death sentences.

shall we meet

go and talk to an expert about heroin?

there is use, and abuse

abuse of anything is bad, heroin in particular of course

not abusing it is not bad for you- this is about as established a fact as can be

I asked a doctor to post here saying this but she refused saying although this was true and everyone in the know knows this, she would be disciplined for saying this.

this is the same doctor who check's my friend who has been on smack since he was army in vietnam

perfect health...in every way.. and look's great he has good job, happy family, and there are many like him...this fact, not fiction

abuse vs use

do you understand the difference?

if not, lets meet I will help you adjust your compass

http://peebles.podomatic.com/player/web200...T05_26_50-07_00

Edited January 17, 2009 by JacknDanny