Talkinandwalkin

I was having a conversation with a family member ,that has no idea that I was an alcoholic, about drugs that can be addictive the first time someone tries them. They insisted the drug dealers responsible for this plague should get life sentences? Oddly enough the addict in the conversation ,me ,was willing to be far more gracious. My relative kept hanging the justification of the life sentences on this first time addiction idea. Is it true that some drugs can create addiction with one try? Regardless It does not change my point of view I am just curious.

ScottFromWI

I was probably an addict before I even had my first drink. It's really impossible to say for certain, but some people start using addictively after the first time.

Talkinandwalkin

I agree that issues we bring to the table make it far more probable that we become addicts. What I was referring to was drugs I have no experience with that cause someone to be in a chronic stage immediately. For instance it took me years to get there with alcohol.

ScottFromWI

We are all different. I've heard of some drugs that suck people in very quickly like Heroin and Meth. But to he honest it doesn't really matter all that much I don't think...addiction is addition.

JeffreyAK

I found cocaine to be horribly and rapidly addictive, and I got sucked down that hole for a brief period in the 80s before I came to my senses and stopped on my own. But I know some people who hated it the first time they tried it, and never did it again. Alcohol, on the other hand, I didn't really like that much when I first tried it, but that's the drug that nearly ruined me in middle age. So, I guess it depends.

Ladyshipwreck

I don't know anyone personally but I have watched many documentaries about drugs. I definitely believe that sometimes it can happen that people get addicted immediately, sometimes by accident. For instance, this one girl was with some guys and they asked her if she wanted some ecstasy. She said yes and did the drug. The drug was not ecstasy. It was Flakka (a somewhat new synthetic drug). That was all she wrote. After that, it's all she could think about.

about Flakka:
"A compound like alpha-PVP, stimulates an unnatural and unsustainable level of dopamine and can lead to significant and immediate cravings for the substance"

MelindaFlowers

It took my years of working at it to become a full-fledged alcoholic.

I hated the taste of beer the first time I tried it.

Ken33xx

I abused everything almost immediately. First time I drank I got drunk. First time I got high I couldn't wait to get high again. Directions recommend two, I'll take four.

tomsteve

i became a crackhead with one hit on a crackpipe.

zjw

I think before I got chemically addicted I had this deep underlying deviant desire to drink when ever I could. Even when I was a kid I couldn't wait to pour me a little something from the liquor cabinet when the parents where not around. That being said I had a way of just getting into trouble so thats all it could have been too but I dunno.

Mklove

I got high on being with people who got high, always can spot those people in any crowd. From age 14 on I was smoking it, drinking it, popping it, didn't really matter what, always with people who lived it too. Remarkably, we made it through milestones and kept jobs for the most part. It was only in the last few years drinking at home became my mantra, lots of home parties, sometimes only with me in attendance.

zjw

yeah thats about how it went down for me. I can recall making gravity bongs with my friends in my bedroom at 19 years old and getting drunk. Fast forward out of our little group I'm the only sober one now. Many never got married but. We all did get good jobs and become something in life and so on. Now while i'm on the sober train and lifes getting better for me. I see some of them going through the same things that I went through prior to sobering up.

I guess the body can just only take so much. LIke they say you either get locked up, covered up, or sober up.

entropy1964

Hmmm. Well we already have a prison system that is far too huge, over crowded and costing a fortune. So many non violent offenders doing time. And if they weren't hardened criminals on the way in, they probably are on the way out. And potentially connected to more powerful gangs and cartels. And what of the drug companies? Legal drug pushers. Sooooo, don't know the answer but jailing an uneducated, probably poor, probably minority for dealing? Don't think that will solve the problem.

I think prevention, education and treatment is key. But I don't have the answers. However jailing people is not curbing the problem. Overdoses from both street opiates and 'legal' opiates are up exponentially.

The addict buys the stuff and uses it. It seems to me that's where the responsibility lies. Maybe all the people buying should be jailed for 5 years. Keep em sober. Educate them. That'd be interesting.

SoCalDude

Think I'm just addicted to everything. Alcohol, intimacy, work, smoking, pretty much anything that is bad for me. Well, I guess work isn't too bad. Thank goodness I was too scared to try any illegal substances.. I knew where that would lead.

I just try to change, daily, on what my addiction will focus on. Lately it has been family, friends, volunteer work, Church, and things that can help others before helping myself. I'm addicted to 'service' now, as my higher power has spared me and kept me around for something, I better make good on it.

Mountainmanbob

Due to the 3 Strike Law in California (which was recently changed giving judges more flexibility) we have many, many drug dealers doing 25 years to life.

I think something more reasonable would be.

Dumb young dealers selling a few pills etc - 1 year in jail.
First offense big suppliers -------------------- 10 years prison time.
Multiple offenses ------------------------------- 20 years in prison.

Note -- 20 years is a very, very long time.
Many murderers get out before 20 years.

Just some thoughts regarding a very complicated matter.

Question -- what if it was your son or daughter who got caught?

M-Bob

PS -- I've tried a lot of different things and I can't think of any that got me hooked the first time that I tried them. Of course many times I kept coming back for more because, I liked the effect.

entropy1964

Question -- what if it was your son or daughter who got caught?

That's a good question. And a tough one. I hope I never have to deal with it.

Anna

This was me, too.

JeffreyAK

It's easy to say, "Hang 'em!" from your armchair, with no experience in addiction, but fortunately society is somewhat more reasonable.

But at some point, I don't know exactly where, it's time to incarcerate people who refuse to accept treatment and continue doing illegal things associated with their addictions - selling drugs, DUIs, robberies, home invasions, fights and domestic violence, etc. For a long time, if that's what their crimes call for. I can totally understand how people who don't understand addiction, and just see the criminality associated with drugs (but often not with alcohol, though alcohol is probably responsible for the largest amount), want to hang 'em all.

Jack465

Me too. There was never a time when I didn't want to get as drunk as possible. I've been that way since the first time I ever drank alcohol.

khendal46

The first time I got intoxicated off of any substance I though "This is amazing! I can't wait to do it again!!". That's just my addictive personality. I don't agree with your relative that it's the drug dealer's fault. Demand creates suppliers. I have never had a drug dealer knocking on my door forcing me to take more drugs.