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bigmike7104
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Registered: 07/12/10
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Loc: USA
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interesting study on addiction you may have never heard of
#14037058 - 02/27/11 05:02 PM (13 years, 6 days ago) |
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i posted this in the other drugs discussion but thought I'd post here for more people to see.
i came across this study on morphine called rat park done in the 70s that seem to show it's the environment(or whether the person uses to self medicate) and not the drug that causes addiction. also below is a human version of study.
Quote:
Alexander's hypothesis was that drugs do not cause addiction, and that the apparent addiction to opiate drugs commonly observed in laboratory rats exposed to it is attributable to their living conditions, and not to any addictive property of the drug itself.
To test his hypothesis, Alexander built Rat Park, an 8.8 m2 (95 sq ft) housing colony, 200 times the square footage of a standard laboratory cage. There were 16–20 rats of both sexes in residence, an abundance of food, balls and wheels for play, and enough space for mating and raising litters.[3] The results of the experiment appeared to support his hypothesis. Rats who had been forced to consume morphine hydrochloride for 57 consecutive days were brought to Rat Park and given a choice between plain tap water and water laced with morphine. For the most part, they chose the plain water. "Nothing that we tried," Alexander wrote, "... produced anything that looked like addiction in rats that were housed in a reasonably normal environment."[1] Control groups of rats isolated in small cages consumed much more morphine in this and several subsequent experiments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park
and a human version of the rat park study
Quote:
Then there are the thousands of American soldiers who became heroin addicts during the Vietnam War. In an unrivalled demonstration of the effect of setting, a 1975 survey found that 88 percent of them simply stopped using the drug when they left the war zone. Their experience has been recreated by millions of hospital patients who have received (and become physically dependent on) morphine for severe pain
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2007.12-health-rat-trap/2/
also from an article on how most people who use, use it recreationally
Quote:
A 1976 study by the drug researchers Leon G. Hunt and Carl D. Chambers estimated there were 3 or 4 million heroin users in the United States, perhaps 10 percent of them addicts.
http://reason.com/archives/2003/06/01/h/1
yet scientists do studies with the rat alone in a cage and politicians use these results as support for the war on drugs with slogans like "Heroin is so good. Don't even try it once," or "Crack cocaine is instantly addictive."
any thoughts?
-------------------- Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines
Edited by bigmike7104 (02/27/11 05:14 PM)
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realfuzzhead



Registered: 03/03/10
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Re: interesting study on addiction you may have never heard of [Re: bigmike7104]
#14037076 - 02/27/11 05:06 PM (13 years, 6 days ago) |
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Fungal-one
Kneegrow



Registered: 07/14/10
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Re: interesting study on addiction you may have never heard of [Re: bigmike7104]
#14037090 - 02/27/11 05:08 PM (13 years, 6 days ago) |
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I can buy that. As you may or may not know I used to be a heroin addict. Since my accident in October my body is royally fucked and working without pain meds is impossible. I take ~50 mgs of oxycodone every morning with my coffee. I work 14 hours a day usually and never miss a beat. Today I decided to take a day off and havent taken a single pill. I only need them at work when I'm on my feet.
Hmmm, now that you mention it, I think I'll take a few for fun.
-------------------- Never judge a man until you walk a mile in his shoes. But, by that time you're a mile away and you got his shoes, so fuck em.
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Mad_Larkin

Registered: 11/29/07
Posts: 18,606
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Re: interesting study on addiction you may have never heard of [Re: bigmike7104]
#14037091 - 02/27/11 05:08 PM (13 years, 6 days ago) |
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Very interesting. I think heroin IS addictive but a lot of drug studies definitely are incredibly flawed.
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bigmike7104
Stranger

Registered: 07/12/10
Posts: 1,395
Loc: USA
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Re: interesting study on addiction you may have never heard of [Re: Mad_Larkin]
#14037106 - 02/27/11 05:12 PM (13 years, 6 days ago) |
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of course it's addictive but these numbers and the fact most users are recreational seem to show it's addictive not in that the high is awesome but the high makes it easy to turn to to self medicate.
-------------------- Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines
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bigmike7104
Stranger

Registered: 07/12/10
Posts: 1,395
Loc: USA
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Re: interesting study on addiction you may have never heard of [Re: bigmike7104]
#14037159 - 02/27/11 05:23 PM (13 years, 5 days ago) |
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also another interesting statistic from reason magazine
Quote:
The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse indicates that about 3 million Americans have used heroin in their lifetimes; of them, 15 percent had used it in the last year, 4 percent in the last month.
-------------------- Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines
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Fungal-one
Kneegrow



Registered: 07/14/10
Posts: 5,356
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Re: interesting study on addiction you may have never heard of [Re: bigmike7104]
#14037215 - 02/27/11 05:33 PM (13 years, 5 days ago) |
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mmmmmmm, heroin
-------------------- Never judge a man until you walk a mile in his shoes. But, by that time you're a mile away and you got his shoes, so fuck em.
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