Heroin dan Candu
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A Thread.

At the end of 2018, one of my friend passed away on Heroin / Fentanyl addiction. It is super surprising how easy people can get Heroin. It’s equal to order a pizza. Hell I think people are more afraid in buying weed.

It is a formal study (still an early phase).

I do have consent from the subjects. A police investigation / case is under process (ngurusin izin). I also need permission from NHS (National Health Service) -it’s on process.

My friend passed away in her sleep di Jakarta Selatan. No one know she took Heroin. She got:
1. Great family, no history of abuse.
2. Great job, decent pay.
3. Good relationship.

Ga keliatan sm sekali. Sama sekali ga seperti stereotype addict. She looked happy.

Dari situ gue percaya candu itu penyakit dari definisi “disease”. Penyakit itu harus memenuhi dua kriteria:

Ada gejala-gejala (symptoms) dan treatable (bisa disembuhkan).

Tolong kalau ada yg dari Medical World dan punya sanggahan silahkan banget! It will help me with my study.

Gue interview 2 orang in two meetings. Ini orang pertama. Perempuan. Anak 2. Have a good job. Functioning perfectly. She inject heroin daily.

This is the transcript:

Drugs: Heroin
Method: Injection
Dose : (?)
Female, 30-ish.

Udh berapa lama pakai?
- sekitar 5 tahun.

Berapa kali sehari?
- 1-2 kali.

Berapa kali pakai sampai tahu kalau kecanduan?
- 1 kali. Awalnya Vicodin, terus berlanjut ke Heroin.

Udah pernah ketahuan sama anaknya. Udah pernah ditangkep polisi. Udh ketahuan sm keluarga. Udh abis duit. She doesnt stop.

Gue percaya kalau decision making is an instinct -its an evolutionary process. Otak kt secara natural fokus ke 3 hal:

1. Pleasure (Sex + Food)
2. Avoiding pain.
3. Energy conservation.

Here’s a study. Intinya, kalau pigeon dikasih cocaine, it will choose cocaine over freedom / sex / food.

Pertanyaannya, why?

Otak emang secara natural bakal milih mana yg paling banyak pleasure, ga ada pain, dan paling effective (energy conservation).

Jadi, saat 3 faktor itu terpenuhi. Otak bakal mikir kalau it’s doing the right thing. Rasanya enak + it feels right.

Jadi, pas dikasih cocaine, the pigeon think “hey Im doing the right thing” -and its survival instinct stay dormant.

Ini namanya “pleasure trap”. Dimana otak kt dapet pleasure dari bad things- tp kita mikir it is good karena memenuhi 3 kriteria tadi.

Ini ga cuma apply to drugs, but everything. Contohnya :
1. Makan McD
2. Ngerokok
3. Minum alkohol
4. Makan gula / garam / makanan banyak spice

Rasanya kecanduan gimana?

She answers :
“Bayangin aja lo makan 20 piring + obat pencahar + ga tidur and try your best to ga berak look sober for 3 days ”

Udah bertahun-tahun pemikiran tentang drugs berakar dari kriminal. The idea is punish people who do drugs, because we believe that would deter them ; incentive to stop.

Here’s a cheat sheet tentang stereotype yg salah dr addiction and the myth:

1. Chemical di drugs makes you addicted.

The answer: No.

Diamorphine adalah Heroin yg dipakai buat painkiller operasi. Di UK, banyak banget orang operasi dikasih ini untuk berbulan-bulan. Keluar dari RS, they dont become an addict.

Why?

Padahal diamorphine:
1. Lebih pure dari street heroin.
2. Dikasih dalam jumlah banyak dalam jangka waktu bulan.

There’s this experiment:
Tikus ditaroh di kandang, satu dikasih air, satunya dikasih air isi cocaine / heroin.

Hasil experimen:
Tikus bakal milih air Heroin daripada air biasa. Tikus biasanya mati dalam 2-3 hari.

Dari situlah muncul pemikiran “oh berarti Heroin causes addiction”

In the 1970s, Professor Alexander menemukan hal yg salah dari experimen ini:

1. Tikus ditaruh di kandang tanpa stimulan dan teman. It has nothing to do selain minum.

2. Jadi pilihannya antara ga ngapa-ngapain - drug water - water.

Jadi Professor Alexander bikin kandang isinya tikus lain, mainan, all the fun things for mice. Terus ditambah water heroin + water biasa.

Hasilnya? The mice is 90% not using the drugs. Kalaupun minum, it will stop over time.

Kandang kosong : 100% overdose.
Kandang happy: 0% OD.

Ada human experiment ga? Ada.

Jawabnya adalah: Vietnam War.

(Source: Johann Hari)

Jadi, jaman perang, US Soldier banyak yg make heroin di Vietnam (20%).

US citizen terus jd takut. Males banget men abis perang ada ratusan ribu heroin addict balik ke rumah jd tetangga lu.

Anehnya, waktu balik ke US, they dont become ad addict. They stop. Setelah years of using Heroin. No rehab, no withdrawal. 95% of them just stopped.

“What if addiction is not about chemical hook? What if addiction is about your cage? What if addiction is about adaptation on your environment?” -Johann Hari

Profesor Peter Cohen:

“Mungkin kita harus stop saying “addiction”. Maybe we should call it “bonding”.

Manusia butuh bonding (membuka hubungan dengan orang lain). Dan disaat gagal, atau ga bisa bonding, kamu bakalan bonding sama sesuatu yg bisa ngasih “damai”. Mungkin itu bokep, judi, atau, well, heroin.

You will bond and connect with something (whatever it is) because it is our nature.

So first step dan recommendation in addiction is reviewing your addiction. To make it more-relatable, lets talk about our favourite subject : Toxic Relationship.

Karena kita bisa bonding sama apapun, ga heran kalo kt bonding juga sama sesuatu yg inherently bad: toxic boyfriend / girlfriend. The thing is, it give us pleasure / peace. Merasa aneh karena orang2 bilang kalau u tersiksa tp u tetep aja gas pol? Yea~ it’s an addiction.

You want to break the addiction? Break the bonding.

Temen ada yg bilang “my cigarette is my best friend”. Baru nyadar skrng kalo he means it. Emang yg selalu ada and give his pleasure ya rokok. It’s not about the cigartte, it’s about the bond between you and cigarette.

Itu makanya pemerintah pengen semua branding rokok mati dan jadi plain box (contoh di UK). Ya karena ini merusak bond antara brand-image dan kita.

Contoh: Image Marlboro = upper class professional. Bond with Marlboro is enforcing the image. Kalau brand-image nya dibunuh , bond-nya juga berkurang. Kalau km upper class professional, rasanya agak “gak pas” kalo ngerokok plain box. Ga nambah image-making anymore.

Disinilah kita harus pindah dari fokus “individual recovery” ke “social recovery”. Sad society creates more addict. Dibanding Indo, UK drug consumption is super high. They are one of the highest drug using society in the world, even among european.

Yang bingung sih kalau nyembuhin addiction yang disaat yg sama bikin emotional / human bonding. Contohnya? Rokok di Indo. Rokok itu social tool, jadi bingung juga gimana solve-nya kalau pakai approach ini hha. I smoke too and I enjoy and hate it.

Lanjut lagi nanti ya~ it’s a long ass thread-! And please do give thoughts / experience / study karena this study will be graded by my university lol

Sementara itu mungkin mau check this amazing guy:
1. Mantan drug dealer
2. Kriminal, grow up in the hood in Miami.
3. Family use drug, keep gun in his car.
4. Sekarang? Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology in Columbia University

His name is Professor Carl Hart.

Disinilah ada 2nd Myth:
“Everyone who use drugs have drug problem”

Professor Carl Hart: 80-90% of the people who use illegal drug, dont have drug problem. Most are responsible member of our society. They are employed, pay their taxes, and even become prominent figure.

Ini lebih gila lagi, nonton deh:

“I believe leaders should run the organization like addicts” - Michael Brody Waite

Dia percaya kalau addict is a functioning human being with disease. Jadi, like a disease, pasti ada recovery. Disini dia naruh 3 prinsip recovery yg qualify as leader characteristic:

1. Lakukan kegiatan-kegiatan non-drugs secara ketat.

2. Pasrah / ga mikirin outcome.

3. Lakukan pekerjaan2 tidak menyenangkan (gambar, shitposting, bikin thread, review manga...)

These activities should be invested in one thing: connection.

The opposite of addiction is connection.

Okay I guess two is enough (sebenernya ada the whole paper but I guess this is enough for a thread). Now, what should we do to break addiction?

1. Glass of Water.

Bukan “a glass a day”. Tp minum air putih doang selama 24 jam-no food no cigarette nothing. It will increase your taste bud and good / healthy food will taste better.

From: Lisle, Director of Research for TrueNorth Health Center.

2. Juice Diet

Masih sama, cuma minum juice. Tp selama 2-3 hari. Disini we put our salty and fat receptor offline. Depriving your sense to adjust sensitivity.

3. Transformative Journey.

Text your friend or your closest one (yang mengerti and approving) that you have drug problem. Focus on connection, bonding, pacaran or anything. Remember, it is ALWAYS unpleasant and long work-

You have a DISEASE and you need HELP. But no one can help you if you dont help yourself. Start when you are ready- karena pada akhirnya ya it is about you. But it is CURABLE. You can be HEALED.

One of my biggest regret is not being able to help my friend who died. I will never let this happen again. If you think you need help, DM me anytime. I have 30s people over me already, sabar2 yah kalau lama balesnya hehe~

Imbecile have someone studying medical doctor and we are happy to have other doctors help our addiction-break community. Dont expect to get paid because imma beat ur ass if u do.

Rebahan is better than doing drugs #HariRebahanNasional

Someone asked "what about other drugs"? Well it applies to everything. However, untuk mana yang harus ditangani dulu, acuan-thread ini dari sini. Jadi prioritas teratas ke bawah pakai grafik ini :)

Khusus untuk synthetic marijuana / tembakau super, we have special care and hotline 24/7. We also have quite manpower to conduct consultation dan arahan ke dokter mana. This is purely community-built so NO PROFESSIONALS.