Reply To: Drugs Abuse and ADHD

[wanderquest]

Do you think this is true even for super-fastly addictive drugs like heroin and meth? I could see this as a real possibility for most drugs like alcohol and cocaine but those two seem particularly scary and able to affect anybody who tries them.

I  agree about the drug-campaigns losing almost all credibility once you get to a certain age and see “normal” people using them freely with no issues.

When I was growing up our schools participated in the D.A.R.E. programs. I bought in fully and was completely anti-drug. Then when I got into highschool and college and realized that they don’t make people lose their minds, I started trying all kinds of stuff.

Never heroin and never meth though, because I knew of how fast you could get addicted and that scared me. Seeing pictures of those addicts is what drove home that message for me as something I didn’t want to chance.

My own personal experience told me I didn’t have a problem with marijuana, I need to be careful with alcohol, and that after only one experience I knew I needed to never ever do cocaine again. The one time I did it I could feel myself immediately wanting more right away. I had a friend (thank God) stop me and I knew it was something I could never do again or I would probably keep going until it killed me.

I have a family history of alcoholism, so I kinda knew I needed to be careful of that even after I had decided to ignore any anti-drug crap I heard from the government or school authorities. But I honestly believed this hereditary inclination only applied to alcohol.

It is pretty well established that drug use is higher amongst those with ADHD, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the postulation that it’s a pre-requisite in the other direction though.

Dopamine deficit sounds more accurate and something less likely to be a stigmatic “label” for those that have it,  but by calling it Attention Deficit, more people are likely to realize they may have it in the first place.

And as another anecdotal bit from my own experience, I have barely had any interest in drinking since I’ve been taking Vyvanse. Not that I was drinking heavily beforehand, but I can just tell I have less desire to have a beer after work.

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