Opiate versus psychostimulant addiction: the differences do matter

[Chip (OP)]

I found this lengthy and technical study about the two diametrically opposed addictions and some of the commonality between them.

its all about addiction but not so much subculture. WE are the subculture and we are rarely studied.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3721140/

an excerpt or two:

Opiate addicts and psychostimulant addicts share some deficits in memory, cognitive flexibility and decision making. Studies using laboratory animals have shown that repeated exposure to cocaine or heroin impairs spatial memory and causes transient deficits in attention. These data suggest common neurobiological substrates for opiate- and psychostimulant-induced cognitive impairment. However, there is evidence that indicates that for some cognitive functions, particularly those related to impulsivity (a personality trait that is associated with drug addiction), there are some fundamental differences between opiates and psychostimulants. For example, cocaine and amphetamine addicts are more impulsive and show more pronounced deficits in attention and cognitive flexibility than heroin addicts. These behavioural differences resonate with observations that functional and structural abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex are less pronounced in heroin addicts than in cocaine addicts.

meaning that opiate users are far more rational and cooler ... as we suspected.

sorry to cut and paste but if you're interested, check it out.

However, there are several fundamental differences in the behavioural effects of opiates and psychostimulants. For example, in rats, exposure to cocaine causes an approach–avoidance conflict towards places that are associated with injection of the drug, whereas exposure to heroin does not. Studies that use a runway model suggest that intravenous heroin induces an appetitive incentive motivational state that causes an approach behaviour, similar to that induced by palatable food in hungry rats. By contrast, intravenous cocaine induces a motivational state with both an appetitive and an aversive component, leading to approach–avoidance behaviour similar to that caused by simultaneous exposure to food and shock in hungry rats.

[Becky]

LOL, in my early twenties I lived in Amsterdam, and while I didn't use anything at that time, I was pretty much surrounded by drug users.I remember finding the drinkers to be the most annoying followed closely by cocaine/speed users( God help us all when they did a  combo of the two lol). I found the Heroin addicts to be the most charming, because you could have a conversation with them and they did not have an over inflated ego when they were high. So, I can back up what that study says.Long before I ever touched opiates I knew we were simply a cooler, kinder bunch.

[Thoms]

Junkies are the best.. down with uppers and up with downers!!
I'm glad you aren't a run of the mill speed freak chipper! Lol

[Chip (OP)]

me too. I LOATH most of the ones I meet.

there is such a thing as a typical tweaker and I keep far away.

thanks for excluding me from that set but I was an opiate user also and so were my inner circle.

I'm a poly user - we're flexible