Yes but only cannabis, resin type, back when I was a teenager, got way too paranoid though and weird on it. Then I moved onto recreational use of harder drugs like Cocaine and amphetamine, only on weekends though for a few years. I then choose a career path that has zero tolerance on drug use so stopped and haven't touched drugs for about 9 years. Enjoy a good beer or 10 on a weekend now though

PS the worst addiction I have experienced 1st hand was when someone I knew very well became a nonfunctioning alcoholic and very nearly killed themselves through drink. This individual was in there 20's and nearly destroyed everything I held dear about my life. Addiction is a disease and a very deadly one at that.

Ps hope I haven't lowered the tone too much.

Addiction is very rarely the cause, only the effect of other causes. Millions are being prescribed morphine and only a subset of them will go on to develop addiction to morphine/opioids. The most typical causes of addiction include social alienation and isolation, depression, abusive and insecure environments, lack of familial ties and support, poverty etc.

In other words, unless if you have a reason to fear potential addiction (e.g. due to prior addiction, psychological dependencies etc) it is unlikely that you will become addicted to your medication.

Trust your doctors.

I can see your argument for tobacco, but the rest is reaching a lot.

With a 10 day supply of opioids, 1 in 5 become long-term users
The longer you use opioids, the greater the risks - and the risks rise fast.

The longer a person uses opioids, the greater the risk of forming a deadly addiction. But just how long does it take to switch from being a short-term user—say, while you’re dealing with pain after a surgery—to a long-term, potentially problematic user? A few weeks? A month?

https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/03/with-a-10-day-supply-of-opioids-1-in-5-become-long-term-users/

What always bugged me is the insane costs of a long run addiction - if you spend 10$ a day on cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis or more, you'll lose over 300000$ lifetime. I know people who smoked away the value of a house.

Yes to both. Some addicts spend extraordinary amounts of money on porn. Might start off with a payed site then cam sites then high class escorts and dirty prostitutes.

Some people start off with porn as just looking at girls. Then it devolves to PIV, then gay stuff even if they aren't gay to extreme fetishes that you may not have even heard of like rape, child, beastiality, etc. Some addicts then seemingly can't control themselves and play out their fetish... which leads to crimes and prison time.

Not the case at all for most people, even addicts. But just an example of extreme porn addiction.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=lung+cancer+deaths&oq=lung+cancer+deaths&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2168j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

http://www.lung.org/lung-health-and-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/lung-cancer/resource-library/lung-cancer-fact-sheet.html?referrer=https://www.google.ca/

1/4 cancer deaths are from lung cancer. "80-90% of lung cancer cancer cases are from smoking".

None of these things kill nearly as much as tobacco. I agree with one of your points, but not the rest. You can't ban people from using knives or driving because someone "could die". There is a fundamental difference between taking heroin and driving.

I was not expecting to see such harsh, ignorant responses in this thread. Drug addiction is not about being a weak-minded individual. The whole "addictive personality" trait is far from the reality; just about everyone is susceptible to becoming addicted to drugs. The difference is that many people never bother to even try drugs because it's a scary thing to take something that is going to make you "feel" different. Someone approaches you and offers you something you've never taken before... something that you can't comprehend what it's effects might be because you have never experienced it before. It's not something most people would even be remotely interested in, unless maybe the person offering it was a close confidant; someone you could trust.

I'm astonished at some of the posts on this thread. The idea of putting all drug addicts in jail, that makes me sick. Either you must not have put much thought into your comment, or maybe you have been personally affected, and hold a grudge. I can forgive and forget, as I am open-minded enough to understand that there was probably a good reason for you saying something like that.

Anyways, I was the last person I ever expected to become a drug addict. Raised in a normal household, near the top of my class, star of the soccer team, etcetera. I've always been good at everything, or so it seems. I'm only allowing myself to sound so conceited to paint the picture that not everyone who becomes addicted to drugs is the result of a sob story. My life was going great. In fact, I had just made the Dean's List after my first year at university, when (for all intents and purposes) a large bottle of prescription pain killers (10/325 oxycodone, if you must know) fell into my hands. I'd heard of the stuff, but had never tried it before.

After several days of researching the stuff online, I finally decided to try it one night. I can only describe it as the greatest feeling imaginable. It's a pure, natural feeling of happiness, the likes of which the human brain cannot output on it's own. So yeah, if case you were wondering, opiates make you feel absolutely amazing, amazing, wonderful. I cannot recommend it, for reasons that should be quite obvious. Over time, your body will begin to depend on it, and without it, you will feel sick (like the flu, except worse).

This isn't a case of mind over matter. I can very easily not take my medication. Sure, after a week or so, the early withdrawal symptoms subside, but the reason people go back to using again is because they never truly feel normal. It's not the effects of the drug that draw you to using again. This is why opiates are the only drug that an addict can actually go and seek help for, and get a prescription.

Fortunately, the drug that I got addicted to has at least allowed me to live a normal life. I work a full-time job as a web developer, have a healthy daughter, a loving wife, and I don't suffer from any issues with depression. Without the treatment that's available to people like me, I would be doomed, as purchasing opiates on the "street" is not cheap, it's unreliable, inconsistent, and never again.

I'm pretty immune to addictions. I can always stop when I want, though to be fair I haven't tried any hard drugs, but also have no desire to. Cigarettes, shisha, weed, alcohol, caffeine, no problem.

Once again, fundamental difference. You're thinking about something has is essential to our society, and something that is not and can only harm people. Drugs WILL harm you over time, especially the ones I stated over time. I do not think any drugs with the exception of weed should be legalized simply because of the risks.