TTT - // AH: "There are plenty of people who would love to, and are capable of, indulging in a self-controlled heroin habit - but we don't let them because it is seen as 'evil', so no-one can have it legally." - Is that really possible Andy? Could there be functioning hard drug users? I must confess to little knowledge of this but I always thought that a couple of hits and that was the person addicted and thus inflicted with a sole purpose that overrides all else. //
It's more than a couple of hits - you actually have to put some work in to become addicted to heroin.
The popular image of that heroin addict - alternately strung out and incapable or frantically trying to score a fix, is as inaccurate as the perception of an alcoholic - red nose, falling over, incoherent.
Both can be true - but there are endless examples of addicts of either who function perfectly normally - because they don;t draw attention to their addiction, people simply are not aware of its existence - only attnetion-seeking behaviour gets attention.