Comment · Sat, September 8, 2012
David Nutt: If Alcohol Were Discovered Today, Would it be Legal? Booze has created a public health crisis of immense proportions
What they were answering
Borax · 3 points
Well that's the thing, it's incredibly unlikely with heroin too, but if you have a solid drinking session then you can wind up with physical withdrawals, which is the objective measure we need to be using here.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb
If we are talking physical withdrawal symptoms, then heroin takes it as well. Physical withdrawal symptoms from alcohol take prolonged use. You are thinking of a hangover, which is in no way a withdrawal symptom. Hangovers are due to dehydration, vitamin b and electrolyte depletion. Withdrawal symptoms arise from up-regulation of your acetylcholine, GABA, and NMDA receptors. That takes time. That being said, up-regulation of your opioid receptors takes time as well. However, the opioid system is much more involved in your body's reward system. It's much more likely that a person with a propensity for addiction would psychologically miss the feeling of the heroin high, and consequently continue re dosing. It's possible with alcohol, but less likely.