I know someone who takes it on a daily basis. You would not be able to tell that he uses. It makes him productive (he works in IT), he takes it to combat anxiety and depression. It works for him. He voluntarily goes through withdrawal occasionally so he will not have to increase the dose. He is in a healthy relationship, and so forth. He might be an exception, I do not know.
All the side-effects are a result from the War on Drugs: not knowing the purity of the batch, adultered products, and so forth. This is why accidental overdoses happen. This is why it is bad for your health for the most part, because God knows with what it is mixed. Intentional overdoses happen too, but that happens with OTC medications, too, so heroin is not so special in that regard.
Thanks, yes that's true that if the {legal, moral, medical} context was better most of the problem would be gone. People able to workaround the difficulties of this drug may well be fine.
My point was that, in the current context, the use or heroin is hazardous -- in our current society, for most people -- which is not the case for virtual sex and related toys (if not horribly dysfunctional).
Yeah, he does not use it for recreational purposes or escapism, so I believe that changes a lot. He has been doing it for years without any side-effects. He had MRI, blood tests, and so on. Everything's good.
I do not know much about virtual sex. What are the possibilities and limitations of virtual sex today?
You mention "horribly dysfunctional" further down. That's what I have a problem with.
I see these cardboard sex-simulacra trapping, for example, young men in local optima where they never go and talk to a real girl- even young men who could, if they tried, and who'd be happier in the end for it.
Anything that increases the number of incels in the world is a bad thing, for everyone.
People who don't need it just won't use it.
It's not a "smoker / passive smoker" effect, they will not disturb other people.