Talk:Chasing the dragon

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Metaphorical Section

This whole part seems completely contrived. I have always been under the impression that chasing the dragon refered to the shape made on the foil left from the trails of combusted heroin.

The part about relating it to a bibilical term is silly, as the term is of Chinese orgin...

Needs to be taken out, seriously... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.147.132.239 (talk) 09:36, 7 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Additions

There is also a popularly covered song called chase the dragon. I've got no idea who wrote it but I know the machine gun fellatio version charted in Australia.

Reason for anonymity

I added the bit about efficiency from personal experience. Discretion seems obvious. You just have to take my word for it. --196.217.110.121 00:05, 30 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Heroin Legal in Netherlands?

Isn't this complete BS? Marijuana isn't technically legalised in the Netherlands, and since the Dutch policy differentiates between soft and hard drugs, there is no way in hell that Heroin would be legal there under the current system. I'll delete this crap. Dave Beta 16:21, 16 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Purpose?

Why give extended details on the techniques of inhalation, or make emphasis on this method being "safer"? I will edit this into encyclopedic neutrality if nobody can describe the reasoning. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 205.144.218.66 (talk) 07:17, 25 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

smoking heroin is a hell of a lot safer than injecting it. when smoking a bag of heroin, it is smoked one line at a time, and you roughly get10+ lines from a bag. However, when injecting it, you inject the WHOLE contents of the bag STRAIGHT into your veins, bypassing the liver. As it is hard to gauge the purity of street heroin, overdose from injecting is common. however, as with smoking, you would most probably pass out before being able to overdose, due to taking a bit at a time. Also, you are not injecting straight into your veins, so the impurities the heroin have been cut don't go straight to the veins. Also, no need to needle share, so little or no risk of transfering hiv. to sum up: smoking heroin carries the same risk of addiction as injecting, but the risk of overdose and contracting diseases from sharing needles are significantly lowered.219.77.147.11 (talk) 17:51, 25 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Needs total revision

This article is completely off. Aside from the fallacies such as "Though it requires more skill, "chasing the dragon" is safer than injecting heroin", the entire premise of this article is incorrect. Chasing the dragon refers to chasing your first high. It may have originated as a term to smoke opium, but the modern term encompasses much more. The quest to obtain that same celestial feeling you got the first time, which you'll never get because of experience, expectations, tolerance, etc. The song lyrics referenced imply this, especialy these:

"You're chasing the dragon, you're chasing the high. I bird with one whing who's still trying to fly"

You can chase all you want, but you'll never catch the dragon"

and this link agrees:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chasing+the+dragon

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.161.150.42 (talk) 22:15, 2 February 2007 (UTC).67.161.150.42 22:16, 2 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, "Chasing the dragon" has become a common term for continuing drug use in an attempt to receive the same high as the initial exposure to the drug. I've heard this explanation many times before & I think it should be cited in this article. Nagelfar 20:58, 27 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No, it's an old phrase and refers to smoking heroin, the "dragon" being I suppose the smoke. However they've got that bit wrong too. You don't -cough- that is, one doesn't keep the "beetle" of melted heroin moving to stop it forming an "unmanageable mass". One does it, because if the drug stays in the same place for too long it overheats and fries up, leaving you with nothing. I'm amazed this wrongness has a reference. They could've asked any smackhead. 188.29.165.219 (talk) 10:16, 29 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Premise? Being an encyclopedia, the "premise" is clearly definitive: the content distinguishes smoking heroin from other methods, etc. This is how I learned the term in the first place. I agree that there is some twaddle here though. Re Popular References, I seem to have unleashed a serpent. Yours, Mashford 01:15, 17 May 2007 (UTC) (original author)[reply]

And now all the "Popular References" are gone, with nary an explanation. Hmm. Mashford 00:41, 11 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

But of course this is (at least) the American slang meaning of the phrase, the seeking of the experience of the first high, all the other descriptions/origins are secondary, and perhaps superfluous. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.210.133.32 (talk) 06:15, 26 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Chinese Slaves?

What is this about Westerners keeping Chinese slaves??? What kind of alternate history is that? The entire section is historically inaccurate and rambling. I'm going to remove that section. I think at least a few of the people who contributed to this article were "chasing the dragon" at the time! Udibi (talk) 01:49, 7 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Split off In popular culture section

I think it's time to split the "In popular culture" section into its own separate list article. It's attracting a lot of crufters and getting too big, detracting from the actual useful content. Splitting it off would improve this article while still preserving the information. There is precedent for these kinds of splits: see 187 in popular culture which was split off from 187 (murder) and now that article is much better because of it. There's many other examples in Category:Topics in popular culture. -- œ ^™ 07:23, 1 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Technique

I think the article is a mess and should be rewritten like this:

Title Chasing the dragon

Short description

Chasing the dragon refers to inhaling the vapor from heated heroin
Chasing the dragon could also refer to to the elusive pursuit of the ultimate high

Technique Here there should be a better description of how chasing the dragon is done, since this is actually the subject of the article.

What has been mentioned allready
Vapor and not smoke is inhaled
Aluminium foil is used because of high thermal conductivity
When an aluminum tube is used, it is constructed in such a way, that it can be unfolded, and the heroin that has been stuck inside can be smoked
The aluminium foil is heated with a lighter before use, to burn of toxic coatings

...

Comparison to other methods

Less risk of overdose
Less risk of disease transmission

...

The "In popular culture" section is way to big ! I havent't checked, but I don't think the cigarette article mentions every movie where someone is smoking a cigarette. I'm new to wikipedia editing, so forgive me if I'm missing something. What do you think about my suggestions ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Knowww (talk • contribs) 03:09, 22 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I think they're great suggestions, and I totally agree with you on the "In pop culture" section, it's gotta go. Although, if you intend to rewrite the article please try to follow the guidelines set out in Wikipedia:Writing better articles, it's a great primer if you're new to writing articles for Wikipedia. PS. don't forget to sign your posts so the SineBot doesn't come after you! and welcome to Wikipedia, I left a welcome message on your talk page that has some helpful links you should check out. -- œ ^™ 11:20, 22 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the welcome!!! I'm not sure I have the skill to make a complete rewrite, since english is not my primary language. Also, I'm afraid of waisting my time, because I looked at the article history, and some of my additions has allready been added and then deleted. Fx the thing about preheating the aluminium to burn off toxic coatings, which in a way is pretty important (unless you want to sterilise the users). Perhaps the problem is, that everybody does that, but nobody writes about it?! I'm not even sure that http://www.heroinhelper.com mentions it. I think, that chasing the dragon means to chase the rising vapor, which looks a bit like a dragon, not to chase the liquid heroin on the aluminium foil, which looks nothing like a dragon. A nice warning, that the content of the article cannot be trusted. Something has to be done, but I'm not sure that I'm the one doing it. Knowww (talk) 20:29, 23 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

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Advantages section

Advantages section should be cited, also this sentence "However, oral administration may also eliminate these risks, but the high is much less intense and longer." is ambiguously worded. Is it saying that the high is longer lasting or that or that the high's duration is decreased? --Badpagenoticer (talk) 22:57, 13 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]