I had steadily avoided it for all of my life up until I began to live with some friends who were daily users.
I had after all, grown up in the Great Satan, the USA where drug users {(drugs besides caffeine, nicotine and alcohol) have been demonized since 1936 (or before!)} and had an uncle who was deemed the "leper" of the family and shunned etc because he was a "junkie." So, I did have some fear of the drug and that is why I would only try it via smoking b/c I knew I could titrate the dose perfectly that way, avoid "hot shots......" you get my drift.
I normally don't care for Opiates in general.....they are excellent for PAIN!!!!! But had never taken them just for BOREDOM or worse, "lovesickness." Now a caveat..none of my friends used it IV (one was a previous Iv user, but he's blown all his veins by the time I met him.)
So, they all just smoked it. About 5 guys, 1 girl used daily about 4-6 times a day (smoking it with the "aluminum foil method,") and one older man only used tobacco and I preferred coke freebase only. They (the heroin users) claimed it was impossible to just use freebase with out "balancing it with heroin." I showed them it was possible, though I made no converts......
Yet living with it everyday, and smelling the pleasant smell of it, finally I accepted an offer to try it. It was ok. Nothing really special in my opinion...but a nice mellow "warm fuzzy feeling." And it definitely was an anxiolytic. And a couple times I tried it, I was injured and it really did help my back after I had been hit on a bicycle by a car.