Why do people do drugs?

[TN_Vixen]

KM..

"drugs" as a category cannot be conceptualized. As we've seen in these posts and posts in the past about the use of drugs, some drugs are considered a lot more harmful than others. The argument that pot is not as harmful as liquor has been around for ages. And, personally.. I think the argument has vailidity.

I was one of the most adament people against drug use growing up and in my early to late teens. I was always taught at home, and fostered frienships with people who found those who used drugs as "losers" or at least lower than my own perceived stature in life.

but then, when I was 18, (yes 18 is kinda old to begin using), I tried pot and realized that I was this mellow, non-agressive, genteel person while under the influence and not only that but the sex was fucking awesome while high. Your senses are heightened and your body responds in a very physical yet cerebral way to the stimulation given. Of course this is addictive, of course it reaps consequences .. so I found out later in life and adjusted so that using pot wasn't a factor in my everyday life.

Other drugs don't necessarily result from the use of mild narcotics such as pot, but statistics show that given use of other drugs previously leads to harder drug use in life as you get older and more willing to experiment with other means of alternative mind states.

I've only experimented with some drugs. Pot being one and coke being another. Once I took extacy and once I ate mushrooms but nothing gave me the mental exhiliration as pot used to in my using days. Pot smokers, from what I recall, are the most non-threatning, nonabusive, non-confrontational people I know.

They are just happy with a sack of weed and a movie on the VCR and a cabinet full of munchies. What's harmful about that?

 

[Weevil]

The music too. Without weed Pink Floyd would never have sold an album

I gotta be with Mr. Wizard on this one. It is a recreational thing that isn't as harmful as Alcohol and the only negative thing its ever led to is too much Pringles.

I've tried Weed, LSD, MDMA, Shrooms, Ecstasy, Special K, Speed and others and the thing I've learned is this. Too much is bad. Too much of anything is bad. Watching TV, playing Nintendo and what have you. Do I know people who have fucked up their lives because of Drugs? Yup. Do I know people who have fucked up their lives because they were simply too fucking uptight? Once again yes.

If you can keep your use to a sane amount Drugs can be a fine way of enhancing your day.

Helps when you write songs too

 

[Problem Child]

Ever seen anyone high on pot want to go out and want to kick someone's ass? Ever seen a mean drunk? Get my point?

The so-called War on Drugs is a crock of shit. Your sons and daughters can get drugs as easily as they can go down to 7-11 and buy a bag of chips. Trying to stop the flow of illegal narcotics into a nation as large and free as ours is impossible, and the attempt is slowly turning us into a police state.

If we decriminalised and taxed all the drugs consumed in this country and then took that money and combined it with the billions spent each year on this futile attempt to control human behavior, we would be a hell of a lot better off. Plus the police would be able to concentrate on real crimes, and we wouldn't have to keep building prisons like concrete and chain link fencing was free.

People are people. They are gonna fuck up their lives no matter what the consequences. Might as well put the money into helping them get rehabbed, rather than throwing them in jail. Jail never reformed or corrected a single person.

 

[Gingersnap]

There is no simple answer

I deal with people in pain all the time. People are all different and have varying degrees of tolerance to drugs. I am very happy tylenol works for you KM but pain meds are not all that effective for neurogenic pain. So that makes sense that tylenol would work as well as percadan for you. I do not try to judge other people's pain I seek only to help them deal with it. In my experience I have found more drug seeking behavior among people whose pain was inadequately treated in the past. They tend to be the ones who say give me 100 mg of Demerol every four hours around the clock.

People use all kinds of things as drugs chocolate, food, sex and pharmaceuticals. I think it has more to do with a serotonin and dopamine receptors and variable levels going on in the brain. Certainly if I was living on the street again with no shelter or food or hope I would take comfort where I could find it. If I was hearing voices from Mars telling me to destroy the earth and a few drinks took them away I would do it too. My point is that there are as many reasons why people take drugs as there are people. I was introduced by my doctor and mother when I was eleven years old. I don't think I am the only person. We have thousands and thousands of kids on Ritalin right now. I was able to focus my life and not fall into the drug using hell. I know many others who did not escape it. They use it for pain control too. The pain in their hearts and souls. I look at them and think to myself there but for the grace of God go I.

 

[cymbidia]

I may regret this post but...

~waving hard at DarlingBri and Wizard~

Once upon a time i did lots and lots and lots and lots of drugs. I did just about any drug you could name and a bunch you never heard of, as a matter of fact, except those which had to be injected (didn't like needles, still don't). In essence, i was pretty much permanently stoned from the time i was 15 until toward the end of my 20's.

During those years i finished high school, traveled through Europe for a few years of youth hostels and Eurail passes, finished my undergrad studies (California Polytechnic University, SLO, MA Geography, MS Biology, minor in World History, all cum laude) and grad school (MS Biogeography, UC Davis, summa cum laude). Not bad for a dedicated stoner who was losing brain cells at an astonishing rate, hmm?

Then i wanted to have a kid.
So i stopped.

End of drug story.

So, KM, why do people do drugs? Why do they "want to kill off their brain cells and debilitate themselves? The pleasure of it? The rush? The high? Peer pressure? Because they look cool with powder on their noses?"

Because t'was fun.
Because i could.
Because, well, why not?
Because i liked being stoned, liked going fast, liked tripping, liked going slow sometimes.
Because i liked the focus, the buzz, and the feeling.
Yeh, babes, the rush was good.

I don't do any illegal drugs anymore and haven't in the years since i decided i wanted a child. For me, it wasn't going to be fair/right/moral/good to do drugs while i was pregnant or after i had a child, so i stopped.

But i did once upon a time and i don't regret any of it. I don't think i ended up *too* stupid cuz of it, either.
http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/otn/glasses/coolbrows.gif

(In a related vein: anyone else seen the movie BLOW yet? Best line in the movie: "I can't feel my face". I almost died laughing out loud in the theater at that line and knew *exactly* how that character felt at that moment! Go see this movie.)

 

[SweetCherry]

Tho only times I have ever had anything stronger than Motrin were when I had my kids and the doc gave me a shot of Stadol. I needed to sleep for a while to conserve my energy for delivery and my contractions were extreme from the Pitocin in my system. For those who don't know what Pitocin is, it's what they use to induce labor. I was maxxed out on it, and almost exhausted, so I got one shot, slept through a few hours of labor, and woke up when it was time to deliver. Other than that, I've never had/tried/done drugs of any sort.

 

[Coggie]

Responsibility

You know what, I have never taken drugs...... not once.

I personally had a big enough buzz from too much alcohol, probably, and more importantly the general high of life. I possibly am prepared to be a little more out there than some people when stone cold sober which helps but.....

I agree completely with the post by RonG, the only thing he doesn't point out is that the judgement people make between the buzz vs. risk is a sub-conscious one. This is where I fall off the live and let live truck.

Cymbidia has recently posted of her work, I'm sure she'll agree that some of the problems caused by drug use (abuse - sic) is a lack of awareness or education. In this thread she tells us of her experimentation and use, but for goodness sake, she was and is very bright and was probably well informed. DarlingBri too has been there done that and many others I'm sure have had fun, tripped the light fantastic and come down to earth as perfectly un-affected sensible responsible people. These inteligent folks have experimented with knowledge in a controlled way, fair play to them (off topic: DB, Mr Bri is a very lucky guy in my view).

The problem is many, young people in particular, are simply not as well educated and their decision to use is taken for one of the many reasons listed above (and more besides) in a therefore careless manner.

We have a responsibility to ensure the pressure is not more than can be resisted, and that full understanding of the implications is obvious to everyone, experimenting with drugs must be a fully conscious decision.

For these reasons I'm firmly in the camp of controlling these substances heavily, and, in the camp that throws money at education.

This is my understanding of how a responsible society should look after it's future.

 

[DarlingBri]

Re: Responsibility

We have a responsibility to ensure the pressure is not more than can be resisted, and that full understanding of the implications is obvious to everyone, experimenting with drugs must be a fully conscious decision.

I agree.

I absolutely hate being one of those people who's definition of what's acceptable stops with what they themselves have chosen. However, I'm concerned by the chic factor associated with heroine these days.

If you want to stick a needle in your arm and shoot up the most addictive substance in the world, your drug education fell over somewhere. If you're doing it because your friends are telling you it's cool, your sense of self preservation is maybe not all it should be.

There are girls doing H for the wieght loss associated with it these days.

That's just fucked up.

I'm not so sure about "heavily controlled." I agree with PC's statement about America evolving into a police state to control the drug flow. I think I prefer the Dutch model. Why heavily control pot and hash? Users of these drugs simply do not pose a threat to society, as many in this thread have pointed out.

[Edited by DarlingBri on 04-21-2001 at 03:11 AM]

 

[Wizard]

Intresting topic................

 

[crystalhunting]

Well...back in the day,my wife and I did just about everything..I primarily stayed on an eternal acid trip...unfortunately..my wife had this extreme need for herion...as a result...she overdosed and died,from that point on...I decided I didn't want to have to experience that again,so i quit all that crud.As far as I am concerned it's all shit.


CH

 

[Mortto56]

Hello All!

I'm going to start out by saying that my teen years began in the late 60's,during the Free-Love,Woodstock,and Revolutional drug culiture.
The lifestyle I was exposed to,had a great influence on my teenage years.

I have tied many different drugs over the last 30 years.But there is only 2 that I still do.That is pot,and alcohol.Yes alcohol is a drug,wheather you want to believe it or not.

I have never been busted for any trouble that was induced by weed.

But alcohol,thats a different story.

I would like to pose this question on this tread.

"Would this world really be better off without any drugs and alcohol?"...I'm talking about any mind or body altering substance.

My opinion is no!...I say this because in my observation of people,there are just some people that are really scary if they are not high on something.I'm talking about people that don't know how to handle stress,and have a hard time dealing with life.

I do realize that anything takin in excess could have a serious effect on someone.But moderate use does have it's time and place.

So there's my 2¢ worth!

 

[teresafannin]

Back in the 70's & 80's, my drugs of choice were pills, tobacco & alcohol. I drank way too much, smoked way too much & rattled when I walked. There were weekends that I don't remember too well & I am probably very lucky that nothing seriously bad happened to me. I quit everything when I got pregnant or I probably wouldn't be here today. I weighed less than 80 pounds & the doctor didn't know if I could carry the baby full term. I give all the credit to my son for keeping me alive. Now, I take something to help me sleep on the really bad days, but I have resisted anything stronger. I did have 2 beers last night at a fundraiser for my support group, but know I can't have anymore than that. The war on drugs has failed, but I think too many parents have failed, they use scare tactics which don't work real well. I am thankful that the one time my son got high, he didn't enjoy it & didn't do it again.

 

[cliché]

My husband is a crack addict

and this is the greatest pain in my life.

After many years, I do not think he will ever stop. Rehabs have not helped, intervention, Meetings, therapy, my desperation, threats, pleas.

He has brought us to financial ruin. He cannot function or hold a job. He is constantly depressed, craving the drug, plotting ways to get money to go to the crack house. I hide money and the keys to the trucks. I cannot ever relax.

My husband is not a stupid man. He is not a bad person. He is a drug addict and this has taken over his life. Crack is all he thinks about, and he hates himself for it, but cannot stop.

I have my life which exists apart from him. My farm, my animals, my friends, my organic garden, paganism and the erotic stories I post here, and I find joy in all these things. But it seems that his addiction is ever looming over my head, darkly over my life. Lately I find myself wishing he would just get it over with and die, freeing both of us.

 

[DarkAngel]

Because

they were fun at the time..a nd I made money off of them.. uhmmmm... Maybe thats why my best friend was iron...

O well... No more of that stuff for me... hehe...

LALALA

I have got drugs in my pocket and I don't know what to do with them.. Drugs in my pocket drugs in my pocket...

HEHE sorry Acdc flash back...

MMMM flash back

 

[DarkAngel]

Re: My husband is a crack addict

and this is the greatest pain in my life.

After many years, I do not think he will ever stop. Rehabs have not helped, intervention, Meetings, therapy, my desperation, threats, pleas.

He has brought us to financial ruin. He cannot function or hold a job. He is constantly depressed, craving the drug, plotting ways to get money to go to the crack house. I hide money and the keys to the trucks. I cannot ever relax.

My husband is not a stupid man. He is not a bad person. He is a drug addict and this has taken over his life. Crack is all he thinks about, and he hates himself for it, but cannot stop.

I have my life which exists apart from him. My farm, my animals, my friends, my organic garden, paganism and the erotic stories I post here, and I find joy in all these things. But it seems that his addiction is ever looming over my head, darkly over my life. Lately I find myself wishing he would just get it over with and die, freeing both of us.

Not to sound like a fucking asshole... Oh wait a sec I am... But if he has done all this to you then WHY NOT LEAVE HIM....

Sometimes I do not understand the human mind..... Shit if I ever started my old habits again my wife would be gone in 5 seconds flat... No if's maybe's or what's about it...

 

[Cheyenne]

"Would this world really be better off without any drugs and alcohol?"...I'm talking about any mind or body altering substance.

Yes, I think so. I believe both cause more problems than they solve. But since we can't erase their existence from our collective memories, both are here to stay.

Originally posted by cyrstalhunting
unfortunately..my wife had this extreme need for herion...as a result...she overdosed and died...

Originally posted by cliché
My husband is a crack addict. He has brought us to financial ruin. He cannot function or hold a job. He is constantly depressed, craving the drug, plotting ways to get money to go to the crack house. I hide money and the keys to the trucks. I cannot ever relax.

My husband is not a stupid man. He is not a bad person. He is a drug addict and this has taken over his life. Crack is all he thinks about, and he hates himself for it, but cannot stop.

But it seems that his addiction is ever looming over my head, darkly over my life. Lately I find myself wishing he would just get it over with and die, freeing both of us.

I think the posts by crystalhunting and cliché should be shared by parents with their children. The hardest part has to be teaching kids that drugs aren't all fun and games-tragedy and death are also possible outcomes.

 

[Cheyenne]

I should have also added in my first post that I don't take drugs other than those prescribed for health reasons. Drinking is not a big event for me either. I easily go for months at a time without any alcohol. When I do have something to drink, it is always in a social setting. Most often a diet coke is just fine for me.

Dark Angel's post reminded me of a woman I don't know very well who I had lunch with recently. She is in the middle of a divorce from an alcoholic husband and I think just needed someone to talk to that day. I asked why she hadn't left her husband before now. She told me she stayed with her husband for 7 years because she always thought he would change and get better. That "this time" his promises of not drinking anymore and staying out all night would be kept. They never were.

As she talked, she told me how her husband comes from a family of alcoholics. All family events revolve around alcohol, with family members getting drunk and telling stories of previous drinking events and bar fights. I asked if she didn't notice any of this before her wedding, and she said she hadn't. She didn't live with her husband before marriage, and had no idea that when he "went out with his friends" he was out drinking so much and staying out all night. She didn't think all the alcohol at family events was that odd, either.

Finally, she added that her own father was an alcoholic who had been in and out of detox centers most of her life. She grew up with his verbal abuse while he was drunk, which was most of the time. Wouldn't you think someone from that background, of all people, would have noticed the signs that she was marrying into a family of alcoholics? She said she sees those signs now with the benefit of hindsight, but she didn't before the wedding. With her own background, everything seemed "normal" to her.

One of her final comments was that she thinks she didn't leave the marriage sooner because she felt stupid for getting herself into the marriage in the first place. And once she was married, her husband made her feel like his drinking was partially her fault because she nagged him about it. Not to mention that she really wanted to believe that she was more important to her husband than alcohol, and her self-esteem took a huge beating when they went to counseling and he chose alcohol over her. He really didn't even want to try to quit drinking. The marriage counselor is the one who finally got her to see that there was no marriage and there never would be if hubby didn't stop drinking.

Dark Angel- I think I learned that day that it isn't as easy as just saying "leave" when one partner has a drug or alcohol problem. Some ties that bind us are really very hard to break.

 

[DarkAngel]

Very true Cheyenne...

 

[cymbidia]

...and more soberly and responsibly...

I was 16 years old in 1972; times were different then.
Sex couldn't kill you and drugs were somehow more innocent.
Life was sex and drugs and rock n' roll, just a big ongoing party; we were all kids just having a good time.

In 2001, however, my precious daughter will be 13 years old. She's been through D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education, a program that's very widespread in U.S. schools) three times already and says she'll never do any kind of illegal drug and thinks people who get drunk and puke are just plain stupid.

I hope she means it. I hope she stays completely away from drugs and drinking.

She's a very good girl but, still, her dad and i watch her, know her friends, enforce appropriate curfews, say "no" to her when we don't like where she's going or who will be there, and talk with our daughter openly about a multitude of drug/sex/general-teen-angst related topics.

She doesn't know about my druggie years (or the "adventures" her dad had, similar to mine) and i'm not ever going to be open to her about them, either, though it's the first thing of import i've lied to her about. Some stuff, well, your kids don't need to know about it because (1) it's not their business and (2) it could adversely affect them if they knew.

I support drug abuse education in schools, however small an effect i think it's having. I support putting my tax dollars to work in the form of drug abuse recovery programs for habitual users... addicts like cliché's husband.

All my drug use was in a far more innocent time, and was a wild, fun, free kinda thing. I believe that any kid, today, starting down the same kinda road i walked, then, would find only despair and shattered dreams.

Times change.

 

[Mistress]

Drugs are stupid.....there is no reasonable way to put it guys. I'm sorry if you don't like that answer, but I have had too many experiences with loved ones on the subject.

When a mother leaves her 2 year old daughter at her grandmother's for a day visit, gets fried off her ass and disappears hitch hiking all over the us before the police managed to pick her up in Florida and throw her in a institution to sober her up.


And then, years later when her daughter is spending her first christmas back at her grandparents after 15 years of living with them, at the age of 17, gets a call from her mother.....

Who was found in a ditch on the side of the road because she OD. And the daughter has to miss that christmas with her grandparents and her new boyfriend to go back down the states to her mother because her mother can't even feed herself from the drug OD!

Hell no...there is NO excuse for being that unresponsible and stupid. There never will be, and I will never forgive her...even though all that was years ago..I never will. I didn't have much respect for my mother before that last incident, and now I have none at all for her. I could care less now.....

And that is only one example of Drugs in my life, Only one, and it's a damned good one...

 

[LordMagicMan]

Ah fuck it. Judgemental people are assholes. Dont knock someone you dont know, for doing something you dont understand. Try it and come back and see how stupid you think it is.

I'm no addict but its fun to light up a joint every now and then. It doesnt do much more harm then beer. Hell we dont even use all our brain, whats a few lost brain cells

I cant say this enough, do what you want but dont judge others for doing something you've never done before.

 

[LordMagicMan]

And of course there are those that give recreational users a bad name... Drugs should never be a life style. Everything in moderation...

 

[Cheyenne]

I cant say this enough, do what you want but dont judge others for doing something you've never done before.

I've never murdered someone before, either.

 

[DarlingBri]

Once more for those who missed it the first time:

Drugs are not dangerous. Addictions are dangerous.

If you want to slate all drugs with one fell swoop, then you're close minded, uneducated, and probably a Republican to boot. You proably haven't tried any, either.

I put loads of shit through my body at one point. I enjoyed every damn minute of it. I never abandoned my kids, beat my husband, or lost my job.

There are a whole range of drugs out there, just like there are sexual practices. Pot is the missionary position of sex. Crack is the autoerotic asphyxiation.

One is very, very dangrous and can lead to a very bad scene. The other is not.

People who allow their friends to convince them autoerotic asphyxiation is cool and try it with no other information and no precautions are a ) fucking stupid and b) very likely dead.

But that doesn't make sex bad, for fuck's sake. What the hell is wrong with you people?

[Edited by DarlingBri on 04-21-2001 at 10:37 AM]

 

[nitengale]

reading through the posts...

Bri has summed up my thoughts on the this subject with her last post, saving me further typing. Thanks Bri.