Drugs feel amazing. Getting high is like the fucking grand canyon, one of the things in life that lives up to the hype. Doing drugs makes you happier than you thought you could be, and there are a lot of people who don't have a lot of reasons to be happy.
We shouldn't pretend that drugs are bad, mm-kay. Drugs are awesome. That's the problem. They're too awesome. It's an awesome overload, and you end up not wanting to do anything except for drugs.
People who do drugs are not evil. They're having fun, experiencing new things, making friends and bonding over shared experiences. You tell a bunch of kids that drugs will ruin their lives, and then somebody at a party passes them a joint or offers them a bump of coke, they're going to realize you were full of shit.
Like, let's say that there was some weird flesh-eating bacteria that was specifically found only on water slides, but only on a few water slides. Now it's your job to convince all the children of the world to avoid water slides, because of the small possibility of bacteria. It's a serious problem, and it would be correct to tell everyone to avoid all waterslides everywhere, even if only a small percentage of waterslide riders died horrible deaths. So you tell people waterslides might kill you or maim you in excruciating ways. But if you act like waterslides aren't fun, you lose all credibility. Most people who ride the waterslides don't die, and they go on to tell everyone how much fun they had on waterslides, and that doesn't make them bad people.
It is about distinguishing addictive and damaging drugs from useful medicines with a low chance of addiction. You are not going to convince me that the majority of people that have used meth or crack are fine. Where as weed or lsd I would.
I will!
The majority of people that have used meth or crack are fine.
Now, don't get me wrong: meth is fantastically addictive. It's the most physically addictive drug there is, as far as I'm aware. And the fantastically high addiction rate for first-time users of meth is: roughly 30%.
70% of people who try the most addictive drug in the world don't get addicted, and go on to do other things like play tennis or do their taxes or switch to weed instead.
a more accurate analogy would be toxic chemicals in the waterslides that build up in the body, that takes a while to be expelled out
It's more complex than this even. Not all drugs are that toxic. In fact some of the most addictive aren't even that toxic at all like heroin. It's things like addiction, overdose, lack of clean supply, and the side effects that make it dangerous.
Even ones that are destructive to the body aren't always because of the chemicals they leave behind. Take meth for example: it's bad because of how much strain and immediate damage it causes, not long lived toxins. In small doses it's reasonably okay and is even prescribed by doctors sometimes. At amounts addicts do with the regularity they do them the damage builds up faster than it can be repaired by the body. MDMA, Amphetamine, Ketamine, and cocaine are similar here I believe.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, I mainly know about drugs from doing them and researching them online.
Fantastic analogy and a good read. I've had a lot of experience with these bad drugs at various points in my life and I regret none of it.
Drugs are honestly pretty meh. I'm not saying they can't be fun and or that they are evil or anything, but I feel like you are seriously overhyping them.
I used to a lot of drugs and lots of different kinds too. Sure I had fun and I don't massively regret it. But since I quit all drugs (including alcohol) several years ago I really have to say there are plenty of other things in life that are just as fun as drugs, if not much more so. There's only so much you can experience with drugs and it gets old fast.
No-one wakes up and decides that they're going to get addicted to drugs today. Your life has typically been in a real shit place for a long time and it's a "fuck it" type situation.
You don't usually see happy and wealthy people getting addicted to crack.
I knew at least one kid in high school who was told that weed was as bad as heroin. Then he saw his friends doing weed and everything seemed fine. So then he did weed and everything seemed fine. Then he started asking about heroin.
For some people, they see being addicted to drugs as an improvement on their current situation.
Life is already fucked, might as well get a buzz while I’m doing it.
Indeed. If drugs are the only thing that can make you feel good, it can feel stupid not to use them.
You don't usually see happy and wealthy people getting addicted to crack.
Cocaine though. Same drug, different package
Yup. Wealthy people do get addicted to drugs like cocaine, they just often have enough wealth to either still die wealthy or last long enough to get rehab.
You don't have to be depressed to use drugs, just curious and looking for more life experiences.
My experiences being around people with cocaine have been at two opposite spectrums: people with shit lives that want a release, and people with families/wealth/opportunities that want a release.
The latter experience for me was an office Christmas party. We shared an office with a law firm, and one guy with a wife, two kids, and what I'd assume is a solid six-figure salary had two keys worth, several joints, several beers, and whatever he was smoking from a pipe in the toilets.
It might not be an addiction, but it's definitely used by wealthy people. Hell, if the rumours about Musk are true, the dude is on all sorts of illegal shit all the time...
What?. Explain celebrities overdosing then
not all of them are happy
I smoked some opium once when I was travelling and it was possibly the most pleasant experience of my entire life. Shortly after that I was left alone in a hostel room with someone who was dying from an overdose on it, which was possibly the most unpleasant.
We both know this is made up. Opiate overdose victims just go unconscious and their heart rate slows down to nothing. Then again I'm arguing with someone who thinks traveling is spelled with two ls despite spell check being present literally everywhere.
travel (verb) traveled or travelled; traveling or travelling
Why are people like this? Shit life syndrome. What do we do with them? Offer them compassion and support.
Or sometimes they already have a good life (house, kid, spouse, dogs, x2 cars and stable support) and instead they decide to burn it all down in favor of a two-week crack bender. She drained our bank account, caught a DV charge and we are now divorced, thank fuck.
It says a lot about life broadly that any time we invent or devise some kind of system or chemical for eliminating pain, that substance instantly becomes so addicting that we can no longer manage life at all and it has to be regulated and locked away for our own good.
Life is pain. Even if you've gone numb to it, every moment hurts in one way or another. You just might not ever notice it until you experience the alternative.
I think this is what anti-natalists are going on about, that life is more painful than joyous, don't bring more conscious beings into it.
I understand that premise, but I'd argue that there is more good than bad in life, that while the universe may not care about any of us, there are plenty of genuinely beautiful moments out there, even just walking around your local park.
Death is certain, maybe some should be permitted to exit life early, but there's gotta be a way to show people nature's beauty. I don't really know where to go with this comment in truth. I just hope people in pain find genuine solace.
The worst thing about Shit Life Syndrome is how contagious it is. And you're almost assured to pass it on to your children.
Privileged, ignorant take by this anon. If you get REALLY down bad sometimes relief in any form is enough. Anybody's who's been there knows what I mean, anybody who hasn't should count their lucky stars and try to.
There’s no shortage of people who refuse to understand addiction. “Why don’t you just…” “All you have to do is stop.” Plus equate the addiction and not stopping as weakness and failure. IMO those with that POV are talking to polish their own moral superiority and aren’t at all interested in the factors surrounding addiction.
There’s no shortage of people who refuse to understand addiction.
The question was why people CREATE addictions. Not why people are addicted.EDIT: Derp. "Why are people like this and what's to be done with them". This is opposite of refusing understanding addiction. Translation from 4chanian to English: "Why the problem exists and how to solve it".
Might also be worth noting how DARE made every drug into the Drug That Kills You Instantly. Cocaine instantly causes your heart to explode. Heroin immediately turns your into a vegetable. Weed is a "gateway drug" that's laced with every other drug at once. Bath Salts are causing people to eat each other's faces off.
How many interactions with actual drug users does it take to disabuse you of these notions? The high performing athlete who smokes weed. The kids doing whip its at the concert who look like their having a great time. Fucking gym rats doing steroids and getting swole as hell. The older folks doing oxy and heroin so they can bust through pain and pull an insane shift. The college kids using amphetamines to study through the day and party through the night.
It's not as though drugs don't have very immediate and obvious benefits. People aren't doing them because they want to become washed up stereotypes.
Exactly. DARE and related programs aren't doing anyone any favors because once you try one of those drugs, you'll realize they're really overselling how dangerous they are.
Don't get me wrong, drugs are dangerous and many people get sucked into career-ending addiction. But anti-drug advocacy should be very honest about both the benefits and the negatives, as well as alternatives if you're looking for some benefits (e.g. regular exercise can increase energy levels a lot).
I'm in favor of legalizing most recreational drugs, which should make dosage way more predictable (no more ODs) and detect warning signs before things spiral. I'd like to legalize and tax drugs, and use the tax proceeds to fund rehab programs. Start with weed and shrooms, and expand to whatever is most popular.
Couldn't agree with this more.
Also a lot of people who end up getting hooked on drugs first try it when they are young, they still have developing brains and its harder to make long term impact decisions.
I've known people who have been addicted to some kind of street narcotic. They stopped when they got away from their bad relationship and improved their life.
It's not about what will happen later, it's about dealing with what is here and now, it's a form of escapism. Not every case, mind you, but many.
Life sucks, and if you have/know/love people, and get the same in return, it sucks less. There's a reason to keep going. People who end up addicted to harmful, hard, narcotics and other street drugs are generally in situations that they don't know how to handle and just want to not feel the way they do now. Sometimes what they're feeling is depression and hopelessness, or something similar. Imagine going from worried about everything, stressed out of your mind, depressed and suicidal, to complete careless bliss in minutes because you took a drug.
I'm not endorsing drug use, at all. Drugs (specifically street drugs) are not the answer. You'll feel better while your life implodes and you won't care that your spouse left or that you just lost your house, job and friends, because you're so high that you can't feel the sadness from these things happening. They'll make you feel like a winner while you lose everything, and you'll be blissfully ignorant of the truth. The drugs just fucked your life right up.
Bluntly, people are suffering through so much by the time they turn to drugs that they are looking for any relief for the constant pain and suffering they go through every moment of every day. They need help. They either get it from society/friends/family, or they get it from whatever drug they can score to help them get through it.
They then end up addicted and it begins a cycle of violence that is difficult to stop. They need help, friends, family, understanding, patience and time to get better, and often what they get is demeaned, kicked aside, thrown in jail, abandoned and disowned; all of which makes them go deeper into the gaping black hole of drug use.
I don't have the answer to fix this situation. I never claimed I did, but I hope that someone reading this understands the psychology of addiction a little better after reading it. I am, by no means, a doctor or specialist. I've just observed the recovery first hand, and spoken to people who have gone through it. What I've said here is the culmination of the discussions I have had with people who have lived it. I'm certain there are other versions of this kind of story, leading to addiction (and hopefully out of it). My take away is that drugs are not a cause, they're an effect. The cause is sometimes mental health related, or it could just be shit luck. Either way, you don't choose to get addicted to drugs, you feel like you need to take drugs to deal with life, and addiction just happens as a consequence of that. I firmly believe in social programs for welfare/income assistance (including UBI), and social programs for drug rehab. All of which should be provided as a societal benefit. If people can get the mental and financial help they need, when they need it, I believe we can prevent a lot of people from turning to drugs to deal with their problems. We can avoid people becoming homeless and incapable of benefiting society. Reducing crime, and reducing suffering universally throughout our society.
I also believe that there's always going to be "junkie scum" that would rather take UBI to cover the bills while they rot away at home, in what quickly becomes a drug den. I believe the people who are actual junkie scum that would do that while having free access to resources to turn their life around, is pretty small. I think that the vast majority of people want to live a life they can be proud of, and will do so if given the chance.
The core problem is that they're not given that chance. They go right from being under their parents wing to being thrown face first in the dirt and told to pick themselves up "by their bootstraps" and figure it out, by people who hold more money than they'll ever earn. We should be ashamed that drug use is as high as it is. To me, it indicates a massive gap in how much we actually care about our fellow humans. That somehow, if they can't do anything that we find useful, when we find it useful for someone to do that, then they're not worthy of living. That's why it's called "earning" a living, because if you don't earn it, then you don't deserve to live. IMO, that's callous and cruel.
I was tossed to the rigors of society in my late teens, I won't get into the circumstances, but I narrowly avoided getting into a situation where I would become an addict. I never realized, when I was in that situation, that I was literally a bad payday away from being homeless, jobless, junkie scum. Only for the love and support of a few, did I manage to get through the hardest of times and earn a living. Not everyone is so lucky.
I agree with everything except for when you say that you'll feel like a winner while you loose everything. You actually know just how fucked up everything is and you feel like a fucking loser piece of shit but you can't stop. You don't feel like a winner. You feel like you're losing everything and it's extremely painful and you feel like you can't do anything to stop it. The drugs barely make it any better eventually and then you've even lost that.
That's fair. I take some liberties with it because I don't have information to fill in the gaps.
That's on me.
Yeah I’ve come to a lot of those same conclusions. And one thing I’ve struggled to convince people of is that calling addicts scum doesn’t help them quit. Yes they need to want to quit in order to quit, but they need to believe the pain of quitting will be worth it and that they deserve to be sober. I’ve never heard of someone hating themselves and being so ostracized they get sober. It’s when they find something or someone worth quitting for or decide they deserve to turn their life around.
I had the happy experience of being someone's reason to quit.
I didn't know that was happening at the time, they told me afterwards, but it was a nice thing to find out.
That was awesome to read. I loved your perspective and compassion!
I'm not American, but you'd you'd make a great president, right now...
(in China) "yo, check this out, and if you get caught with some, it's straight to jail, too. Or even better, death penalty if you're carrying enough!"
Says something about your daily life when this isn't enough of a deterrent :/
These kind of MFs usually be like "Don't do the illegal drug that will destroy your life, do the legal one! Ethanol comes under many street names, like beer, whiskey, wine, etc."
(I'm against prohibition, I just like to point out these MFs hypocrisy, especially when the booze is kind of subsidized by the state due to it being a "national treasure".)
Yes, and many naive young people don't really understand the fine lines between fun illegal party drugs (weed, molly, LSD) and life changing, soul crushing, body destroying incredibly immediately addictive illegal party drugs (crack, heroin, meth etc )
You should possibly think about what let you to put MDMA in the fun group and Methamphetamine in the immediately addictive one.
especially when the booze is kind of subsidized by the state due to it being a "national treasure".
What?! Even in Russia vodka is not subsidized.
Not directly subsidized, but definitely different treatment than other drugs thanks to successfull lobbying in Germany. Alcohol can far more easy sponsor and advertise e.g. Or the rage of the conversatives when weed got legalized (badly in comparison of course) this year, while they really like to take photos at Germany's greatest drug convention (Oktoberfest) or get themself "elected" to Wine Queen/Beer Kind of boring region X.
Most ethanol in the US comes from corn, which is absolutely subsidized heavily.
This is the kind of thing said by someone who has never spent any amount of mental energy trying to understand drugs and drug use in any way. This is not a thought someone develops organically through experimentation and reasoning. This is a line parroted by idiots and it’s the kind of thinking that criminalizes and stigmatizes drug use and gets millions of people killed.
Drug use is bad for health and absolutely does have the potential to spiral into a destructive addiction. Alcohol is a drug, by the way.
With that said, criminalizing drug use barely helps anyone - but the distribution must remain illegal.
Making distribution illegal just leads to people getting a bad supply that leads to overdoses and poisoning.
You are acting like a helicopter parent. Stop it. People have the right to make decisions about their own bodies and health.
Also you really want to ban all recreational drugs? Congrats you just removed one of people's only outlets and caused more suicide, self-harm, and mental health issues.
Furthermore not even all drugs are addictive. Classical psychedelics actually are used to cure addictions, it's highly unlikely you become addicted to one. It's also one of the least dangerous forms of addiction you can have, and is better than whatever other addiction you would develop instead of if it weren't there.
The fact that you say "drug use" as a blanket statement proves that you don't know what you're on about. There are a lot of drugs with a lot of effects, and even most controlled substances have approved medical applications (opiates for example).
You should look at drug scheduling in the US, which mostly captures if drugs have a medical application.
On a personal note, I hope you never have to face the kind of pain that makes you consider legal or illegal drugs as an outlet.
distribution must remain illegal.
The cost of criminalization consistently outweighs the benefit, particularly when criminalization is paired with a dysfunctional criminal justice and incarceration system.
Courts disproportionately punish the young, poor, and colored, which is why you'll never see a Sackler behind bars. Prisons harden younger people into more professional and organized crooks while they break older people and rapidly transform them into invalids. And criminalization of distribution without curtailing consumption just drives up prices and encourages cartelization and police corruption.
Sheriff's gangs in California and Texas work hand in glove with the military police in Mexico and the CIA/DEA to transport protected cargo over the border, fattening everyone's wallets under the pretext of drug prevention.
So this machine is driving at high speeds and is incredibly dangerous and if it crashes while you are in it or riding it you'll probably die.
Why are people using cars and motorcycles? I don't get it!
me neither, but probably because public transport is expensive and not at all optimised
Not a great analogy honestly, you can drive a car your whole life and your odds of dying in a car accident are probably like 1%. Meanwhile your odds of dying, or at the very least having very serious health effects, from using hard drugs your whole life are basically guaranteed.
It isn't guaranteed. Like that old lady that became 120 years old smoking a pack a day.
Both of you are somewhat right. Drug abuse causes an increased risk in getting a bad medical condition. However, if you always drive faster than you should and don't give a fuck about road laws(which is kinda the equivalent to abusing hard drugs) you might also end up in the hospital one day.
Op has never felt so desperate to feel anything else
Hey now, some of us can handle our drugs just fine. Don't judge the entire world because a fraction can't tell themselves no.
very much doubt that it's a "fraction"
Here there's roughly 200,000 people who use amphetamines recretionally and about 20,000 people who according to doctors have a problem with their usage. I.e. 90% can use them occasionally without an issue. For alcohol the number here is closer to 85%.
some of us can handle our drugs just fine
This attitude is what gets many people addicted to dangerous drugs. "I'm different, I can control it". I've seen it a few times around me.
Well, I seem to be doing fine. In fact my life by all metrics right now is better than it's ever been.
It is true that many drug users never actually get their lives ruined over it.
But drugs are still negatively impacting their health, and there is always a risk of addiction forming and getting out of control.
I live in a country where drugs are illegal, but alcohol is "alright". Should I say people fuck up their health big time, and many, especially among men, do face issues with alcohol addiction? And those that go for drugs anyway rarely actually recover?
My take: people don't need drugs. People need an improvement in material and mental wellbeing, and drugs (and alcohol) are there as a form of escaping a poor reality. Drugs are just the way to make the world more bearable and "fun", to try to squeeze happiness from a grim reality, without thinking much of what it costs in the long run.
You're right. Poor living conditions(whatever this means) may bring you to use drugs to feel good. After the high ended you might want to feel good again(even if it maybe is just 5 days later) so you get high again. Once you start getting high periodically you're fucked. Eventually the time between each high shrinks. If you use Alcohol(which is a depressant) you will start drinking after it ended, because it make you feel like shit.
People who have a good living condition don't get addicted to drugs as easy as people with poor living conditions do.
“Don’t do drugs” Hot take.
Say perhaps to drugs
Apparently it is a hot take nowadays.
Guys, drugs are dangerous, unhealthy and you may not be able to recognize deep addiction and stop when you absolutely should.
That's it. There are better ways to have fun, I promise.
Arrogance, social pressure, and sometimes just plain low IQ.
That is indeed a description for those that widespread demonise drug users.
I suppose there is also slow suicide and self medication.
I'm overweight.. I guess that means sugar destroys people's lives. Why haven't they banned sugar?
$
The UK taxed sugar (to try and curb soft drink consumption, thanks Jamie Oliver) and it just resulted in the non-diet/zero versions of everything containing both sugar AND sweetners. They managed to stay the same price and now all taste like shite, but I guess it's cheaper for the poor corporations who had to comply (by changing their drinks entirely rather than paying the tax).
But... most places have banned these drugs. I'm not following your logic. Are you saying they should be legal because we're free to ruin our health in other ways?
I'm an advocate of actual freedom and personal choice. Meth is obviously a downward spiral for most. However, the issue is most drugs don't start out that way. My point is that criminalizing drugs is the wrong approach. That is all.
To be fair to anon, they're asking sincerely if you take them at face value. A lot of people just don't know why others just fall down that rabbit hole.
Short of examining their entire lives and trying to remediate the bad experiences, there is nothing to be done other than let them burn out
Because your knowledge that certain drugs are bad is not stronger than the urge to conform. If your friends are doing it and you're the only one not doing it, you'll feel the urge to join them. Some people can resist that, a lot of people can't.
And then when they try it, it feels really fuckin good, especially the first time. So good it's life-changing, you might say.
Nice try DEA
It's that good huh?
not really. first time, maybe. but it's the law of diminishing returns.
wanna get shit done.. sure. want to stay awake for days on end, fun the first time maybe.
want to not be able to function without it? naw, not as funEven when its shitty its still pretty great, thats why its so enticing, it works.
If our parents didn't constantly tell us 'no' for the specific purpose of keeping good shit for themselves, we probably wouldn't be this way. Turns out, lots of the drugs are great!
Fkn oath. Some of my best times have been on drugs at festivals with friends. I'm not one for getting shit-faced wasted but getting a lil high on a few different things is awesome.
Is it possible to get second hand high from those ?
don't think so. either way don't try it. tastes like burnt plastic and not worth ruining your life over
nasty
