I always thought DARE was right about weed being a "gateway drug", but not for the reasons they said. When I started smoking it, and realized it just made me relaxed and mildly hallucinat instead of become a refer-madness psychotic murderer, I realized the must have been lying about the dangers of other drugs.
And I was right. When used responsibility, drugs are not so dangerous and are a ton of fun!
There are some drugs that are dangerous. I think most people don't understand what being addicted means and how badly it can mess with you.
Other than that, I agree with you completely. Why do people default to manipulation when they could just tell the truth and let people decide for themselves?
That's just flat-out untrue about coke, not even an argument. Like DARE, the fact that you're wrong on that and lumping it in with scarier-sounding drugs shows (at minimum) you aren't actually knowledgeable about these drugs and their effects.
Dr. Carl L. Hart, Ziff Professor at Columbia University and former chair of the Department of Psychology, is one of the world’s preeminent experts on the effects of so-called recreational drugs on the human mind and body. Dr. Hart is open about the fact that he uses drugs himself, in a happy balance with the rest of his full and productive life as a researcher and professor, husband, father, and friend. In Drug Use for Grown-Ups, he draws on decades of research and his own personal experience to argue definitively that the criminalization and demonization of drug use–not drugs themselves–have been a tremendous scourge on America, not least in reinforcing this country’s enduring structural racism.
Dr. Hart did not always have this view. He came of age in one of Miami’s most troubled neighborhoods at a time when many ills were being laid at the door of crack cocaine. His initial work as a researcher was aimed at proving that drug use caused bad outcomes. But one problem kept cropping up: the evidence from his research did not support his hypothesis. From inside the massively well-funded research arm of the American war on drugs, he saw how the facts did not support the ideology. The truth was dismissed and distorted in order to keep fear and outrage stoked, the funds rolling in, and Black and brown bodies behind bars.
Drug Use for Grown-Ups will be controversial, to be sure: the propaganda war, Dr. Hart argues, has been tremendously effective. Imagine if the only subject of any discussion about driving automobiles was fatal car crashes. Drug Use for Grown-Ups offers a radically different vision: when used responsibly, drugs can enrich and enhance our lives. We have a long way to go, but the vital conversation this book will generate is an extraordinarily important step.
I’ve also always agreed that weed can be a “gateway drug”, but same is true for alcohol. I also agree drugs are fun and can be relatively not dangerous if used responsibly but I would never recommend to anyone to go out of their way to try drugs.
Drugs have been a significant part of some of the best experiences and memories of my life thus far but they have also brought me to very dark places more than once. I’ve seen a lot of lives get ruined by addiction. So I would hesitate to say they arent dangerous even if doing blow a half dozen times a year or MDMA once in a while is safe from a biological perspective, cuz you never know how a person will respond to such intense sensation.