Drugs

[Myrmox]

From my point of view with no personal experience but having seen LOTS of misusers in various stages of dependence:

1. It is true that most people never develop a serious dependence, but the notion that this only happends to the "weak minds" is false. Testing is like rolling the dice. Every misuser out there thought that they were "tough enough" to master the drug, usually emboldened by mastering a softer drug.

2. What IS important for not slipping into dependence is a well functioning social network and a clean mental history. But it is by no means a guarantee. And lets face it, few have a totally spotless mental history

3. Alcohol IS a drug and would be forbidden if it had appeared today. As it was, fermentation was discovered very early as a good way of preserving drinking water in Europe (whereas Asian cultures preferred boiling theirs with tea-leaves). The psychotropic effects were considered a pleasant side-effect of conservation. Thus it established itself in our culture, and will not easily be removed from it.

4. The chart you referred to is based on a very controversial article in The Lancet. I wont go into details as the debate is infected with emotions from both sides, but PLEASE NOTE that the chart refers to "physical harm", like lungcancer (why tobacco is so high) and livercancer (why alcohol is so high) etc. If there had been one axis for "psychological/mental harm" it would look very different indeed.

[Smiskfisk]

Pretty much anything you have has a drug in it.   Caffiene is a drug, and that is found in chocolate and coffee....

How here hasnt had chocolate and coffee?

So when you say "dont do drugs" ... you mean... dont do illegal drugs.

Choclate is cool though... yesterday i got high on chocolate 

No, when I said "Don't do drugs" I meant: "Don't do drugs"
As stated before here, alcohol is legal yet a drug.. and there are other examples of legal drugs

And the chocolate thing may have been sugar and not caffeine?
Now, that could have been a joke from your side, thinking about the neat " "

[Sparrisen]

Awsome reply from faro, and myrmox too. I think this is something worth to discuss and air out a bit. Usually you know, you can't even mention drugs on a forum without getting kick/banned, which just adds to the hype/propaganda.

Mentioning the 4. was also super, but I guess what is potentially mentally DANGEROUS is also potentially "mind expanding", insperational or whatever, this is the effect you want if you do stuff like this, for the minimum amount of dependence/physical harm. There is a danger there however, of course, especially since I've leafed through some diagnostics for mental illnesses, and by doing so it's not hard to conclude that I basically have all the symptoms for about every disease^^ (and most of the blokes I know too )

An example my friend brought up, was when he and his friend discussed how taking LSD would change his dad. And his dad was one of these cubicle workers, slaving 9-17, watching TV, putting up with asshat bosses. My friend said:
"No, I wouldn't EVER do that to him. He'd just realize the pointless hamsterwheel he's in, and nothing good would come out of it except for unhappyness for his part"

Also good mentioning that just because YOU think you're strong mentally, you're still gambling alot.

No this is awsome... I've come to peace with this more or less, and having access to drugs everyday, I've also decided upon my new stance on this.
Although it seems that drugs aren't the boogey-man I thought they were, I have a hard time seeing what they could add to my life, or make me happier other than just in short bursts. I'm on a path I like, I walk it with joy, and drugs could possibly fuck that up, and even if they didn't it'd still be another expense, and adding another craving that I don't need.
Things are looking up, and I don't need it, and if things were going DOWN, then you really SHOULDN'T do it.

[Faro]

I think thats the right course, not the end of the world, but also not a good idea.
I have a story:
A friend of mine; healthy, wealthy, beautiful wife 2 great kids, drove a corvette great job. He did Cocaine on a regular recreational basis. One day he goes to his dealer who had no coke and was convinced to try crack instead (crack is a refined type of cocaine) within a month he was totally dependent. Lost his wife his car his job and and finally his brother rescued him from a crack house where he was sleeping on the floor. After months in rehab he has rebuilt his life, but he and I have no more contact because we would always go out play golf and end up at happy hour drinking and I am considered an enabler to him.
I'm lucky, I never fell under the spell, but its like rolling the dice; you never know who cant handle it.
Coffee, I need coffee......

[Aejile]

Drugs can be fun. The reason they are illegal is that without proper restraint they'll fuck you up physically, financially, or both. Human beings aren't amazing at will power in general.

The addictive ones (most) are awful because you self inflicted yourself with a disease that in general makes you feel like shit when you don't have your fix. Feeling like shit in the long run isn't as fun as taking drugs to feel good in the short run.

I'm pretty pissed I smoke cigarettes. They never did much for me and when I did get a high off them I wasn't addicted. Now I need them to not gain 10 pounds and feel awful all the time. Heh and that's the legal one. Plenty of worse addictions to choose from. Have a friend trying to get off heroin. Not pretty.

Cigarettes - Stay away from. Period.

Pot- Harmless as long as you don't get popped for possession.
.
Alcohol- One of the most dirty buzzes out there. Can be fun or seriously not.

Coke- Cleanest buzz I've felt off anything. Rock star drug and you really shouldn't do it you don't have a rock star salary.

Crack- Crackhead stigma should be enough to never touch it.

Heroin- Stay away from it. Good way to die.

Speed- Never tried never want to. Fuck amphetamines in general though.

E- Can be really fun if you get good stuff. Can not work. Can kill you. How much you trust the anonymous chemist working in his parent's basement?

Shrooms/LSD- Can be incredibly fun. Not for everyone. Bad trip will scar you for life.

Rx Pain Pills- Not terribly far off from heroin. Pretty damn expensive.

I'm pretty open minded to the stuff, tried most of it and I'm not too impressed. Stick with the drug free lifestyle. Makes you unique among all the other retards out there.