Do you take drugs? Why?

Jon's point is even more tedious than those tokers who go on endlessly abt how mashed they got etc - like boozehounds never ever bore us with 'hilarious' tales of their drunken escapades?

But yeah, if you find they do nothing for you - don't take 'em! Leaves more for the rest of us!

Drug users=bores is true for all drugs unless you're actually intoxicated by that same drug (even then I found six silently reverent spins in a row of Chill Out hard to cope with). But it makes users annoyed so it works well as a point-scoring tactic. Coke users much much worse than anyone else to the non-coked mind, in my (still fairly limited) experience.

I think the reason stoners and stoner humour comes in for particular abuse is the have-their-cake-and-eat-it aspect - on the one hand pot is harmless nay beneficial and everybody does it nowadays so legalise it already, on the other hand they find it hard to let go of a certain counter-cultural smugness. This applies to 80s/90s stoner humour ("Adihash", the Pope Smokes Dope) more than to 60s/70s stuff like the Freak Bros. (cos they're funny!)

I got addicted because I found people, principally my friends, boring; other responsibilities such as work contributed, but not so much. I get a kick now from being straight because nearly all my friends are addicts, so I'm a freak. This is more entertaining than having a 'problem', and it satisfies my sense of morality. When I get drunk, as happened last night, I just 'don't count it.'

Regarding 'I don't take drugs because they're expensive': Drugs are so alluring and exciting that you have to shore yourself up almost moment by moment in order not to take them - you take drugs to combat boredom, so you have to have a pretty fucking rich intellectual and sensual life to compensate for being straight, and every amusing observation about how addicts suck is grist to the mill. For example, one of the witty calculations you can make while straight is to estimate the sushi meals your junkie friends miss out on every time they shoot fifty bucks up their arm. You see how it helps to compensate for your dull dedication to kindness and sobriety?

Anyone who drinks to get intoxicated is in no position to criticise drugs really. I would argue that a drunk person is far far far more annoying to a sober person than a stoned person or someone on Ecstacy. I don't have enough experience of coke.

It does piss off people who take drugs when people take the whole "wasting their lives" line. Who the fuck is anyone else to say what is and isn't a waste of a life. It's inverted peer pressure. How sad would it be if people who took drugs had digs at people who don't? I mean are we 15? But reverse the process and it seems to be fair game, inverted peer pressure.

Friends of mine who don't do drugs for whatever reason are constantly dropping snide remarks like "junkies" or grossly exaggerating about how high I was or whatever. Why do they bother? It's not out of concern. I don't want to say it's just bitterness, but often that's how it seems. I mean bitterness as a result of the exclusion drugs promote.

That is something about drugs I dislike. My friends who come out with us when we're taking pills or whatever are totally excluded. That's the nature of them. I feel bad about it but obviously not at the time. It's the same if everyones stoned. If you're not smoking you're not in on the (inevitably silly) joke.

Does anyone wear adihash t shirts besides 14 year olds who want people to think they smoke hash, or Cypress Hill fans?

what a cornucopia of lethal side-effects ensues!

I don't use anything else. I really hate dope evangelists.

i got caned last night but that was the first time in a year, and i probably won't do it again in a while. it screws with my ability to think for a couple of days in a way which, for example, a bad hangover doesn't, and that really pisses me off.

Rescue Remedy is best.

I'll do coke about once a month. Rarely buy it though. Usually a friend has some and shares in exchange for drinks or something. On the rare occassion that I buy it and stay up all night doing it much fun will be had but the next day is complete crap as I recover. The thought of the day after causes enough pause to usually keep me from doing it.

Have done speed a few times. Don't like it due to bad childhood associations. would never shoot up or do herion. Would like some caps or hash if I could find them. Love valiums. hmm.

My reasons why not are probably as much rationalizations (arrived at after I made the decision) as anything else -- stinky smells, users horribly boring when they go on about it, interferes with decision- making, easy way to get in more trouble than intended, etc. I'll never lecture anybody that *they* shouldn't do what they do, but I'd rather not be in the room when it happens (embarrassing panic attack often ensues). If that happens, I wind up feeling hideously guilty for weeks. What fun!

This sort of weirdly assumes that the point of drugs is to make people more entertaining to you. But general points:

(a) Bashing drugs based on the people who use them is a lot like bashing a band based on its fans. (AC/DC fans are by and large suck- monkeys, yes, and yet most ILMers are still fine with the music itself.)

(b) It's difficult to talk about "drugs" in general, since there are a lot of different ones and a lot of different ways to use them. Doing coke every weekend or pulling bong hits before going to work . . . these are entirely different things than smoking a solitary joint on a Saturday afternoon and doing a little reading. So I suppose I'm saying:

(c) Using non-ridiculous drugs the way the average person uses alcohol -- i.e., in appropriate settings, at appropriate times, and not to the extent that the actual business of living gets interrupted -- strikes me as a perfectly reasonable thing to do. So feel free to make fun of High Times subscribers, but don't generalize too much.

by drugs i mean not alcohol. i was scared of that till i was 16, and realised i could hold out against my cider swilling clssmates no longer, if i wanted to retain any sort of a social life, or maintain any sort of social contact at all. remember ranting to my mum "i dont WANT to start drinking! its not fair! why should I! etc etc".

then i bit the bullet.

Alcohol's not a drug, it's a drink.

Gawd bless Chris Morris!

yE gEt mE ?

As always, Nitsuh is so OTM.

Don't knock it until you've tried it. You are never too old for occasional recreational drug use (should the appropriate occasion present itself)

In general I am very careful for a number of reasosn. I have alcoholic relatives. Some of my best freinds have messed up their lives. Some of my best friends have friends who have OD'ed and died.

why? i like myself the way i am. i see no reason to alter my reality/behavior/judgement chemically.

Occasional alcohol. Would consider trying more psychedelics somewhere down the line, but no plans.

Had periods of my life involving heavy social drinking, but currently have the tolerance of an infant; half a beer and I'm ready to fall asleep.

Never tried any other recreational drugs. To be honest, I'm probably too skittish (not to mention too old) for most of 'em.

I do like caffeine, and sometimes I take Benadryl for allergies.

WEBCAM OVERDOSE

and here's a handy archive of the actual chat:

chat log

I have never done heroin or speed... I liked cocaine and painkillers very much but now I just say no. Never liked pot or psychedelics.

Well, I'm 31 and have never smoked it, does that help?

Tried ecstasy a couple times and I enjoyed it. It's been years, but I might consider it again if offered. I still drink way, way too much. It's something I'm trying to work on. Really my favorite thing is painkillers, vicodin, valium, etc. Nice relaxing effect without any hangover. Hard to get though.

*grousegripe* Once again my motivations are misunderstood.

In this theory:
Pot connects to Reggae
Alcohol connects to Rock
Speed connects to Punk
E connects to House

But what about coke and heroin. Do they connect to music?

alcohol that is connected to rock is mostly garbage. Rock that is connected to LSD and speed is the best stuff.

but then of course how do you explain the fact that Fushitsusha don't take drugs and yet have made some of the most fantastic psych rock recordings ever.

Don't have theories Jan.

Never been curious about trying drugs.

I did it 1-2 times per month over the course of that summer, and got
drunk about the same number of times. Then when I turned 17
my parents let me leave and go live with my best friend, who is
heavily into using pot. So I started doing it more and more, until
I was getting high every day - but only moderately so, I dosed
myself, I wasn't just sitting around all day, I was doing things like
writing, acting and playing music, alone or in various bands. It
didn't seem to interfere or impair me in any way, so I don't think
I was truly addicted, but who knows - addicts rarely recognize
their own status, do they?

Anyway, in early 2002 I turned eighteen, and this cleancut
preppy girl from my church decided to make me her 'project,'
(U know how it is - the 'good' girls are always attracted to the
'bad' boys)) and convinced me to quit using drugs if
she would become my girlfriend - seems like a vainglorious
gesture, but she was a stone fox, the best looking white
girl in our school, so i agreed. I almost immediately missed the
stuff, but after about a week I realized I was much more alert
and enjoying life more, overall, although I didn't get thoses
euphoric rushes that I was used to.

Well, the white girl moved away and I was left to my own devices, and
I resumed smoking pot, but only occasionally, mostly on weekends,
and i think it's a good balance; moderation is always better than
the extremes of hedonism or puritanism.

(As for other drugs, I never got into them they're mostly
too dangerous or, in the case of psychedelics, too dang MUCH.
I still trip about once a month)

I wanted to do a 'shroom trip, at one time, for the whole psychic awakening experience, but then one day I went by my mother's after college and my younger sister (high school seniors) and some of her girlfriends were there. As I walked in they were all giggling. Then my sister said "Hey, we just took some 'shrooms!" I was taken back, mainly because I thought that she was not experimenting. Anyway, about 45 minutes later, I was in the dining room and they came through looking for munchies. One of the girls made an odd noise and crumpled - I caught her on her way down and she went into a full-blown seizure. Thank god she came out of fairly fast, but it was still scary as hell.

And then, two years ago, I heard that a little boy that I used to babysit, had taken 'shrooms and had a bad reaction and died. Out of the blue. It was really a shock.

I am not at all against drugs, and am in favor of legalization. I would like to see regulation of the strength of drugs, and there to be less of a stigma in getting assistance when something goes wrong.

Oops took the brown acid...

Your really don't want to know.

I've done weed before, I've been high, but it was pretty disgusting. Can't stand the smell or the effect.

Now I'm gonna go drink and fight Mike Skinner http://i.imdb.com/Photos/CMSIcons/emoticons/basic2/upset.gif

Back to your drugs thread, people.

Who was dissing the herb? You went to Kalamazoo, right john? I thought everyone there was required to smoke pot.

Yeah, there were plenty of pot-smokers at Kzoo, but I fell in with a pretty straight-edge crowd fairly early and then never had much interest in it.

-I drink. When I allow myself to be, I am a complete drunk. I drink less lately b/c I have a job that kicks my ass and I simply can't do it while drinking heavily. However give me the freedom and yeah, I'll drink yr bitch ass under the table.

-I've went through brief stoner periods in the past. I can understand stoners. Sometimes I think I should really be a stoner and not a drunk. But, see, I have asthma and pot makes me super sleepy so. . . that said I've recently been thinking I should look into getting a regular supply as I think it would help with the stress of teaching.

-My hardcore, yeah-I'm-a-degenerate-and-proud-of-it, drug of choice is Cocaine. White lady I love you. I like drinking and pot but they slow me down and dull me. Coke heightens everything and takes me to scary and thrilling peaks I don't experience otherwise. Yeah it's a scary drug for a reason. There have been times were I would do it about two times a month. It was often available and I had to exercise extreme self-control to resist. My lifestyle is different now. It isn't so readily available so when it is presented to me I accept it without a second thought. It's quite simple: I love doing coke. I'm not addicted to it but I see how that could happen. I rarely, if ever, seek it out. If it's been three months or so since I did it I'll be wanting it and putting some feelers out. However, I'm not beating down the doors of known back-alley dealers every weekend. It's good times every now and then but would kill me quickly if I indulged on a regular basis. (that said I haven't had any since august and am trying to score this weekend.)

I don't like speed as much but still won't turn it down if offered. I've never ever bought it. The main reason I don't like it is b/c my mother was a speed freak and it wrecked my adolescence. For the same reason I would never, ever shoot up. Catching your parents spiking their veins really kills that for you. It ain't the same as having them blaze up or snort lines in front of you, trust me.

I know a lot of people hate coke, that's fine. Don't judge me though, cause you don't know me. You don't like it? Fine. I don't do drugs in front of people who aren't down with it. It's a drag for all concerned. But if you want to try and preach to me I'll fuckin' take you down. I'm an adult, you're an adult. Deal with it.

(Even though, you know, I don't actually have much interest in doing any drugs besides pot.)

Kyle, did you know that 80% of your anecdotes finish with this statement? ;)

btw, I think drugs should be absolutely decriminlized. When presented with some anti-drug essay contest or whatever at school i never, ever have my students participate. I choose not to push that agenda. I have *huge* problems with our government's attitude towards drugs and, well, quite frankly I'm not a fucking hyprocrite. How in the hell am I supposed to lead my students in some propaganda DARE bullshit when I'm planning to go on a coke binge on the weekend? I am painfully honest, at least to myself, about these things.

This might sound a little weird but the main reason I smoked pot was for listening to music. Im sure some can relate to this...being a musician, whenever I listen to music I tend to overanalyse everything...listening to it with a musical ear:

"oh that's a nice minor 7th" "mmm, listen to that snare sound, mmm"

Somehow the mystical powers of pot allowed me to experience music in a different way. I loved to do the thing where you sit in a pitch black room, get stoned, turn the music up loud and forget about anything else going on in your life, any kind of personal context and just get (whoa..trippin' out here) 'lost in the music'.

Nowadays, on my Gap year, I have noone that I can get pot off, so I've had to stop smoking, its been tough getting out of the pot-smokers routine. Have only been smoking occasional ciggerettes most likely due to a slight nicotine addiction. I have decided that I'm not going to ever go back to smoking as much as I was before. I don't know how to describe the difference between being someone who smokes every night, and now, when I barely ever have a smoke, but there is a difference, and I'm not sure if its a bad thing or a good thing, just different.

As to the getting drunk vs getting high debate, like others above, I really do think it depends on the level of intoxication, the person, the situation. Although, personally I have never had a bad drug experience (pot, coke, ketamine, schrooms and satvia) while I have had many, many horrible experiences with alcohol.

Cocaine is awful stuff, no matter how much I enjoyed it. As noted, you always want more, and it's not that much fun when you're on it, you just really notice when you're not

Hallucinogens - I scared myself pretty good with five hits of liquid acid the first time I tripped, never did it again. Mushrooms, on the other hand, are God's Own Drug.

Ecstasy - I refused to try it when it was a bit party/rave drug, since everyone I knew in that scene was useless, and I hated the music. Did it a dozen times in small groups of friends, never enjoyed the ramp-up or peak, but I really enjoyed the come-down, sitting around talking (with the emotional high still in effect, but not the physical).

It's now been two years since I tried any illegal substance. sXe forever! (ugh)

Alcohol - Sometimes I think I'm an alcoholic, or borderline, though I was a binge-drinker three or four nights a week instead of drinking seven nights. Sober (in that I haven't been drunk) in two years. I drank mostly for the usual loser reasons - depression, boredom, because there was nothing else to do. I quit when I hit rock-bottom emotionally and creatively, and have been trying to deal with it ever since. It's scary for me, because I still think about alcohol whenever things are going badly or I'm in a tough position, and I don't want to be the way I was, drinking to forget problems/reality.

I suspect that some of the more virulent antidrug types are hopping themselves up on the adrenalin of righteous indignation.

I've tried pot 3 or 4 times, but never got any pleasure out of it; this is the only illegal drug I've ever tried. The other drugs have an unrealistic glamor for me because I've never tried them. However, I don't know anyone right now who is openly into drugs, who would be willing to share them with me, and given my life this is not likely to change in the near future.

I also drink alcohol regularly, and I agree with those who say that it too is a drug -- not to be a straight-edge killjoy, but to acknowledge that it has effects in small and large doses. (I also think sugar and corn syrup have psychoactive effects, and maybe should be regulated accordingly.)

Sometimes I think that alcohol could provide a framework for the decriminalization of drugs -- while some people fuck up their lives on alcohol, many more are capable of keeping it from overwhelming their lives. But a lot of Americans seem to operate on the principle of "NOTHING in moderation."

I drink though, and guzzle caffeine like a camel, except it's coffee and Mountain Dew and tea instead of water. Plus, camels got humps.

a divisive issue.

I would smoke pot more often (right now I almost never smoke) if it didn't have such a strong lingering after-effect on me.

what happens?

I feel like my brain gets soft.

ah. i think my brain is too hard, sometimes.

Yeah, maybe mine too.

There's also just the fact that the wife doesn't smoke, and it's kind of awkward to smoke around someone who doesn't.

<////#~~~~~~

um, is that like, marijuana?

prpared to open ur mind?

free

There's also just the fact that the wife doesn't smoke, and it's kind of awkward to smoke around someone who doesn't.

So what? You just have to smoke a little so you're not out of your skull stoned. If my husband smokes alittle, I'm totally cool with it and can "ignore" it (delude myself he's not stoned). :-) It does get awkward when someone's really intoxicated (for me anyway). I kinda feel awkward and don't know what to do or am really... self-conscious.

i was ill

Have done many drugs; don't do anything regular now though, only alcohol. I only really dabble on special occasions.

I would totally smoke weed with Hurtin. We could listen to records and argue about the New Yorker and how much I think it sucks.

I said 'no' to drugs. They wouldn't listen.

i know they're so bloody pushy

I would totally smoke weed with Hurtin. We could listen to records and argue about the New Yorker and how much I think it sucks.

ian you should totally move to chicago. you'd dig it if you could get past the brutal winters and landlockedness.

i really love brutal winters, which is why i'm so curious about chicago

Weed was totally a gateway drug for me. I don't even take it anymore cos it started giving me the fear, but I still dabble in the Class As on occasion. And it got me addicted to tobacco.

Did way too many drugs growing up. All I can handle anymore is weed and even there I find myself wanting it after a long week of work but then, once I'm stoned, I often don't enjoy it. Just makes me think the stupidest thoughts or sloooows everything down to the point of ridiculousness. It can be fun to listen to music or sit around and watch a movie or something but forget about going out anywhere--it makes me too self-conscious!

i really love brutal winters, which is why i'm so curious about chicago

well you missed out because this winter was the worst one in the 8 years i've been here. really, really soulcrushingly depressing.

ugh i would have loved it. this sun is getting me down

Hey Surmounter, I'll trade you to Chicago for Kevin.

temporary, i would do

CHEMICALLY INDUCED SCHIZOPHRENIA REFINES THE CLUELESS INTO BRAIN-STARVED DEAD WHO HAVE TO RESORT TO UNREASONED RELIGION IN ORDER TO FEEL AS THOUGH THERE IS ANY LIFE LEFT IN THEM. THEY WILL ALSO TURN YOU NOT GAY. AND IF YOU ARE TOO HAPPY WITH YOUR LIFE THEY WILL RUNE U. ALSO THEY WILL BIND YOU TO WORD.

ugh i would have loved it. this sun is getting me down

you closet goth, you

ONCE YOU START YOU GOTTA STOP OR ELSE

AT LEAST THEYRE BETTER THAN SEX

haha maybe i should dabble in some goth fashion...

My friends used to use a lot of recreational drugs...there was a lot of pressure to use them. Didn't like any of them much...HATED ecstasy why it was so popular I'll never know. I had a nasty fight with one of my best friends over "recreational" drugs and my relationship has not been the same since.