Why don't you do drugs?

i sort of want to try mushrooms though, just to experience it. but i'm not quite sure.

1) I'm mean. Drugs are dear.
2) They never had any good effects
3) I worried that it would cock me up so I wouldn't be able to play sport
4) I absolutely despised all the drugs ritual and *drugs people*- utter wankers all. I hated all the having to sit around in somebody's squallid front room talking shit with filthy crusties and listening to bloody Hawkwind just because I've bought a quarter of red from some loser. To me it should have been like buying a loaf of bread or a pint - a quick transaction! All the sitting around stoned, maan is just pitiful stuff.

It's true that ecstasy will make you empathise with people though. A lot of psychologists are lobbying for it's use in therapy, for instance trauma sufferers who can't open up about their experiences. My problem on e is that I have no inner monologue and have to watch what I say to people a lot of the time. I am in "control" as I know what I'm doing but it's like when you're drunk and think it would be a good idea to tell your mate you love them x100. People generally don't mind this kind of behaviour though. ;-)

Alcohol is still my favourite though.

(x-post - v.timely Julio!)

Alcohol and sometimes weed for starters. I'm not so much into metal as I was a short while back so it's hard to say. Just smoke a bunch of dope and listen to Electric Wizard or Arcturus or something.

I think magic mushrooms are some of the best though - I'd even recommend them to non-drug users as they're legal, a lot of fun, don't make you act like a prick so long as you do them at the right place with the right people, and there's little or no comedown. I don't even reckon the taste is as bad as they say. Just get a bunch of friends ona nice day, buy some shrooms from your local headshop and go out into the woods and eat them. A fun afternoon for everybody.

Oh lord.

Dog Latin to answer your question, I am quite put off by people who use anything but weed.

by headshop I meant one of those hippie shops like you get in Camden. Oh, and Letchworth. They all tend to sell them these days. After all they have to make money from somewhere and selling tie-died scarves can't be cutting it these days.

and the brain-damage/dying/get seriously addicted shit with some other drugs kind of makes me think i should stick with beer.

I really enjoy clubs anyway, and seem to get into music enough without the nonsense idea of enhancement. I can't see why people should need to take anything to find dance music great. I can pick a tune out at 1pm, in my lunch break, and know it will be great and love it.

I think for a lot of people it is habit. I still smoke cigarettes within reason - the only thing my doctor said I could do. I drink more than I probably should, though doctor's advice is not to at all. Saying that - this is the key. I still drink / smoke, but I don't even get remotely interested by anything else.

(x-post) Archel OTM!

If I didn't want to try anything harder in the past, it's probably because I was scared -- now it's just because I value my health and mind too much. Also, I've recently become sensitive to caffeine in a way that makes me suspect that any kind of upper (like coke) could kill me. So there's that.

But i would like something that would give me more energy at nights/clubs. but the thought of having to be artificially buoyed up to stay awake makes me think that i might as well accept that if im not up for it, im not up for it. its juts that increasingly, i am not up for itwhen i am out. :(

I still like to smoke pot but I usually don't have any cuz of the bother of finding it.

I don't do acid because it's hard to find good stuff, and the couple times I did it, I had really bad trips.

I don't do coke anymore because I was a coke addict for a year or so in my early 20s, and it scared the hell out of me. I was skinny and starving myself; I spent all the money I'd so carefully saved and lost my job; I alienated a lot of my friends; I ended up hanging around people who were no good for me because they had coke and they were willing to share it with me. I never stole anything to support my habit, nor gave sex away for it, but what I did do was bad enough. Having spontaneous nosebleeds and not realizing it, and staying up for 4 days in a row because I was so high was ugly, and thankfully I finally (with the help of some friends) ended up in rehab, or god knows where I would have ended up. I'm not proud of this, but neither can I deny it.

I do smoke up occasionally, because I still like it.

My story is *remarkably* similar to Rob's. I was very anti-cigarettes and not in favour of drugs AT ALL, barely drank even at 21. I'd already known or shared friends with a few junk casualties, and the idea of coke always bugged me. And yeah I do find crusty/waster/drug buddy talk EXTREMELY boring. I had mushrooms before anything else, liked them, but haven't done them for awhile.

When I came here I was happy to bang on a spliff going around a party, but even with my clubbing history have only taken () about 10 times (3 in the past year). And then only half a () per incident. Good tip: if Tuesday is sunny, try to go (and stay) ouside.

I'm trying to cut down on smoking because of work but it's hard, because a busy day makes me think I'd quite like a little smoke at the end.

I like alcohol a lot.

Then, uh, why are so many people addicted to it to some extent, myself included? If you're differentiating between something that's legal and liquid vs. stuff that's illegal and smoked/snorted/shot, that's one thing. But let's not kid ourselves here.

I'm not as uptight as I used to be about it, though. I had a roommate in college whose parents were fairly intelligent people and after dinner they passed me a joint without even asking or making a big fuss about it. I realized then that boring or not, it's really jut not that big a deal.

Why our culture has placed so much weirdness around it is not a question I can answer, unfortunately. Reading this thread, and judging by own awkwardness with my dad's mild habit, the one obvious thing is that the weirdness is very deeply ingrained.

Weed I love but, I know I shouldn't as I know I have a completely addictive personality (it's the same reason I don't gamble more - I like it *too* much)and given half the chance I would sit around all day all week etc stoned and watching mtv and eating toast.

Acid was great, my favourite drug, until I hallucinated that my recently deceased father was calling to me from the other side of a wall (nope, that wasn't a good one) - that was that for me on that one.

Coke? = wankers drug, instant arsehole powder, I hate it and I'm not keen on anyone on it - too many bad experiences of mates becoming wankers.

sPEED WAS GOOD TOO - BUT BY HELL IT'S A BIT PIKEY, CUT WITH SHITE AND THE TOOTHGRINDING COMEDOWN IS HORRIBLE.

[caps unintentional]

so really it's just booze these days, and the odd toke, I suppose I'm happy with that.

a) They seem pretty boring - all I can see them doing is making you act weird or mellow, I can do both of them quite easily.
b) I'm a complete hypochondriac.
c) I like to be cool calm and collected at all times if I'm out and about.

Why I have never tried? Never been offered, never sought them out. If I can't read the label and consult a manual it's not going anywhere near my internal system.

Alcohol? I just don't like the taste...I'll drink whiskey and coke or other soft drink, but recently I don't even do this.

I'm not straight edge btw.

Of course people can be drug bores, but if you spend your whole life criticising at the boring things people do, then you become pretty boring yourself. I'm not saying that people who do pills are better people, but in the generation I've grown up in they have tended to be more open people, more open to wild nights of mixing with a whole bunch of new people and yes, dancing all night.

Occasionally I'd had loads of fun being drunk, but it was almost always with people I knew already, and that gets stale after a while. Some people do seem to have the knack of being nicely extrovert on alcohol, but more often the extroversion seems to more take the form of loudness, lairiness, or aggression. Peronally, I'd often withdraw into myself even more when drunk. If the night had been going well in other respects, then it was fine, and could make me more fun, but if, as often the case, I was feeling uncomfortable in the first place, then it just made me worse.

I had great friends, and some of them had done pills when younger, or did them occasionally when they were out with other groups of friends, the cool friends I always envied them for having. Yes, cool is stupid word, and stupid to strive for, but if it's what the people who are 'cool' are doing that you're after, it's not quite as ridiculous. Anyway, yeah, bundle of 'grass is always greener' going on here, probably.

Then one night, when I was sitting up with friends, a peripheral friend offered round a load of pills. Another friend of mine was a first timer too. We had a half each and, yeah, well I won't bore you with how wonderful it was. No dancing or being loons or anything. Just wonderful, loving conversations between all of us. And it wasn't bullshit, because we do all love each other, y'know? Yadda yadda.

I know they always say your first time is the best, but in some ways it wasn't at all. It got even better, because there were other things about pills I had yet to experience. It was a while afterwards, because I still wasn't in the whole social world where they were normal. Anyway, I moved to another town, needed to make new friends and got in touch with a friend of a friend who'd also moved there. We didn't really hit it off at first. I went out with her and her friends once or twice - liked them but felt shy about getting in touch more regularly to 'become a friend' or whatever. Then one evening she invited me out again, when they were going clubbing. I was tired and scared about being a wallflower, but made myself do it.

To cut a long story short, we all had pills and had among the most amazing fun 24 hours I have had in my life. The warmth of the first time, but this time I was with relative strangers. The kind of situation in which I usually clam up. But not this time. I'd only taken a half again, so I wasn't remotely 'out of control' or anything. Just so fucking blessedly free of the crippling self-consciousness that usually afflicted me. And then there was the dancing. Such amazing, fun, flowing dancing, dancing with other people you don't even know, smiling, hugging 'how's your night, mate?' 'what's your name?' yeah, all that stuff it's easy to overdo and laugh at. But after a lifetime of underdoing it, of looking away coolly when a stranger catches your eye, it's pretty damn liberating.

I won't go on about what happened next, but it ended up with this girl and I going out. Months later, I speculated that we would never really have got together, or even really got to know each other as friends, if it hadn't been for being on pills that night. She was hestitant to agree, but conceded that the times we'd met before, she'd not really paid me that much attention, found me a bit standoffish, whatever. E is a wonderful way of... breaking the ice in such a fundamental way. We had fantastic times together after that, some of the best times of my life, and no we weren't on drugs very often. But she was one of those people from that other world, the world I always felt excluded from; allowed myself to be excluded from.

It seems sad to me that the people who get most out of E are maybe those least likely to take it. The cool, clubby crowd tend to be quite confident people anyway. It's the quiet lot who are all clammed up.

I feel regret for those years lost, wondering what life in that world might have been like instead of actually being involved in it. It would have been nice to have done it all as a teenager, got it over with, whatever, but I didn't, and I kind of resent people sneering and saying it's an embarrassment for people over 30 to do it.

I have spent my life sneering and worried about being sneered at. If there's one thing my E experiences have taught me is that all that really is just crippling bullshit.

I wouldn't really care if I never did any other drug again, but I'm not giving up (irregular - I agree with whoever it was who said it's best to keep it for special times, a few times a year) E-taking just yet.

My work requires me to be extroverted and chatty, which doesn't always come naturally to me - I can be painfully withdrawn on my own time, even around my good friends. Classic introvert-extrovert behaviour, I guess.

Anyway, I'm fast approaching 30 and did not try drugs until my late twenties. I found that pot helped me slow down the merry-go-round in my head (friends have commented that I have two modes - wired and crashed-out, with nothing in between), and that taking E really helped me break out of my shell in situations where I badly needed to. (I love house music but am not always comfortable in clubs, strangely enough, and clubbing on E really spun the whole experience 180 degrees.)

i think people should do what i say.

drugs are the bomb: they make you feel strong, ubiquitous, powerful, happy.

drugs are fucked: they make you feel crazy, paranoid, numb, stupid,
cool- in-a-dumb-way, without ant hope or any future.

(But really, you should read the journal entry to get the WHOLE story and explanation.)

I don't disapprove of those who use drugs. I'm just really steadfast in my committment to steer clear from drugs, even just once.

in hindsight, it was probably a combination of things: i'm not good with being out of control at all. my parents drink quite a bit, and so it never seemed all that badass to drink a lot. and my parents were big into the 'just say no!' every time i leave the house. (and still do. and apparently odn't believe me that i've never done drugs)

i had a bad experience dating a 'stoner' my first year at michigan, and his drug use directly impacted two really traumatic events for me, and so i didn't date people that used much for a long time. my last major ex was pretty into pot, and it didn't bother me as much, although it could be annoying on nights when he'd rather get stoned and program than hang out with me.

i started drinking more (i'd have the occasional glass of champagne or a midori sour my year in chicago) when i moved here. don't know why, but i think it's just such a part of the culture here-- meet your friends down at the pub. think i'm going through what most people go through at about 18-- figuring out my boundaries and generally making an ass of myself. didn't like waking up the bank holiday weekend with bruises ALL OVER that i can't remember getting, and have been trying to drink a bit less since i don't like forgetting things i've said or done.

yeah, i'm perfectly willing to accept that people have their own reasons for doing drugs, and don't ever try to convince them that it's wrong for them. it's shocking to me that in my late 20's, i STILL have to deal with peer pressure from people thinking it's weird that i don't smoke pot or whatever. i have to say that can get old really fast.

OTM.

for what its worth. i smoked a joint last weekend. i haven't done e in 8 years.

> I don't think that's it in short at all.

Yeah, this is not what the thread has said to me.

I am really proud of not doing drugs though. Staying away from something gives you this ridiculous innocence, this quality that is supposed to be good, an idea that seems hugely funny but at the same time, why not enjoy it.

I regret having ever taken any alcohol or drugs. People are so stupid, so naive, so innocent, they desperately need to be protected; all this stuff should be held back from them. The idea of 'self control' is one of the stupidest in the world. As if people who don't take drugs aren't simply afraid -- although some maybe don't take drugs out of consideration for others, which is noble, but nobility is its own reward. And as if people who do take drugs 'lack self control'; what does that even mean.

Once you start working, some of the negative side effects become more annoying to deal with. It's one thing to skip Monday classes 'cause you're feeling a bit rough, but sitting through an hour long meeting in the same state is a special kind of hell.

I just had my annual physical and I have lost 8kg (17lbs) from the same time last year. I wasn't fat to begin with so it has been noticeable. Friends and co-workers keep commenting on it but I daren't say "It's all the speed I take on weekends, now leave me alone!" so I make up lame excuses about stress or whatever. Having said that, it's time to take a bit of a break, just to get healthy and fatten up a little.

So I guess while I like drugs, I have no illusions about how badly they can mess you up although I don't think that they're inherently dangerous. The key, as with all things, is to recognize when the fun gets to be a little too much.