Drugs and/or alcohol?

Debate Room
1

I’m just putting this out there to see what other’s opinions are on alcohol and drug use. I just turned 62 last week and have been retired for 5+ years. I can honestly say that I’ve never used illegal drugs at any time. They have no attraction for me. I’ve never smoked anything( unless you count trying my dad’s cigarette when he went outside), I can’t even be around people who smoke, makes me sick. Our mom made our dad smoke outside, not ever in the house or in the car. The smell of pot turns my stomach.
Alcohol has no attraction for me either, I have never consumed a beer, or wine, or hard liquor. I have tried the occasional drink to get people to stop insisting that I just need to try it, but it all tastes the same to me. I’ve tried sweet wine, dry wines, different beers, even long-island ice tea, and a couple different whiskeys. I didn’t like the taste of any of them. So I don’t drink.
From 1980 to '93 I worked at a printing company driving a truck. My best friend leonard( I called him ralph) would go home every day after work and drink a 12-pack of beer every night. He would come in to work hungover everyday, would go into the bathroom and throw-up, hence the nickname, take 2 alka-seltzer tablets, and then do his job as the paper-cutter( very hazardous job). When we went back to CA. to visit, we met with “ralph” for the first time in 9 years. He has quit drinking now and couldn’t believe how money he spent on booze when he was drinking, he guessed it saved him $10,000 that first year. Expensive habit.
I don’t have any issues with other people if they drink alcohol. When people find out that I don’t drink, they assume it’s because I have some “moral objection” to consuming alcohol, I just don’t like the way it tastes. My wife drinks very rarely, we have no booze in the house, but both of our grown-up kids drink occasionally.
When it comes to drug use, I won’t even be around people if they’re using illegal drugs, I want nothing to do with them. Luckily, there has been zero drug use within our family, but we know other people who’s families have a problem with drug use. All it does is destroy peoples lives.

What are your views or opinions on alcohol and/or drug use? Has anyone had a friend or
family member with these kinds of problems? I consider our family to be very lucky( I won’t say blessed like my wife would say).

I don’t think drugs should be made legal, we already have enough stupid people in our community, we don’t need more impaired morons out in public.

2

Like you, I’ve never used illegal drugs, and I dislike smoking of any kind near me because it forces me to share whatever poison the smoker is using.

However, I do enjoy various types of alcoholic drinks, including wine, beer, cider, brandy, and scotch. I never touch gin, vodka, or tequila. I don’t like the smell or taste, and they seem to upset my stomach too.

I’d take issue with that statement. Prohibition merely pushes up the prices of the banned substances and forces addicts to deal with criminals. It also fills up jails. There must be a more humane and civilized way.

The most harmful drug of all is the opiate of the masses.

3

I smoke. Took up the habit in my early 30s and enjoy about 1/3 pack a day. I smoke outside.

I drink probably a beer a day - in the afternoon, after teaching the kids and before supper.

Last time I was shit-faced drunk was about 16 years ago. On social outings I’ll have 2 beers.

I tried pot twice. Both times I had a reaction and did not enjoy it at all.! I tried it first on my 40th bday, in the city with my best friend and after I got my nose pierced. The second time I tried it was with a group of ladies about 3 years after that.

Pot is legal where I live. Doesn’t change anything. People who do it, do whether it’s legal or not. Don’t do or have tried anything else - never had the desire.

4

Gave up illegal drugs when I was 21. I discovered asa muso you think you are playing better…as long as you do not listen to the playback.

I gave up hard liquor 37 years ago. I will have, on very hot days a lovely gin and tonic, and I mean a, singular.

Ah, but good aussie red wine? I am a trencherman. I am into shiraz/grenache or shiraz mourvedre blends at the moment. Some of them are absolutely outstanding.

I like (in our Aussie summers…14 weeks of plus 90 degrees F with the odd break of a couple of days) a lunchtime Spritzer, lots of ice, cheap cask wine and a fruit flavoured mineral water. Refreshing more than alcoholic.

I shall be on the piss today as I have the Premier of a Long Short Movie I was in…followed by another Movie that must have the worst script and unsuited lead actors in the history of Perth filmmaking. I know that because It turned it down. So lots of before and after parties today, and that terrible temptation…FREE BOOZE!!!

5

Being born in 1950, like most kids, I occasionally stole a cigarette from my dad and smoked it in the woods with my friends. Sort of the rite of passage. I never sought out cigarettes and tobacco, but since I was surrounded with it, I did what everyone else around me did, smoke and drink. From about 18 to 30, I did consume a lot. Pot and every drug you could think of also entered the scene.

Weirdly enough, cocaine and heroin could not get their hooks into me, even though I did shoot it up. I guess I was cheap, because to me the effects of heroin were parallel to drinking enough beer to pass out, then smoking a lot of pot.

But in my working life I was surrounded by hard-core alcoholics, and over time, saw the damage it caused, and began to use those people as examples why I should at least moderate.

I never quit, but after a very long time I learned to control and moderate, to where I am now, fully in control and the only brain recreation I indulge in is pot.

Here in Canada it finally became legal, and that was a release for me, I not not like being a law breaker.

But in my journey of experimentation, I started vaping pot, and to me, it is the most effective and pleasant way to indulge. Done correctly, the costs are minimized, and although it does damage the body, vaping is the least harmful method.

I am not a constant pot smoker, I usually buy a wee but each month, consume it, and I have no problem waiting for my next time. I budget.

I don’t have a habit anymore, I just consume for my own pleasure, at my own place and time.

I have my own personal definition of an alcoholic or addict, and that is the booze/drugs control you, you don’t control it. I reversed that, and these days, I control my pot intake.

One more thing. And this is something I take a stand on. Never drive when you are impaired. There is a time to party, and there is a time to drive. And never shall the two be in the same room together.

p.s. One cannot appreciate life while impaired, it just masks everything. The wonders of life and those you love reach their maximum appreciation when you are fully sober and awake.

6

I must be the bad arse of the forum. [Correction. I have just read David’s piece posted just before mine. He can be the forum bad arse. WTG Dave!]
I started the illegal drugs at 21 just after giving up the opium of the masses. I went right off the rails.
Alcohol, cigarettes and drugs. Nothing intravenous, I hate needles, but everything that can be smoked eaten swallowed or snorted. The acid and speed and such like were too debilitating, they didn’t last out the first year. The cigarettes and dope and hashish and booze intake increased. After another two years of drinking heavily all through the week and suffering blinding headaches before the night was out, I quit cold turkey and have gone off alcohol entirely ever since. I will share a beer with my son a couple of times a year and I still love the taste. I have a preference now for those boutique brews they make now.

The dope and cigarettes continued for another six years and as I headed to the big 30, like most folks I realised I wasn’t indestructible anymore. I didn’t have any trouble dropping the dope. The real addictive problem was the nicotine.

I gave up smoking many times over the next ten years until I got notice I had delivered myself into the realm of degenerative heart disease, and because I heeded the angina pains I missed out on a cardiac arrest. Again cold turkey from the cigarettes delivered me. That was twenty years ago I haven’t done any substance abuse since. It was a good move. I am still not on any medication besides the daily aspirin dose. I am still active and reasonably able bodied for my age. A lot of my mates suffer agility and movement and plumbing problems. I feel for them but I’m glad I stopped it all.
I have no regrets for my naughty behaviour. They were interesting times, involving many interesting events and involved many interesting people both famous and infamous.
I live like a monk now. I just love clear cold water, fresh foods and clean sea breezes. I love the smell of eucalyptus and jasmine in the morning. I suspect I have become a true hippy at last.

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7

I tried marijuana once, in1978. I threw up then hallucinated. Never did it again.

I’m also a recovering alcoholic, (19 years in June) and ex smoker (18 years) Without a doubt the best things I’ve ever done for myself.

I was an army medic. One day (1970) was talking about drugs with my boss, our doctor. I his opinion that weed and heroin are safe drugs. That a heroin addict will live and function for many years if the drugs are chemically pure, the dose is consistent and taken in sterile conditions, with no sharing of needles.

My opinion has modified a bit since then due to the widening of the range of illegal drugs which are taken.

IMO there are always going to be drug addicts. So perhaps at the very least, a system which is least harmful to the person and to the community. EG free shooting rooms, with sterile equipment. It’s been tried her with success.

Legalise, licence and tax illegal drugs. (as is starting to happen with marijuana) In the US especially that would have the effect of producing drugs of a high purity and consistent strength as well as reducing the prison population and the cost of prisons in the US. Plus of course it would mean many $millions in tax revenue.

My position on this matter is purely pragmatic, not moral nor emotional.

IMO that you have never used alcohol or tobacco is a fantastic thing and great to know. .

PS Slightly off topic. Prisons in the US are exempt from the13th amendment.

8

Chemically and physiologically, yes. But that is not what kills heroin addicts and that is not what turns too many into the dregs of society.

Take it from me, I have taken heroin. It puts you into a numbing state of foggy “I don’t care”. Your worries and the burden of paying bills or any responsibilities slip away into the distance. And the kicker is that you don’t care what you have to do to get the next fix. You don’t care if you have to sell your body, you don’t care if you have to sell your car, you don’t care if you have to sell your children, you don’t care if you have to kill someone to get that next fix.

Nothing, absolutely nothing matters but the next fix.

9

If anyone asked me about drugs, my position is simple. Don’t try it, don’t start.

10

I gave up cigarettes a couple of times :rofl:
The last time was just more than a year ago and I am not looking back. I do enjoy the occasional cigar
like on a birthday.
I used cannabis on and off a couple of years ago, never hardcore, but it has been 15years since I ‘puffed the magic dragon’.

I do enjoy alcohol.
South Africans in general does have , I think, a tendency to drink to much. Probably as in most other 'struggling, countries.

I have no issue with the actions of any consenting adult as long as it does not harm anyone else and think addiction should be treated as an illness by governments.

Johann Hari has a very interesting talk on ted about addiction.

11

I have used nearly every street drug there was when I was growing up. Let’s start with alcohol, beer, wine, mixes, home brews… etc, Pot, hash, hash oil, speed, downers, cocaine and shrooms. The only reason I never dropped acid is because I never saw any acid.
I bartended for 25 years.

I drink rarely.
The last time I was tipsy was over 10 years ago.
I don’t use drugs of any kind/
I hate alcohol the stupor
I dislike the dumb numb feeling of pot.
Cocain and speed just make my heart race and I can’t stand it.

Mushrooms are great and I would do them tomorrow given the proper circumstances. (Timing and circumstances are everything with Mushrooms. They are never an every day thing. Once a year would be good…)

I don’t drink because I don’t like it. It is that simple. When I do drink, it is purely to be social. To fit in at a dinner party or social gathering. People find you more approachable if you are holding a drink,

I think all drugs should be made legal with the exception of penicillin and its kin, because making it legal would merely allow bacteria to develop immunity to it faster. Stop regulating everything.

Make it all completely legal and let the addicts kill themselves and each other off. Not only that. Allow all companies to do drug testing and make it illegal for them to have anyone under the influence of any drug working for them, then give them the legal mandate to terminate anyone for a dirty test. The war on drugs will be over in a year. (Prescriptions will be given to workers who may be allowed to do some jobs while using prescription drugs.)

12

@David_Killens

I once Saw Yul Bryner on a TV ad after he had died of Lung cancer…

13

I’m with @Cognostic . Mushrooms are an excellent provisional escape from reality.

Side effects include euphoria, extended introspection into life, visual hallucinations.

Withdrawal effects include … notta. There are no withdrawal effects, and psilocybin mushrooms are non-habit forming.

Interestingly enough - if you take a close look at DMT - psilocybin - and serotonin … the molecules are intriguingly similar. They have different binding affinities to the serotonin 5-HT receptors - which accounts for some of the therapeutic effects of these hallucinogens.

Psilocybin is being used in a renaissance of medical investigations into the benefits of treating 1) depression 2)anxiety 3) PTSD 4) OCD and even 5) schizophrenia

… which I can attest to (as a schizophrenic). Ie. the voices literally disappear when I take a dose of psilocybin.

I’ve been doing research into this. A good friend of mine has kicked a seven year opioid crises by using “Ibogaine” which is another serotonin like molecule. He’s never been happier or more full of purpose. And all thanks to a root found in a isolated part of Africa where it is used as a right passage into manhood.

By the way, for all you guys out there who remember - the rat spit is back (after a much need temporary ban where he learned the difference between play fighting and words that can be taken as slander) :wink:

As for smoking - what a terrible way to kill your self and waste countless dollars of money.

Weed? No thanks. Too much introspection.

Harder drugs? I’ve been fortunate enough to pave a life that avoided cocaine and heroin.

I’ve had my run ins with LSD - which I consider to be a real perception screwing experience that lasts longer than one might otherwise wish.

My 2 cents.

14

Hey :wave: WELCOME back :smiley:.

You fuckin’ missed out on meeting your soul-mate here. Jesus fuckin’Christ, here, just a second, takes onelast drag :smoking:… hopefully she hasn’t gone far and will start posting again.

15

Well, I can thankfully say I have already met my soulmate.

But I wouldn’t mind meeting this particular person.

As for that “last drag” - no offence. I’m a strong believer in the axiom “get a habit, already” - and smoking was mine for a long time. Booze is my crutch these days. Takes a mighty will not to overdue it though.

No judgment from me - but as a former smoker I can thankfully say (five years removed) that it wasn’t as necessary as I thought it was.

16

I have done some casual examination of the properties of pot. It comes in many strains, each delivering different experiences. In Canada where it is legal, we are now presented with choices like a wine connoisseur has. Want to get paranoid? Want to not have any concerns? Want to get all jacked up and climb the walls? Want to be a couch potato?

There is a strain for all of those requirements.

When one had to obtain pot from an illegal dealer, they had no control on what they were purchasing, and what the effects would be. Now, I can walk into my local pot shop and say “I’m in a gaming tournament tonight, I want something to keep me alert, awake, and jacked”.

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My friend Leonard learned that the hard way. He drove while intoxicated and wrecked his truck twice. He got lucky, both times he hit the curb and no one else was involved, but he had to borrow money from family to fix his truck. After that, he rode his skateboard to and from the bar every night. Only in California.

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I think you seem to be confusing use with addiction for a start.

This facile argument is making the incorrect assumption illegality is preventing drug use, or even reducing it, are you familiar with the prohibition era? You are also referring to recreational drug use in a generic way, which is unhelpful, as someone smoking cannabis occasionally or taking cocaine on occasion is hardly the same as someone on crack or crystal meth.

I also don’t think rational discourse is best framed in the context of a question, where you start by describing those with opposing views to your own as morons.

19

You mean apart from myself?

Yair, alcoholics. Three siblings, both maternal grand parents, a maternal aunt and some American cousins. Mum avoided her family curse by not drinking. Dad was a heavy drinker, but not an alcoholic.

IMO there can definitely be a genetic predisposition to alcoholism

If you are interested in learning, I recommend that you do some research on the nature of addiction. From your post, it seems you may have some misunderstandings.

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20

I think we are all addicted to something, whether we admit/know it. That’s probably one of the reasons why I chose to not participate in any of those kinds of activities.

I’ve had several orthopedic surgeries in the last 5 years. When we went home from the hospital, they always gave me a prescripition for pain-killers, usually oxy-codone. I only took them for the first 2-3 days because I didn’t want to become dependent on them. My wife would stash them away in the closet, and get them out only when I am having a really bad day painwise.

Like I said, I think we are all addicted to something, maybe it’s in our nature, I don’t know. I’m addicted to caffeine like a lot of us are. I get mine from PEPSI or DR. PEPPER, I’m not a coffee or tea drinker. As long as I have some with lunch or dinner, I’m fine, I don’t drink it between meals.