When you say "the whole idea of recreation drug use doesn't sit well with me", do you mean the idea of using them yourself, or anyone at all? Also, funnily enough, there are plenty of drug users that hate drug dealers. They're not nice people (for the most part) because they can't be, there's too much money and no rules involved, so the violent tend to excel. Drugs would probably bring in a lot of money through tax. Though I'd have to insist that all the money earned from drug tax went to NASA/ESA.Chemical Alia said:Drugs, though, I've never tried, and I can't really see myself trying them in the future. The whole idea of recreational drug use doesn't sit well with me. I don't want to consume them, and I don't want my money going to drug dealers.
Yeah, you need to be careful with that though. The law isn't always right. If the law was changed so that you were compelled to smoke at least a gram of weed a day, would you? What if alcohol were prohibited again? What if bacon was outlawed?Guffe said:Narcotics / Illegal Drugs, never, they're illegal = you shouldn't take them.
I mean me using them myself. I'm totally cool with my friends who use drugs as long as they do it responsibly and preferably not around me.Techno Squidgy said:When you say "the whole idea of recreation drug use doesn't sit well with me", do you mean the idea of using them yourself, or anyone at all? Also, funnily enough, there are plenty of drug users that hate drug dealers. They're not nice people (for the most part) because they can't be, there's too much money and no rules involved, so the violent tend to excel. Drugs would probably bring in a lot of money through tax. Though I'd have to insist that all the money earned from drug tax went to NASA/ESA.Chemical Alia said:Drugs, though, I've never tried, and I can't really see myself trying them in the future. The whole idea of recreational drug use doesn't sit well with me. I don't want to consume them, and I don't want my money going to drug dealers.
Wow. I'm astonished. You covered pretty much everything I was going to say. I started reading your post assuming it would be similar but... I mean you literally covered every single point I was going to say. Uh. Yeah, I agree. Wholeheartedly. I do not, nor will I ever, require the self-destruction that is alcohol and drugs.Senare said:I'm glad you asked. I have never taken narcotics nor drunk alcohol (more than a sip, because people wanted me to taste). I have numerous reason for avoiding it.
1. It is toxic.
2. It is addictive.
3. Some of the immediate effects are negative.
4. It is expensive.
5. It tends to limit options, especially since it effects your judgement.
6. I view consumption of it as a weakness.
7. The positive effects can generally be attained without it by other means, like mental tricks.
8. For alcohol: The things I have tried taste bad, and those that could taste well (drinks) can be made without alcohol.
My criteria for when it is acceptable to use narcotics or alcohol is when it is done for rare legitimate reasons where the benefits will definitely outweigh the costs. E.g. medical intervention. Everyone is of course free to poison themselves, as long as their consumption does not effect anyone else aversely and that they retain unimpaired judgement when it comes to decision-making that effects others (especially when voting). Note that the simple fact that you are poisoning yourself may tax your health-care system, which would fall under the previous point.
Maybe I should explain myself?Techno Squidgy said:Yeah, you need to be careful with that though. The law isn't always right. .Guffe said:Narcotics / Illegal Drugs, never, they're illegal = you shouldn't take them.
You raise some interesting points. Let me start cutting up your argument a bit.Guffe said:snip
at the moment in my country we have list of substances that have been made illegal to use. This is based on tests done by medical experts who find out that usage of such substances in small enough doses damage your body/nervous system/mental health in a bad/dramatical way, then it's made illegal.
Okay, but what's interesting is the debate on the harmfulness of Cannabis and various other recreational drugs. Cannabis is actually pretty safe. There are risks, of course, but there are also ways to minimise those risks. Research has shown that cannabis has some really positive aspects to it, and not purely recreational. MDMA, the bit you actually want when you buy ecstasy, has potential applications in PTSD treatment and can be extremely helpful in therapy. A lot of drug legislation has more to do with politics than it does with what's best for everyone.then we have the 100% illegal stuff like cocaine, heroine, weed etc etc.
At the moment the law says I can't use any of these, it means I won't. If alcohol would've been illegal since I was born, or just 10 years ago changed to illegal, I doubt I would drink today.
I wasn't saying that because I think it's actually going to happen, I was saying that because I wanted you to think. If the law said you HAD to smoke weed, would you?And throwing out extremes at me like "make it so everyone has to smoke 1 gram of weed a day" is unnecessary. It's not going to happen!
I agree with you there, and I think drug legislation across most of the world is flawed, and needs to be changed.What I can agree on is that some laws might be a bit weird, you can go around them or maybe one or two might be outrageous, that's why we have a system here that when we notice flaws like this there are people educated to notice it, and change it.
Religious reasons for me. I've not drank any alcoholic beverages or taken drugs beyond the occasional panadol or avellin. Apart from that, I've seen druken people before (really drunk, I mean- dancing on tables drunk and picking fights with bobbies kind of drunk) and it terrifies me to think that I could ever end up that way.Relish in Chaos said:I was just wondering, are there any of you here that have never taken alcohol or (recreational) drugs, either for religious reasons, health reasons, or because the idea has simply never appealed to you?