Cycles of Use/Abuse

[Crankinit]

Over time you'd hope that people would become aware and educated about the drugs they're using and the overall harm caused by drugs would be reduced, even if it meant an increased number of users.

And that's the heart of the issue, isn't it? Every decision needs to be made with the question 'does the reduction in harm outweigh the increased harm caused by increased use?' in mind.

 

[hyroller]

that is epically well said sykik. I think i'm at the stage where I go out and take drugs. hopefully soon it will be i go out for the musik. and take drugs MAYBE.

The necessity factor also rests pretty heavily upon the other individuals in the 'scene' - i.e., to go out while everyone else is high as a kite is extremely difficult... I've done it a handful of times after determining to maintain my resolve, but I was always counting the minutes to go home - bright nights, loud music, people knocking you + fatigue = largely unfun after a certain point, minus the consumption of chemical delicacies

 

[hyroller]

And that's the heart of the issue, isn't it? Every decision needs to be made with the question 'does the reduction in harm outweigh the increased harm caused by increased use?' in mind.

I think a lot of the ignorance problem stems initially from a lack of education - kids aren't educated about the pitfalls of damage that can result from filling their bodies with toxins... i.e., the sacred temple of the human form.

They more or less have it hammered into their skulls that drugs are bad & end of story, instead explaining why drugs are bad, or rather, excess consumption/dependence and addiction.

With the ever-growing 'prescription drug' epidemic, you'd think at least generating awareness at a high school level about the effects of certain kinds of drugs (stims, downers, benzos etc), might not make them seem like such a novel concept.

Of course many of these attitudes can be learned at home, and not just in relation to drugs (even though my old lady was a heavy drinker & dope smoker, she did encourage healthy eating - consumption of any kind can be conceptualised similarly)......

 

[Jakeperson]

There are also a lot of people that use drugs for their negative effects as much as their positives.

 

[hyroller]

Negative long-term physical effects you mean?



This is a very foreign concept to me!

I can understand bongs/choof - wanting to be socially withdrawn etc.... happy to spend night after night glued to the TV lol.... (negative: demotivation).. but damn I never thought anyone who shooted heroin (for example) and their teeth started to fall out, had all in all wanted to avoid the dentist!!

 

[Jakeperson]

Negative long-term physical effects you mean?

Shortening the life span, I mean.

 

[hyroller]

Well, maybe. But clearly, not everyone is overdosing, so I can't see that factoring in to peoples immediate decision making when it comes to dosing drugs....

 

[Jakeperson]

Maybe not, but the average user that can't afford much other than, well drugs, seem to have that desire in their sites. It's a cycle of self abuse and self-destruction, that rarely works in any ones favour.

 

[hyroller]

Yes, but that all boils down to an emotional void that someone is seeking to fill with drugs... seemingly showing no regard or respect for the toll their use can take on the body. Whereas I believe peoples' minds, bodies, and to a greater extent - emotions - would be much more in synch (and thus, less vulnerable to developing a debilitating habit) if a more holistic approach to wellbeing was taught from an early age - not just preaching 'avoidance'.

 

[Jakeperson]

That's true but there will always be the people who ruin it for every one else and wander down the dark path.

 

[thestudent14]

Great posts by Hugs & drugs and Puckboy
I agree with what you're saying Hugs&drugs about us all having different opinions, I dunno, I guess I've seen a few too many addicts whilst drugs are illegal, I find it very hard to accept the concept of them all being legal.

But I agree with you Puckboy, about certain drugs that should be legal considerring the low hard that they cause. But it's a very tricky issue that will probably never be resolved =(

Like you both said, Education is the key, not propaganda.
This takes me back to hating the Internet censorship.
"He who would sacrafice freedoms for safety, will recieve neither"

 

[De quincy]

My drug history started with my birth, I was a big child and my poor mother was I assume, bombed to the eyeballs on Pethidine, it must have been good, I can’t remember a thing! From there when I was a very young my father warned me of the dangers regarding the various toxic plants in our garden, due to the fact that I had this thing about wondering the yard picking flowers, seeds, bugs or anything else, immersing them in water and contemplating the thought of drinking the subsequent concoction and wondering what it would do. I’m serious, the very fact that I was told about the dangers of something inspired curiosity to do it! I also had a chemistry set and that naturally set my mind regarding the possibilities out there. But fortunately for the world of chemistry, my chemistry carrier finished there and I became a horticulturist.
My chemical career was fairly typical, alcohol, cigarettes, cannabis, various plant based psychedelics, opiates and even MDMA before it was illegal; in the late 1970’s. Various other substances followed over the years then I moved on to the harder things like double cappuccinos and the occasional beer, it’s much harder to peel one’s self out of bed after a big night/bender than when your body is younger. Which brings me to the obvious question; you speak of cycles and patterns of drug use. Does the cycle imply an end at some time or do you envisage that drug use with regard to yourselves and age will continue? I don’t ask this to provoke, it’s just something I continually ask myself.

 

[Jakeperson]

Its something we will all ask ourselves until we stop asking.

 

[psycosynthesis]

+40 on The Dark Tower series.

 

[psynapsurfa]

i look around at the people in the street and i ask myself,
'so if heroin was legal, would that lady use it. if speed would that guy/ etc" and i am inclined to think not.
unless they were already into drugs, like myself.
i just dont think that having something legalized is gonna make people think its ok to be an addict. being an alcoholic isnt accepted, its downright looked down upon.
and drug users are gonna use drugs regardless of law. prohibition has utterly failed.

if our beloved drugs of choice were legalized, you can guarantee that actually getting to use them legally would be just as hard as now. they would be tightly regulated, and probably need a subscription for use.
--especially opiates, amphets, mdma, psychs, possibly even humble grass.
tho grass has the coffee shop scene of holland so maybe we could buy a bag at the bottlo, pub, or tobbaconist, but were you can smoke would be regulated.

ok, so if they are regulated, what possible reason does one have of goin to the regulator and saying ' can have a gram of that china white, and 10 of those mdma pills to go please."

i mean come on, in one month you gonna need a prescription for codiene. its just aint gonna happen.

i do , however, believe that eventually things will SLOWLY change to the better. untill in a hundred or two years we will look back on this age of prohibition and prosecution like we, look back upon the dark ages and the burning of witches......with horror and repulsion.....

 

[psynapsurfa]

by the way my cycle goes a bit like this...........first second hand cannabis smoke at home and in the kombi as a young child. (and yeah i did get stoned, absolutely)

then....ciggies, pot, alcohol, otc and prescriptions, acid ,speed, mushies, avils, heroin, mdma, coke, dmt ,ketamine then recently have tried the regular rc's. i love my drugs.

that was a basic order of trying them. patterns of abuse have been different. in my younger days, late teens to early,mid twenties was party drugs, with a hefty heroin problem and continued grass smoke.

then it became more dependant opioids like heroin and the methadone maintainence. during the done years, alcohol,and benzoes have been a abusive release/ problem.

and coke is a good party.with some pills/rc's etc, oh and more alcohol. benzoes to come down.

i love my mushies and use them each year, but dont abuse them. same with acid and dmt.

but mainly now as i reach nearly 40, i just try to be stable on my done. alltho i have trouble with that even as i like to hit it up!

after 25 years of using drugs i still dont see me stopping. these days i try to limit the harm i do to myself. i want to be a good dad these days you see. hold down a job etc etc

nanoo nanooo

 

[thestudent14]

@psynapsurfa
Top posts dude.

 

[Esotericism]

Well I can remember seeing an anti-drug show talking about hallucinogens when i couldn't have been older than ten and thinking,"seeing shit sounds like fun." So i'm inclined to think even without the exposure from my stoner of an older brother I would of hit the drugs sooner or later due to the curiosity.
My use went like this Cannabis> Alcohol> MDMA> speed> Ketamine> MDA>2c-b> PMA> LSD>Temazepam>GHB> Valium>2c-i>Mushrooms>Tobacco(damn depression)>Meth>Xanax>Codeine>DXM>2c-e>Coke
I like to dabble in a bit of everything and the only drugs ive really abused are MDMA and alcohol, the MDMA ceased after it made my depression caused by a breakup far worse, and the alcohol abuse while not chronic is a case of the Aussie youth issue of binge drinking. While I won't drink at home I get absolutely slaughtered every time I'm out which is usually at least 3 nights a week but is sometimes every night as well. All I can say is thank god I learnt how much I suck at controlling addictions with from tobacco before i started messing around with anything I could really see myself having a problem with since if I'd gotten onto the coke or meth at a young age before learning my lesson I think I'd be in a lot of trouble now.
As others have said MDMA was the one that really made my interest in drugs and psychology explode into an obsession.

 

[hyroller]

As others have said MDMA was the one that really made my interest in drugs and psychology explode into an obsession.

MDMA & speed are the two things I don't like to be without (when in party mode)...and these days speed is just standard while the MD comes out on special occasions. This is due to the unavilability, mostly, and the fact that I'm not allowed/not in the mood to party like a mofo.

Oddly enough - as much as I used to hate it and would never go near it - the idea of weed supply drying up annoys me slightly... because - well - it's so much fun to unwind & chill on, it's not funny
like on a fortnightly basis type thing... now that I've retired the crackpipe, the green has become a new addition... lol

 

[What was it?]

alcohol > tobacco > marijuana (heavy) > codeine > 1 line of speed > break of 4-5 years > MDMA (or whatever else was in the pills) > amps (pretty much daily at the moment) > benzos (very rarely)

im stuck on my DOC and have no desire at all to change it or try something new...

im all about control. i hated myself drunk so i tried weed, hated myself on that and thought maybe drugs just arent for me, had my first pill and i was in control and still totally fucked up and loved it, then someone passed me a pipe. game over.

haha, I'm similar to you....a control freak. Only difference I like the opiates....not that im in control when on them but nothing matters anymore when ur on em.