Brenner; you definitely have a point, and having experienced the negative consequences yourself, your point of view is definitely valid. You deserve no flaming
I believe in advicing harm reduction rather than abstention, even for people with higher risk profile, because abstention doesn't work. War on drugs and abstention have proven its inefficiecy for decades. We are still stuck with an illegal distribution with the increased risk that gives, in addition we also get users with little knowledge of how to mitigate risk while using.
I believe in education. People will make their own decisions, making those decisions informed, so they are aware of the risk they take, seems better than not knowing the risk.
I'm on prescribed Vyvanse, and when people are on such meds it indicates ADD or ADHD. Being on such meds means that in one aspect it's safer, given our bodies are used to medical use of stimulants, we have been screened for heart conditions. Second, the said diagnosis is a strong indicator of being waterproof for the 'abstain' argument. Third, in my own experience, I'm safer doing *anything* on my meds than without, because if I don't take my meds and do drugd, I completely forget to think that perhaps this party should end. Without ADHD meds I do more mdma/shrooms/alcohol /whatever. I've even done drugs impulsive, at 11 pm at home (shrooms), plan was to watch TV and go to bed. Gueds who's adhd meds ran out, lol. Perhaps I forgot to take some, I don't know.
My point is; being on more drugs at the same time does elevate the risk somewhat ; if it's drug binging it elevates the risk a lot more. But having one drug in your system at medical levels, that allows you to use your common sense and consider risk, can be safer than the other option. Drug toxicity is a factor that always should be considered for each individual, but with the experience of having adhd my entire life: it's not drug toxicity that has caused me the greatest harm, it's the "wtf was I thinking, how could that seem like a sane thing to do, all kinds of things could have gone wrong!". Even as an adult, when I get drunk or use drugs; without adhd meds my brain literally skips the entire risk assessment phase. It's not on my mind AT ALL.
For the love of all that is good; it's not only drug toxicity that is dangerous.
So between Brenner and I, we have both valid experiences we can share, and none of the other reading this will be exactly like him or me. I think Brenner should keep sharing his experiences, and I we all should do the same. By adding nuances to the how, where and why, we allow others to learn from it.
People inclined to take drugs, and to take risks, are still inclined to do so even if they are told not to do it at all. The government aren't able to stop citizens from taking drugs, and they REALLY TRIED for decades. What we can do is to provide information, so that their personal risk/benefit analysis gets as much information as possible.
I appreciate people sharing the bad experiences they have had. I believe we all benefit from this reminder; the safest possible use is never risk free. There is still a lot of research needed, and people's individual conditions, mentally or physically, and the setting of use, can increase or reduce risk.
Wall of text, again.*sigh*
