what age did you realize drugs could harm you

[tyrael]

I've swayed back and forth a few times to reach the point I'm at now. From being a young teenager believing the normal Government/authoritative dictation children get, to a late teenager thinking I know it all and invincible - read: reckless. Then to gaining a considerable amount of pharmacological knowledge whereby I'm able to understand chemicals and their -dynamics/kinetics (and general anatomical/physiological/patho-physiological info). Then hitting one of my lowest points not too long ago and having to cease all drug use and start taking Paroxetine which has lead me to now...

One which has a (even if I do say so myself ) pretty good understanding of pharmacology (and the like), an enough to have an appreciation of the harms/risks and understanding of drugs to know how dangerous they can/could be ...... yet still take that chance (while practising safe drug usage practises ).

Unfortunately, I think the last part of my story isn't too common (and by that I don't mean "not common" on BL, but the Aus drug-use population). Now I don't expect everyone to know the specifics on how their DOC works, but I do expect a general/rough knowledge base of the risks and how to minimise them. I've met "dealers" who haven't even known what MDMA was!

/hops off soapbox/

 

[cosmic charlie]

As long as I have had A concept of what drugs were. I've also realized since hearing about drugs (they're bad, they'll kill you, make you sick, and so on) that they must be a lot of fun too. I personally think I'd be dead without drugs.

same here.

found out firsthand in my late teens with heroin and crack
psychedelics saved my 20's :D

 

[verso]

I feel like my thoughts and opinions have changed so wildly over the years; in my younger days, I believed that cannabis was a wonder drug, that it couldn't hurt me, that the "harder" drugs were evil and the scourge of all civilization.

I don't smoke weed anymore. I had a really, really bad experience and even after having "got back on the horse," so to speak, I found that I could never truly enjoy the cannabis high ever again, not without all the anxiety and paranoia.

I snort dope now, and I find that it's not the drug I thought it would be. It hasn't ruined my life, though it does ruin lives. It hasn't turned me into an addict or friend, though it does turn some people into addicts and fiends. I have had a pretty good experience with it.