varied attiudes and the drugs people take because of those attitudes!!

HeY !!,
I have been thinking about something laterly. Recently I moved from Sydney to Atlanta in the U.S.A... infact over the last 4 years I've been to over 20 countries. what im about to say will sound a little stereotypical but im sure my coments do have a point of validity. I was thinking how different countries tend to use particular drugs more then others and I believe these choices in drugs can be a reflection of the culture and the attitudes that have drawn people to those drugs. ONCE AGAIN I KNOW IM PRESENTING A VERY SIMPLICTIC AGRUEMENT THAT IS STEREOTYPICAL but look at it --- In australia where peoples attitudes are known internationally for being fun, party like and easy going we use more e's and pot, here in america where the attitude seems to stive for more of a harder image the popular drug is cocaine and lets even look at jamaica where its really laid back and the idea is more pot. I think these trends can be found all over the world and even locally say between country and city. If anything i think this can teach the strength, weakness and power of drugs to not give different attitudes but HELP explore different mindframes and attitudes... fuck maybe im just being quite full of shit... any ideas anyone??
cheers

I think there may be something to the theory, but speed is very popular in Aus also. And I'm sure coke would be if it wasn't so expensive (and low quality lately)

To a degree I think you are correct, even going as far to say that these cultural differences can be found within demographic studies done within the one country or even city. What I'm trying to say is that the social circles one hangs with may be indicative of a larger trend or simply be confined to a smaller minority group.

There is little doubt Americans like coke but how much of this is due to the price and availability? I would hate to see it, but if coke were as cheap and easy to get in Aus, I'm sure a lot would go for it over E. I certainly believe many (but not all) local speed users would switch to coke if given the affordable chance.

An interesting example occurred during the late 90's when coke became more available to British clubbers. The first Mitzis were around then, so there was no shortage of E, yet many many clubbers went for coke. Were they bored with their drug E, or just grabbing at the opportunity for something new? Both drugs can be used in different situations but effects from coke are easy to hide (at the beginning anyway ).

I think there are several factors that collectively incline a trend within a country. It makes it very hard to theorize with any degree of certainty. I would think price/ availability plays the biggest part.

... my thoughts anyway

cops are tops!

YEP.....as i see it......availability and price dictate the use of certain drugs within different countries.

If anything i think this can teach the strength, weakness and power of drugs to not give different attitudes but HELP explore different mindframes and attitudes... fuck maybe im just being quite full of shit... any ideas anyone??

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escapism (from the cops perhaps)?

replace word countries with sub-cultures (anywhere, any country) and i think your theory is pretty close to true.

A lot of UK people I know scoff at E use, it's so cheap where they come from and the explaination is because no-one wants them, which is contradictory to the supply and demand theory. "Why would you have E when you can get wicked coke?" they say.

On the sub-culture argument: Many Aussie bush doofers also shun E use. "Why would you do E when you can do acid or shrooms?"

^^ all good points smokin' joe. Very true of bush doofs and how E is often regarded, but then again I've seen more than one bunch of doofers stick their noses in the air at the very hint of cocaine

Well you can base drug selection on price, availability , suitability, legality and risk. This is going to vary from country to country.

in regards to price and availabilty/supply and demand what would happen if we legalise, tax and regulate the fun drug market?

^ a bunch of politicians would get shot by gangsters who don't want their black market overtaken by legal endeavours?

BT

I think that drug usage can't be explained so stereotypically. Opinions about particular drugs and ways of administering them will play a large part as well. I know plenty of ppl who think that weed is as hard as they want to go. Obviously their drug usage is goin to be different to other friends of mine who are of the opinion that IVing is just another administration method, not the big bad demon that it is to others.

Price, availability, culture, social groups, events and location are goin to effect different ppl's drug taking differently.

There's also peer pressure and the 'sheep' mentality........especially among the uneducated and/or mis-informed.

Sweet, so i can save myself thousands, smoke some pot and it'll be just like a holiday to jamaica.

A few months ago I saw in the media a bit of a belt up about australian's being the highest per capita consumers of e. This was "proven" by some vague international survey where each country pulled statistics from very select but varying samples. (ie one country got its statistics from army recruits, another from high school surveys etc) So the actual study is BS, but one particular comment I remember which explained why e usage would be so high in australia was because we were more of a "sun, surf, party" sort of nation and because of the climate we are more likely to go out partying at night.

To be honest this struck me as utter rubbish. Look at europe, it can be as cold as all fuck over there and yet i would suggest that europeans party as hard, if not harder than aussies. Rather i think its more to do with availability and probably skewed statisitcs.

For some strange reason, the media always seems to focus on teens/twenties drug usage, conveniently forgetting that there are plenty in the +30 age bracket who use drugs too. I've come to know a fair few of these respectable adult types that are out for some fun over a weekend and ecstasy is more the exception rather than the rule. They have the money to splurge and coke is usually the order of the day. (funnily enough, they never seem to have a problem with 'shitty coke' either). Perhaps if we could factor these users into drug surveys we would get a more even distribution of drug usage. I think picking a nations drug of choice is simply an exercise of taking the most pronounced sub-culture of that nation and associating a stereotypical drug.

When I was in England a few years ago, coke and E were equal popuality in the clubs, and some prefered pills, some perfered coke, and some prefered both.

So I asked alot of people why they prefered their drug of choice, and the majority of the pill people liked being loved up, and most of the coke people said they liked to keep in control, and they 'felt' much more in control on coke. I have noticed that 'control freak' type personalities will always prefer coke over pills.

I have also noticed that people who *really* let go on pills ( they grin like idiots, talk to any stranger, and dance like no one is watching and therefore get labled mong heads ), get much higher (and euphoric) than people who try to stay in control on pills. I think part of the 'loosing the magic' is people learning 'control' on pills and acting 'sensible' .

I find that people on pills are generally much more pleasant than people on coke to be around, but I like letting go alot, so that is not suprising.

^^^ROFLMAO

Who would've thought that the english prefer to keep control and not show emotion. 8) I guess some will never give up the 'stiff upper lip' attitude.

Cuddles

Dr. Beat said:

I have also noticed that people who *really* let go on pills ( they grin like idiots, talk to any stranger, and dance like no one is watching and therefore get labled mong heads ), get much higher (and euphoric) than people who try to stay in control on pills. I think part of the 'loosing the magic' is people learning 'control' on pills and acting 'sensible' .

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I've noticed this as well, people going with the drug but still being aware i think. i think im one of those people. I go with it and let it work it's full effect on me, because i know that if anything does go wrong i can still control it. so that way im always "CHOPPED" looking like a mong, that is when i really do want to let go. A friend might have the same pill/s and look at me like ur a mess howcome im not so chopped. i think they think about whats goin too much.

But yeh, thats true and intesting watch how different people react/ act on the same pill.

I think availability plays a big part in the equation as well...over here, methamphetamine is cheap and plentiful so it's quite popular (from my limited point of view). Now here's a strange thing...there's a benzodiazepine called Erimin (nimetazepam) on the black market (not prescribed legally) that's very popular here for meth/pill comedowns. The funny thing is, a lot of people I know insist that only Erimin works (that is, puts them to sleep) and would not even consider pharmacologically similar alternatives like Xanax, Valium or Dormicum because "they're from a pharmacy/doctor, it can't be as good as Erimin". *shrugs*