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Harmful drugs, and their purpose.

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Profesco

gone gently
WHY DO DRUGS EXIST IF THEY ONLY HAVE NEGATIVE EFFECTS?

*Plays video games and becomes obese*

A good point, but incomplete. Videogames contribute to a sedentary lifestyle, but their effects are behavioral. The general drugs people go on about affect the actual physiology of the brain/lungs/heart/whatever. A robust gaming habit can be countered by taking a jog a couple times a week. The hallucinogenic aftereffects of LSD or shrooms or some such cannot.

I also wonder whether a thing like videogames, or sports, or anything that produces joy based on motivating the user to a higher level of some kind of mental or physical performance, achieving an actual goal, and possibly engaging in good-natured competition with friends, is wholly different than ingesting a substance that alters the chemicals in the brain to produce "joy." Drugs can be enjoyed socially, yes, but there seems a wide disparity in the social joy of two people taking drugs at the same time and two people playing a round of... jeez, what? Mario Kart? I don't know, I only play Pokemon.

I just know someone is going to tell me about how they got saved from suicide thanks to Final Fantasy 13 or some shit.

I've heard stories of people lost on frozen mountains, where an Articuno protected them from the cold and led them to safety.

Drugs are fun to take because they make you feel differently about things and give you different experiences.

You know, I suppose that is an honest explanation, as long as it's only an explanation and not a justification or encouragement.


Depending on the drug, you might as well bite the bullet and take the risk because you're going to die anyways and if you play life safely all the time you will never have any good times nor any dangerous experiences to learn from. That said I don't advocate things that will really fuck you up but for some things (marijuana, especially alcohol since some of you are "straight edge") just stop being a pussy, try them out, and see what you feel about them afterwords. If you like them they do them in moderation; if not, you now have an excuse as to why you don't take them other than "they're dangerous (I've never tried them though!)".

And this isn't right either. I certainly can't speak for everyone of my persuasion, but my reasons for not doing drugs or drinking alcohol extend far beyond any such claims of me being weak or afraid, as you suggest. I'm likewise convinced that many straight-edge types are so not out of sissification, but for appropriate reasons, general or personal.

More to the point, even if someone's reason for not doing "dangerous" drugs is a fear of addiction or health problems, does that warrant them being called derogatory names? Is concern for one's life really so laughable? There are joys and experiences available that are based in real interactions with the world and its people, and it is entirely legitimate that some people prefer these methods to any that simulate joyful experience with a drug.

I think the people in this topic need to keep in mind that pot is used as MEDICINE as well and can be prescribed by a doctor.

Didn't someone mention that cocaine used to be a common medicine? And aren't codeine, ritalin, morphine, and rohypnol prescription medecines? If we're going to remember that pot is also occasionally a prescribed medecine, let's also remember that medecines obtained by prescription are controlled substances due to the possible harmful effects they carry.
 

Krake

Flabebe's Kids
It really depends on the drug. Drugs like cocaine and heroine could kill you from overdose, or even from the withdrawal symptoms.

The only drug that really doesn't deserve its bad rap is weed, since no one has died from it, it can be used for medicinal purposes, its negative effects are over-exaggerated, and more harm has been done keeping it illegal than it does.

inb4 evolutionrex's bullshit story on how his friend can barely speak because he smoked weed.
 

Korusan

Banned
More to the point, even if someone's reason for not doing "dangerous" drugs is a fear of addiction or health problems, does that warrant them being called derogatory names?
Uh if "being called derogatory names" makes you feel bad about how you act than that's your issue and no one elses. No one's forcing you to take drugs, but if they're gonna call you something for you then you're gonna have to accept that. You can either a)get upset over it and it'll still have happened, or b)not care, forget about it, and move on with life. Not that big a deal.

There are joys and experiences available that are based in real interactions with the world and its people, and it is entirely legitimate that some people prefer these methods to any that simulate joyful experience with a drug.
It totally is and if that's how you wanna roll then roll how you wanna roll.

I think it's more appropriate to say stimulate rather than simulate though because a drug-induced experience is as real as any experience. Sure you're in a different realm of thinking (some might even say a different reality) but after you come out of it you'll definitely have learned something new if it's your first time, the same as any experience. It's not like the Matrix or anything.
 

GaZsTiC

Alternating
Why do people eat McDonald's when it only has negative effects on the body?

See? The same logic applies in this case and with drug-taking. The answer is simple - because it has positive effects in the way you feel. Drugs and fast food make you feel good. That is why people take drugs...and eat fast food.
 

7 tyranitars

Well-Known Member
*coughalcoholcoughmorecoughharmfullcoughthencoughheroinecough*

but that's still legal to wonder why.. oh yeah! because the government makes a lot of money from it!!
 

Raichu4u

I'm not josh'n
Why do people eat McDonald's when it only has negative effects on the body?

See? The same logic applies in this case and with drug-taking. The answer is simple - because it has positive effects in the way you feel. Drugs and fast food make you feel good. That is why people take drugs...and eat fast food.

You do understand fast food can actually fuel your body when drugs just harm it?
 

ShadowSplash

Spring is Coming!
Most people don't mind the "possibility" of taking a harmful drug, since they get the "immediate" pleasures from it. And especially teenagers, as they have the "invincible" feeling during their adolescent years. They can be told "take this and there's a 50% chance that you die" and they will still say "Haha, it won't happen to me."

Cigarettes, honestly, I don't understand why they would do that. If you read about the components that make up a cigarette, you would sh*t. Battery acid, and other things, are amongst all those dangerous chemicals. I can't remember it, as I studied it back in Freshman year of HS. But I remember at one point, the only natural thing inside of a cigarette was sugar. Forgot what its purpose was, but it was still something to WTF about.

Sometimes I can understand when people smoke marijuana (I don't literally understand, since I would never do it, but I mean that it isn't as big of a deal). Only because there isn't any actual PROOF that it harms you. However, I know enough to say that smoking ANYTHING (doesn't matter if it's a eucalyptus leaf, a piece of paper, the smoke from a candle, or a cigar) is damaging to your lungs. Breathing any type of smoke damages your lungs, regardless of how natural or dangerous it is.

I, myself, have never done drugs (second hand, yes), so I can't say first hand whether or not it's enjoyable. But personally, I would never want to risk ruining my life, getting addicted, or getting some form of cancer or other problems later in life, just for a momentary euphoria. Though it's off topic, the same can be said about sex. No matter how much you want it, don't risk doing it unprotected with someone you don't know enough or if they're clean. I don't think having that moment of pleasure is worth AIDS or something.

Okay, back on topic. I can't say that all drugs are bad, because that isn't true. In small doses, it can prove to be healing. Obviously, all the over the counter medicines for colds and the flu, etc., are not harming you (OBVIOUSLY if you OD, that's different), so to lump all drugs together as bad isn't right. Even marijuana is healing in small doses. It's just when people abuse it or lie to get large quantities, that's when it's not good. Although, I know that marijuana is one of the least dangerous (both physically and mentally) of all commonly abused drugs. I'd have to say that alcohol is a million times more dangerous than marijuana.

The thing that I don't really like in this world is that there's a drug for EVERYTHING. And most of it is just .. not needed. People will cough once and rush to take Tylenol or whatever. Do you really need that? You just ruin your immune system instead of letting it take care of it. Have a sore throat? Take this! Have a headache? Take this! Have trouble focusing in class? Take this! Do you blink your eyes more than 100 times a minute? Take this! It's just ridiculous to me.
 

Profesco

gone gently
Uh if "being called derogatory names" makes you feel bad about how you act than that's your issue and no one elses. No one's forcing you to take drugs, but if they're gonna call you something for you then you're gonna have to accept that. You can either a)get upset over it and it'll still have happened, or b)not care, forget about it, and move on with life. Not that big a deal.

That's all very aloof and cool and tough, but my remark was directed at the persons making the derisive comments, not the persons being derided. Someone who does not do drugs is not automatically a wimp, regardless of whether being called a wimp upsets them in the slightest.

You could call a goose a wrench, if you like. That goose may or may not think of itself as a wrench, but geese are not wrenches, so your calling it one exposes some clear and troubling misconceptions on your part, you see?

It totally is and if that's how you wanna roll then roll how you wanna roll.

Exactly. So why bother insulting those who are rolling that way instead of rolling the same way you are?


I think it's more appropriate to say stimulate rather than simulate though because a drug-induced experience is as real as any experience. Sure you're in a different realm of thinking (some might even say a different reality) but after you come out of it you'll definitely have learned something new if it's your first time, the same as any experience. It's not like the Matrix or anything.

That's a fair point, I suppose. Sense experience is sense experience, even if it is simulated. But problems arise when what you are experiencing is not what is actually happening. Generally, that is a condition for which people seek help from doctors.

And experiencing something that isn't quite as real as actual reality can't teach as reliable lessons as can experiences rooted in actual reality. But this also seems like a more philosophical conversation, for another place. VMs, if you like? ^_^
 
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Natty

Electric Rodent
You do understand fast food can actually fuel your body when drugs just harm it?

Drugs have a much much broader realm of things they do to your body and they're not all harmful. o_O

I mean... Your question answers itself, really. "Why would you do something as bad as drugs if you know how harmful it can be to your body?" The answer is that drug use is not always harmful to your body and there are safe ways to do them, much like with anything. That's like saying if you have sex, you WILL undoubtedly become pregnant with no exceptions when in reality, you can perform it safely and face no negative side effects. The same goes for drug use. It's important to do it safely, take precautions, and do it only in moderation... and some things are exceptions to that. But it's illogical to assume that every puff or pill will hurt you. Excessive puffing and pill popping will. And not every use of drugs equals addiction. You'd be surprised how many drugs aren't addicting, or aren't as addicting as the anti-drug campaigns will tell you they are.

If someone chooses not to do drugs though, that's their own prerogative and it's not really anyone's place to go around insulting them for wanting to keep out of it.
 

Raichu4u

I'm not josh'n
You do realize I'm talking about overdosing, taking the really harmful drugs, right? I do obviously know that some drugs are beneficial for health.
 
Well to be honest, the negative effects of marijuana have been exaggerated through programs like D.A.R.E. and Above The Influence. Marijuana is about as threatening as alcohol. And you have to take into account the amount of death by overdoses that are done with prescribed pills... which are made to help you, not kill you, but can be used to do that. But you're talking about a lot of different things that don't mix. You can't overdose on marijuana or cigarettes. xD

This is basically right, but saying "Marijuana is about as threatening as alcohol" is blatantly wrong. It's less threatening than alcohol. Statistics state that marijuana is less harmful and less addictive than either cigarettes and alcohol. It can also, by some reports, stave off cancer. Smoking it, of course, increases your risk of cancer, but that's from the smoking and not the marijuana.

I don't necessarily advocate drug use, but I do advocate drug education, and that means that real information has to be given, not the horseshit propaganda forced down citizens' throats that can be disproven in about five minutes if someone actually cares to. Many medicines are more harmful for you than marijuana, and marijuana -- or, more specifically, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive chemical in marijuana -- has a number of medical uses and can be taken in many different forms.
 

dragoniteKnight

Pose as a team
The only drug that really doesn't deserve its bad rap is weed, since no one has died from it

true, noone has ever died directly from weed (atleast from what ive heard), but it doesnt mean noone has ever died from being high. some kid in my county was so stoned he couldnt open his door when his car was driven into a lake, the 3 other kids managed to get out, but he didnt.
(then again **** like this can happen with most drugs in general anyways)
 

NimhShambler

Some Broke Machine
To be honest, I used to smoke pot as a teenager (many years ago. I stopped at 15).

It made things...well, a lot more funny, and everything tasted delicious.
However, it made me a lot more forgetfull, and it made me paranoid.

I decided to quit. I just didn't like the way it made me feel.

Pot, I don't have a problem with. It's not a "gate way drug"--if people are going to do drugs, they're going to do them. Certain people have more of a propensity to become addicted than others. Case and point: My mom. She smoked pot for DECADES (quit a few years ago, and before that, stopped smoking for three months before they started trying to conceive me, so I wouldn't have any problems. Pity that didn't work) and guess what else she did...NOTHING. She didn't even drink. When she would smoke, all the fussing and making everyone around her wish they were dead stopped.

My dad however, did everything (except meth). It was an ordeal getting him to quit, but he was finally able to...through mom's fussing and threatening to leave him and take me away.

As stated before, I don't have a problem with pot. It's coke, crack, meth, illegal pills (people who aren't perscribed it taking the drug. I need my pills, and thankfully, my doctor gives them to me. The anti depressant makes me not want to die anymore, the tranqs help my insomnia, the pain pills cut the burning agony I'm in and put me in a less crabby mood, the arthritis medication helps me to walk, if only for a short distance (though it is losing effectiveness), and my fibromyalgia pills make it to where people can actually touch me without it feeling as if I am being stabbed all over with knives. I may even be able to get a massage), ect that I have a problem with. They ruin lives. Take it from me, my childhood was ruined (for the most part) by coke.

~Nemmeh

EDIT 1: I'm a bit floaty on my meds right now, so this may sound a little cooky.


Edit 2: Pot is harmfull to me NOW. The Milnacipram Hydrochloride does not mix well with the THC in pot. It will put me in a coma (so says the information that came with my M. HCl--my FMS medication).
 
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Korusan

Banned
That's all very aloof and cool and tough, but my remark was directed at the persons making the derisive comments, not the persons being derided. Someone who does not do drugs is not automatically a wimp, regardless of whether being called a wimp upsets them in the slightest.

You could call a goose a wrench, if you like. That goose may or may not think of itself as a wrench, but geese are not wrenches, so your calling it one exposes some clear and troubling misconceptions on your part, you see?
Really it all boils down to how much you care. Maybe I'm wrong and they're not actually a pussy and I'm perfectly alright with that but if the only thing that's holding them back is being afraid of it then they can either be afraid of it and not do it or be afraid of it and do it anyways. I'm for up for the latter but if someone's afraid of it and they choose the former then that's their deal.



Exactly. So why bother insulting those who are rolling that way instead of rolling the same way you are?
it's not like it's any extra effort on my part, if they're happy doing what they're doing then they should do it and not care what I think. I'm just saying how I feel about the matter, and by extension themselves.




That's a fair point, I suppose. Sense experience is sense experience, even if it is simulated. But problems arise when what you are experiencing is not what is actually happening. Generally, that is a condition for which people seek help from doctors.

And experiencing something that isn't quite as real as actual reality can't teach as reliable lessons as can experiences rooted in actual reality. But this also seems like a more philosophical conversation, for another place. VMs, if you like? ^_^
if you're up for it bro go for it
 
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07-22:30:03- (~JoshYEAH) Man#
07-22:30:10- (~JoshYEAH) why do we even have drug threads on sppf anymore
07-22:30:12- (~JoshYEAH) seriously
07-22:30:18- (~JoshYEAH) all the threads end up as the same fucking thing
07-22:30:36- (~JoshYEAH) a bunch of people saying drugs are okay and using stupid as fu
ck anecdotal argument for that
07-22:30:55- (~JoshYEAH) and a bunch of people saying they aren't and using stupid as fuck anecdotal argument for that
07-22:31:28- (~JoshYEAH) it isn't a forum where the topic of drugs is really useful to any degree regarding discussion purposes

Not a single person here is actually qualified to discuss the real effects of narcotics in any beneficial way. Everything argued always winds up the same. For real these are probably the most pointless threads that get posted here, and the kicker is they somehow manage to crop up every couple of months.

Just fucking let it lie.
 

ChedWick

Well-Known Member
*coughalcoholcoughmorecoughharmfullcoughthencoughheroinecough*

but that's still legal to wonder why.. oh yeah! because the government makes a lot of money from it!!

More so because people went ape s*** when the government tried to ban it.


You do understand fast food can actually fuel your body when drugs just harm it?

And drugs can help the body. Besides it can be argued either way that there are better things to eat and there are better forms of entertainment. The analogy in question is actually pretty spot on.
 
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chlores

New Member
Okay, having been to rehab I'll say this:
Drugs can **** you up pretty badly. They'll blow your heart out, **** up your brain etc. etc. but that tends not to be what you're thinking about at a party. The 'caught up in the moment' excuse is an overused one, but a legitimate one. That said, people don't become addicts because of peer pressure or a momentary lapse in judgement, though they may initially try drugs because of it.
Really though, more than anything it's a distraction. All the addicts I know are addicts because of some deep rooted issues they need to escape from. People don't find themselves dependent on anything because the rest of their life is happy springtime. (That said, their issues can be entirely internal, so looking at someone and saying 'look what they threw away' doesn't mean they weren't falling apart in their head)
In my opinion, an addiction to anything is the same, whether that's to drugs, smoking, eating, cutting or whatever. Dependence means something's gone wrong, and whatever they're hooked on is simply a person's way of dealing with it.
 

Krake

Flabebe's Kids
true, noone has ever died directly from weed (atleast from what ive heard), but it doesnt mean noone has ever died from being high. some kid in my county was so stoned he couldnt open his door when his car was driven into a lake, the 3 other kids managed to get out, but he didnt.
(then again **** like this can happen with most drugs in general anyways)

That's true, but it's usually people not knowing their limits that involves them dying. It's entirely possible for someone to die because they smoke too much weed and they end up doing something stupid, but the same can happen with anything that alters your senses.

07-22:30:03- (~JoshYEAH) Man#
07-22:30:10- (~JoshYEAH) why do we even have drug threads on sppf anymore
07-22:30:12- (~JoshYEAH) seriously
07-22:30:18- (~JoshYEAH) all the threads end up as the same fucking thing
07-22:30:36- (~JoshYEAH) a bunch of people saying drugs are okay and using stupid as fu
ck anecdotal argument for that
07-22:30:55- (~JoshYEAH) and a bunch of people saying they aren't and using stupid as fuck anecdotal argument for that
07-22:31:28- (~JoshYEAH) it isn't a forum where the topic of drugs is really useful to any degree regarding discussion purposes

Not a single person here is actually qualified to discuss the real effects of narcotics in any beneficial way. Everything argued always winds up the same. For real these are probably the most pointless threads that get posted here, and the kicker is they somehow manage to crop up every couple of months.

Just fucking let it lie.

This is true, although I probably fall into that cycle anyway.
 

Profesco

gone gently
Hey, at least we're all qualified to give beneficial relationship advice and to debate the origins of the universe. :p



I remember a time when I was more or less against letting this topic of discussion fly unheeded. It was equally as predictable and questionable then as it is now.
 
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nxnja

Active Member
That's true, but it's usually people not knowing their limits that involves them dying. It's entirely possible for someone to die because they smoke too much weed and they end up doing something stupid, but the same can happen with anything that alters your senses.


That's not dying because they smoked too much weed, that's just being a retard.

Marijuana is good for you (why else would you have receptors in your brain FOR cannabis) alcohol is OK if you know your limit. Pills and everything else is bad and just leads down a dark road.

/thread
 
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