Calling all drug users!
 

In my never ending quest for knowledge, I have a question for you guys.

Now, I have never used drugs, or drank a beer, I am what the kids call "straight edge," but not because its a fad to be "straight edge" or anything, its just it never interested me. (and i do mean NEVER, except once, see end of post for details)

And this is not a "oh, i'm better than you cause i don't smoke weed," kinda question, I am just genuinely curious.

Plainly put, I want to know: What is the appeal?

Is it purely social, or are you addicted (physically/psychologically/whateverly)? Is it just a habit at this point? Why did you start in the first place? Did you need an escape or did it just sound fun or what?

as you can tell I am very curious.

For the sake of clarity, lets say everything from cigarettes and alcohol to heroin, (any type of)pills and marijuana are drugs.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys<3


FUN TOM BREED FACT: i had a sip of wine at a bar mitzvah once. it was pretty good :|

I'm the same as you with smoking/drugs, BUT I DRINK occasionally, mainly because i'm at parties and i feel really AWKWARD and unsettled until i'm drunk, at least then i'm mingling, even if i am talking louder than i should be. :horrified

i don't drink or do drugs either, mostly because i don't see the benefits, and only really see the consequences

I'm very similar to you, Tommy Breed. Most of you know my background. I was brought up in a strict mormon household, so I abstained from everything. I never had beer until I was in college. Even then, all the beer I've had has tasted pretty bad to me. Like nasty soda basically. Yes, I know that sounds lame, but that's what it tastes like to me every time I've had it. I also had something called a long island, and it tasted like shit, to be honest, while my friends loved it.

I guess it's really just something to loosen you up. But I also have a few roommates who smoke cigs, and I seriously... hope that fad dies out in the next few decades.

it won't die out untill stupid fucking retarded 13 year olds learn to not fucking do it
...
i hate teenagers

ugh no people don't (for the most part) do that shit cuz they're ADDICTED...it just is FUN. being drunk or high is enjoyable...it's really as simple as that. "only seeing the consequences" is fucking dumb...there are very few consequences if you're reasonably smart about it and stay away from hard stuff (heroin, whatever - don't do that). this is like asking "why do you play video games? they're a huge waste of time and can be addictive...are you simply too attached to them to quit?" no, it's just fun to do. so why not.

cigarette smoking...generally bad. however if you only do it very occasionally under set circumstances it can be all right though. just be very careful that these circumstances are rare and that you only smoke under them, y'know? don't wanna get addicted to that shit.

most important thing to keep in mind about drugs and alcohol: don't knock it till you try it. the appeal is quite simple and obvious once you partake.

I drink and get high cause I'm a sweet rig like that. Cigarettes though, I just can't do them. I can have the occasional social cigarette but I basically can never finish one.

This is probably not a good place to ask. Try browsing sites about drugs. I'm sure Erowid has some general psychadelic FAQs.

IMO, drugs have been used for thousands of years as an experience. Everyone has different and personal reasons.

I think its pretty fun to fuck around with your reality a little bit you know? Like it weird what you can percieve as reality just when a certain chemical is put through your system.

Like salvia, one minute your sitting on the couch, and almost seamlessly your transported to a crazy place. It all seems very natural to you that this happened, but when your done tripping, you cant believe such a place could exist.

And like smoking weed and stuff like that, it just puts you in that "fuck consequences" attitiude. It makes your music more awesome. You can see insight into things you may not have loooked at from the correct angle.

It just give you a new perspective on things.

You should really start to try to enjoy drinking cause people will start to think your a faggot if you dont at least want to drink a beer now and again. Thats kind of a social need. Seriously, quit bein a fag.

Yeah, drinking is like a social requirement here. Maybe it's different in America cause they have to be so much older to go to bars. Cause I know that my biggest phase of drinking at bars sorta went from 19-21.

yeah. I don't really drink at all anymore, and it's doing a good job of cutting me out of some social circles.

Don't worry. No one with think you are a loser if you don't drink or do drugs. Ignore the man behind the curtain.

I am similar; no drugs and very little alcohol. I've tried to get drunk but it was late at night after a long day and I fell asleep before anything could happen. Who knows, maybe I was drunk while I was asleep. The other time I was sick with the cold so everyone thought I was drunk, but I wasn't.

I could most definitely see looking at the consequences of doing drugs as a reason not to. Even the "safe" ones. I had a friend who started light and then wanted to feel more the next time and so on. Next thing we knew he started doing tweak. No good. He kicked it, though. I know that's not ALL people, but it's some and I didn't want to possibly be that some. My parents started smoking cigs socially and now they smoke all the time and that smoking was such a turn off for me that I vowed to never smoke. I also didn't like the way my parents were citizied all the time by family and friends and I had to sit there and hear it. It sucked.

Drugs make people lok stupid. I had an ex who smoked pot and I was over at her house for her birthday and she and her friends decided to get high, I refrained. After they were all high they were eating the chips and pretzels and stuff there were set out. My ex, who was eating potatoe chips, then looks up like she had a revelation and was like "Wow. When you're high, it's like you actually TASTE the potatoe!" I regarded that, to this day still, as the dumbest thing anyone has ever said in front of me and with that thought I wanted to make sure that I never looked so freaking dumb.
I also don't like the way my parents act when they are high. That's right. Pot smoking parents. Envy me. My dad was high once and was steam cleaning the carpet and he was saying some pretty stupid stuff. I forget what, but I wanted to punch him in the baby maker.

I've never done drugs because all my friends are hardcore christians, I don't know anybody that well that deals and if I did I wouldn't have anyone to do them with. I might start smoking when I'm old enough to buy the cigarettes though.

Why start? Why make that decision to start doing something that is so utterly disgusting? That's like saying "When I get older, I want to vomit in people's faces as my new 'hello'."

shut up. its nothing like that at all.

Smoking is flowers and sunshine?

Look, it's a difference of opinion and I stand firm that smoking just straight up sucks and a good majority of people I've stood next to while smoking don't care where their smoke goes and it ends up in my face. I hate it.

Either way, I will not sway you to agree or think that smoking is not as bad as it is nor will you convince me that I just hang out with "bad smokers" or that it's "only ok if it's social." Granted I am taking a straw man approach here.

I smoke Cannabis with a Water Bong that I've modded to be double filterered. My lungs are receiving far less damage than if I was even smoking one cigarette a day (which I don't) each time I get high, which is actually an average of once a week. I don't have any mental problems and I don't think once a week could ever be diagnosed as "additced".

So basically I'm not damaging myself in any real measurable way, and for about 4 hours of the week my music sounds 10x more detailed and I enjoy films/videogames a hell of a lot more.

In fact, because of those few hours stoned, the entire rest of the week is more fun because I'll have found a whole new depth of "fun" to the stuff I enjoyed stoned.

For example, I've ALWAYS been a film-nerd, I love films and can't watch enough of the bastards. But until I got really high and watched Kill Bill this one time, I'd never appreciated lighting before.

I watched that scene where The Bride has been shot outside Michael Madsen's trailer and was like "Holy shit, I never noticed before how much the effort put into lightinh actually matters. This scene is awesome." And that new layer of appreciation for films has stuck with me since.

I also had a similar stoned-revelation about how cool an exaggerated depth-focus makes stuff look, and how well double-tracking works (that thing in music where the vocals are sort of played twice, two-recordings overlapping slightly- I'd never noticed that before until I got high one week and stuck on the headphones).

Better living through chemistry.

You know, I identify with figuring out how cool movies can be. I identify because I do that exact same thing but I do it by watching the movies to the point at which I can recite it. My first job was in theatrical lighting and I always try to appreciate the lights, sound and effects of a film, but like I said, I get that by watching the movie over and over. This is not an attempt to debunk your reason or method but rather to explain mine; mine being that I feel I do not need drugs to experience life nor to have fun, my best times are just being with friends in a high engergy atmosphere; it opens me up. I had a waiter ask me if I was high once, but i was just with friends after being up all night at a packed conference, then we went to a pizza joint with some loud, good band. I was just super pumped.

How old are you again? The concept of not having had a glass of wine or beer at any age above say 16 is absolutely alien to me.

I also digress and apologize, this topic was to ask the drug users why they use, not for me to explain why I don't.

But as I've said, I enjoyed films a hell of a lot before I got high. And I enjoy life when I'm not stoned, so that whole "I don't need to get high I get high off life" angle is pretty redundant. I mean, you say "my best times are just being with friends in a high engergy atmosphere". Duh, everyone enjoys that. Also, I enjoy getting stoned. The two are not mutually exclusive.


And I'm not an idiot, if I got the exact same level of appreciation watching a film stoned as I did learning it off by heart by watching it again and again, I wouldn't bother ever buying weed. The two are very different experiences.

Haha MODDED bong, what paint jobs can you get?

shut the fuck up, no-one said that. next up bryce farlow proves how everyone is a fucking nerd for using the internet regularly. come on we all know its true so lets really drive this home.

I get high on life... I usually take 2 or 3 hits though

I don't think you read the bottom of that paragraph too well. I said that is MY justification for not wanting to do drugs: I see no need. Some people see no need to drink caffine. Some poeple do not see a need to ride theme park rides. I'm no attacking you all. I am giving my reason for not using. Nuff said.