Am I the only person who has never used an illegal drug

[Xray the Enforcer]

My galaxy brain take is that if people in medieval Europe had better psychoactive native plants available to them -- not shit like henbane -- then we wouldn't be in this pickle in the first place. 

[maarsen]

10 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Do you have red hair in your family, by chance?

Its been proven that the genes for red hair are also the same ones that cause increased pain levels and decreased ability to have an effect of painkilling from painkilling drugs.

My grandfather had red hair. 

[Heartofice]

12 minutes ago, Xray the Enforcer said:

My galaxy brain take is that if people in medieval Europe had better psychoactive native plants available to them -- not shit like henbane -- then we wouldn't be in this pickle in the first place. 

We’d probably be living in the Stone’d age still though.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

3 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

This thread further emphasises why drugs should in the main be legal. The overwhelming majority never try, take at a level that is easily manageable, or grow out of using entirely. The ones that dont would always find another way to be self destructive. 

Let me say that I agree with this statement.  Prohibition in the US amply demonstrated the utter inability of the State to prevent its citizenry from obtaining and using the substances it decides to use.  Further it demonrated that making that substance illegal made the existing situation ten time worse by creating an unregulated black market.

[DaveSumm]

1 hour ago, Heartofice said:

I’m also amazed at the number of people I’ve known who do Coke basically every time they go out.

Indeed. I’ve never partaken myself, but honestly every. fucking. weekend. you’d have entire nights dedicated to such fascinating questions as “do you have any coke?” “Where’s your guy with the coke?” “What time is the coke arriving?” “Shall we go do some coke?” “Where’s so and so, is he in the toilet doing coke?” “Can I have some of your coke?” Truly ruins evenings for me, just the obtaining of the fucking stuff.

[BigFatCoward]

I would choose to avoid coke even if it was legal and cheap. I'm already obnoxious and arrogant enough. 

[Heartofice]

12 minutes ago, DaveSumm said:

Indeed. I’ve never partaken myself, but honestly every. fucking. weekend. you’d have entire nights dedicated to such fascinating questions as “do you have any coke?” “Where’s your guy with the coke?” “What time is the coke arriving?” “Shall we go do some coke?” “Where’s so and so, is he in the toilet doing coke?” “Can I have some of your coke?” Truly ruins evenings for me, just the obtaining of the fucking stuff.

It is also the one drug I’ve noticed turns regular people into the most irritating arseholes. I’m quite happy chatting to anyone on most substances,  but someone on coke is unbearable 

[Inkdaub]

2 hours ago, Xray the Enforcer said:

but it's arbitrary in the fact that there's very little credible scientific evidence that shows that marijuana deserves to be a Schedule 1 drug.

Yeah it really does stand out in that company.

 

I've done lots of drugs.  Illegal like cocaine and meth or legal-for-someone-but-not-me like morphine.  I loved pills.  Percocet was my favorite.  Acid was occasional until it freaked me out so bad my mom called a priest.  I never took it again.  I have never taken ecstasy or mushrooms.  Weed was alright but I was never that into it.  Alcohol was by far my favorite drug.  Surprise reveal that I ended up in rehab.  Those were the days.  At some point I realized I was self-medicating and that pretty much ruined everything.  I never felt the same way about any of it again.  

That was over twenty years ago.  My attitude toward drugs including alcohol is very different now.  I rarely drink at all anymore...haven't had a drink since before covid attacked.  I take prescription drugs but have no interest in abusing them.  

I still love pills.  I love taking them.  My psychiatrist asked if I wanted one of my prescriptions as a delayed release type thing that would last all day.  I told him I like to take the pills so the regular scrip is fine.  I am not sure if it's a remnant of my previous lifestyle or what.  I like pills.   

[BigFatCoward]

44 minutes ago, Inkdaub said:

Yeah it really does stand out in that company.

 

I've done lots of drugs.  Illegal like cocaine and meth or legal-for-someone-but-not-me like morphine.  I loved pills.  Percocet was my favorite.  Acid was occasional until it freaked me out so bad my mom called a priest.  I never took it again.  I have never taken ecstasy or mushrooms.  Weed was alright but I was never that into it.  Alcohol was by far my favorite drug.  

 

My favourites. Though I'm guessing E is not the same as it was in the early 90s (nothing is sadly). Also today's music would suck in a club off your tits on pills. Imagine having a pure E rush and fucking Drake came on. 

[maarsen]

1 hour ago, BigFatCoward said:

My favourites. Though I'm guessing E is not the same as it was in the early 90s (nothing is sadly). Also today's music would suck in a club off your tits on pills. Imagine having a pure E rush and fucking Drake came on. 

Not just Nickelback but now Drake. Canada has a lot of apologizing to do. Will a heartfelt 'sorry' do?

[Fragile Bird]

1 hour ago, maarsen said:

Not just Nickelback but now Drake. Canada has a lot of apologizing to do. Will a heartfelt 'sorry' do?

There is nothing wrong with Drake.

[Fragile Bird]

1 minute ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Better than Nickelback, true.

Canada just doesn’t send us its best. We get Celine Dion, Nickelback, and Drake. And Justin Bieber. Some of their fans are to be sure, good people, but....no taste in music.

Celine Dion is beloved in Quebec, watch out or you’ll never be allowed back in Canada! And she does have one helluva a voice.

[DMC]

One thing I'll say about coke is that, at least in my experience, it is incredibly addictive.  More so than any other illegal drug sans heroin, as well as all pharmies/pills I'm aware of (albeit assumedly there's a lot more out there than there was 15-20 years ago, or "back in my day").  In addition, as mentioned, it makes you act like an asshole (especially as the addiction takes hold) and consequently more quickly/thoroughly ruins relationships than almost any other substance I'm familiar with.

[karaddin]

16 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Do you have red hair in your family, by chance?

Its been proven that the genes for red hair are also the same ones that cause increased pain levels and decreased ability to have an effect of painkilling from painkilling drugs.

There's also an enzyme deficiency associated with joint hyper mobility and ehlers danos syndrome (with the former likely just being a milder case of the latter which currently falls through the diagnostic cracks) which results in reduced efficacy from opioids and other analgesics.

I'm pretty sure it's responsible for the high doses I've needed at times, my ability to continue to function even after relatively strong doses, but also a positive in that my withdrawal is pretty mild, mostly just anxiety spikes at night. 

It impacts local anesthetic too, I needed 15-20 injections while having my wisdom teeth out, and when I tried to have a different procedure done as an out patient my surgeon had to give up and book into the hospital after a ton of injections had basically no effect. Also in super fun aspects I'm also highly sensitive to pain and feel some local anesthetic injection as extremely painful for 10-15 seconds before they dull the nerves they're right on top of.

8 hours ago, Luzifer's right hand said:

In another case the substances is GHB(Liquid Ecstasy) which is way too risky to get illegally because you don't know the quality and concentration of the stuff you get.

This would be the other one I mentioned having had which was the least common recreational drug. I only had it a couple of times and didn't take a heavy dose, but when it's safe and not mixed with alcohol it was great and if it was legal I'd absolutely be having it instead of alcohol. It felt like the fun of being drunk without making you feel stupid, or diminishing memory so I could remember the enjoyment.

It feels like half the reason it's not legal is because of the mixing with alcohol issue and the alcohol industry certainly has a lot more political sway lol. For those unfamiliar with it, its dangerous when mixed with alcohol and has been used in that combo as a date rape drug.

[lessthanluke]

6 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

I agree, But if cocaine is allowed then crack inevitably follows.  And that is not the same at all. 

Yeah crack is too moreish

[IheartIheartTesla]

I never partook (much) in my younger days - in India there is enough license to try stuff like weed or bhang (liquid form) but I maybe indulged once or twice. Once coming to the US, I was careful not to either, because of being on a visa. My becoming a citizen coincided with being employed in corporate America, where drug testing still occurs and I never felt the urge.

Once I retire I may partake more freely. Something to look forward to in 20+ years.

[Larry of the Lawn]

2 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Better than Nickelback, true.

Canada just doesn’t send us its best. We get Celine Dion, Nickelback, and Drake. And Justin Bieber. Some of their fans are to be sure, good people, but....no taste in music.

Just not recently-

The Band, Neil Young, Rush, Tragically Hip, Randy Bachman, Gordon Lightfoot, Alanis Morissette, Leonard Cohen.

All illegal and mind-altering imports.

[Impmk2]

2 hours ago, karaddin said:

(GHB) would be the other one I mentioned having had which was the least common recreational drug. I only had it a couple of times and didn't take a heavy dose, but when it's safe and not mixed with alcohol it was great and if it was legal I'd absolutely be having it instead of alcohol. It felt like the fun of being drunk without making you feel stupid, or diminishing memory so I could remember the enjoyment.

It feels like half the reason it's not legal is because of the mixing with alcohol issue and the alcohol industry certainly has a lot more political sway lol. For those unfamiliar with it, its dangerous when mixed with alcohol and has been used in that combo as a date rape drug.

That'd be one of the ones I'd be more wary of. I have some experience with it a long time ago, and if I recall it was: Have 2-3mLs you're having a great night. Have 5-6mLs (or take another dose too soon) you're throwing up / passing out (been there). Have 10+mLs you're not waking up. With pure stuff there's not a huge margin for error.

I have a very good friend who (before I met him) worked at a night club. He was taking some, I believe for the first time, on one of his shifts. It started to wear off and so he went to get some more, alone, from a friends car. Figured he wouldn't easily be able to come back so he took a decent swig of the bottle. 30mins later he passed out in the bathroom, convulsing. Thankfully an Ambulance got to him in time, and he woke up the next day in hospital with his family around him, and doctors telling him his heart had stopped a half dozen times.

[Greywolf2375]

No illegal drugs - even though weed is now legal around where I live, still not interested.  I do use CBD products in various forms but that's it.  I have had cigars, but no cigarettes.  Alcohol, sure but not really a whole lot anymore - can't even remember the last time I had a beer.

[karaddin]

4 hours ago, Impmk2 said:

That'd be one of the ones I'd be more wary of. I have some experience with it a long time ago, and if I recall it was: Have 2-3mLs you're having a great night. Have 5-6mLs (or take another dose too soon) you're throwing up / passing out (been there). Have 10+mLs you're not waking up. With pure stuff there's not a huge margin for error.

That's all entirely fair, this is all over 15 years in the past for me so clearly I'm not so great one the details, but I did remember the friends I got it from being quite emphatic on not taking much. Only part I can really comment on is the subjective experience being better than alcohol and thinking about less people getting into the situation to be angry drunks.

I don't think I worded it well (look at the time stamp and remember we're both australian lol) but did want to acknowledge part of the challenge with this particular drug is how it could and has been be used against someone else rather than just how people will take it themselves.