Do you take drugs? Why?

Never been curious about trying drugs.

I did it 1-2 times per month over the course of that summer, and got
drunk about the same number of times. Then when I turned 17
my parents let me leave and go live with my best friend, who is
heavily into using pot. So I started doing it more and more, until
I was getting high every day - but only moderately so, I dosed
myself, I wasn't just sitting around all day, I was doing things like
writing, acting and playing music, alone or in various bands. It
didn't seem to interfere or impair me in any way, so I don't think
I was truly addicted, but who knows - addicts rarely recognize
their own status, do they?

Anyway, in early 2002 I turned eighteen, and this cleancut
preppy girl from my church decided to make me her 'project,'
(U know how it is - the 'good' girls are always attracted to the
'bad' boys)) and convinced me to quit using drugs if
she would become my girlfriend - seems like a vainglorious
gesture, but she was a stone fox, the best looking white
girl in our school, so i agreed. I almost immediately missed the
stuff, but after about a week I realized I was much more alert
and enjoying life more, overall, although I didn't get thoses
euphoric rushes that I was used to.

Well, the white girl moved away and I was left to my own devices, and
I resumed smoking pot, but only occasionally, mostly on weekends,
and i think it's a good balance; moderation is always better than
the extremes of hedonism or puritanism.

(As for other drugs, I never got into them they're mostly
too dangerous or, in the case of psychedelics, too dang MUCH.
I still trip about once a month)

I wanted to do a 'shroom trip, at one time, for the whole psychic awakening experience, but then one day I went by my mother's after college and my younger sister (high school seniors) and some of her girlfriends were there. As I walked in they were all giggling. Then my sister said "Hey, we just took some 'shrooms!" I was taken back, mainly because I thought that she was not experimenting. Anyway, about 45 minutes later, I was in the dining room and they came through looking for munchies. One of the girls made an odd noise and crumpled - I caught her on her way down and she went into a full-blown seizure. Thank god she came out of fairly fast, but it was still scary as hell.

And then, two years ago, I heard that a little boy that I used to babysit, had taken 'shrooms and had a bad reaction and died. Out of the blue. It was really a shock.

I am not at all against drugs, and am in favor of legalization. I would like to see regulation of the strength of drugs, and there to be less of a stigma in getting assistance when something goes wrong.

Oops took the brown acid...

Your really don't want to know.

I've done weed before, I've been high, but it was pretty disgusting. Can't stand the smell or the effect.

Now I'm gonna go drink and fight Mike Skinner http://i.imdb.com/Photos/CMSIcons/emoticons/basic2/upset.gif

Back to your drugs thread, people.

Who was dissing the herb? You went to Kalamazoo, right john? I thought everyone there was required to smoke pot.

Yeah, there were plenty of pot-smokers at Kzoo, but I fell in with a pretty straight-edge crowd fairly early and then never had much interest in it.

-I drink. When I allow myself to be, I am a complete drunk. I drink less lately b/c I have a job that kicks my ass and I simply can't do it while drinking heavily. However give me the freedom and yeah, I'll drink yr bitch ass under the table.

-I've went through brief stoner periods in the past. I can understand stoners. Sometimes I think I should really be a stoner and not a drunk. But, see, I have asthma and pot makes me super sleepy so. . . that said I've recently been thinking I should look into getting a regular supply as I think it would help with the stress of teaching.

-My hardcore, yeah-I'm-a-degenerate-and-proud-of-it, drug of choice is Cocaine. White lady I love you. I like drinking and pot but they slow me down and dull me. Coke heightens everything and takes me to scary and thrilling peaks I don't experience otherwise. Yeah it's a scary drug for a reason. There have been times were I would do it about two times a month. It was often available and I had to exercise extreme self-control to resist. My lifestyle is different now. It isn't so readily available so when it is presented to me I accept it without a second thought. It's quite simple: I love doing coke. I'm not addicted to it but I see how that could happen. I rarely, if ever, seek it out. If it's been three months or so since I did it I'll be wanting it and putting some feelers out. However, I'm not beating down the doors of known back-alley dealers every weekend. It's good times every now and then but would kill me quickly if I indulged on a regular basis. (that said I haven't had any since august and am trying to score this weekend.)

I don't like speed as much but still won't turn it down if offered. I've never ever bought it. The main reason I don't like it is b/c my mother was a speed freak and it wrecked my adolescence. For the same reason I would never, ever shoot up. Catching your parents spiking their veins really kills that for you. It ain't the same as having them blaze up or snort lines in front of you, trust me.

I know a lot of people hate coke, that's fine. Don't judge me though, cause you don't know me. You don't like it? Fine. I don't do drugs in front of people who aren't down with it. It's a drag for all concerned. But if you want to try and preach to me I'll fuckin' take you down. I'm an adult, you're an adult. Deal with it.

(Even though, you know, I don't actually have much interest in doing any drugs besides pot.)

Kyle, did you know that 80% of your anecdotes finish with this statement? ;)

btw, I think drugs should be absolutely decriminlized. When presented with some anti-drug essay contest or whatever at school i never, ever have my students participate. I choose not to push that agenda. I have *huge* problems with our government's attitude towards drugs and, well, quite frankly I'm not a fucking hyprocrite. How in the hell am I supposed to lead my students in some propaganda DARE bullshit when I'm planning to go on a coke binge on the weekend? I am painfully honest, at least to myself, about these things.

This might sound a little weird but the main reason I smoked pot was for listening to music. Im sure some can relate to this...being a musician, whenever I listen to music I tend to overanalyse everything...listening to it with a musical ear:

"oh that's a nice minor 7th" "mmm, listen to that snare sound, mmm"

Somehow the mystical powers of pot allowed me to experience music in a different way. I loved to do the thing where you sit in a pitch black room, get stoned, turn the music up loud and forget about anything else going on in your life, any kind of personal context and just get (whoa..trippin' out here) 'lost in the music'.

Nowadays, on my Gap year, I have noone that I can get pot off, so I've had to stop smoking, its been tough getting out of the pot-smokers routine. Have only been smoking occasional ciggerettes most likely due to a slight nicotine addiction. I have decided that I'm not going to ever go back to smoking as much as I was before. I don't know how to describe the difference between being someone who smokes every night, and now, when I barely ever have a smoke, but there is a difference, and I'm not sure if its a bad thing or a good thing, just different.

As to the getting drunk vs getting high debate, like others above, I really do think it depends on the level of intoxication, the person, the situation. Although, personally I have never had a bad drug experience (pot, coke, ketamine, schrooms and satvia) while I have had many, many horrible experiences with alcohol.