Many years ago, on the news, I saw some psychiatrist/doctor? who believes that humans have an urge for becoming "high", in a similar way that humans have an urge for sex and worship. So this guy believes humans are biologically impelled to want to become high. That seems partially reasonable, considering how common intoxicating drinks have been in human history. It also means that I lack the urge to ingest intoxicating things.
What's the appeal of drugs?
- Thread starter Bast
- Start date
Reason one: genetical predisposition or lack thereof.
Reason two: differences in environment (both social and "natural").
Some people simply have an addictive personality. It takes longer for them to build up the willpower to resist whatever it is they are addicted to (World of Warcraft tends to catch such people hook line and sinker). Some people are addicted to the pokies, some are addicted to alcohol, some are addicted to crochet or whatever. It can just be a natural pre-disposition they have towards doing something repeatedly. I've also found that many people can't explain or even comprehend why they do something... it simply inescapably part of them.
Shekwan
Kim Chi Quaffing Celt
for being better than others at not using drugs.
I cannot really see why any rational person over the age of 18 would want to start smoking.
Hell, I can't really see why anyone would want to start smoking when they know the dangers it has.
Hell, I can't really see why anyone would want to start smoking when they know the dangers it has.
bender19
Warlord
People take drugs because they perceive the high and associated experiences to be more beneficial to them than the potential negative health repercussions. Only a small minority is addicted and use drugs because they are addicted.
To most users its very simple and isn't due to peer pressure, drugs are often very pleasurable and for some the positives outway the negatives.
To most users its very simple and isn't due to peer pressure, drugs are often very pleasurable and for some the positives outway the negatives.
Sharwood
Rich, doctor nephew
Do me a favour. List the amount of "rational people over the age of 18" you know personally. If it reaches double digits, I'll be genuinely surprised.
Personally, I agree with you. But I can say the same about drinking, painkillers, gambling, etc.
warpus
In pork I trust
You falsely assume that anyone who does drugs has no self-control. I have self control.. that's why I don't devour an entire turkey when I sit down at dinner.. it's why I don't drink the entire keg when I'm at a kegger.. it's also why I don't smoke the entire ounce all at once and settle for a toke.
Sure, some people are addicts and abuse the stuff. But you present a false dichotomy and you know it.
You can control drinking and gambling by moderation. You cannot be moderate on nicotine.
My guess is that initially it's curiosity about different experiences and states of mind. What fuels this curiousity can obviously be diverse, but so called 'peer pressure' cannot be discarded. After this, if you like it and it isn't causing you any damage (as in physical, mental or other damage such as not being able to concentrate at work or something) then I guess you stick with it.
I never for example felt the urge to smoke. I always placed the negative side effects - primarily addiction - above the positives (of which I couldn't see any anyway). I was also a bit of a dickish moral policeman disapproving of my friends who would smoke tobacco or weed. I just didn't get the attraction of weed at all, an opinion which I can see now was built mostly out of never having tried it, with a little misinformation thrown in for bad measure. As for booze I was slow to get into that, I remember my first ever social drink was a Budweiser or two with some school friends - nasty stuff. The feeling was pleasant though (depending on your mood, up to a point) and eventually I got used to the various tastes, so it stuck. I considered once whether I'd ever give up booze but it just wouldn't be worth missing out on the social lubricant - it's not like I'm an alcoholic, it's just for social situations.
Several years later while at uni I became strongly curious about magic mushrooms. This was about 4 years ago, and was influenced mainly by cultural references such as music, art, and above all, Bill Hicks. It was fascinating but completely different to what I had expected based on mainstream portrayal of it. Perhaps this is not surprising seeing as they were made illegal the following year; we can't have people in society going around saying that it isn't all that bad now, can we? I ended up trying them 4 times in about a year, and that was enough for me; I very much doubt I'll ever feel like doing it again. It's not a light experience and it lasts for several hours (around 6 if I remember correctly): aside from not feeling like it anymore I just don't have the time and privacy to devote most of a day to something so overwhelming and introspective. Shrooms largely lost their appeal, in short.
One day shortly after trying mushrooms my housemate convinced me to try two other new drugs which I had never understood: cannabis and tea. I suppose you could say that the shrooms were a gateway drug to this harder stuff. I still take both of these regularly, as well as booze, and I still abstain from - and still don't understand the appeal (primarily through fear of addiction) of - tobacco and 'hard drugs'.
I never for example felt the urge to smoke. I always placed the negative side effects - primarily addiction - above the positives (of which I couldn't see any anyway). I was also a bit of a dickish moral policeman disapproving of my friends who would smoke tobacco or weed. I just didn't get the attraction of weed at all, an opinion which I can see now was built mostly out of never having tried it, with a little misinformation thrown in for bad measure. As for booze I was slow to get into that, I remember my first ever social drink was a Budweiser or two with some school friends - nasty stuff. The feeling was pleasant though (depending on your mood, up to a point) and eventually I got used to the various tastes, so it stuck. I considered once whether I'd ever give up booze but it just wouldn't be worth missing out on the social lubricant - it's not like I'm an alcoholic, it's just for social situations.
Several years later while at uni I became strongly curious about magic mushrooms. This was about 4 years ago, and was influenced mainly by cultural references such as music, art, and above all, Bill Hicks. It was fascinating but completely different to what I had expected based on mainstream portrayal of it. Perhaps this is not surprising seeing as they were made illegal the following year; we can't have people in society going around saying that it isn't all that bad now, can we? I ended up trying them 4 times in about a year, and that was enough for me; I very much doubt I'll ever feel like doing it again. It's not a light experience and it lasts for several hours (around 6 if I remember correctly): aside from not feeling like it anymore I just don't have the time and privacy to devote most of a day to something so overwhelming and introspective. Shrooms largely lost their appeal, in short.
One day shortly after trying mushrooms my housemate convinced me to try two other new drugs which I had never understood: cannabis and tea. I suppose you could say that the shrooms were a gateway drug to this harder stuff. I still take both of these regularly, as well as booze, and I still abstain from - and still don't understand the appeal (primarily through fear of addiction) of - tobacco and 'hard drugs'.
Nordstream
Prince
They are called recreational drugs for a reason. Do it for relaxation, enjoyment or recreation.
Formaldehyde
Both Fair And Balanced
Bingo. The question people should really be asking is why they feel they should have the right to interfere with the private lives of other adults.
Dr. Ron Paul On Drugs And Personal Freedom
Heretic_Cata
We're gonna live forever
As long as it provides even the smallest amount of pleasure then it has a lot of appeal.
Besides let's not not forget another type of pleasure usually give by alcohol - forgeting your problems/past/future even if it's for a small amount of time and focusing on the people you are with and the present.
For heavier drugs i couldn't really focus on anything, but the forgeting part was there - so 2 thumbs up for drugs too.
Strange that nobody mentioned that. (but i didn't read all posts
) Or am i the only one who does this? 
Besides let's not not forget another type of pleasure usually give by alcohol - forgeting your problems/past/future even if it's for a small amount of time and focusing on the people you are with and the present.
For heavier drugs i couldn't really focus on anything, but the forgeting part was there - so 2 thumbs up for drugs too.
Strange that nobody mentioned that. (but i didn't read all posts
) Or am i the only one who does this? /threadStill thinking in the binary: addicted vs non-addicted, mindset I see.
I just simply asked: "why do you like chocolate?". Because it tastes good. But why does it? Because you enjoy it. But whyyyyyyy?
This is simply it. People use drugs because they enjoy it. People eat chocolate because they enjoy it. Why? Because it triggers the right triggery brain thingies which make people feel joy.
Because they do not want to stop. Reason can be addiction, but also simply because they like smoking a joint. Or drinking a beer. Or eating chocolate. Maybe because they enjoy the taste, or enjoy the buzz they get, or enjoy the venue where people do those things.
This is a good point also.
I started smoking after the age of 18.
It is this kind of thinking which resonated strongly with me when I first listened to Bill Hicks.
Bill Hicks said:
aelf
Ashen One
But you do harm other human beings. Tell me when they've put drug abusers and smokers into "their-kind-only" colonies without any outside provision of healthcare, etc. I'll agree that it's your freedom to do anything you want to yourselves.
Consciously self-damaging acts that have considerable social costs as such need to be discouraged.
Consciously self-damaging acts that have considerable social costs as such need to be discouraged.
LucyDuke
staring at the clock
Brain chemistry. You can control the fundamental way your brain works. Some folks like to tinker with the way their cars or computers run. Some folks like to tinker with the way their brains run.
You can make your car or computer go faster, or more efficiently, or more quietly, or you can make it more spectacular or more simplistic, or you can make it do weird things like bounce or pop or spin. There's no way to do these things "out of the box", you need to bring something external into the system to effect the effect.
Your dichotomy is ridiculous, by the way. Continuous use does not by itself constitute addiction.
Shaihulud, potential addictiveness is never a reason someone will use a drug. Having an addiction is often a reason, but "hey, I'd like to challenge crack cocaine to a staring contest" just doesn't happen.
Bast, people stop using drugs because they don't want to anymore. I stopped smoking pot because I didn't like it anymore. I'll stop using any drug that no longer has anything I want.
It's not always a matter of "can" stop, it's a matter of "will". You chose to, and you were able to, and that's good if you're happy about it. I "can" stop taking tylenol for menstrual cramps but I'm not going to because I see value in it.
Your apparent conviction that drugs make people use drugs is laughable. You're reasoning voodoo pharmacology and that's condescending to every single human being on this planet. Yes, folks can develop addictions, but you're just lost if you think that any time someone chases a high it's because they're out of control. People make choices, you know. And your high-horse of "I have self-control that nobody else does" is plain obnoxious.
Phlegmak, Ronald K. Siegel put forth this theory.
Nordstream, not all drug use is recreational. See "entheogen".
You can make your car or computer go faster, or more efficiently, or more quietly, or you can make it more spectacular or more simplistic, or you can make it do weird things like bounce or pop or spin. There's no way to do these things "out of the box", you need to bring something external into the system to effect the effect.
Your dichotomy is ridiculous, by the way. Continuous use does not by itself constitute addiction.
Shaihulud, potential addictiveness is never a reason someone will use a drug. Having an addiction is often a reason, but "hey, I'd like to challenge crack cocaine to a staring contest" just doesn't happen.
Bast, people stop using drugs because they don't want to anymore. I stopped smoking pot because I didn't like it anymore. I'll stop using any drug that no longer has anything I want.
It's not always a matter of "can" stop, it's a matter of "will". You chose to, and you were able to, and that's good if you're happy about it. I "can" stop taking tylenol for menstrual cramps but I'm not going to because I see value in it.
Your apparent conviction that drugs make people use drugs is laughable. You're reasoning voodoo pharmacology and that's condescending to every single human being on this planet. Yes, folks can develop addictions, but you're just lost if you think that any time someone chases a high it's because they're out of control. People make choices, you know. And your high-horse of "I have self-control that nobody else does" is plain obnoxious.
Phlegmak, Ronald K. Siegel put forth this theory.
Nordstream, not all drug use is recreational. See "entheogen".
LucyDuke
staring at the clock
Not all drug use has external negative side effects.
Gustave5436
Emperor
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2008
- Messages
- 1,319
Take amphetamines as an example:
Amphetamines function as a dopamine agonist. Take them enough, and the brain adapts to the higher levels of dopamine. After a time, people addicted to this drug may suffer from certain depressive (among other things) symptoms, such as anhedonia, when the effects of it wear off. Thus, the drug has altered their brain chemistry so that they become dependent on it.
I'm not sure why people take drugs to begin with. Probably boredom or some such thing they're trying to avoid, as with other recreational activities. Until the individual becomes addicted she has a right to do whatever she wants, upon addiction the individual has a right to receive medical assistance to do away with the addiction.
Amphetamines function as a dopamine agonist. Take them enough, and the brain adapts to the higher levels of dopamine. After a time, people addicted to this drug may suffer from certain depressive (among other things) symptoms, such as anhedonia, when the effects of it wear off. Thus, the drug has altered their brain chemistry so that they become dependent on it.
I'm not sure why people take drugs to begin with. Probably boredom or some such thing they're trying to avoid, as with other recreational activities. Until the individual becomes addicted she has a right to do whatever she wants, upon addiction the individual has a right to receive medical assistance to do away with the addiction.
