> All I've seen in drug users is wreckage and death.
Drug use is illegal and is taboo. Many people who take drugs are not going to talk to you about it.
You won't have seen a lot of drug use. You'll only have seen the worse end of drug use.
You have seen plenty of people who can have a few alcoholic drinks a week? That's drug use that doesn't end in wreckage and death, even though alcohol is very harmful and very addictive. (And physically addictive, not just psychologically addictive.)
> A sobering reminder that the negative effects of recreational drugs last long after the hangover. I’m seeing an alarming trend of young people reading “harm reduction” material online and assuming they know the full picture of the risks of drug use.
I don't think that's ever been in question. Harm reduction isn't some utopian ideal that safe drug use == nobody ever suffers long-term negative effects.
Conquering those demons takes a lot of time, introspection, and often outside help. Harm reduction is about making sure you live long enough to hopefully get there.
>It’s often near the beginning, and lubricates destructive behavior, even pot
I think we are talking past each other. I fully agree that many would be better off never using anything at all.
My point is that by the time someone gets to the point where drugs/gambling/addiction can act as a destructive catalyst, they're already well on their way to a negative future due to earlier causes.
> Most people who use drugs eventually end up not being able to live like normal adults.
I have a close family member who has been addicted to heroin for most of their life and they are in their late 60's. They go to a clinic and receive methadone which they can then go outside and trade for whatever else. Basically a flea market of intoxicants and they are found around every major rehab clinic.
The problem is they are so used to being in a stupor most of the day that reality is something they cant handle anymore. When they become sober they are faced with a loud, bright world of sensory overload along with physical discomfort, pain and headaches (I had addiction issues so this is my perception). You want to go back to lala land and forget about all the bullshit seemingly clawing at you.
These extreme cases become hollowed out vessels - the person becomes a kind of animal that knows only one thing: defend the mind against reality. They don't care about family, friends, jobs, hobbies, ad nauseam. They need SERIOUS help - help that I don't think we can provide as how do you rebuild a human mind and life?
> The statistics from places with lax drug laws, decriminalization, partial legalization, etc suggests that everyone who actually wants to do drugs long term already does, and that most (if not all) of the rise in drug use you see at a law change is just people experimenting and then deciding against routine use.
All the people I've met who took drugs and then became violent or addicted had problems well before the drugs were there.
All the people I've met who could handle drugs were well adjusted, or were on their way to becoming well adjusted.
> Are you saying those peoples' lives were totally fine, and then when they tried drugs they were ruined?
Yes, I am. They weren't ruined immediately, but the addiction quickly ruined them.
> My understanding is that most people whose lives are in ruin and use drugs, use drugs because their lives were already ruined in some way or other.
I think your understanding is woefully incorrect, almost to fall into the caricature of what "bad drug users" look like. Many people (myself included) like to use drugs because they make you feel good. Just look at, for example, the popularity of pubs in England - do you really think that all alcoholics only became alcoholics after their lives were already shitty?
> Of course the person who takes drugs and spends years in hell because of them has a very particular view of them.
Have you talked to many recovered drug addicts? Everyone I know who has been either addicted or seen friends go through addiction advocates for compassion and harm reduction, not stronger prohibition.
> I simply fail to understand why so many people do drugs in the first place, and I have little sympathy for addicts.
Do you know one? If not, don't judge. Try to have sympathy. Try to be a decent empathetic human being and understand that people have different life circumstances than you, and the fact that they are addicts does not make them undeserving of sympathy.
> If you do drugs, you'll probably ruin your life. It's simple cause and effect.
Nope. Because you have the cause and effect backwards. More often than not, people doing these sorts of drugs already are in a tough spot in life. They do drugs BECAUSE their life is already in shambles or because they're already suffering from a mental illness. This is not to say that the drugs won't continue to cause people to spiral downwards (because they often will), but it is to say that the kind of person who chooses to inject a substance of unknown purity directly into their bloodstream is most likely NOT the kind of person who has their life together to begin with.
And I know plenty of people who do drugs and their lives are just fine. Because they're normal, well adjusted people who choose to do them because it's fun and _not_ to escape their problems, which is unfortunately the case for a lot of people who become addicts.
> My point is that by the time someone gets to the point where drugs/gambling/addiction can act as a destructive catalyst, they're already well on their way to a negative future due to earlier causes.
> The idea that substance abuse is a character flaw is outdated and harmful.
Sure, once you're already physically addicted, taking the next hit isn't a character flaw. But being willing to take the first hit before you're addicted is absolutely a gigantic character flaw.
> "Its not until your late 20's and really 30's that you start to find out about and see people you've known in the past that were intelligent, productive people who's lives have been completely destroyed due to their drug addictions."
I wish I was unaware of addiction, particularly alcoholism, while growing up.... It sounds like you had a nice sheltered childhood.
Nevertheless, my experiences have not rendered me a prohibitionist.
> I remember him talking about how drugs were much easier to handle when you start late and is much more mature. Turned out he was wrong and couldn't control it.
No, he was right. It's just that this drug still wasn't easy enough.
> Most people who use drugs eventually end up not being able to live like normal adults.
Got a cite for that? I doubt it's true.
We're seeing the same problems with drug prohibition that we saw with alcohol prohibition. It's time for the government to stop destroying people's lives.
> The problem is committing crimes while using drugs.
The problem is also damaging your brain and body with drugs, developing bad habits and/or drug addiction, your supply being contaminated/poisoned, making irresponsible decisions while intoxicated, etc.
For example cannabis can be mostly safe for adults, but children or teens who use too much of it can develop neurological defects like short-term memory impairment, depending on the frequency and duration of use.
You may not start to see the negative impact of drug use until years later. By then it's too late.
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