Are Recreational Drugs "Bad?"

[Levusti]

Today, I was working and my coworker brought to my attention a positive drug screen on a pregnant woman who is about to deliver her child.

At first, I was astonished. I couldn't believe it. I immediately thought terrible things. I thought what a bad situation the baby will be in, how irresponsible a mother and her child's father the couple were, and felt pity on the child for coming into the world like that.

My coworker was astonished too, but for a completely different reason. She was pissssssssed. She said, "You know, I'm not too fond of the mentality on drugs. For all we know, Mama's had a terrible week and she needed to relax. She could be an incredible mother. What if she used the recreational drugs to relax, much like how a smoker smokes to relieve stress? Maybe she's been off of it for the months the months she was pregnant for the safety of her child. I'm not saying that it's healthy for the baby, but why is it we are so judge the new mother over a situation we ourselves do not fully understand?"

That got me thinking. Are recreational drugs bad?

I'm not really focusing about the health effects of drugs. I'm not really talking about the addiction to drugs. I'm just asking you the question with a SUPER vague term. "Bad." What makes drugs "bad?"

If you think the addiction is "bad," then is the fact I am addicted to Korean music "bad?" Is the fact I fucking love tomatoes "bad?"

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I realized the only reason I acted the way I did is because I was taught drugs are "bad," not because that was my opinion or that I truly understood why they are "bad."

Help me think, guise!

 

[Adore Delano]

I'm not really getting into the debate, but I'd like to point out that addiction to drugs and "addiction" to things like a certain type of music are extremely different. While you may, in this instant, love Kpop very much, you can most probably function very well without it (although there are some interesting cases of patients with PTSD where they get sent into fits and will only calm down by the use of sedatives or the sound of classical music, which could be interpreted as a literal addiction to the music). But with drugs, the body tends to become reliant on it, so if you don't get your "fix", you go into withdrawal. Now, the severity of the withdrawal varies from person to person and from drug to drug, but in some cases, the addiction is so bad that you can't go even an hour without taking the drug before extreme nausea and fever sets in. Basically what I'm trying to say is, real addiction is a dangerous thing.

 

[Parsee Mizuhashi]

I don't personally use them, but I don't think recreational drugs are inherently bad. Overuse of them leading to varying bad effects on addicts' health might be a bad thing, but that's a matter of user error, not anything the drug itself did wrong.

 

[Hellis]

If you smoke when you are with a child, you are dumb as bricks. Cigarette or drugs. Fuck it, if you plan to bring that thing to life, you don't put addicting fucking substances in your body. It will DIRECTLY affect the child. Recreational drugs, fine whatever. Pot aint the end of the world, E and other party drugs are not likely to murder civilization as we know it. But your coworker is a bundle of sticks short of beinga full cigarette package if that's her opinion. We judge people who use when pregnant becouse they are fucking pregnant. Becouse there is such a thing of children being borne stunted or worse, born addicted.

Yeah. Think about that.

Also, On the aspect of addiction to non substances. Don't be daft. Its not even remotely the same. One is chemical and physiological. The other is mental and nothing but.

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

I'm a bit torn on this, because I do believe that drugs like pot are not necessarily bad, but are given a bad rep to scare people off of it. If pot was really that bad, then how come many doctors suggest using it during cancer treatment, when a person's body is already at its weakest? Alcohol and tobacco are far worse on the body than marijuana, yet both are completely legal. A person can die from alcohol withdraw. How many people have died trying to quit smoking pot?

However, I do believe that other recreational drugs are bad. My brother in law dropped acid quite frequently, and as a result, now has a dead spot in his brain which resulted in him becoming a paranoid schizophrenic. All drugs alter the mind in some way, but I believe the more that the chemicals inside the brain are messed with, the more dangerous that they become. It only takes on bad high, one bad trip, one wrong hit to completely to do permanent damage to the brain, and that will never be a good thing.

As for using drugs while pregnant, I'm sorry, but I cannot condone that in any way. I would have loved to have had a glass of wine, or even a hit off a joint late in my pregnancy when my hormones were out of control and the only thing I wanted was a decent night's sleep without my babies kicking me in my bladder. There were days when I would have killed for even a sip of beer hoping that it would settle them down enough that they would move off my sciatic nerve and my back would stop hurting for at least five seconds. What stopped me was the fact that even one drink could endanger their lives, and I would have done far more harm to them than good for myself.

And as far as addictions go, everyone has something that they are addicted to. I am addicted to tea, and books. Does that mean I'm going to be standing in front of a Barnes and Noble offering sexual favors in some back alley to get my next book? No. (Although I'm sooo tempted to do that as a gag to see how people respond!) Addiction isn't the problem, it's what people do to feed their addictions that it becomes a problem. If you're putting yourself at risk to get a fix, either by doing something immoral or illegal, than yes, addiction is bad. It's how you handle your addiction, and what extent you're willing to go to in order to get what you want that makes the difference.

 

[Diana]

I AM PRO recreational drugs. Any kind, whatever. You can do what you want with your own body.

HOWEVER, I believe these things need to be regulated. I also believe people need to be responsible and smart. Obviously, there's a ton of people that never will be. o__o the people that abuse their substances like alcohol, pot, etc, are gonna do it. We can educate and regulate as much as we can, but there is always going to be people out there that won't be responsible and do stupid and dangerous things.

I just hate taking away the rights of everyone because of those stupid people. >:[ It's the wrong kind of fix for the problem.

 

[Peter Feels]

There isn't a yes or no answer for me. At least not simply yes or no. I believe addiction is bad and that overuse of ANY drug, even marijuana, can be bad. Over indulgence is just a bad thing in general. However, I also do believe in the benefits of some drugs. Marijuana is kind of the obvious one, but I've heard there are many benefits of psilocybin and LSD for a wide range of people from alcoholics to PTSD sufferers and even the elderly on their last days.

So, I suppose my opinion is that they can be bad, like anything in the world, but they can also be good. And they should be used smart, safely, and in moderation.

 

[Zen]

My fiance's mother smoked while he was in the womb. As a little kid he had a lot of trouble focusing (ADHD) and had to take ridilin and other drugs to keep him focused. Although now as an adult he's fine, and he suspects he had that problem because his mother smoked. So no, smoking while pregnant is not smart.

I personally do not care for recreational drugs. But eh, it's your body. It's your call if you want to do them. And yes, I do think regulation is necessary.

 

[Minibit]

Since we're nottalking about health effects specifically...

They're "bad" because

They offer an alternative to dealing with the source of your stress

They're habit forming, and thus can take over your life

They have adverse health effects, and usually no benefits you can't get from healthier sources

Most of them are illegal in most places, and can land you with a criminal record

No, you can't judge a whole person based on one thing about them, but just because they make good choices on the whole, doesn't mean the drugs are also a good choice.

 

[Brovo]

Hellis put it best, but I suppose I'll throw my two cents in.

In the context of individual consumption based on your own choice? Go ahead.

In the context that most of them will brick you and rewire your brain to want more of it, some to the point that withdrawal symptoms can include horrible painful death... Well, you're a fucking idiot for doing that shit. Weed is fine. Ecstasy borderlines it. Cocaine or Heroin? Seriously? If you're considering doing these things after society has repeatedly screamed at you, to the finest detail, what the consequences are... Go ahead and do them. Let Darwinism take you out of the gene pool so you don't spread such poisonous habits to potential offspring.

And they are poisonous habits, just so we're clear, in the same way that alcoholism is, or smoking cigarettes. It's within the freedom of your own person to decide to do those things, and it's within the freedom of my own person to point out how fucking idiotic you are to choose to burn your physical health away for temporary mental stimulus. Go watch some movies or play some games, or make some delicious food, or something that doesn't completely destroy your body instead. At the very least, if you choose to do recreational drugs, do the ones that don't make you into a jibbering addicted mess of a human being (like marijuana), because at least those aren't so bad.

During pregnancy though?

Keep your system clean. For the baby's sake.

 

[Dervish]

Once again, beaten to the punch.

If you're pregnant, your responsibility for that child's well being trumps your need to "relax" with any form of drug. If you want to injure and perhaps permanently disable your child with mental or physical illness because you can't cope with shit without chemical support or have no willpower to resist those urges, than you have no business being a parent, period. Unless you have to have an abortion, which is a can of worms I am not going to open, then you have to do whatever it takes to keep your child safe and healthy. And this is ccoming from a guy who thinks babies are icky and obnoxious.

As for recreational drug use, depends what you're talking about. Alcohol and pot? Sure. Bath salts and crack cocaine? You're an idiot. There's a fine line between something with minor health issues that may actually be beneficial and something that can easily be misused by accident and cause permanent damage to your mental and physical health.

Not all drugs are equal, and a lot simply should never, ever be used, let alone legalized for personal use. There's aspects to this thing called civilization and society that have to be curtailed and controlled because it effects things outside of the individual. Much like how there's speeding limits and the fact I can't set up a concert on a city steet, there's usually a reason the government has stepped in to say what's allowed and what's not. I for one rather not see the acceptance and legalization of something that's going to be filling up hospitals with people who misused very dangerous shit. We already have a huge problem with drinking and getting high and driving, and booze and pot is pretty mild as far as mind altering substances go. Let's not encourage the recreational use of the hard shit. That's asking for trouble.

 

[Smiral]

When used by a responsible, competent person who has set boundaries and rules prior to taking the drug? Totally fine. When used by an irresponsible person to escape their problems in reality with absolutely no plan of what to do when something goes wrong? Completely different story.

As many of you have already established, it depends on numerous factors: the person, their current situation, what they chose to use, how frequently they use it, and if/how it will effect the people around them.

During pregnancy though? Big fat nono.

 

[Ochalla]

I think a lot of people have said a lot of good things. I'd like to point out caffine is a recreational drug as well, and pregnant women are recommended to even cut their consuption of coffee and colas these days. Food for thought.

 

[Asmodeus]

I'd like to point out caffine is a recreational drug

WHADDAFUQNOWAI! D:

My fiance's mother smoked while he was in the womb

Totally misread that.

Addiction and self-poisoning are pillars of human nature. Let people do what they want, but if the baby's directly in danger than I guess they should cut that shit out. Which sucks... Pregnancy just makes you a bitch. It shouldn't be allowed, unless you're a masochist and want to abandon control of your life to a fucking EGG.

*loses his thread*

Er.. yeah... So I would totally corner @Tegan and slap the joint from her hand if she was carrying my son and heir. >:D

 

[Tegan]

-_-

*Was avoiding this thread*

Are recreational drugs bad?

I don't think an inanimate substance can really have an alignment, so no. They are not.

Is using recreational drugs bad?

You mean someone willingly putting something in their own body like they would food or a urethra sounding rod? Well, no, I guess you can't really say that that's bad. In that no unwilling parties are harmed or in anyway involved. There's really not a moral standpoint for that.

Well, what about addiction? When the use of a substance becomes so habitual that it starts to harm relationships, jobs, education, health? Surely that's bad, right?

Er, well not from a moral standpoint no. No addict has ever said "You know what? I think I am going to get so addicted to this substance that I completely and totally ruin my fucking life." Addiction is not an indicator of some sort of character flaw. It is a signifier of a chemical imbalance, which is a medical condition. No amount of self-inventory is going to change that. And it's why you can have some people who can just have one drink and be fine and then you have those that need to drink to function.

Recreational drugs are not good or bad. There's no moral objectivity to this subject. If we really want to understand the nature of substance use and how and why to regulate it, we need to realize that.

TL;DR

Let's try not to be puritanical dicks about this.

 

[Jorick]

Recreational drugs in and of themselves are not bad. Neither are booze or cigarettes as things that exist. Morphine is not a bad thing. You can pick any substance you like, none of it is bad if you divorce it from the concepts of addiction or health problems.

The problem with asking if they're bad aside from addiction or health problems is that those are the areas where you can see whether or not they're bad. Calling the drugs themselves bad is just silly. You might as well say trees are bad, or pants are bad, or birds are bad. In general vague terms it's just kind of pointless to call something good or bad. You can only have a rational discussion on the matter if you use those specifics of how the things affect people.

So, when you include those specifics, the answer becomes 'sometimes.' I agree with @Diana that people should be able to take whatever drugs they want, though it should be regulated for the safety of others. Whether or not the drug use harms others is what, imo, really makes them bad or not. People who smoke weed or take low level hallucinogens for a good time are fine, they're not harming anyone else, and they're harming themselves far less than they would be with a legal substance like alcohol. People choosing to wreck their own body with stuff like heroin and cocaine is stupid, sure, but whatever, free will, it's their choice, I ain't gonna judge 'em so long as they're keeping it to themselves and not bothering others with it. However, if they're junkies who steal shit from others, mug people, and so on to get their next fix? That's bad. It's not the substance itself that is bad, it's the behavior it can cause due to addiction that is bad.

Speaking of the pregnancy thing in specific, I'd classify taking drugs of any kind while pregnant as a bad thing. Introducing strange chemicals to the fetal development cycle can have very bad side effects, so that's both stupid and potentially harmful to another person, therefore bad.

 

[Kylulu]

Recreational drugs aren't inherently "bad", and taking said drugs doesn't make a person "bad", though that mother should probably be told and educated about the possible adverse affects the drugs could have on her baby.

There's always the chance of addiction, but people get hooked on cigarettes and alcohol just as easily, if not more so because of their availability. Making drugs illegal and penalizing those that indulge doesn't stop people from finding and indulging in their vices. All it does is make sure that all transactions are done underground, where there is no regulation, no quality control, and no oversight of the dealers.

 

[Zen]

@Asmodeus ... What did you read that as? And what were you picturing? O__o

 

[fatalrendezvous]

This video basically sums up my opinion on the subject.

I will paraphrase in a nutshell.

• Let people do what they want, but regulate it.
• By making recreational drugs (of all kinds) explicitly illegal, we are imprisoning hundreds of thousands of people for no other reason than the fact that they were in possession of an object. Some of these people already lead productive lives unhindered by the drug. Some of them could if they had help available and just need assistance.
• Making drugs of all kinds legal would DEMOLISH drug-related crime. Drug trade, drug cartels, drug trafficking, etc and all the violence stemming from those things would vanish. They exist for the simple fact that drugs are illegal and that they can't be easily obtained any other way.
• Legalizing drugs would free up space in prisons for actual criminals - thieves, killers, predators and so on.
• It would also free up many of the resources we currently spend attempting to combat drugs, financial or otherwise. Tax dollars that go to paying for prison inmates who were booked for no other reason than that they possessed a drug, all that money could go towards something else. Police forces devoted to stopping illegal drug trade could all be moved to do something else - keeping our streets safe, gathering intelligence on domestic threats, protecting the people. ANYTHING.
• Drug addiction is an illness that should be treated, not condemned. Addiction is basically the only illness in the world that people can be angry at you for having. "Dammit Jim, I can't fucking believe you had a heart attack, what is WRONG with you!?" <-- this is simply not a conversation people have. Addiction needs to be treated. There are people ALL AROUND US EVERY DAY who use recreational drugs, and we'd never know the difference. You know why? Because they don't abuse them. They can still function without them if they understand their limits and learn to exercise self-control.

This ended up being longer than I intended.

So the TL;DR of the TL;DR is: legalize that shit. It's not as bad as people think, and we'd save a lot of lives and money in the process.

Not to mention, some great things came of drugs. For example, I am 99% sure that Freddie Mercury could only write a song like Bohemian Rhapsody while he was absolutely fucking toasted.

 

[Asena]

For the people saying that marijuana shouldn't be smoked when pregnant, someone did a reeeaaally long study on this and found that smoking marijuana during pregnancy could have long term benefits for moms and their children. I'm not saying all moms should now do it, and I think it needs way more research, but I do think it warrants a Google search before we all just write off marijuana smoking pregnant moms as horrible people.