Drugs and Substances: The Debate

What was going through your head the first time you tried... anything?

New Years Eve I was alone. I was playing video games. My life was simple. Two of my friends come into my house and knock back a counter filled with alcohol. My parents are wasted, I can deal with that because it's been that way my whole life, but my friends?

At that point every thought in my mind became fragmented, and my life was no longer simple.

I walked downstairs to find them in a drunken state. My mind began to rationalize, it began to shut down, I went into denial. I went along with it and laughed a little, but inside I was still waiting for my mind to make sense of it all, and it wasn't. Every second made me even more confused.

When I was cleaning up vomit on the bathroom floor at four in the morning, I still loved my friends. Half of my school can start, but it's my friends that make a difference.

It really confuses me. Most of my best friends have now tried pot, some more than just that. I don't know. One of them was a great role model to me. I felt let down when the news was broken to me.

I'm not one of the most stable people I know, and this has really knocked me off balance.

What do you figure? What's your opinion? Is there any good reason to use alcohol or other drugs? Age limit? Whatever? Is there a line that you can draw between use/abuse? Give me your opinions, because mine aren't enough.

Ok I am going to say the complete opposite of you.

What was going through my mind when I first used alcohol? Well I don't know, 'tastes good' I suppose. I enjoy a good drink and always try not to drink so much that I have to vomit and this almost never happens. But if it does I throw it out and don't drink anymore the rest of the evening. My friends being wasted? Well if you are wasted yourself it is all funny if your not it can be kind of irritating as they will be very loud and think their funny while they are not.

Alcohol as long as you don't abuse it is no problem. Drink and enjoy life.


Now I haven't tried any drugs and I'm not planning to either as I don't feel a need to. If one of my friends decide to take and try it out. I have no problem with that as long as they are soft drugs like marijuana and they don't over do it.
If they would say they were going to use hard drugs like coke or heroine I would object to that and try to stop them.

You seem to have quite a resentment against the use of alcohol and drugs, is there any special reason for that? As I personally have no problem with it as long as it doesn't become abusive.

Yes the line is there, but I personally will not help you draw it, in the end, the only decision that is right for you will be your own. Don't let your own judgement be swayed by peer pressure. Not from your friends or anybody. Peer pressure can be the end of independant thought to the point of insanity. Just look at the facts, look at what it does to your friends, and then make up your own mind.

Take it from me, I have seen how damaging peer pressure can be. If it doesn't feel right for you, don't do it. You may even make a stronger statement by being different that will give you more respect than just trying to fit in.

Im pretty much against drinking, why should I take part in something that has destroyed so many families and so many lives? Even drinking just a little, not even to get drunk, is something that I wont do anymore. Drugs are fine though. That was a joke. I feel the same way about drugs that I do about drinking. I have a younger sister, and I am a role model to her. I dont want her getting drunk and doing drugs, so why should I? You should never do something you wouldnt want any one else doing. If you know something is bad, dont do it.

I agree with cdx75xmx, why should you even try it. If you see that most of the effects are negative, whats the point. I don't really like not being in control of my actions and drugs and alcohol takes all the control I have away and would turn me into some bum.

That must have been something to just have them randomly show up at your house, uninvited, late and in a drunken state, much less expecting you to take them in. You were hospitable to them. I would have turned them away. I would not want my parents to see my friends drunk, though with your parents being drunk so often, maybe it is different. Either way, I'd have been pissed.

I'm sure there were some funny moments that night, but when you think about it, they could also be considered sad. It wasn't right that you had to clean up barf and whatnot.

What do you figure? What's your opinion? Is there any good reason to use alcohol or other drugs? Age limit? Whatever? Is there a line that you can draw between use/abuse? Give me your opinions, because mine aren't enough.

Just remember that there is no such thing as recreational drug use. Drug use for any purpose other than medical is drug abuse by nature. And that is a fact. While I don't speak out against it much, because, let's face it, you look like a pansy when you do, I don't believe there is such a thing as responsibly using drugs. The decision to use them rests with the individual. I'm not going to tell anybody what to do, or even attempt to persuade them either way, but I personally will not ever use them (sure, I might drink when I'm old enough, but even then, it's nothing I look forward to or anything like that).

These days, my pride is one of the only things about myself I hold in high regard. I simply refuse to let others affect my decisions, and that goes for anything. If I in any way wanted to be using drugs, I'd do it. I just have no desire to.

aeternus, I can relate to your mixed emotions. I've felt the same in a few situations, but I was lucky not to see those friends drunk. Now they are no longer my friends, but the drinking is not the reason for it.

I felt like I couldn't see right from wrong. It was my friends after all. Now that I look back my attitude was naïve. Just because they were my friends didn't mean they were angels.

I never took part in their foolish drinking and if that meant that I had to isolate myself, I dealt with the loneliness instead. The youths in my country have terrible drinking habits and I didn't want to be part of it.

aeternus, I have to be honest -- you wouldn't want me to be anything else I suppose -- ...the fact that your "friends" came over to you and used your house for their debaucherous behaviour and ending it with stinking vomit that YOU had to clean up... that doesn't sound very friendly. I'd be more relaxed if they apologised for that and promised not to do that in your house ever again... but that's not the case, is it?

People say that I have a "holier than thou"-attitude when it comes to drinking. I guess they don't tolerate that at least some people have principles...

Anyhow, your friends show a lack of concern for you and a great disrespect for your house by doing what they did. I would feel disappointed and let down, as you.

Are there any good reasons for using drugs and alcohol? I have never heard anyone give thorough arguement in support of it. I myself am developing a friendship with a mature man, a drug dealer who has smoked marijuana since he was a teenager. When he tells me about his life... it's only full of tragedies. Economic, marital and social tragedies.

He drank when he was between 20 and 30 which caused him to have mood swings and his first son paid dearly for that through physical punishment.

His son was eventually sent to foster care. That's how bad it was.

Does the prospect of becoming a child-batterer and an irresponsible father, husband and householder appeal to you? If it does, you should get involved with drugs and alcohol.

I hope this can help you to think. I wish you all the best, aeternus, and hope that you are strong enough to resist.