To think some people take drugs because it is fun?

[crunchymint]

There is the assumption that people take drugs because of mental health problems, or other problems. But plenty of people take drugs because it is fun. I am not advocating taking drugs. But sometimes it is as simple as that.

Interesting thread.

Sorry I'm late to the party, but did anyone actually ask @rockshandy what her / his actual experience of taking drugs involves? Obviously watching other people taking drugs whilst you remain sober is not fun. Not sure anyone would argue differently about that tbh. But I don't think I know anyone irl who, having actually taken a pill / smoked a joint / had a tab of lsd would claim the experience wasn't fun.

So, @rockshandy, you've made some fairly bold statements, which I think we all get now are based on your personal experience. But could you clarify whether that experience was as an observer or as a user of drugs? And also perhaps what drugs you're referring to, as my understanding of the discussion above is that when people are talking about the 'fun' they've had, they're more likely to be referencing pills than heroin.

Father I agree that long term it's bad for the soul. Because being used to an artificial high can mean the sober life feels flat and mundane.
I'm a dabbler so drugs aren't high on my list as enjoyable things to do. I'm at my happiest roaming a historic building and finishing it off with a pot of tea. A coke using friend of mine spends most Sundays riding and grooming her horse. There has to be a balance in life.

Dickens was messed up as hell, so was Freud (although I suppose it's not clear which one you mean), Wilberforce had a lot of health problems from what I recall and his intimate knowledge of the slave trade would be enough to make most people depressed but I don't know whether he actually did have problems, crick I remember reading something about that has left the impression of a troubled life but I can't really remember and may be wrong, eddison I know nothing about re personal life, heningway again I have the vague impression that so ethi gwent wrong in his life but may be wrong, know nothing about colerigdges personal life, stephan King never had any interest in, chatterton doesn't ring a bell at all, sagan know very little about. Thanks for mansplainibg BTW, as if this isn't all common knowledge .

@bananafish I have zero interest in clubbing, house music, raving etc. so that may explain it. But then again surely it is still the same whether it is house music or the wind through the wood. Just a question of finding a heightened state of reality. If you can't fully immerse yourself without help there must be something amiss.

so was Freud (although I suppose it's not clear which one you mean

Was it ambiguous? Didn't realise there was more than one Sigmund Freud.

chatterton doesn't ring a bell at all, sagan know very little about. Thanks for mansplainibg BTW, as if this isn't all common knowledge hmm.

Not common knowledge to you if you've never heard of them, is it?

As for 'mansplainibg' (sic) I'm a woman...

I find racecardrivers comments naive and quite frankly laughable. More people than not go out and have a few drinks on a night out and maybe get drunk. In fact those with the more high powered jobs drink/take drugs more than the others I know (those that don't have children that is). It has no relevance to lack of intelligence, mental health or how much fun they are as people.

As with alcohol, illegal drugs are also abused and many of those people do have difficult lives, mental health problems etc of course. I work in mental health and substance abuse so I see it first hand on a daily basis. The majority of the people in the world do not have issues with either.

Based on what you say we should be able to sit at home with no entertainment and be fufilled but we don't as we all have different things that 'float our boat'. Have a bit of imagination, I actually think you sound pretty boring.

I have zero interest in clubbing, house music, raving etc. so that may explain it. But then again surely it is still the same whether it is house music or the wind through the wood. Just a question of finding a heightened state of reality. If you can't fully immerse yourself without help there must be something amiss.

@Racecardriver

You're the only one saying anything 'if you can't fully immerse yourself without help'

You can have a banging time clubbing without dropping an E

You don't NEED it to immerse yourself in the dance floor

But it's a fun added extra

Rhubarb crumble on its own is still a delicious dessert. But it's a different experience when you add custard or ice cream, if you happen to like those particular accompaniments

You're the only one saying that because some people really like custard or ice cream with their crumble that they must NEED to have it. Or there must be something amiss for them not to be able to enjoy the crumble on its own.

Well if they are fun I am quite happy not to want that sort of fun. I have never taken any drug and rarely drink alcohol. I can have fun without needing either.

Why is it that the narrative that people who find that taking recreational drugs CAN be fun therefore seems to be transposed as meaning these people NEED to take recreational drugs to have fun

Some people like to play sports. Just because they play sports doesn't mean they can ONLY have fun playing sports, or that they NEED to play sports to have fun.

I agree. My family was attacked by two guys who were off their heads on coke - they tried to carjack us, then managed to rip the car door off as we were driving away. When of my "friends" said we shouldn't judge them too harshly, because they were also victims or "they wouldn't have been driven to drugs" . I don't buy it, personally. Yes, they might have had tragic backstories, but it's equally possible that they were just a pair of idiots who took coke for the lulz.

You see the same thing on threads about smoking during pregnancy - posters say that the mother must be mentally ill and/or live in horrendous circumstances. Many of the pregnant smokers I know have pretty cushy lives.

Valanice - no I don't buy it either, not one person I knew who took drugs ever did anything horrible (I know several who did whilst drinking). It's bullshit, they are just vile human beings. Coke doesn't make people do stuff like that, it's all just excuses.

bananafish - you have articulated what I wanted to say so well. I totally agree with everything you have said.

Surely you have mental health problems or at least a serious intellectual deficiency if you find drugs fun?

this is very funny

It's bullshit, they are just vile human beings. Coke doesn't make people do stuff like that, it's all just excuses.

It certainly can make people act very differently. And almost never in a good way. I’ve seen “happy, loved up” mdma users turn sour at the end of the night too, as the come down hits.

Very silly to dismiss it as bs. It’s a popular theory; alcohol is worse, we’re all happy and fun taking drugs. Not so ime. For all the reasons I’ve already stated.

Coke does not make a usually nice person carjack and attack someone sorry I don't buy that.

Yes there are cases where it makes someone do awful things as does alcohol but in my fairly large experience of people taking drugs I have never seen anything of that scale. Things can turn sour yes butthat could be for a number of reasons. You can't just assume that someone attacking someone is just because of the drugs.

I am happy to be wrong of course I have never said my view is the only one, like most posters I am speaking from my own experiences not as 100% factual, as are you clearly.

Coke does not make a usually nice person carjack and attack someone sorry I don't buy that.

It might, if they’re addicted to it, “need” money for their next score AND are under the effects of a drug which is notorious for making one lose one’s inhibitions and making one more irritable and selfish

Also this:

“Large amounts of cocaine can lead to bizarre, unpredictable, and violent behavior.”

From this:

www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/cocaine

You don’t have to buy it. It’s perfectly possible that anotherwise decent person could become the type of person who carjacks etc, purely because of cocaine. Don’t kid yourself that it’s a party drug. And even if it was all fun and games for the person taking it, the effects on people along the supply chain should be enough to put any decent person off ever touching the stuff.

Surely you have mental health problems or at least a serious intellectual deficiency if you find drugs fun?

I used to think like that, until I tried MDMA. It truly is a feeling of ecstacy/euphoria, instense physical warmth, love, just... Bliss. And it makes you dance, music feels like it's inside of you. Lots of fun.

You must have a serious problem if you think you can judge the fun factor and experience of something that you have never done before.

Similar to what a PP said: Ice-cream is tasty on its own, but add some strawberry sauce and it's even better.

But, you know, recreational drugs aren't for everyone. I've had two friends who have tried MDMA and they both said it made them feel sick and they didn't enjoy it. Different strokes and all that.

Father - I completely agree in the context you have talked about. I am only talking about occasional users so I think the context is very different although not 100% of the time, like many things.

i do think coke can make people go loops and do things they never would have done..... but yes sometimes horrible people do coke and then do horrible things and blame the coke.

My husband works in mental health and drugs can make some people psychotic. And that can be quite random and not have any lead up to it. So you very much could get a normally lovely person ding something utterly terrible and not being quite responsible for it...
However I do agree the majority of coke dickheads... are just dickheads ramped up a bit by taking some coke.

Ive done coke a fair few times in my youth (and a fair amount)... and it did make me a dickhead... in the sense I felt absolutely fine to just rant at people about whatever crap I wanted to without the slightest thought as to whether it was appropriate or they would find it interesting.
But I was certainly never inspired to do anything totally out of character or that I could not understand why I had done it once sober.

I mean even on halluginogens ive never done anything completely out of character or bad or violent.
I think if you have an underlying mental health problem then drug use can bring that out... and also if you have underlying anger issues/violence then drug use can bring that out....

The only thing ive ever taken where I felt really and deeply out of control and not like myself was ketamine. Id never take that again but im glad I did it that once as it was very interesting. It was like an out of body experience... it certainly wasnt fun... it was horrendous in some ways but I did think afterwards 'wow that was really quite an experience!' It was like being trapped in a kaleidoscope physically. Really really odd.

Uyulala I used to think like that, until I tried MDMA. It truly is a feeling of ecstacy/euphoria, instense physical warmth, love, just... Bliss. And it makes you dance, music feels like it's inside of you. Lots of fun. You must have a serious problem if you think you can judge the fun factor and experience of something that you have never done before.

Haha, this reminds me of when I first got together with my (now) husband. He was a big drinker but had never taken any drugs other than smoked a bit of weed and done coke once or twice, which had done nothing for him. He was pretty sneery about MDMA having seen people taking pills throughout his university years etc.

I will never forget the look on his face when he came up for the first time on pure MDMA in my flat listening to one of his favourite Stone Roses tracks. He looked at me with the most incredible expression and said something like, my god, it's like my head opening up and filling with white light...why did no one tell me it would be like this?

It was the first of many very lovely shared experiences in the days before we had kids.

I had a fantastic few years taking recreational drugs in my twenties. Loved it. It's not forever, and I knew it wouldn't be at the time, but while it lasted it was a blast.

I had a full time job, paid my taxes, did volunteer work and was an upstanding member of society. But I did enjoy getting off my tits at the weekends. There is nothing wrong with that.

Grew tired of it as I got older and gave it up.

Escapism/fun

It certainly can make people act very differently. And almost never in a good way. I’ve seen “happy, loved up” mdma users turn sour at the end of the night too, as the come down hits.

Come on, as if.

People don't get a come down 'at the end of the night' from taking MDMA. The come down comes much later on (at least the next day, if not a few days afterwards).

I've never seen someone be aggressive from an MDMA come down and I bet you haven't either.

last time I took MDMA I had an amazing bonding experience with my cat.

I got home and the door was (unusually) locked. Luckily my cat was there too, and she showed me the way round the back, beckoning with her paw (the house was built into a hill if you can imagine, so the back door was a bit of a trek up a hill and through the garden)

She then came to my bed and we had an amazing spiritual experience...:)

Hmmmmm well, he was maybe an aggressive guy already, but he took a fuck load of drugs in general. It was about 7 or 8 in the morning, but since we hadn’t been to sleep, I’d call that the end of the night. He overheard an acquaintance being really horrible to his brother and he walked straight into the room and head butted the acquaintance. Blood spattered the whole way up the wall. I think the other guy’s nose may have broken, but I don’t know, as he left and we didn’t see him again for a very long time.

On another occasion, at a rave, a decidedly not generally aggressive guy I know was at the bar. A shifty looking man came up to him, stared him in the eye and just said “buy me a drink”. My friend was scared and bought this guy a drink. Then, at about 2 or 3 in the morning when we were leaving. My friend found this seriously dodgy guy and punched him in the face. So, SO out of character. We had to pretty much flee as I think the dodgy guy was a gang member. Fantastic.

For a common point of reference; there is that classic scene in Human Traffic where everyone is coming down and they say something about how the person you’ve been best mates with all night says something seemingly innocuous and you take it the wrong way and it’s all a bit tense. Come downs start to happen before most people who indulge in them have gone to sleep ime.

Don’t deign to patronise me about it. You have absolutely no idea what I have personally experienced.

That^^ was to @furano.