A Poll for a Friend

[Satine]

Hi all,

A friend of mine has been feeling quite depressed lately as he feels that most people in modern times take drugs and that this isolates him from everybody else. He has no interest in taking drugs and feels that there is a pressure in society either to take drugs or keep oneself to oneself. I am hoping to offer him some comfort on this issue.

I wonder if some of you could answer this poll so I can show him that not everybody does, as I suspect there are a few here who don't. There are no right and wrong answers, I just want to hear the viewpoint on a few others who don't take drugs.

By 'drugs' I generally mean the illicit ones, so if you've only taken the legal drugs (e.g., nicotine, alcohol) then please count that as a no. That said, input on legal drugs would be appreciated also.

Thank you.

 

[Sad-Kitten]

I feel the same way! I'm just not into that kind of thing, and i find it hard to try and make a connection with people when it seems a lot of them do drugs.

 

[RiiyaRox_]

[Gone for good.]

 

[JonnyD]

she's depressed cause "everybody" takes drugs?

its strange most people who do drugs want to hide it, just acne showing off teenagers trying to make sure everybody knows they are on cocaine what they really take is flour mixed with cheap mints.

i never did drugs, i don't despise anyone who did, but in the other hand i dispise addiction

 

[Patrick123]

I've done more drugs than I can list -almost everything you can think of- and I don't regret it. To each his own, I say.

Real friends will remain friends, regardless of your decision to do, or not do drugs. It's the relationships which are formed through the use of a particular substance that are destructive and misleading. I can't tell you how many times I've seen somebody's "friends" leave when the drugs are gone...

 

[Naniwazu]

It's nice to see such a high percentage score on the 'no' side...don't take drugs. Period.

 

[freestylemonster]

I've tried weed before, and it just made my anxiety waaaaaaay higher, almost unbearable. And since weed is like the weakest drug I wouldn't do any other ones

 

[sleepysparrow1]

The answer to this is an easy one: Don't take drugs if you don't want to. What does it matter if people are taking them or not taking them? Your friend doesn't have to do what everyone else is doing.

 

[ouroboros]

I think the only drug that could isolate him from most people, if he abstains from it, is alcohol.

If it's only illegal drugs, then he shouldn't feel down because most people don't use them. According to the British Crime Survery 2005/6, 45.1% of 16-24 year olds have tried an illegal drug once or more in their life, 25.2% have used 1 or more in the last year, and 15.1% in the last month. http://www.drugscope.org.uk/resources/faqs/faqpages/how-many-people-use-drugs.htm (you need to click the pdf link to see the data for 16-24 year olds).

Also from the PDF: "between 1998 and 2005/06 the use of any illicit drug in the past year by young people decreased steadily from 31.8% to 25.2%"

Maybe he's got a distorted view of reality by the media, plus if he's a teenager, well, teenagers love to brag/exaggerate about drugs and sex.

I didn't answer the poll because I think some drugs I've used have been beneficial, and others haven't. I enjoyed smoking weed at first, but I guess I abused it too much and it ended up making me an anxious and paranoid mess so I had to stop (and the anxiety/paranoia levels dropped down to what they had been after a few months..). I'm not a big fan of alcohol, I think mainly because I tend to drink for negative reasons (to help in social situations), plus I get bad hangovers. Psychedelics I've found to be wonderful and healing, and I just wish I'd found them sooner.