Drinker - Non-drinker etc

[hmsnacker123]

Hi, i was just wondering some of these questions --^

[Schmoopy]

Non-smoker.
Non-drinker.

Drinking is just stupid, and smoking is even worse.

Most people just drink because they're insecure or they want to impress friends / lose inhibitions.

For me, smoking does nothing but leave a bad taste in my mouth, and for people who are addicted to smoking they spend loads of money to pay for it, since their body depends on it. It also completely wrecks your lungs if you do it enough and it's another thing people do to be "cool".

Drinking is the same with the health problems, plus the violence that is created out of it in some people.

Personally, weed / cannabis has much less drawbacks although I don't smoke it regularly. And don't say it causes pyschosis because that is just bull.

[Twey]

It does have some negative effects (I've seen them myself), but I think it's necessary to smoke it in huge quantities to experience any.

Smoking obviously has no benefits, but alcohol, in moderation, is actually healthy, although these health benefits vary depending on the precise drink in question. Anecdotally, the world's oldest woman chalked up her lifespan to a glass of port every day.

[Schmoopy]

But I mean in today's society (in England anyway), there are so many drunkards who come out of the clubs and start fights, all because they've had one too many. I just find it annoying how the media focuses on class C drugs and condemns them all to hell and then try to scare everyone by severely twisting the facts when in reality cannabis is used in different parts of the world to cure illnesses and is used in spiritual ceremonies. Legalisation should be the way forward, that would also get rid of all the crime related to drugs, it's a pointless, endless war. The government don't understand how to solve problems, all they do is catch the criminals but what they should be doing is solving the fundamental issues behind why there is so much drug related crime.

Even the head of the police in England said when he retired that the drug war was pointless and that legalisation was the way forward.

Alcohol should be treated more like a drug, because at the moment most people don't realise that, they just think of alcohol as completely separate to drugs.

[magicyte]

Doing anything to your body that harms it is a completely stupid thing to do, and it is also a waste of time.

I don't even understand why someone would do that just to see for themself! I mean, I wouldn't risk it- if I were ANYONE!

With the above said, I have somthing to add: even drinking an ounce of some sort of alcoholic beverage or breathing in any toxic chemicals will SURELY harm you in some sort of way- small or large. Just saying...

-magicyte

[Schmoopy]

Yea I agree, it's mostly to do with insecurities / peer pressure that people want to drink or smoke. If nothing's wrong with your life then why would you need to alter your mental state?

[magicyte]

I COMPLETELY agree. Curiosity really did kill the cat.

-magicyte

[Twey]

even drinking an ounce of some sort of alcoholic beverage or breathing in any toxic chemicals will SURELY harm you in some sort of way- small or large.That's not true — alcohol in moderation will cause no damage at all, since the liver can process it quite happily in small quantities. Only large quantities of alcohol are harmful.

That said, everything we take in causes damage, including food and oxygen :) Oxygen is in fact a corrosive gas that destroys the cells of our bodies.

You're right that drunkards are a fairly serious societal problem, but it's the society, not the alcohol, that's the cause. This is why there's a difference between alcohol and alcohol abuse. They could attain a similar state by hyperventilation. Alcohol abuse is bad; alcohol is not.

[Schmoopy]

but it's the society, not the alcohol, that's the cause.

Well personally I think it's more like, what came first the chicken or the egg?

If alcohol disappeared tomorrow there would be riots most probably, but then the Government would need to find an alternative and in time the public would accept this change and start doing something else.

The point I was getting at was not that alcohol was bad in small quantities, but the reason behind why you would want such a drug inside you, that could be potentially harmful and make you more vulnerable.

Personally I think alcohol is too accepted by people, they don't know it's a drug, they see everyone else drinking and they think, baa, i'll join them, I don't want to be left out. Whereas if it were treated more as a class C drug, then the number of people who drink it would decrease dramatically.

[boogyman]

If alcohol disappeared tomorrow there would be riots most probably, but then the Government would need to find an alternative and in time the public would accept this change and start doing something else.


no there wouldn't. America had a prohibition, and the alcohol trade actually increased during that time. Its the same concept with any drugs... if they really want it, they will find it.



The point I was getting at was not that alcohol was bad in small quantities, but the reason behind why you would want such a drug inside you, that could be potentially harmful and make you more vulnerable.

Personally I think alcohol is too accepted by people, they don't know it's a drug, they see everyone else drinking and they think, baa, i'll join them, I don't want to be left out. Whereas if it were treated more as a class C drug, then the number of people who drink it would decrease dramatically.

Alcohol is not a drug, however as others in this thread have pointed out it should be consumed within limits... just like every other food and/or drink. While there is a vast number of drunkards of legal age, I think that it is much easier to find an under age person that drinks because of some type of insecurity or peer pressure, than an of age person.

[molendijk]

It's not primarily the drinking that's harmful by itself, but the way you handle it. That goes for everything. If you eat in order to chase bad feelings, it's wrong. If you eat because you want to stay alive, it's OK.
If you drink in order to be more sure about yourself, it's wrong. If you drink because it makes you sleep well, it's OK, etc...

And, of course, everything with moderation. (But, once in a while, I drink large quantites of beer, and that makes me feel really good. Why not? Life is short).
===
Arie.

[Schmoopy]

Alcohol is not a drug

You sort of proved my point about people not perceiving it as a drug when really, it is. In the media it's not portrayed as a drug because if it was it wouldn't be so popular, if you don't believe me just look at this site.

Alcohol is a drug: http://www.teengrowth.com/index.cfm?action=info_advice&ID_Advice=2298&category=danger&catdesc=Danger&subdesc=Alcohol

[Twey]

A large number of things people usually take every day are classified as drugs — caffeine, for example. Even food could be considered a drug, since it impacts the mind and body and is addictive (it's a lot harder to skip a meal if you're used to three a day than if you've had to live on one for a while). There's no clear defiintion of what a 'drug' is.

It certainly is dangerous, if handled irresponsibly and/or with insufficient self-awareness. Especially, using alcohol (or anything) as an emotional crutch is a very slippery slope.

[djr33]

1. Defining a drug as something illegal is thinking about it backwards-- defining food as a drug based on logic makes a lot more sense than defining alcohol not as a drug based on law.

2. Some societies have drinking as a normal part of life and few typically get "drunk" or cause problems-- at least most of the time. There are exceptions, with America (and perhaps as you said, England, too) [but here it is different, as the idea is TO get drunk, not because drinking is normal].

3. Smoking is bad, and stupid. Anyone who disagrees probably also claims "I can stop any time I want to" [which means, at least according to how my roommate two years ago acted, that he can stop when he wants then start back up after a day or two, whenever he wants to].

No, for both. I don't have any big issue with drinking (I do with smoking), but I have no desire to put alcohol into my brain-- I figure, if I don't sleep for a night, it's about the same effect, so why not get a bit more done. (However, this has absolutely nothing to do with age-- when I turn 21 in a few months I don't plan to drink, either. The law happens to match my behavior at the moment, but that's not particularly important to me.)

[molendijk]

Some societies have drinking as a normal part of life and few typically get "drunk" or cause problems-- at least most of the time. There are exceptions, with America (and perhaps as you said, England, too) [but here it is different, as the idea is TO get drunk, not because drinking is normal].
Right! The French drink wine as a normal part of life, not to get drunk, but to enjoy life. Did you know they live longer than most of us? (I think the Japanese first, then the French).
As I said: everything with moderation. Don't use anything as a means to escape from 'unhappiness'. Use it to enjoy life.
===
Arie.