Why do people do drugs?

[Cruddy]

Originally posted by Dissident
I'm not really sure what hashish is to be honest. I always figured it was like pot but stronger. Is that correct?

Hashish is the Arabic term for processed cannabis resin. It looks like a stock cube, but smells very spicy and pungent. It is made from marijuana, the process taking from a couple of weeks to years depending on the local method.

People take drugs in order to achieve happiness. Nearly all drugs, however, have tolerance effects - the more you take, the more your body tries to ignore them.

I got hooked on cigarettes because I smoked joints. Now I avoid just about all of them except tobacco, having tried just about all of them (the exceptions being the rarer sorts of hallucinogens).

And yes, I was depressed, and yes, they did help.

For me, the real problems are not the drugs so much as as the anti-social behaviour that goes along with them, especially with crack and heroin.

Boredom is a factor too. The west is so soft, so easy and so dull. If we had to toil seventeen hours in the fields just to get enough to eat, I think drug usage would be pretty much zero. That price just isn't worth paying.

I think it was Abe Lincoln who remarked "Prohibition does not work".

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by NeOmega
Alot of people do Prozac and Ritalin because it is pushed on them by doctors who make a nice commission.

Then once they are on, they're hooked. They need prozac, even though I have never seen a depressed person stay out of their depression for more than six months while on prozac. After that six months they become afraid to get off, or they change to some other anti-depressant.

Kids take ritalin because their parents don't want whip their ass.

If you have proof of any doctor receiving a commission on the sale of Prozac or Ritalin please forward your data to your state's Board of Medicine. The perpetrator will be punished promptly I assure you.

I've treated a lot of people for depression. Some people have brief reactive depression in response to some major life stressor. For these people treatment of only one or two months may be all that is needed. There is also major depression, which is a disease in its own right. There is ample evidence that it is a genetic disease. People with major depression don't require a major life stressor to sned them into depression, and the course of their affliction vaires. Some have intermittent episodes that may last from a few months to years. Some descend into depression and never come out. Treating major depression often requires a search for just the right medicine, but once the right regimin is found they generally get prolonged relief. I've had many patients who did fine on Prozac for years. Yes, sometimes they develop tolerance and need additional medication added periodically. Some never respond adequately to any medication. There is nothing wrong with prescribing protracted treatment for a person with major depression because their disorder is lifelong. Would you decry the need for life long treatment of a diabetic with insulin?

[NeOmega]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove


If you have proof of any doctor receiving a commission on the sale of Prozac or Ritalin please forward your data to your state's Board of Medicine. The perpetrator will be punished promptly I assure you.

I've treated a lot of people for depression. Some people have brief reactive depression in response to some major life stressor. For these people treatment of only one or two months may be all that is needed. There is also major depression, which is a disease in its own right. There is ample evidence that it is a genetic disease. People with major depression don't require a major life stressor to sned them into depression, and the course of their affliction vaires. Some have intermittent episodes that may last from a few months to years. Some descend into depression and never come out. Treating major depression often requires a search for just the right medicine, but once the right regimin is found they generally get prolonged relief. I've had many patients who did fine on Prozac for years. Yes, sometimes they develop tolerance and need additional medication added periodically. Some never respond adequately to any medication. There is nothing wrong with prescribing protracted treatment for a person with major depression because their disorder is lifelong. Would you decry the need for life long treatment of a diabetic with insulin?

Poppy **** and baldurdash. You are piping the same line as every other physician who thinks anti-depressants are great. my girlfriend was put on them for over 4 years by her parents, with all that, "you just have to find the right one" garbage. Fact is she didn't need it at all, it was just teenage angst. Her mother and father have been on anti-depressants for five years now, are still depressed and still looking for the "right one" Depression is an American disease that is psychological, not physiological, and the more people think a drug is going to help them, the further they stray from reality and what is really needed, a good focus on their perception of their life, as compared to their reality.

There is not ample evidence it is genetic, because it's definiton is so braod, it is dealing with human behavior, and even trying to distinguish between genes or upbringing is incredibly difficult, especially when dealing with psychological aspects of people.

I got that from her father too, when they kicked her out, he told me "she needs her medicine", well it's been almost 2 years now, and she has never been happier.

[Japher]

I'm with you NeOmega

Depression is not something to throw pills at and forget. Half my family is on them for some reason, and then they drink a ton of alcohol on top of it! Depressed my butt, they just want a good high.

I do feel that depression is best dealt with by rationaly addressing the problem. Yet, when anyone get mad or sad, rationalization is the first thing to exist the building. It is times like this when ppl need to get some help, both medicinally and psychologically. The medicine is the band-aid for wounds that only time can heal.

On the same note, I am anti-ADHD drugs (shhh, don't tell my boss since that is one of our products). I think there is a lot of misdiagnoses (spelling?) going on with this. Generally egged on by lazy parents who don't realize that some kids just shouldn't drink a gallon of kool-aid or grape soda every morning!

Come on folks, the only reasons to take mind altering drugs are for a) fun and b) bi-polar disease, and in some cases c) Schizophrenia (which can be confused with depression). Deal with your problems ppl, don't cover them up!!

I need a beer.

[MRT144]

I took ritalin for a while and it didnt help me at all. i was still the same demotivated person but now on uppers. it really helped me in my pursuit of 2 day alpha centauri games where i would stay up for 48 hours.