Drugs are a replacement for meaningful positive feedback from society, like achievements, progressing in life, being able to provide, getting things like love a

Drugs are a replacement for meaningful positive feedback from society, like achievements, progressing in life, being able to provide, getting things like love and respect, encouragement etc. etc. Drugs can keep one's attention away from this and release similar hormones you would from being a productive, recognized member of your community or society. It is a chicken and egg problem though, like many others in life. Do people take drugs and therefore stop progressing in life or do they not see any other paths forward, any positive examples to follow (for whatever reason) and therefore turn to drugs, and it's perhaps one bad decision they can take out of lots of bad options from the cards they were dealt? People rarely ruin their lives if they just experiment with drugs for recreation, self-discovery, psychedelic trips etc. if their life is in order, with healthy relationships, a pride in their work etc. The danger is mostly when it is a substitute for life/social achievements. Similarly with porn and OnlyFans. It provides an intimacy to people who don't currently have the means/skills to get it in real life. But could they perhaps develop it if they put in more effort? Now the bitter kind of people would say it's not worth it, they will just cheat on you, trap you in marriage, the divorce you and take it, everyone is a golddigger or just wants to date assholes etc. etc. There's lots of ideologies for this. Again chicken and egg. Are you unable to form relationships because you spend so much time with fake intimacy, fake achievements in video games, fake virtue and validation on social media etc, or the other way around? The underlying issues are societal and they aren't just about the surface level products and services.