4 ms·

Great, so are we using phrases and words that people define wildly differently to describe specific things? That's a terrible way to go about communicating idea

• mckirk 4y ago
  Is it really meaningless? Despite how fuzzy the exact boundaries might be defined, I think it would be pretty safe to assume weed would be in the 'soft' category, and crack in the 'hard' category.
  • feet 4y ago
    It absolutely is meaningless. Why would I assume that cannabinoids are 'soft' and cocaine base is 'hard'? Apart from the fact that the word 'hard' is literal slang for crack while 'soft' is slang for powder cocaine in the salt form The terms are meaningless to me, I have no reasonable way of classifying anything into those categories because the categories literally have no meaning
• corrral 4y ago
  > As a pharmacologist, the phrase is meaningless to me. Glad I'm not a pharmacologist, so I can understand the term in this context.
  • feet 4y ago
    I'm saying the definitions you learned are meaningless, so I'm not sure what information you could possibly take away from the statement The terms and how they are used have zero correlation with reality
    • corrral 4y ago
      https://www.dictionary.com/browse/hard-drug https://www.dictionary.com/browse/hard-drug "an addicting drug capable of producing severe physical or psychological dependence, as heroin." But you already knew what was intended.
      • feet 4y ago
        Okay so cannabis is a hard drug, cannabis produces physical withdrawal symptoms as well as psychological Caffeine is a hard drug, it also produces physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms Nicotine is a hard drug, it produces physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms Apparently the term includes all psychoactive drugs, which makes the term meaningless Searching for 'hard drug' on the National Institute on Drug Abuse yields no results that contain any information on 'hard' or 'soft' drugs. Don't you think the national agency would have a definition if it were a real concept? https://nida.nih.gov/search/Hard%20drug?sort=_score https://nida.nih.gov/search/Hard%20drug?sort=_score Searching for 'soft drug' just yields no results at all https://nida.nih.gov/search/Soft%20drug?sort=_score https://nida.nih.gov/search/Soft%20drug?sort=_score Here is an article by a psych professor who works in the field of addiction: https://www.verywellmind.com/the-difference-between-soft-drugs-and-hard-drugs-22308 https://www.verywellmind.com/the-difference-between-soft-dru...
        • ajkjk 4y ago
          Dunno what to say. Everybody who's _not_ a pharmacologist is completely clear on what the distinction is. Hard = heroin, meth, etc. Soft = marijuana, mushrooms, etc, plus nicotine and alcohol if you want to include those as drugs. If your technical definitions don't include this taxonomy, so what? It's a meaningful term among laypeople because it communicates exactly this taxonomy in a single word.
          • feet 4y ago
            The definitions and terms that the general public and law enforcement use are the result of misinformation thanks to the war on drugs. This is something we need to correct because it contributes to the stigma attached to drug users which prevents them from seeking help. It doesn't matter if some people can agree on something when that concept is objectively and demonstrably not only false but systemically harmful PS alcohol is more harmful than heroin physiologically. Alcohol would be one of the 'hardest' if we were going by physiological and societal risk Editing to add: we can't not include alcohol and nicotine in the general category of drugs. They are undeniably drugs and anyone who tells you otherwise is a victim of the previously mentioned misinformation