3 ms·

Drugs can be great, I think weed, LSD, and MDMA all have medical/theraputic uses. I think the biggest issue is that people don't understand what causes addicti

Drugs can be great, I think weed, LSD, and MDMA all have medical/theraputic uses. I think the biggest issue is that people don't understand what causes addiction. If we had guidelines like: "Don't do drugs more than 2 times per month", it would let people have drugs safely and without addiction. Instead we get a 'drugs are bad...mmk?' approach, and we think alcohol is safer than weed, and that if you did illegal weed, why not do all drugs? "Clearly whoever said drugs were bad was lying." Guidelines on safely taking drugs are needed, and not from some random website either.

EricMausler 3y ago
Watch how quickly anyone with a sensible approach gets blamed for other people's addictions and bad experiences for being the one to say it might not be so bad
Retric 3y ago
Personal experience with addiction doesn’t generalize to everyone. Yes more exposure is more likely to result in addiction, but it’s not a simple easy to predict calculation. I have had something like 5 cigarettes in my life and still get occasional cravings 20 years later. Meanwhile alcohol has almost zero draw for me while I know people that are the opposite enjoying a few cigarettes a year but have a serious alcohol addiction.
- hospitalJail 3y ago
  >Personal experience My source is the book Power of Habit. Wish I had a more concise way to point to the brain science, but basically how the "basal ganglia" works is what I think we need to teach people. Or at least give them tangible tips like 'dont do bad habits back to back'
  - Retric 3y ago
    Yes the basal ganglia, extended amygdala, and the prefrontal cortex play major roles in addiction. The risks are also higher for adolescents, the classic binge/intoxication, withdrawal/negative affect, and preoccupation/anticipation cycle generalize well etc. However, there’s a massive genetic component to addiction which drastically changes how addictive various substances are for each individual. As bizarre as it sounds there are casual heroin users out there who have been using for years and a few even last decades.
pixl97 3y ago
>people don't understand what causes addiction. Well, there seems to be a strong genetic component. >Research suggests alcohol addiction is about 50 percent heritable, while addiction to other drugs is as much as 70 percent heritable https://www.rutgers.edu/news/rutgers-researchers-delve-deep-genetics-addiction# https://www.rutgers.edu/news/rutgers-researchers-delve-deep-... For some people there really may be no safe limit. They are just at high risk of addiction.

EricMausler 3y ago

Watch how quickly anyone with a sensible approach gets blamed for other people's addictions and bad experiences for being the one to say it might not be so bad

Retric 3y ago

Personal experience with addiction doesn’t generalize to everyone. Yes more exposure is more likely to result in addiction, but it’s not a simple easy to predict calculation. I have had something like 5 cigarettes in my life and still get occasional cravings 20 years later. Meanwhile alcohol has almost zero draw for me while I know people that are the opposite enjoying a few cigarettes a year but have a serious alcohol addiction.

hospitalJail 3y ago
>Personal experience My source is the book Power of Habit. Wish I had a more concise way to point to the brain science, but basically how the "basal ganglia" works is what I think we need to teach people. Or at least give them tangible tips like 'dont do bad habits back to back'
- Retric 3y ago
  Yes the basal ganglia, extended amygdala, and the prefrontal cortex play major roles in addiction. The risks are also higher for adolescents, the classic binge/intoxication, withdrawal/negative affect, and preoccupation/anticipation cycle generalize well etc. However, there’s a massive genetic component to addiction which drastically changes how addictive various substances are for each individual. As bizarre as it sounds there are casual heroin users out there who have been using for years and a few even last decades.

pixl97 3y ago

>people don't understand what causes addiction. Well, there seems to be a strong genetic component. >Research suggests alcohol addiction is about 50 percent heritable, while addiction to other drugs is as much as 70 percent heritable https://www.rutgers.edu/news/rutgers-researchers-delve-deep-genetics-addiction# https://www.rutgers.edu/news/rutgers-researchers-delve-deep-... For some people there really may be no safe limit. They are just at high risk of addiction.