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People wanna get high. There's a plausible hypothesis that we invented farming to have a more reliable way to make beer. We have 2 main options: 1. Attempt to
by kstrauser 3y ago
People wanna get high. There's a plausible hypothesis that we invented farming to have a more reliable way to make beer. We have 2 main options:
1. Attempt to ban it.
2. Accept that people are going to get high, and try to limit the harm.
The first has been a complete and utter disaster. The second -- e.g. applying the same rules about who can use it and where they can use it as alcohol -- is the only sane option.
Prohibition is about as effective as abstinence-only education and for many of the same reasons. We can either work with how we wish people would behave or how they're actually going to behave.
- booleandilemma 3y ago3. Make our society so pleasant to live in that people want to experience their day-to-day lives with their minds free from drugs.
- alexilliamson 3y agoThis is the "limiting harm" part of 2.
- Extropy_ 3y agoIn what sense is your mind free in a world where psyotropics are prohibited? LSD and psilocybin aren't addictive or habbit-building, think about that. Don't knock it 'till you try it.
- kstrauser 3y agoWhy? Drugs are fun. I drank a hot cup of coffee this morning and enjoyed the warmth, taste, and way it made me feel. Those were all pleasant sensations that would be hard to get another way. Why shouldn't I be allowed to experience them? Roller coaster rides are fun and cause a release of adrenalin in me, which leads to feeling hyperalert, excited, and energized. That's fun! I don't want to live in a society that wouldn't let me enjoy adrenalin releases. This morning my wife told me she loved me, and I enjoyed a nice wash of endorphins from it. What's wrong with enjoying that? The common thread here is that there's not a clean dividing line between "bad" drugs and "good" drugs. All animals enjoy certain chemicals. We're evolved to. That's what makes us (in nature) dig into food that's healthy for us, and drives us to reproduce. A mind free from drugs is going to die of misery in relatively short order.
- UncleMeat 3y agoDrugs aren't just an escape from suffering. I have a very good life. I also like having a beer with friends or, yes, smoking weed with friends. That amplifies an already positive experience. If you magically eliminated all suffering in my life, I'd still enjoy a beer at dinner.