71–80 of 167 posts
As someone who has never drank and often has discussions with people about alcohol, it's amusing to see how many people go straight to defending their choice to drink alcohol in this thread.
Your post reeks of smug, btw.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was a thing on BBC where they rated drugs by their danger. If I remember correctly, nicotine and alcohol were way up the list, much higher than most illegal drugs.
My favourite is always Professor David Nutt, fired from his position advising the Home Office for saying ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/oct/30/drugs-advis... EDIT: David Nutt on how ecstasy isn't as dangerous as "Equasy" http://www.encod.org/info/EQUASY-A-HARMFUL-ADDICTION.html
Of the top of my head I can recall Nutt's chapter about LSD, where he claims that the LSD is very safe and even mentions Kary Mullis (a guy who invented the polymerase chain reaction and got a Nobel prize for it). Nutt builds up hype around Mullis (and to be fair, Mullis' academic accomplishments are impressive) and conveniently cites Mullis saying that he took a lot of LSD and that LSD was more important than the coursework and that he couldn't have invented PCR without LSD. What Nutt conveniently leaves out is that Kary Mullis is batshit fucking insane. Mullis denies existence of AIDS, denies climate change, believes in astrology, left science couple of times to operate a bakery and write books, talks about meeting and talking to a glowing green raccoon (yes, seriously). So... maybe... just maybe... LSD has something to do with that? Wouldn't it be at least a little bit dishonest to leave that other (weird) part of Mullis' personality?
edit: removed a paragraph with my thoughts about friends who do psychedelics.
As someone who has never drank and often has discussions with people about alcohol, it's amusing to see how many people go straight to defending their choice to drink alcohol in this thread.
Glad you feel like you're better than everyone else matey. Your post reeks of smug, btw.
Did you ever think of that before you shot from the hip?
("Alcohol ads typically associate a brand with cool, sexy people and a fun activity.")[https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0391-alcohol-advertisi...]
Slightly sarcastic, but on point: Doctors say a glass of red wine per day is good for your blood. But now, they also say it'll increase chances of getting cancer. So I guess I need to choose between these two. Too much of anything is a poison.
As someone who has never drank and often has discussions with people about alcohol, it's amusing to see how many people go straight to defending their choice to drink alcohol in this thread.
Glad you feel like you're better than everyone else matey. Your post reeks of smug, btw.
As someone who has never drank and often has discussions with people about alcohol, it's amusing to see how many people go straight to defending their choice to drink alcohol in this thread.
I don’t drink too much, but when I’m extremely stressed out (e.g. when enraged, extremely scared, in shock, etc. to the point of being unable to use higher brain function, being ready to fight or flee, etc.), one drink goes incredibly far toward taking the edge off, reducing both mental and physical symptoms of anxiety, and bringing out calm, rational thinking.
Alcohol also helps a lot of people with social awkwardness/fears, which is why so many social meeting places (especially places where strangers meet) serve alcohol. It serves a real useful function there, helping people to be more trusting and open.
Obviously when people drink more than they can handle, it also can have severe negative side effects, and can cause people to have emotional breakdowns, lose their inhibitions to the point of idiocy, lose their basic coordination, suffer memory loss, etc. But the same is true for many medicines/foods/drugs.
Many problematic uses of alcohol are related to people’s other severe emotional problems (post-traumatic stress, ongoing abuse at home or work, working through the death of someone close or a bad breakup, extreme loneliness, depression, etc.). If self-medicating with large doses of alcohol was not an option, it’s not clear what alternatives they would turn to or whether those would be preferable. The real lesson IMO is that we need much better social support and mental healthcare in this country.
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Glad you feel like you're better than everyone else matey. Your post reeks of smug, btw.
Or maybe he/she was a person who was always treated as an outcast for not drinking when society( in the US) constantly advertises that in order to have a good time, it involves/should involve alcohol. Did you ever think of that before you shot from the hip? ("Alcohol ads typically associate a brand with cool, sexy people and a fun activity.")[ https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0391-alcohol-advertisi... ]
Alcohol is definitely one of the most harmful drugs out there. In terms of addictiveness, physical side effects (short and long term), and the kind of behavior that people are likely to engage in while under the influence, the only things worse are probably IV painkillers and smoked meth/crack. As a society we need to get our heads out of our asses and challenge our notions of what kind of drug use is and isn't accep…
> Alcohol is definitely one of the most harmful drugs out there. What is your definition of "harmful" here? Is it just total amount of harm caused, or total harm divided by number of users? If the former, sure, but I think that just reflects how hugely popular it is. If the latter, I'd like to see your data. Some large fraction of the adult population consumes alcohol on a fairly regular basis so I imagine society wo…
That's a rather dishonest comparison to make. Alcohol consumption is very well recorded and tracked due to its legal nature, the same can't be said about cocaine, heroin and pretty much all the other illegal drugs.
For all we know addiction to illegal harder drugs might be far more widespread than most of us would ever like to admit. Especially considering the supposedly recent "opiate epidemic", where the line between "legal prescription use" and "illegal addiction use" doesn't really exist, it's rather fluid.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My favourite is always Professor David Nutt, fired from his position advising the Home Office for saying ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/oct/30/drugs-advis... EDIT: David Nutt on how ecstasy isn't as dangerous as "Equasy" http://www.encod.org/info/EQUASY-A-HARMFUL-ADDICTION.html
Nah. David Nutt is criminally dishonest. I've read his book (Drugs Without the Hot Air) and it is a straight up propaganda. The guy cherry picks a lot of his evidence and it is a chapter after chapter of half truths and lies by omission. Of the top of my head I can recall Nutt's chapter about LSD, where he claims that the LSD is very safe and even mentions Kary Mullis (a guy who invented the polymerase chain reaction…
That was in Feb.2017
The N.Y. Times once reported on the lifespans of the people of Ikaria, who apparently have the longest recorded lifespans, as a group, in the world. Their diet includes moderate amounts of wine. “Wine — in moderation — had been shown to be good for you if consumed as part of a Mediterranean diet, because it prompts the body to absorb more flavonoids, a type of antioxidant” Not a medical research study, but I wonder h…