Comment on Anon discovers cigarettes

• Robust_Mirror@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Despite understanding your general point, I can’t say I agree with this. I think the issue is understanding that your experience is not everyone’s experience.

  Addiction isn’t a mild curiosity, it’s a disease that can and does destroy lives. The notion that “everyone should know what addiction feels like” downplays the immense suffering, loss, and trauma it causes for individuals and their families. You don’t need to burn your hand to understand fire is hot and you don’t need to become addicted to appreciate the power of compulsion, craving, or loss of control. Empathy, literature, conversation, and observation can teach that to a very high extent without the risk. To me this is like injecting something that intentionally causes cancer just to see what it’s like to be a cancer patient/survivor.

  Psychedelics are powerful and not universally positive. Yes it’s true many people have profound, life-changing insights from psychedelic experiences, but others experience terrifying, traumatic, or destabilising trips. For those with underlying mental health conditions (which may be undiagnosed), a psychedelic can tip the balance in a lasting and damaging way. There’s no undo button. It’s not a one size fits all rite of passage.

  I don’t believe living a rich, meaningful life is simply about ticking off extremes. It’s about integration, understanding, and self-awareness. You can live deeply and wisely without ever ingesting a substance that alters your brain chemistry. Meditation, grief, love, art, parenting, solitude, etc. There are many things that can produce life altering insights without putting your body and mind at risk.

  “Experience as much of the human experience as we can tolerate” sounds noble, but some things should not be tolerated lightly. There’s a difference between pushing your boundaries to grow and deliberately dancing with danger. The idea that the future version of yourself will thank you for trying a drug might be true in some cases, but for many that future self is wishing they’d never touched it. I’ve seen it first hand.

  The human experience is vast and worth exploring, but not all experiences are equally safe, wise, or necessary to live a rich and meaningful life. You couldn’t pay me any amount of money to go caving and I don’t think my life will be significantly worse having not experienced it.

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  • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    You did a great job of ignoring the word “tolerate” in my comment.

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    • Robust_Mirror@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      You’re doing a great job of ignoring my point that many people can’t tolerate a single time.

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      • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        They won’t know till they try

        Sorry you had a bad trip, that’s no excuse to be afraid of life or your own body

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• dash_jackson@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Everyone’s owes it to themselves to do heroin once.

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  • nomy@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Just a little PCP, once.

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    • dash_jackson@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Yeah you really have not lived until you’ve done a bit of angel dust.

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  • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    This unironically

    I’m saving my heroin arc for retirement

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    • dash_jackson@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      I’ll take one heroin please

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• echodot@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Everyone should known what addiction feels like, even if it’s just the slight nagging of a cigarette.

  the future versions of ourselves will thank us for it.

  Sorry I’m having difficulty reconciling those two sentences. Because personally I don’t think the future version of me would like to have lung cancer, it sort of feels like it would be a detriment to my life goals.

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  • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Smoking 1 pack of cigs doesn’t give you lung cancer

    I understand being afraid of things as a defense agaisnt trying them though, it’s a very human response

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• SparroHawc@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Although I understand the sentiment, I like how my brain works and doing anything to impact it is something I find very, very not appealing. On top of that, there’s a good chance I am especially susceptible to addiction. I’d rather not tickle that particular tiger’s tail, thank you very much.

  Nothing against the people who enjoy partaking; it’s just not for me.

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  • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    In order to do things people need to overcome the fear of doing things, there are plenty of other great way to improve yourself in that regard if you do ever want to try new unknown experiences.

    Maybe one day you will feel safe enough to give something a try, and there are even ways of temporarily altering your mental state to a lesser degree without drugs.

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• Uruanna@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Everyone should known what addiction feels like

  Everyone already knows at least sugar. And after that, coffee and alcohol.

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  • Tiger@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    And social media, online shopping, phone usage or similar.

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  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Idk about alcohol. I’m on the other end of the spectrum with that one. Reflexively loathe drinking because I associate it with feeling like shit in the morning. I usually only touch the stuff when people shove a drink into my hand.

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• Reddfugee42@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Just say “misery loves company”

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  • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    It’s possible to have a healthy relationship with drugs.

    It takes more mental fortitude and mental self-improvement than most people are willing to put in tho

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    • Reddfugee42@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Is it like that saying, “If you’re gonna be dumb, ya gotta be tough”?

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      • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        If you want to have a positive experience with something that removes your sense of control, like psychedelics, you need to not be a coward, you need to be capable of letting go of total control and the humility that comes with that. As well as having an understanding of your own mind and understanding what the drug will do.

        You saying edgy things to my ernest comments gives you shots of dopamine, you’re being dick because you get drugs for doing it. You don’t care about bettering yourself mentally enough to notice you are a drug addict already.

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• Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  I think I see what you’re saying. To go through addiction is to experience life from a novel perspective. If one’s goal is to experience all life has to offer, if they want to touch the very extremes of human existance, “getting an addiction” would probably go on their bucket list. It produces both highs and lows that no other experience can emulate, and has enabled you personally to grow into a wiser, more complete person. I can dig that.

  I’m just not sure how many people here are ready to consider taking their own lives to that far of an extreme. Not everyone in a theme park wants to ride the most intense roller coaster, yet they still have a grand time at the park. In the same way, many people are perfectly content without touching the fringe edges of human experience… and that’s a perfectly fine and valid way to live.

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  • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Being a drug addict doesnt mean homeless on the streets. Also many people have tried hard drugs without realizing it. Adderall feels remarkably like methamphetamine. Vicodin and oxy feel very much like heroin. Benzos like Xanax are some of the most addictive substances weve created, causing seizures in those who quit cold turkey. Alcohol is still one of the most potent substances and causes numerous problems for nearly all parts of society.

    I never understood alcohol being legal and promoted while all the other drugs were demonized. Its inconsistent at best.

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  • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I’m a Stoic and a Hedonist, IMO i get one life and then i go back to nothing forever. I owe it to myself to fully explore my world, mind, and body the the full possible extent before i get snuffed out for eternity.

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