Hacker News Reader

Comment by rblion | Hacker News Reader

I think there is a correlation between intelligence, existential angst, and a need to 'get fucked up' to let it all go for the night. It's not EVERY intelligent person, just a subset that doesn't feel any stigma about drugs/alcohol. The big problem is when people start to believe alcohol/drugs are an escape from reality, they really just alter consciousness up or down a few levels. Over the years, alcohol will also make you dumber and more likely to do something you'll regret for many years.

I prefer cannabis and acid instead of alcohol. They seem to elevate consciousness instead of depress it. But who could say no to a beer with your friends after a hard day's work?

View on HN

My experience from observing people over the years is that prolonged or heavy cannabis use is as damaging as prolonged or heavy alcohol use, if not more so. Lightly used each is relatively harmless.

The 'elevated consciousness' is just your drug addled mind flattering itself, to an outsider you will seem imbecilic. Your slightly self-satisfied tone is really, really unwarranted.

The high you get from cannabis, to my mind, restores a playfulness and creativity to your thinking that most people have as children but lose as adults. It can sometimes make linear, technical thinking harder, but it tends to make it easier to see the big picture and brainstorm new ideas. It certainly can benefit artistic work, too.

Acid is even better; it maintains the creativity advantages of cannabis while adding a clarity of thinking that can often be superior to sobriety.

I'm not saying everyone will benefit from these drugs, or that they will improve your performance on every task, but you seem to suggest that they don't offer any benefit at all and simply reduce the user to an imbecile. That does not remotely resemble my experience.

I agree fully. It just amplifies who you are deep down. It can be creative under the right conditions or destructive under the wrong conditions.

to each his own. you get yours, ill get mine. don't judge a sentient being based on a few sentences. who are you to do that?

Wasn't judging, just pointing out that your claim of elevated consciousness and the implication that cannabis was somehow 'better for you' than alcohol was illusory. I was commenting on the tone of your writing not on you yourself. Yours is just the most recent generation to rediscover acid, cannabis etc. You'll make exactly the same mistakes that they did in the 50s, 60s, 70s .... Anyway, no offence intended, to you or any other sentient being.

I also prefer cannabis to alcohol. From what I learned, the difference is -- when you're stoned, you become numb to the pain and can think about the stuff you can't think while sober. It's like an anaesthetic for emotional (and physical pain) that might allow the healing process to go faster. Alcohol merely makes you not give a shit for a while.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com