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Comment by sph | Hacker News Reader

"I don't know much about something, here's my opinion."

The fact that you don't distinguish between categories of drugs is, no offence, a major indicator of ignorance in the subject matter. Hallucinogens are not stimulants are not depressants are not dissociatives are not alcohol.

If you mean "illegal drugs", do you really think that the objective, scientific threshold between harmful and harmless is legality?

You are free to do whatever you want, it's your body. But perhaps learn more about something you don't know anything about before passing judgement.

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Whatever you recommend to take, I'm sure one of the people I know took it. Did it improve their already normal life? I highly doubt it.

I'm not discussing that when you have an illness or mental problem that drugs might help (or which drugs). But just take it because somehow it would "enhance" your life... still need to see proof of that. Most of the "enhancement" that I saw went to other direction.

“Drugs are bad, mmkay” is something we teach kids at an age when they are unable to process more complex or nuanced positions.

It’s highly unlikely that you’ve never taken psychoactive substances—caffeine, for example, is found naturally in enough foods that it’s hard to avoid. Many spices produce psychoactive effects—e.g. vanilla, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, saffron, etc. I suspect it’s not your opinion that these are all bad as well.

Your kids at some point will be exposed to some of these things, and if “drugs are bad” is what you’re teaching them then they will understand, as we do, that your opinion on this subject really isn’t helpful.

> caffeine, for example... vanilla, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, saffron

That's great news for you, because now you don't have to take any of the other drugs if you think these things are the same :P.

> if “drugs are bad” is what you’re teaching them

No, I just show them the people who smoke, and ask them if they want to be like them.

> No, I just show them the people who smoke, and ask them if they want to be like them.

What happens when they see all the rich and famous people on TV who also smoke and sing/rap about smoking? What makes you so sure they won't want to be like them?

I show them the people that smoke because they want to look like those people on TV.

Smoking is mainly about trying to look cool, which in the end makes you look stupid. And once you see that, you cannot unsee it. My kids already see it.

And looking at the people that smoke, just confirms the theory.

> Smoking is mainly about trying to look cool

I thought you were talking about weed. Smoking cigarettes is a whole other story.

Regardless, the "people smoke to look cool" perspective is very limited. There are multitude of reasons why people do anything, including smoke, and simplifying them to a single reason that's the easiest to attack might work on small children, but will wear out as they get older.

But I'm not here to give you parenting advice. You seem to be very strong in your beliefs, while having a condescending attitude towards the people who use drugs. I don't appreciate the condescending attitude, but I doubt I can do anything about that just by writing words on the internet.

So farewell, enjoy your sobriety.

Holy shit, the judgemental attitude, and the ignorance.

So people that have been smoking for years, i.e. addicts (I am an ex nicotine addict), only do it because it looks cool? Geez, alright.

Must be nice up on that ivory tower of ignorance, and again, I mean it with no disrespect but in the purest sense of the word: you don't know what you're talking about, yet you think you're smarter than anybody else in the room because you had the fortune to live a sheltered life of strong preconceptions about the world.

Hope you enjoy the vista from up there.

Well, you probably enjoyed the art of artist that made it coz he was tripping on drugs at some point.

And in some cases that boost to creativity might've earned them a lot of money.

But yeah, I'd wager in vast majority of cases the outcome is neutral at best

I'm a big fan of Nirvana, so in that sense you are correct. But I'm not sure I want to live that life or want my kids to live that life.

My life went from regularly thinking about committing suicide to thriving and living and being able to pull up and learn tools of moving forward. Thanks to psilocybin.

It’s not something I take often, but I can’t imagine living anywhere as close to as fulfilling a life without psychedelics.

I stand by my point.

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