Drugs & Alclohol
Introduction
This is an informal article about my views on drugs and alcohol.
Drugs are everywhere in today's culture. Drugs are pretty much the dominant pastime of a large proportion of the population, though they probably don't realise it because they don't consider alcohol a drug - even though it clearly is. For that reason, I was hesitant about calling the article "Drugs and Alcohol" because it's somewhat of a tautology, however I think it makes it clear that the article is really about both of them.
Drugs & Me
In my mid to late teens I was quite a heavy drinker and went on regular "nights out" with friends, usually ending up too drunk to remember much of it. I never drank beer of any kind, and went straight onto vodka, then whisky, and later brandy. Why did I do this? Well, basically because that's what everyone else seemed to do. Stupid as it sounds, I was just following the norm. I suppose I got some enjoyment out of it at the time as well, but I also remember thinking (when I was able to think) "why am I doing this?" I don't think the enjoyment came from getting drunk though, but simply from being with my friends. Aside from alcohol I also smoked cannabis for a few years, though not very regularly during that time. The reasoning for that was slightly different, more to do with the mellow feeling it gave me. Neither alcohol nor cannabis added anything particularly positive to my days or evenings with friends, yet still I persisted with them - as did everybody else.
I no longer drink alcohol, and I no longer smoke cannabis (though I quit that quite a long time ago). So what's changed? Well, it certainly wasn't an easy change to make, although I would have liked it to have been. When everyone else around you drinks, it becomes difficult to not do the same, even when you are really starting to dislike it. Partly this is because it seems weird or even incomprihensible to most people, and it's often not long before they make you aware of that, with lines such as "what do you mean you don't drink?" and "go on, you know you want to." Another factor is that once you see everyone's mental states deteriorating into an incoherent mess, it becomes less and less bearable as time goes on, and the only way to "join them on their level" so to speak, is to get drunk yourself.
Why Alcohol Sucks
Well, I've come to hate what alcohol does to people, including myself. I see my normally funny and intelligent friends turn into babbling idiots. I hear slurred and meandering conversations which don't go anywhere. Alcohol seems to simply allow people to interact when they have no "real" way of relating to each other, it dumbs everyone down so that they don't mind talking about pointless crap. Some might call that a good thing, but I fail to see how it is. It stops people from actually building proper friendships based on mutual interests (besides drinking), views and experiences, and creates a kind of false friendship based on shared drunkeness and the resulting moronic behaviour. Obviously I'm not talking about the odd drink or two here, but drinking until you're reasonably drunk.
Some praise alcohol for its ability to reduce inhibition, but is that really a good thing? Is it really that great to numb your capacity to think just to reduce shyness or fear? If you have debilitating fear of interacting with people or meeting new people then simply drowning it out with alcohol is certainly not going to help in the long run. Introspection and evaluation of one's values and ideas is a far better way to solve these kinds of problems.
Returning to the whole "doing it to fit in" thing, that is an example of social metaphysics - which basically means basing one's opinions on what other people's opinions are, regardless of whether they are right or wrong, or judging your actions in terms of how other people see them. Everyone wants to fit in to some extent, but I think it's totally screwed up that so many people spend so much of their leisure time drunk or getting drunk. We're not talking a minority, we're talking about almost everyone. It is somehow out of the question to meet up and not get drunk, and still have a good time. This is so clearly the case when any refusal to drink alcohol is met by unanimous surprise.
Lastly, people who don't get drunk might be considered 'boring' by the pea-brained majority. Well, I would argue that it's the other way around. Drunk people are incredibly boring. They rarely say anything interesting or thought-provoking, their actions could be copied by anybody - or even by monkeys, and they have a tendency to repeat the same meaningless drivel over and over. Excitement does not equal stupidity or speaking as loudly as possible, and being interesting or insightful is not the same as being able to talk non-stop without making a point. The conversations of drunk people are often limited to the immediate moment - pointing out how drunk everyone is for example - and rarely amount to anything. That is boring. Let's sit around talking about drinking or other drunken episodes, whilst drinking? No thanks.
Other Drugs
The drugs which people actually call drugs, such as cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and heroin, are all seen as totally separate from alcohol (which I think is wrong). Cannabis for instance, is a lot less damaging to one's health than alcohol, yet it is somehow viewed as a "harder" drug. The rest are dangerous to varying degrees, and they all have different effects on one's mind. The unifying characteristic is that they suspend or alter one's consciousness. States of altered consciousness are often touted by drug users as being great, mind expanding, eye opening experiences which allow profound insights, however this is far from the case. The things people come up with when high are often similar to the kinds of things people come up with when drunk - basically nonsense. Persistant use of drugs obviously have very negative affects and further reduce one's ability to think.
Legality
From what I've written, some might think I'd argue for the total illegalisation of all drugs, including alcohol, but in fact I'd want the very opposite. I think all drugs should be legalised; not because they're good, but because everyone has the right to put whatever they want into their own bodies. There are also secondary, purely practical arguments for legalisation, including that it would eliminate the black market that exists to provide them at the moment, but the main issue is personal freedom. There isn't much more I can say about that, I just thought I would make it clear.
