Okay, this has been bothering me lately.
We've all made various decisions regarding drug use in our personal lives.
Some of us have very grounded views of which drugs we think are "good" and "bad."
Some of us are still exploring, occasionally crossing the thin line between adventurer and addict.
And some here might even be in the midst of a downward spiral, managing to recover once in a while, only to go right back down again.
But whatever category we fit into, how about we keep judgements about the lifestyles and decisions of others to ourselves.
If you care about a board member a lot, and feel that he/she is really fucking up their lives with drugs, send them a PM or email. That, or ask Par about starting an "Intervention" forum.
Posted critiques regarding people's decisions to use certain drugs should be backed up with references. If you think that someone's plan to use a combination of coke, E, and LSD all at once is retarded, keep the opinion to yourself unless you intend to back it up. This at least goes for the "Main" and "Chemistry/Biochemistry" section of the Chemically Correct Forum.
Chemically Correct is not D.A.R.E, nor is it Narcotics Anonymous. For me, Chemically Correct represents a very pure ideal. It represents that scientific research is king when it comes to evaluating drugs. Also embedded in my vision of Chemically Correct is the John Stuart Mill view that "over our body and our minds, the individual is sovereign." Therefore, I believe that societal and personal dogma have little to no place here.
Full Version: Chemically Correct: Respect
Word.
Andrew, you dont know how much I appreciate the peace of mind you gave me that morning, at the time, I wasnt sure if it was Serontonin Syndrome or what it was. I was coming down hard.
This isnt the judge me forum, feel free to post your distaste for me and my actions in the garbage board.
Andrew, you dont know how much I appreciate the peace of mind you gave me that morning, at the time, I wasnt sure if it was Serontonin Syndrome or what it was. I was coming down hard.
This isnt the judge me forum, feel free to post your distaste for me and my actions in the garbage board.
Oh come on Andy!
Seriously....
Seriously....
I do have a great deal of respect for some of you and your knowledge regarding chemicals and substances and their effects on the mind and body. I mean that your levels of knowledge would certainly make for responsible experimentation.
I have come to understand that passing judgement is not going to reach someone who is in the midst of any stage of their "adventure". I would certainly expect some of you so called explorers to be proactive in adressing one of your peers when they are demonstarting reckless and irresponsible exploring.
"It represents that scientific research is king when it comes to evaluating drugs. Also embedded in my vision of Chemically Correct is the John Stuart Mill view that "over our body and our minds, the individual is sovereign."
This is potentialy a very dangerous statement. Take a moment and think about it. What addict, abuser, doesn't consider himself an evaluator or explorer. It is the dimished capacity of reason that makes one unable to recognize that they have reliquished sovereignty.
I have for the most part never interjected my opinion on these pages before and never will again.
I have come to understand that passing judgement is not going to reach someone who is in the midst of any stage of their "adventure". I would certainly expect some of you so called explorers to be proactive in adressing one of your peers when they are demonstarting reckless and irresponsible exploring.
"It represents that scientific research is king when it comes to evaluating drugs. Also embedded in my vision of Chemically Correct is the John Stuart Mill view that "over our body and our minds, the individual is sovereign."
This is potentialy a very dangerous statement. Take a moment and think about it. What addict, abuser, doesn't consider himself an evaluator or explorer. It is the dimished capacity of reason that makes one unable to recognize that they have reliquished sovereignty.
I have for the most part never interjected my opinion on these pages before and never will again.
QUOTE(b5150 @ Apr 12 2004, 05:34 AM)
Novick:
"It represents that scientific research is king when it comes to evaluating drugs. Also embedded in my vision of Chemically Correct is the John Stuart Mill view that "over our body and our minds, the individual is sovereign."
This is potentialy a very dangerous statement. Take a moment and think about it. What addict, abuser, doesn't consider himself an evaluator or explorer. It is the dimished capacity of reason that makes one unable to recognize that they have reliquished sovereignty.
"It represents that scientific research is king when it comes to evaluating drugs. Also embedded in my vision of Chemically Correct is the John Stuart Mill view that "over our body and our minds, the individual is sovereign."
This is potentialy a very dangerous statement. Take a moment and think about it. What addict, abuser, doesn't consider himself an evaluator or explorer. It is the dimished capacity of reason that makes one unable to recognize that they have reliquished sovereignty.
[This has nothing to do with prolangtum's initial post]
Your point is one that I've always found fascinating. When on a mind altering substance a person can make decisions that he wouldn't normally make, such as taking more of said substance. His actions are logical if at that moment the risk/benefit ratio is at an acceptable level, but of course what he considers acceptable might e drastically different because of whatever substance he consumed.
It becomes a very difficult balancing act with two antithetical realities.
QUOTE
QUOTE(turoati @ Apr 12 2004, 09:32 AM)
[This has nothing to do with prolangtum's initial post]
Your point is one that I've always found fascinating. When on a mind altering substance a person can make decisions that he wouldn't normally make, such as taking more of said substance. His actions are logical if at that moment the risk/benefit ratio is at an acceptable level, but of course what he considers acceptable might e drastically different because of whatever substance he consumed.
It becomes a very difficult balancing act with two antithetical realities.
Your point is one that I've always found fascinating. When on a mind altering substance a person can make decisions that he wouldn't normally make, such as taking more of said substance. His actions are logical if at that moment the risk/benefit ratio is at an acceptable level, but of course what he considers acceptable might e drastically different because of whatever substance he consumed.
It becomes a very difficult balancing act with two antithetical realities.
Are you speaking in regards to any substance in particular? It's odd that you mention that; back when I was still an "explorer" I think that I actually tended to make better decisions when I was high than when I was not. Retrospectively, I think did so because my knowledge of the fact that I was high reminded me of the possibility that I was about to make a stupid decision and, consequently, afforded my actions with greater judgement than I would have otherwise.
I wasn't talking about any substance in particular, and I'm not saying that the decision are necessarily poor. In your example being high altered your decision making parameters not only by altering your brain chemically but by the realization that your brain was altered chemically.
There are many times when I realize that I'm probably making a particular choice because of, say, the amount of Dexedrine I've taken.
The same sort of thing goes on when someone who is "unstable" takes drugs to make him or her more "normal."
QUOTE
The only exception to that would be ecstacy which, in my early days, facilitated many acts that seem quite idiotic in retrospect (although oddly, nothing bad ever came of them, so I suppose I may have not been so stupid as then-me appears to now-me).
MDMA probably has a profound affect on decision making, especially if the user forgets he won't always be so happy! Sometimes it's very good, for example, in therapy.
No: this is really a good idea, Novick. It should keep us on topic. 
QUOTE(b5150 @ Apr 12 2004, 06:34 AM)
It is the dimished capacity of reason that makes one unable to recognize that they have reliquished sovereignty.
Wait a minute.
Many begin to explore because they sense a diminished capacity of reason to begin with.
We often hear that drugs enslave people. Often, people are naturally enslaved. The experimentation is an effort to remove the shackles. A certain pain that is preventing one from being free might be removed by drugs.
In some cases, drugs can correct a deficit, not merely enhance or alter a state that we all share equally when drug free. Chemically Correct seems to be an attempt to find the tools that can help accomplish this.
Mistakes will be made, of course. However, when one says drugs diminish the capacity of reason, one may be sentencing a whole class of people to lifetime enslavement under the authority of too much reason.
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