What Drugs have you done and why? [View all]

[Bennyboy]

Let’s have an honest conversation about our personal drug use, why we use drugs, and how the war on drugs impacts us, our families and society. Please answer the questions below and reflect with me in the "comments" section.

What drugs do you use on a daily, weekly or annual basis?

While you may not consider yourself a “drug user”, virtually all of us use drugs on a daily basis. Our society is swimming in drugs. Coffee, soda, cigarettes, Prozac, weed, Ritalin, alcohol, cocaine, and sleeping pills are just a sample of the drugs that we take to get through the day and night.



Which drugs do you use?



Why do you use the drugs you do?

Most people use drugs for joy and for pain. Enjoy having some drinks at the end of the day? Enjoy a little smoke or shot of espresso after a nice dinner with friends? Many people bond with others or find inspiration alone while on drugs.

On the flip side, many people self-medicate to try to ease the pain in their lives. Ever had too much to drink to drown your sorrows over a breakup or some other painful event? Smoke cigarettes to deal with anxiety or stress? What are the reasons you use drugs?



Which drugs have you become dependent on or addicted to?

Some people associate drug use with addiction or dependence. Dependence is not necessarily a bad thing – think of a person with diabetes who needs insulin, an office worker who needs a cup of coffee to start the day, or a person with debilitating pain who uses marijuana to get through the day. But when someone’s dependence on a drug becomes problematic, that’s when it turns into an addiction.

People may also assume that trying certain drugs, like meth or heroin, will guarantee an addiction. The truth is, only about 10 percent of people who ever try “hard” drugs like cocaine or meth become addicted. I know this may be hard to believe, but even the governement’s own numbers show this.



Do you know people that have tried illicit drugs? Did they develop a problem? Which drugs have you tried and have become addicted to them?



What image and who comes to mind when you think of a person who uses drugs?




MORE AT LINK: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/what-drugs-have-you-done-and-why