Should Kids Be Encouraged To Experiment With Sex and Drugs? (soul, blood)

[Hema]

Originally Posted by fullyveiled muslimah

Drugs are an unecessary part of life. It's not healthy and it ruins people. I come from a home broken by drugs. Most of the poor people in this country has had so many problems related to drug use. Gang violence, death, broken homes, having crackheads for mothers and fathers are all part of drug usage. How is even opening that door healthy or good in any stretch of the imagination?

Frubals!

Another thing is that this can work in cycles...their kids can become addicts too!

[Sunstone]

When it comes to most drugs, I'm at a loss how one can responsibly experiment with them. Perhaps one can responsibly experiment with pot, but meth? Heroin? Crack?

[Papersock]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

At Boulder High School in Boulder Colorado a couple months ago, a guest speaker recommended to the student body that they experiment responsibly with sex and drugs. His point seems to have been that the kids would experiment with sex and drugs anyway, so an effort should be made to get them to experiment responsibly. What do you make of his advice to the high school kids?

They should be taught about sex and drugs and taught to be responsible, in case they do experiment. But they should not be encouraged to experiment.

[Druidus]

His advice is lame. Saying that kids are gonna do x anyway, so we might as well facilitate it, is a copout to the highest degree. It takes away the responsibility of the parents/guardians to attempt to teach the child how to make good decisions, by convincing themselves that no matter what they teach them, the child will disobey and do it anyway.

I disagree. Many young people will disobey. They will not have information on how to use drugs safely.

He maybe could have tried to make a case with the sex, but the drugs? Every kid wants to smoke something right? Whatever.

Drugs are not harmful. Some can be, but most are not.

I think he said it wrong, yes. He should have said that if you are interested in sex or drugs, you should research the subjects thoroughly and decide for yourself as a sentient being what you would like to do.

I understand that telling them to abstain from sex is not going to work, they must be educated about birth control etc. but what on God's blue-green earth is the reason behind telling them to experiment with drugs? Something that can ruin their lives, if not totally destroy their lives! Seriously.......this just boggles the mind on so many levels.

Just because there are a plethora of drug-related lies doesn't make them true.

I tell you, I have been using drugs for years. I'm going to university. I never even had to finish high school because my intelligence level was such that it would have been unhealthy. Drugs do not necessarily harm people. Yes, some do. But most do not. Humans and other animals have experimented with drugs for thousands (even millions) of years. Why does the alteration of consciousness scare people so much?

Cannabis, mushrooms, and LSD harm no one. Opiates are safe if a cheap supply is available (they don't harm your body AT ALL, addiction is only a problem if the drug is illegal and thus expensive and hard to get). Cocaine and amphetamines aren't the greatest, but they can be used responsibly, I contend, if they are taken out of the black market (in a very controlled manner).

Drugs do not "ruin" lives. People make bad choices and ruin their own lives. If I get a bad meth habit, it's because I was never educated about meth and never learned about it on my own. It's the same for alcohol. It's your own fault. Doesn't mean you don't need help to get better, but blaming the drug is more of a mistake than getting addicted to it in the first place.

If the government could find a legal way to make money from illegal drugs they would have done it already. They have settled for making money the same way a drug dealer does. Moderating drug users with the intent of helping htem kick the habit is only feasible if at the same time drugs are gotten rid of.

Kids wouldn't have to worry so much about the ease of acquiring and using drugs if they weren't so easy to get.

Kids don't worry about the ease of acquiring and using drugs. You and others like you do, for reasons that make little sense when examined logically. Drugs are easy for young people to get because they are illegal. Black markets don't give a **** about selling to those underage, while liquor stores like to keep going legally and not get closed down.

And no, the government could make billions from legalized drugs and the end of modern prohibition. British Columbia in Canada alone could make ~4 billion dollars per year on cannabis alone, a completely non-toxic drug that has never even been linked to lung cancer (or brain damage). Actually, sorry, it was linked to lung cancer, but it was a slight preventative effect.

The war on drugs is a sham.

I agree.

If this government wanted to stop it they could easily do so.

I disagree. The government cannot stop people from doing what makes them happy. The only way to stop people from using drugs would be daily drug tests for everyone and permanent incarceration for anyone with a drug in their system. Is that the reality you want?

Drugs are an unecessary part of life.

You're absolutely correct. I won't die without my drugs. Indeed, I take breaks every now and then just because I want to.

It's not healthy and it ruins people.

Hasn't ruined me or millions of others like me. It can hurt some people, but only because they are susceptible to addiction. Most drugs are not unhealthy, and all of the ones I've done have only made my life better and my experiences richer.

I come from a home broken by drugs.

I'm deeply sorry for you, but you must realize that drugs never broke your home, the choices of those using the drugs did.

Most of the poor people in this country has had so many problems related to drug use. Gang violence, death, broken homes, having crackheads for mothers and fathers are all part of drug usage.

Oh sweet Hades. Gang violence is only part of drugs today because they are illegal! Gang violence was as much a part of Old Prohibition as Modern Prohibition. When alcohol was illegalized, gangs capitalized on it. There were no shootouts over alcohol before it was illegalized, and there are none now that it's legal. It is the same for drugs.

Drugs don't kill people unless you overdose. You couldn't overdose by accident if dosages and concentrations were standardized by the government.

Broken homes are a consequence of poor choices. Describe the homes in question in more detail and I will prove this.

Crack use is not the problem. The problem is excess crack use, as crack is expensive and excess use causes neurocide. If legalized, using to excess would be as frowned upon as drinking to excess is today. Of course, it would have to be a special system of legalization.

How is even opening that door healthy or good in any stretch of the imagination?

Because we're talking about different doors. You see the door as opening into despair, death, ruin, and absolute chaos. I don't see that at all, and none of my research has suggested anything like that.

When it comes to most drugs, I'm at a loss how one can responsibly experiment with them. Perhaps one can responsibly experiment with pot, but meth? Heroin? Crack?

Methamphetamine surely is a dangerous substance. It causes body and mind damage. Crack causes mind damage, at least. But heroin doesn't damage the body or mind at all. In any way. Addiction is the only trouble, and it's only a trouble if you can't afford it. Heroin could be made legally for 20 bucks a kilogram, perhaps less. People could use their heroin and never have to worry about needing more and being unable to get it, because it would be cheap and legal.

Another thing is that this can work in cycles...their kids can become addicts too!

Elaboration would be nice. I would like to dispel the myth that kids do drugs because their parents do. My father drinks, quite a bit (though not unhealthily). I don't drink much at all, once or twice every 2-3 months perhaps. Yes, this is anecdotal, and some evidence suggests that children who grew up with alcoholic parents are more likely to be alcoholic. But this doesn't mean that because your parents drink or use drugs you will. Indeed, it could be related to genetic factors. Addiction cannot be passed in your genes, only susceptibility to addiction.

There is nothing inherently wrong with altering your consciousness, and if the drug causes no damage then your harm is only imagined, a construct of misinformation.

[Mike182]

My Gods that's a blast from the past, Druidus my friend, how are you? hope you stick around for a while!

[Sunstone]

Hi Dru! It's good to see you again!

I notice that so many of your arguments about drugs assume an ideal world. However, the world the kids in the OP were being advised about is not an ideal world, but rather the world as it actually exists. That means, for instance, that you cannot expect them to have access to pure, uncontaminated heroin at cheap prices. In the real world, experimenting with heroin is likely to lead to tragedy.

[Druidus]

I notice that so many of your arguments about drugs assume an ideal world. However, the world the kids in the OP were being advised about is not an ideal world, but rather the world as it actually exists. That means, for instance, that you cannot expect them to have access to pure, uncontaminated heroin at cheap prices. In the real world, experimenting with heroin is likely to lead to tragedy.

You're definately right. If we are forced to keep heroin illegal, then using it is a bad idea. There's no denying it. But pretending that we can't change the laws and make them more ideal helps no one. I'm not condoning heroin use, I'm condoning responsible heroin use. That means the person is required to research the drug and understand what they are doing before being allowed to use it. There are models of legalization that allow this. There are no models of prohibition that would allow this. Yes, in a world that holds drugs as illegal substances there are a substantial number of dangers involved in using some of them. And I would stay away from heroin, definately. But that doesn't change the fact that it isn't the heroin that causes the harm, but society's foolish insistance on an impossible and unbelievably harmful Modern Prohibition.

[Victor]

Dru,
Your arguments sounded much like what the NRA would say “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. Such a statement may have some merit, but I am just left without words as to how this can apply to illegal drugs. If you were talking about pot, perhaps my reaction would differ, but with most drugs that I’ve had first hand experience with, choice shouldn’t even be part of the equation anymore.

Does a crack-head have a choice? How about a guy who shoots up heroin?

Drugs don’t just hurt oneself, but those around them.

Seriously, words fail me as to how this can even be justified.

[Ciscokid]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

At Boulder High School in Boulder Colorado a couple months ago, a guest speaker recommended to the student body that they experiment responsibly with sex and drugs. His point seems to have been that the kids would experiment with sex and drugs anyway, so an effort should be made to get them to experiment responsibly. What do you make of his advice to the high school kids?

Much easier said than done. I've seen people use drugs responsibly and I've seen the opposite, it's not pretty.

[Druidus]

Dru,

Your arguments sounded much like what the NRA would say “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. Such a statement may have some merit, but I am just left without words as to how this can apply to illegal drugs. If you were talking about pot, perhaps my reaction would differ, but with most drugs that I’ve had first hand experience with, choice shouldn’t even be part of the equation anymore.

Does a crack-head have a choice? How about a guy who shoots up heroin?

Drugs don’t just hurt oneself, but those around them.

Seriously, words fail me as to how this can even be justified.

Victor, I am not advocating willy-nilly use of crack and heroin. Indeed, quite the opposite. In my ideal model of legalization, crack and heroin use would definately be much less used than today, because of the requirements for getting a personal use license. Meanwhile, much healthier drugs than crack and meth would be easier to get, such as cannabis, mushrooms, and LSD. (Though you'd still need a license for them).

Believe me, I know that crack and heroin are incredibly addictive. I've known plenty of addicts. And yes, by the time they are addicted, they don't have much of a choice anymore, they usually need help to stop.

I'm not claiming that drug use can never harm people, I'm claiming that no matter how bad the harm is under prohibition it would be much lessened under an ideal model of legalization, wherein use of some would fall and use of others would rise, safety and purity would be assured, and use could be monitered, so those who find themselves developing an addiction could get help if they wish it.