Why do people take illegal drugs?

[Estro Felino]

It's heartbreaking to start this thread.
Because I would like to empathize with these people and analyze their plight, psychologically speaking.
I will not be judgmental at all.
I just want to try to understand.

 

[Augustus]

Cos they are fun

 

[Wildswanderer]

I assume it's because reality sucks for them. It's a temporary escape that unfortunately can have terrible consequences.

 

[Justanatheist]

By far the majority of people take drugs because their doctors or chemist prescribes them, then the next major use would be alcohol users who do so because they like the feeling it gives them, the taste, the social ritual and sometimes peer group pressure.

 

[Vinayaka]

Depends a lot on the 'drug' for the reason. Many drugs are taken to cure diseases. I've taken penicillen for infections, blood thinners, etc. Sometimes the overlap between legal and illegal can be confusing, as opioids, for example, are used to treat pain.

Caffeine is a mild stimulant. Other stimulants aren't so mild.

Alcohol, and marijuana, for many folks, are fun, as another poster alluded to.

I don't think we can simplify a very complex issue as in the OP, without looking at specific drugs, and specific situations.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Pain management.

 

[Stevicus]

It's heartbreaking to start this thread.
Because I would like to empathize with this people and analyze their plight, psychologically speaking.
I will not be judgmental at all.
I just want to try to understand.

In addition to the medical and recreational uses (as already mentioned), it might also be due to cultural reasons, as the counterculture was associated with drug use. Perhaps they saw it as mind-expanding, or perhaps an act of dissent and defiance against intolerant, provincial attitudes. Some might be influenced by marketing and salesmanship, such as the kind that made cocaine the "designer drug." (It probably also helped that some rock-and-rollers gave them free advertising.)

By the time I got to my teen years, the message was clear: "Cool people do drugs." Although the politics of the counterculture had already become muddled and ineffective by the late 70s, the basic elements of "sex and drugs and rock & roll" were still going strong with no let up.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Unless I am in a distinctly different universe, I think the OP means recreational drugs, so why not keep to the topic?

 

[Justanatheist]

Unless I am in a distinctly different universe, I think the OP means recreational drugs, so why not keep to the topic?

I would say alcohol is the worlds most widely used recreational drug.

 

[Mock Turtle]

I would say alcohol is the worlds most widely used recreational drug.

I'd like to see what recreational drug you see in any food tome - but where alcohol is so frequently mentioned.

 

[RestlessSoul]

Pain management.

Emotional as well as physical, I'd suggest.

 

[Justanatheist]

It's heartbreaking to start this thread.
Because I would like to empathize with this people and analyze their plight, psychologically speaking.
I will not be judgmental at all.
I just want to try to understand.

Are you talking about illegal (in your country) drugs

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

It's heartbreaking to start this thread.
Because I would like to empathize with this people and analyze their plight, psychologically speaking.
I will not be judgmental at all.
I just want to try to understand.

While it's better to listen to a medical article than me, I'd say that for some of us, we can have a bit of a brain imbalance, in which our brain 'mis-fires' more without medicine, while taking medicine can help the problem to the point where a person can live a more normal life. In some cases, not all, the difference between taking pills vs. not taking pills, is living life more normally vs. having the potential to have random problems that sends one to the hospital, by doing things like losing your train of thought and stepping out in front of a bus, should you even be lucky enough to survive such a thing.

 

[Estro Felino]

Are you talking about illegal (in your country) drugs

Yes.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

Yes.

Illegal drugs? I might have misunderstood the subject, then. I was talking prescription drugs.

 

[Estro Felino]

Illegal drugs? I might have misunderstood the subject, then. I was talking prescription drugs.

Sorry....
In my language "drug" means illegal drugs only.
We use the term "medicines" for those prescribed by a physician

 

[Justanatheist]

Yes.

Right then I would add to my previous posts there is the thrill of doing something illegal but not wrong in your own eyes, after the thrill comes the rebellion "i am not going to be told what to do" Then for some there is the kudos of daring to break the law. I certainly had all that in my very distant youth. Now I take only the drugs I really like the effects off

 

[HonestJoe]

It's heartbreaking to start this thread.
Because I would like to empathize with these people and analyze their plight, psychologically speaking.
I will not be judgmental at all.
I just want to try to understand.

The same reasons people take legal drugs I expect. It will typically fall in to a complex mix of pleasure, beneficial effects (perceived or actual), social pressure and addiction with rarer elements of ignorance, manipulation or force.

I think questions of empathy, psychology and judgement are case-by-case questions. I've witnessed examples worthy of all three (sometimes at the same time).

 

[Justanatheist]

Because I would like to empathize with these people and analyze their plight, psychologically speaking.

Not being funny by I am not in any plight.

 

[Vinayaka]

Sorry....
In my language "drug" means illegal drugs only.
We use the term "medicines" for those prescribed by a physician

I don't.