I recently read Junkie, my first Burroughs. It got me thinking on the full democratization of drug use in America. Marijuana use is practically ubiquitous, there's legal opiates (kratom, etc) at every gas station, and nobody is afraid to openly talk about party drug or psychedelic taking. It's a cliche topic in every magazine by this point. Neither also is the fiend problem contained to the "other side of the tracks," every city has shambling addicts on the corner and median.
This isn't a post bemoaning policies or lumpenkultur, but wondering what the human relationship to drugs has evolved to. Writers, poets, etc have always been interested in drugs, wine was the friend of creative ecstasy. However, it's obvious that the draw of drugs has a chaotic, double edged nature, and can result in the destruction of user, his family unit, and the general degradation of society.
Are they trite and passé? Still a source of inspiration? A symptom of Western destruction and decadence?
Pic unrelated
Drugs are a Reddit thing now. Fat thirtysomethings collecting research chemicals like Funko Pops.
Drugs will always be both muse and demon. Hallucinogens are great. Marijuana, same. Alcohol same, but it's obviously ruinous when it gets out of control- overdo it on shrooms and weed and you just get weirdos and slackers. It's difficult to imagine these drugs ever losing cultural relevance because of their ease of access and the insight their altered states may allow for.
Other drugs are a whole 'nother animal. More harmful, more addictive. Many a writer wrote like a cracked-out madman because he became one. Not ideal.
Sidenote: fuck benzos, they ruin a lot of lives.
Why do the common masses not acknowledge alcohol as a drug, or are unaware it is a drug, or display this bizarre segregation due to its legality? Alcohol is legal and over-the-counter. DXM is legal and over-the-counter. Aspirin is legal and over-the-counter. But if you take 12 aspirin, that WILL be your last headache.
Drugs are whatever you want them to be. I think anyone who dislikes drugs has basically let their inner child die.
>if you take 12 aspirin, that WILL be your last headache
why do imageboards seem to attract aggro teetotalers? they're never even in recovery. most of them seem to have never tried any drug and know next to nothing about them. they just spam threads with contentless stilted "trad" cliches. of course you see a lot more of it on 4chan
I'm currently sweating through a horrible 3 day molly hangover and imo most drugs are worth trying, because they teach you a lot about your own capacity for sensation, but only LSD is worth doing regularly. I've never regretted an acid trip.
>why do imageboards seem to attract aggro teetotalers?
Internet/imageboard culture used to be a lot more freewheeling back in the day, in many respects.
I lost my younger sister to accidental fentanyl poisoning about a year ago. Rave ecstasy cut with fentanyl. My city has been profoundly degraded by the proliferation of these chemicals. I had to literally climb over a passed out junkie on a pedestrian bridge to get to school last semester.
It would be nice to see a mandatory death penalty brought back for dealing. it's one of the things I most admire about the Chinese system. these cartels and anyone associated with them need to be utterly obliterated
I've never tried drugs (unless alcohol is counted as one), but I like the idea of them. I can't see the reason conservatives don't want to legalize certain drugs. It seems to me a better attitude when drugs are, for better or worse, is to seize the initiative and incentivize certain drugs (MDMA) over others. Also, strictures can be imposed on the use of legal drugs which can't be imposed on illicit drugs (such as mandatory schizotypy tests before cannabis or psychdelic use). Then you would hit the dealers of fentanyl etc in a Singapore-like manner.