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I might be one of those people who strikes you as "incredulous" and, to be fair, I'm sure there are people who are actually "apathetic about the whole experience".

I personally have met a fair number of people who claim to have the same or similar beliefs about this as you. But every single one who I've had a friendly conversation with about it has turned out to not be apathetic or even close. It has always been some combination of fear of loss of control, some desire to stay "pure" or an ideological commitment to the fact that these things are "bad" because they got told so as children.

I ask whenever I can, and I ask in the most friendly, non-judgmental way possible because in my experience the average reaction to someone saying what you said is much more aggressive and confrontational than merely "incredulous". But I ask because I'm honestly very curious about this. It seems so odd to categorically state that there are some perfectly safe experiences you are positive that you will never try. Are there other experiences you feel the same way about? ("I never have, and never plan to try eating Greek food, it's because of apathy" for example)

If in the future you are in an accident or require chemotherapy or something that involves you being exposed to drugs that have an effect that you enjoy and find fulfilling/useful/pleasurable and you could experience that again, with negligible risk of any adverse effects would you do so?




It's odd. I pride myself on being open to new experiences, and making my own judgements rather than relying on the law. But I seem to have an instinctive aversion to drug-taking (and it's not as simple as legality - I visited Amsterdam recently but to my own surprise found I didn't want to try the cannabis).

Part of it is, I think, that I know I have addictive tendencies and don't want to give them any chances. I drink alcohol strictly on social occasions only - but when I do, I drink more than I should. Sometimes I catch myself going to parties less because I'll enjoy the company than as an excuse to drink. Heck, it's hard enough keeping my coffee intake under control.

Part of it is simple snobbery. The most surprising thing about Amsterdam's "coffee shops", to me, was how divey they all looked; boarded-up windows, overflowing rubbish bins, alongside tanning parlours and tattoo/piercing shops. Nowhere seemed sophisticated, intellectual. (Oddly enough, this was in complete contrast to the brothels). My mental image of drug users (with the possible exception of cocaine, and there are other reasons to avoid that) is of a class and culture that I don't want to associate myself with - and the few users I know personally align closely with this stereotype.

But I don't think either of those fully captures my rationale, and I'd be interested to hear more thoughts on the subject. I do though think the point needs to be made that many people don't feel the need to try drugs, and while their reasons against may be incoherent or poorly thought out, it's not that they have particularly strong feelings against drugs so much as that trying them just doesn't seem that important.


You may like the other post I wrote about this elsewhere on this page.

Basically, the reason I don't try drugs (I hope the sense I am using that word can be inferred), is because of my chemical engineering and research background. Every chemical (e.g. anything) you ingest has a certain effect on your body. I feel that with some drugs (marijuana, cocaine, etc.), there is a higher probability of a long-term negative effect. Is this actually the case? I don't know. But I know that science is at no position right now to answer the question as we only know with certainty the effects and mechanisms of the most basic chemical reactions. All of the subtle interactions with something as complex as the human body are nearly impossible to ascertain. What study could one possibly devise that would rule out so many confounding factors?

So, for something like marijuana, there may in fact be no long term effects. But when it's easy (at least for me) to not try it, I just don't see there being any benefit for myself. Others, obviously, see the risk/reward ratio as being more favorable.

Does that fit the use of the word "apathetic"? I think so. Maybe you think another word is more suitable. I am as apathetic to drug use as I am about skydiving, or tightrope walking, or running in a lightning storm. I'm simply indifferent to these activities because I don't see any reward they would provide me.


>Every chemical (e.g. anything) you ingest has a certain effect on your body. I feel that with some drugs (marijuana, cocaine, etc.), there is a higher probability of a long-term negative effect.

This is not apathy, this is being cautious or heedful to the possible damage to your body. I am quite sure there is enough evidence that trying psilocybin or marijuana ONCE is not going to damage your body in the long term. So considering that, if you dont go ahead and try even once, there has to be some element of fear in there.

Its a wonderfully complex organ sitting in my head and I dont want to die before experiencing(atleast once) what all "realities" it can offer.


> I am quite sure there is enough evidence that trying psilocybin or marijuana ONCE is not going to damage your body in the long term

So... where is this evidence? Maybe that's the case (no one can say for sure yet), but it's not something I want to risk, even if the risk is low. That's fine that you want to experience all that reality offers, but I am simply disinterested in that particular experience. I'm sure there's many experiences you care little in being a part of even though many people find it enjoyable. (For instance, I like going on long runs by myself. And there's certainly a risk of getting hit by a car. Most people would like nothing to do with such an event.)


That's quite a high evidence bar to set. Most of the food you eat doesn't meet those criteria.

I think a large amount of the incredulity in responses is a combination of being surprised someone would be disinterested in a entire class of relatively safe experiences (I share that feeling) combined with an understanding that your risk analysis is off.


> being surprised someone would be disinterested in a entire class of relatively safe experiences (I share that feeling) combined with an understanding that your risk analysis is off.

Why is my risk analysis off? I'm not really sure how with a topic that doesn't have a hard scientific backing, your risk assessment gets more "priority" over mine. You can't weigh different people's probabilities (guesses) with your own probabilities and assume them to be any more correct. We'd have all kinds of nonsensical disagreements if that was the case.


I'm comparing your risk assessment to the general consensus opinion among scientists in related fields, since my risk assessment, as someone in a completely different field, carries no weight at all.


I've had multiple opportunities to get high (MJ + others) and chose not to. I don't care to alter my mental state that far. I don't drink much alcohol (& don't usually care for what it does for my mind). When I had laughing gas at the dentist, it turned my head into mush for a bit under a day afterwards. I just moved to WA, one of the "approximately legal MJ" states and I had a hard think about this. I don't really want to toke up.

Too much coffee doesn't do good stuff either.

I'm told there's a medically used drug? electrical tool? that is used in certain high-pain situations where it literally wipes your memory of high-spike pain (It erases the last few seconds or something). I don't want that either. I'd rather take the pain...

Generally, these things do things to my mind that I really don't like. I can only presume (based upon a decent amount of reading on the matter) LSD & other 'hardcore' hallucinogens will do similar things, but more in depth.




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