Drugs And The Moment.

Lips_Pearls said:

Agreed. A great post and illustrates the fact that we are acceptable to legal drugs such as booze. It’s normalised. Even though it’s a drug, there’s a lot worse out there.
You don’t see stoners fight. EVER! Fact.
peace x

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Reminds me of something I saw on TV many years ago that made me smile knowingly and never left me

It was Alan Davies on stage and he was basically making that exact point.
He was saying how much trouble and damage was caused by drunks every Saturday night and how it would be so much better it would be if everyone just got stoned instead.
He then took up the typical drunk's fighting pose. Legs apart, hands down by his side and said "You never see a stoner standing like this, pull his joint out of his mouth and say "come on then"
He did all the appropriate actions and trust me, it was a lot funnier than I'm making it sound but he was obviously making a valid point.

As a side note that does, I believe, have some relevance:
A couple of years ago I had just arrived at a huge rave in a field in a field in the countryside (yes, they do still happen )
I guess it was around 01.30am and there were at least a couple of thousand in attendance.
A police car then rolled onto the field and a couple of coppers got out and started to walk slowly around.
After a few minutes, I said to one of them something like "Did you draw the short straw having to come and check this place out?" Now, bear in mind that at this gathering of around 2,000 ravers of mixed ages I suspect you'd struggle very much indeed to find more than a handful (I'd be one of course ) who'd not had a little something to keep them perky and able to dance until dawn and the air was filled with the sweet, pungent unmistakeable aroma of weed. The police were obviously well aware of this.
The copper's reply was "No mate, we'd much rather be here than in Town with all the drunks being sick everywhere and either fighting amongst themselves or chucking glasses at us. Never had a problem with this type of gig. People here just want to be happy and have a good time"
And you know what? He was dead right. I've been to dozens of raves over the years, seen people in all states but I have NEVER seen one bit of trouble. Bump into someone at a rave and they're likeky to give you a hug and buy you a drink. Bump into some drunken arsehole at a nightclub in the city and you're likely to get a glass in your face.


Anyway, stop dragging me back into this thread, I told you I'm not getting involved. It's too controversial

Antogs xx

fincon said:

And then of course there are prescribed drugs. OK, we call them medicines, but some can be incredibly strong, and though prescribed for the right reasons, they can have similar side-effects to non-prescription drugs.

I don’t make a thing of it, but I have a couple of bones dying in my foot. I’ve been prescribed very strong painkillers for several years (and at some point, yes, I’ll need a genuinely horrific op on my foot to rebuild it; trust me, you don’t want to know what they’ll have to do. Mind you, I’ve asked for wolverine claws, but they won’t do it, dammit.)

Point is, I’ve been on strong opiates for years. Early on, I was prescribed tramadol. It worked but fuck me, it was like constantly being high on dope… I chose to dispense with them fairly early but yeah, had I not, I could quite easily have been mistaken for being a stoner by everyone new I met.

(As it is, I’ve been on cocodamol for several years, and they do the job. And yes, of course there’s a wonderful tale about them… of course there is, I’m a writer... but which I’ll only tell if anyone really wants me to. I bore you enough already with tales…)

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Prescription drugs

Some of you may be aware that a few years ago I was prescribed, in error, high dosage steroids and anti-depressants.
In the years I was taking these drugs I became a different person to the one I'd been all my life. I could experience neither despair or joy. Without these emotions you experience nothing.

A few months back the mistake, a misdiagnosis of symptoms I was suffering at the time, related to my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was discovered and the process of coming off these drugs began.
I won't bore you all by telling you of the hell I went through except to say that for a couple of months I suffered a massive change in my personality due to withdrawal symptoms.
These included insomnia (which brings its own problems), paranoia, mood swings, hallucinations and aggravation of my CFS.

Because of misguided male pride or a fear of being stigmatised I kept the fact that I was "coming off" these meds to myself which meant I spent many, many sleepless hours alone in my flat which I don't suppose improved the recovery progress.

I persevered though and somehow got through it.
Now I know it was worthwhile not giving in to the temptation of going back on the medication (as a lot of sufferers do) as I've not felt as good as this for years. 0
I actually look forward to doing things now and I can't wait to meet some of you lot and have some fun (which I'll now be able to actually enjoy)

Bloody hell, it's happened again.
I keep telling you I'm not getting involved in his thread. It's too controversial and I don't want to come across as having an opinion that might upset or alienate anyone.
So stop making interesting points that lure me back in.

All I want to talk about is about how to persuade some of you gorgeous, sexy, lovely people to have lots of fun with me :coffee-machine::devil:

Antogs xx

Antogs said:

I've not felt as good as this for years.

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Genuinely pleased for you, sir.

Certainly, one would hope that prescribed drugs are appropriately prescribed, and of course, similarly hope that not only is care coming from someone who knows what they’re doing in good faith, but the patient’s consent is genuine and complete.

Kudos to Antogs for his honesty.

I wonder if we were at the same raves back then. DiY? Fun times.

I listened to an interesting documentary on the BBC World Service last year which documented the increasing phenomenon of 'Chemsex' on the gay scene. These guys start small, the odd night attending three+somes and injecting crystal meth - they call it ''Tina'. One bloke described how this descended for him, into starting out on on a Thursday night and - using Grindr and Uber, travelling around London to participate in stuff that seemed to get harder and harder both sexually and in drug use - to finally rolling home in a paranoid f*cked up state on a Tuesday. That all sounds like complete hell to me.

I'm not averse to a bit of drug use: nothing like a bit of a smoke, the odd line, or a bit of mdma with someone you're really down with (at home preferably).

I wonder: do fellas use viagra when they go to club nights (swinger events not Bridge meets, obviously....)

IntrepidExporer said:

Kudos to Antogs for his honesty.

I wonder if we were at the same raves back then. DiY? Fun times.

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Thanks for the kudos, much appreciated

I absolutely love DiY Seen them dozens of times.
They form one part of the triumvirate of "local" sound systems that I've been listening and dancing to for the past 25 years or so (and they're still going and attract fab audiences that range in age from students to virtual pensioners).

The other two iconic and legendary soundsystems that I'm lucky enough to be friends with are Wireless and Smokescreen.

My apologies to everyone else for shamelessly hijacking the thread

Antogs x

Lips_Pearls said:

We listened to the same show and I was horrified at what we were listening to. That guy went on to write a book about it and stated very clearly that drug use within all this, is increasing at exponential rates. Frightening really.

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After listening to that programme, the thing that stuck in my mind was this bloke's description of walking home, skint and off his rocker, freaked out by the footsteps that were following him: only to realise it was the sound of his own footsteps that was freaking him out!

Think I'll stick to red wine, ta very much.

Ok so in my youth I've smoked a bit and done some of the soft drugs, just tried them mind. It's just not for me especially now I'm older. I'm more than happy with my Gin.

As a side note to all the people that think alcohol causes more trouble than drugs. Don't you think that might be because alcohol is more readily available to the general public than drugs, therefore the stats are going to show that more trouble is caused by people intoxicated by alcohol than people high on drugs as their is a much higher percentage of the population using alcohol than drugs?

X

Baldrick said:

Don't you think that might be because alcohol is more readily available to the general public than drugs

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No, I don't tbh. Talking from experience, rather than empirical data, I truly believe that alcohol is the drug that causes the most violence and anti-social behaviour. That's not to say that I don't think other drugs are without their problems; of course they are - heroin is a very nasty substance that turns its users into pathetic shells of themselves, stoners never get anything done, coke-heads are arrogant fucks and this new zombie spice crap is just shockingly awful. Alcohol is by far my favourite poison, but it is also by far the most problematic imo.

meandlis said:

No, I don't tbh. Talking from experience, rather than empirical data, I truly believe that alcohol is the drug that causes the most violence and anti-social behaviour. That's not to say that I don't think other drugs are without their problems; of course they are - heroin is a very nasty substance that turns its users into pathetic shells of themselves, stoners never get anything done, coke-heads are arrogant fucks and this new zombie spice crap is just shockingly awful. Alcohol is by far my favourite poison, but it is also by far the most problematic imo.

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Do you think so? I'm not saying I disagree but have you considered the other crimes committed by drug users (obviously I'm talking addicts now) in order to pay for the drugs. Alcohol is far cheaper.

My actual opinion is each to their own (provided nobody is getting hurt) but I wouldn't want to be involved in it personally. Drugs just aren't for me. Been there, done that and decided I prefer Gin

X

meandlis said:

Talking from experience, rather than empirical data, I truly believe that…

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I think it’s fair to acknowledge your implied statement - with which I agree - that the plural of anecdote is not data.

I also agree with those who’ve said that if several freely available ‘legal’ drugs were ‘invented’ today (alcohol, tobacco, and others), they’d never get approved for sale.

Leaving aside the tax revenues that do at least benefit all, the reason we - as a country - accept the less wonderful consequences of those drugs is entirely societal; to put it bluntly, we figure the cost of everyone using them isn’t serious enough to merit banning them. Instead we try to limit the more egregious types of harm: banning drinking and driving, banning smoking in enclosed spaces.

I do kind of have some sympathy with the argument that if we allow alcohol, then why not marijuana with the same restrictions?

I've dabbled with most things when I was in my early 20s and will have a smoke or brownie when visiting The Dam (when in Rome etc.) but I can honestly not think of a worse drug to take while having any kind of sex TBH, than coke, we use to use the phrase got a 'Walnut Whip On' as it would just make your cock shrivel up.

I wouldn't say I'm pro-drugs, rather I'm anti adults not being allowed to decide for themselves what substances they choose to put in their bodies, we are quite happy, as a society, to let people do far worse things to themselves then have a cheeky wrap at the weekend just because they aren't deemed illegal!

Give people the (scientifically researched) information and let them make an informed choice.

All the while tobacco and alcohol is legal its nothing but rank hypocrisy, at the very least it should be decriminalised, which would free up prison spaces and police resources.