# Did anyone else "just say no"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 24, 2023, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537 "2023-05-24T21:42:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/141 "2023-06-02T00:42:28Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > As for “light drugs” - I just wasn’t interested. Maybe I was lame, but I was more interested in saving for the college of my choice than spending my limited funds on things that wouldn’t contribute to my career plans. This sort of thought is alien to me. I kind of envy you. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/142 "2023-06-02T02:18:09Z")
> [@ThisOneGuy](#): > > Raised Mormon, so it wasn’t around in my childhood. Haven’t believed since early teen years, so have actually tasted alcohol three times. Each time found the chemical/organic solvent flavor so foul that I don’t know how anybody ever managed to drink enough to discover it had any pharmacological properties. Feel similar about tea/coffee. Most people probably start drinking alcohol with wine, or possibly beer. Wine is delicious. The alcohol gives it a little edge, like the bitterness of dark chocolate does, or like mint or pepper. As for coffee, well, some people like it and others don’t. But i have always loved the smell, since long before i was allowed to drink it. These days i sometimes drink bad coffee to get the caffeine, but i still live the flavor of good coffee, and have some very low caffeine decaf around that i treat myself to when i want something tasty in the afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/143 "2023-06-02T10:52:52Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > > [@msmith537](#): > > > > See, I find it super weird when people say they have NEVER or RARELY tried alcohol, only because alcohol is so ubiquitous in society. > > I think what happens (it happened with me) is that a drinker/imbiber/experimenter over time has less and less contact with those who do not use drugs/alcohol. > > It’s a natural consequence of life. People with similar pleasures gravitate towards others who purposely affect their consciousness. > > If I invite someone out on our pontoon boat and they do not drink/use cannabis, they are probably not going to have fun, since everyone else aboard will be partying. Which makes sense. If you don’t like to drink, you will tend to avoid situations or friends who drink excessively. Same for any drug for that matter. My point is simply that from my POV, it seems like people have to try really hard to go out of their way to avoid alcohol. Like they feel like the minority because everyone else is out partying on pontoon boats on the weekend. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/144 "2023-06-02T11:19:37Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > people have to try really hard to go out of their way to avoid alcohol It’s not deliberate avoidance of being in its very presence. It’s choosing not to consume. We are all capable of being in a bar and only drinking lemon squash. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/145 "2023-06-02T11:32:13Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > My point is simply that from my POV, it seems like people have to try really hard to go out of their way to avoid alcohol. Like they feel like the minority because everyone else is out partying on pontoon boats on the weekend. You should get out more. 😉 Next weekend I’m invited to party on a boat. The only psychoactive drug that will be offered is caffeine. Weather permitting, I’m hosting a party on my backyard tomorrow. I’m expecting about a dozen people, maybe 16. There won’t be any drugs on offer. I think kayaker is right that people tend to hang out with other people who have similar interests. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/146 "2023-06-02T13:53:08Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > It’s not deliberate avoidance of being in its very presence. It’s choosing not to consume. We are all capable of being in a bar and only drinking lemon squash. Exactly. I meet up with my friends, they drink, I don’t. (Usually.) In my experience, not many people care if you drink or not. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/147 "2023-06-02T14:09:59Z")
I go to two or three live music shows a week. Of course there is lots of drinking especially in the smaller clubs. I’m a rare non drinker surrounded by drunk people. I’m very well known in the local music scene. Most don’t notice. To the extent that anyone cares, they consider it a virtue. ---
**Author:** ![ThisOneGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@ThisOneGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisOneGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/148 "2023-06-02T14:22:58Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Most people probably start drinking alcohol with wine, or possibly beer. Wine is delicious. That’s what people say, and one of my tastings was just such a wine. Tasted like grape juice (which I love) that had gone bad. Just nope. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/149 "2023-06-02T14:38:41Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Most people probably start drinking alcohol with wine, or possibly beer. Wine is delicious. Wine is nasty. I live in wine country. I’ve been to France and Italy. I’ve tried cheap wine and very expensive wine of every variety. I’ve been to many wine tastings. Some is much less nasty than others but there isn’t a single one I have liked. To this day I’ll take a little sip of any alcoholic beverage that I haven’t tried before. I’ll take a tiny sip of something if a group is doing a toast. It’s not going to kill me. Oddly enough, the alcoholic beverages that are the least gross to me are lager for a beer, expensive tequila for a liquor and no wine at all. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/150 "2023-06-02T15:24:46Z")
Tastes vary. I can’t stand the taste of peppers. Bell pepper, hot pepper, it’s just nasty. It’s so nasty that i refused to eat my mom’s tomato sauce as a kid, because it tasted bad. (And this seemed weird even to kid-me, because i liked raw tomato and i liked my dad’s tomato soup. When i married a man who loves tomato sauce we worked out that it’s the pepper i dislike.) So nasty that i find it hard to eat anything at all if I’m sitting next to someone eating a stuffed pepper. So nasty that i won’t eat a stew that has even a little pepper in it. And yet, many people love that flavor. I’m going to stand by “wine is delicious” with an addendum, “to a lot of people”. I’m sure some people learned to drink alcohol only to get drunk, but i think a lot of kids started by drinking some wine with their parents and found the whole experience pleasant. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/151 "2023-06-02T15:30:55Z")
I don’t like green bell pepper but I like the red and yellow ones. (They are not the same varietal. They all start green but the green ones stay green and the other ones change color as they ripen). Like you, I hate the taste of coffee but I like the smell. My weird one is cucumber. It has an odd horrible taste to me. That goes for cucumber water. If you put a little slice of cucumber in water for a minute and then remove it. I can easily pass a taste test between a pure glass of water and one that had the cucumber slice. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/152 "2023-06-02T16:05:24Z")
I’m not advising anyone to take mind altering substances, but this sort of sentiment makes me wonder what people think these drugs actually do: > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > I have never wanted to be out of control. I’ve done lots of drugs and drinking. I’ve rarely been out of control. In fact, my wife has told me “You know, smoking weed doesn’t change how you act at all. You behave exactly the same way whether you’ve been smoking it or not.” My response is “It changes how I feel about how I behave.” Now, I’m not sure whether she means I act sober when I’m high, or that I’m a total nitwit all the time whether sober or not. However, I hope she wouldn’t have married me if it is the latter. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/153 "2023-06-02T16:50:27Z")
That drugs make me out of control is straight up propaganda from 70s anti-drug PSAs. Certainly people who drink _way_ too much or whatever are out of control and a very small minority lose control on any random thing but it’s not generally the case. As I’ve said numerous times, I don’t drink but I’m not smug about it. I always gently shut down people who praise me for it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/154 "2023-06-02T17:20:58Z")
Actually, i like fresh raw green pepper okay. But when it gets old it starts developing the flavor i hate. Red and yellow peppers can be picked and eaten green (my father used to grow them, and sometimes we did) and they taste like green peppers. The ones grown to be eaten green are no doubt different varieties, but they aren’t very different. They just taste different because they are riper. I don’t like yellow and red peppers even raw. But i can pick raw peppers out of food. It’s when any of them get cooked that they really contaminate a dish. As for coffee, i like the flavor of good coffee. And the smell. But there is also bad coffee out there that i drink just for the caffeine. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/155 "2023-06-02T17:23:02Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Exactly. I meet up with my friends, they drink, I don’t. (Usually.) In my experience, not many people care if you drink or not. Yep. I was a hard drinker until it landed me in detox and rehab two and a half years ago. Nobody in my hard drinking crew cared if there were lighter or non-drinkers among us. And now as a non-drinker, I still have fun hanging out with the drinkers. Nobody gives a damn. Nobody tempts me to drink, and we never teased non-drinkers or tried to push alcohol on them, as there’s myriad reasons someone might not want to drink. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/156 "2023-06-02T17:27:05Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > That drugs make me out of control is straight up propaganda from 70s anti-drug PSAs. Certainly people who drink _way_ too much or whatever are out of control and a very small minority lose control on any random thing but it’s not generally the case. > > As I’ve said numerous times, I don’t drink but I’m not smug about it. I always gently shut down people who praise me for it. Yeah, even the times i got so drunk that the world spun around me, i wasn’t out of control. Well, i guess it depends what kind of control. My control over moving my body precisely was definitely impaired. But i didn’t do or say anything i regretted. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/157 "2023-06-02T17:36:18Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Actually, i like fresh raw green pepper okay. But when it gets old it starts developing the flavor i hate. Red and yellow peppers can be picked and eaten green (my father used to grow them, and sometimes we did) and they taste like green peppers. The ones grown to be eaten green are no doubt different varieties, but they aren’t very different. Very interesting, because the green peppers have a much sharper taste that is usually off-putting to people who don’t like peppers. Red and yellow peppers are much mellower and slightly sweeter, so it must really be the taste of peppers you hate. As for alcohol and wine, I’ve imbibed a lot in my time, but not so much now that I’m old. But for me a meal with coordinated wine pairings is a transcendant experience…one I like to have at least once a year. But I don’t really hate anything. Someone asked me recently what food I hated to eat, and I had to think really hard, and it couldn’t come up with anything I _hated._ Some things I’m not crazy about and some things cause unpleasant reactions, but I don’t hate them. ETA: If I’m going to overindulge, I’d always prefer pot to alcohol. Gets me mellower, and I’ve never had a nasty hangover, which I can’t say about booze. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/158 "2023-06-02T19:18:15Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > That drugs make me out of control is straight up propaganda from 70s anti-drug PSAs. I was only talking about myself and gave exclusively personal alcohol examples. I wasn’t thinking this was a thread about the effects of any drug under discussion on the average user (and neither of us may be average). It’s not hard to find studies showing a correlation between gambling and the now, or previously, illegal psychoactive drug of your choice. And, obviously, to me anyway, as a non-gambler, gambling is a voluntary decision to lose personal control. But it would take a bunch of jumps to show desire for reduced control to be an underlying cause for the behaviors. There is a drug I take that I believe increases my control – caffeine. At least in small doses, I find it to have the opposite effect of alcohol. I would fear this last was a thread hijack, except that there have been occassional caffeine bans in the world of sport, [and this](https://www.halalzilla.com/coffee-and-islam-considered-haram/90217): > [@](#): > > The Ottoman Sultan Murad IV deemed coffee drinking as an immoral activity. He believed that coffee was promoting social decay and ultimately, discord in Istanbul. Due to the seriousness of the matter to him, this Ottoman Sultan declared coffee drinkers are punishable by death. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/159 "2023-06-02T19:23:46Z")
My mom was an alcoholic. I’ve never had a drink. Cigarettes killed my parents. I’ve never smoked. As far as drugs, I did try marijuana once at college. It just made me sleepy, so I thought, “Forget about it:” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2023, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537/160 "2023-06-02T19:33:01Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > As for alcohol and wine, I’ve imbibed a lot in my time, but not so much now that I’m old. Interesting. My alcohol consumption has increased over time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-else-just-say-no/984537.md?page=9)