I always HATED the “just say no” campaign, from childhood on.
That said, I never did any illegal or illicit drugs (or, now that cannabis is legal, that either).
Never smoked tobacco or ever wanted to try.
Do drink alcohol, lightly & rarely, but I’ve never been drunk. (I like to say I do my drinking through country music, where every possible range of drinking-gone-wrong exists.)
I’m just… not interested, and don’t see the appeal. I’m quite happy for others to partake in whatever they enjoy (though I do wish the smokers—of anything—could do it without sharing their special smells).
Besides that, some of these things (whiskey, cigarettes) are an acquired taste, and I just couldn’t see any motivation to get through the initial discomfort.
I do have a fierce diet soda habit, so I’ve got that going for me.
No, and I don’t smoke, either. I don’t even drink, though that’s due to an annoying sensitivity to alcohol (I think it’s an enzyme deficiency): Even a single sip is enough to make me sick.
My recreational drug of choice, to the extent I have one, is theobromine.
I’ve never done any illegal drug, even marijuana. As with the OP, clearances required for work were a factor.
Even when I had orthopedic surgery (three times in the last twenty years) I did my best to get off the (legal) opioids as soon as I could, within three days usually. I’m from West Virginina, and those things scare the crap out of me. I always left the unfinished pills with the doctor on the first post-op appointment.
I’ve come to like alcohol. Maybe more than I should. Never touched it until my mid-30s. My parents were teetotalers. I think it might have been better if my upbringing had been less strict. I have plenty of self-discipline, but early-ingrained moderation habits are better.
Oh, and because my mother smoked, I NEVER touched cigarettes. I STILL can’t stand those things.
Mmmm, I’ll take a hit of that. I like caffeine, too.
I was so straight in high school that when people were handing around a joint they didn’t even offer it to me. I would have said, “no thank you”, but was a little sad not to be offered. I did try pot once in college. It took me so long to inhale that the next people in the circle got impatient. And then…i had a really bad taste in the back of my throat for ages, but didn’t notice any other effect. Now that it’s legal in my state I’m thinking of trying gummies, but haven’t had an occasion. I’ve been to several parties as an adult where weed was offered. I voted to legalize, and admired my BIL’s plants when he grew it. So i fully support people using it if they want to, but i don’t feel the desire.
I got drunk twice in college and decided i didn’t like that. I do drink from time to time, but never enough to get tipsy. And only a handful of times a year, typically.
I was in college a while ago (going to my 50th reunion next week) and people on my dorm floor smoked and dealt. I’ve seen kilos of the stuff on the table in our hall lounge. But I was never interested. No moral qualms at all, just that my mind is expanded enough, thank you.
I might have taken one puff of a cigarette for the purity test (remember that?)
I do drink alcohol, mostly wine, but not a lot and beer stays in my fridge for over a year without me wanting to touch it.
I have never partaken of any illegal substances. For some definition of “illegal”. I suppose there could be an argument that the peyote I took as part of a Native American ceremony was kinda questionable, but he possess it legally as a shaman.
Never had a cigarette - of my thirty or so classmates at high school, I think I was one of only two that refused to try it.
Only once been offered pot (refused) and never been in any situation where I thought I might have to say ‘no’ to any other substance.
However, I did on one occasion take a second large slice of cake at a party, unaware that it was laced with cannabis.
Would perhaps give consideration to something hallucinogenic if I had a high degree of confidence of its provenance and could trust the person offering it, but it would be a firm ‘no’ for anything else of an illegal nature.
Happy enough with coffee, dark chocolate and 16-year old Lagavulin malt whisky to provide me with more than enough drug pleasure.
I’m in the “didn’t say no because nobody ever asked me” subset. I didn’t have many friends in my teens and early 20s, and the friends I did have were all non-partakers. But if anyone had offered me anything, I probably would have been too scared.
I’ve never smoked, and never been interested in trying anything illegal. Being generally a rule-follower has been a factor, as has (more significantly) holding a security clearance since 2006.
In the late '90s I unknowingly ate a brownie that was baked with marijuana - we were at a friend’s house and the guy who brought them told everyone but me. (I believe that it was an honest mistake, and he clearly felt bad about it.) I got just as giddy as everybody else, and the experience was kind of fun - but once was enough.
I drink alcohol - mostly beer and wine. I don’t care for hard liquor.
I said “No”, when it counted. I will admit I was a crack addict, never did a cocaine “line”. I was a freebaser. Kicked it, after overcoming the environment and influences. I never got into pot until my twenties, and experiencing psychedelics. I never got into opiates, and actively, eschew, and demonize Opiates after losing so many peopke to its deathmaw. I am kind of a zealot about the dangers and unhealthieness of painkillers, prescribed, or other wise… just say no… the truth is. It will kill ya.
Yet, I have been doing some pot and beer to wind down for about the longest time ever.
Thanks, @Blindmellowjelly - I am glad for someone to bust in here and break up this teetotaler party with wild tales of youthly substance indulgence. Is Ozzy Osboune a poster here? Anyone been in a rock band?
My approach to recreational substances has been a combination of science-based and gut-intuitive-based. In other words, if I thought that trying a substance wouldn’t immediately lead to a bad outcome, I partook. If it worried me, I said no (or never even got into situations where saying “no” was needed).
Things I was/am willing to indulge in:
alcohol, in moderation
marijuana, as a youth (not so much now, as I know today’s varieties are stronger than what I encountered in the 1970s)
Things I have said NO FUCKING WAY to, because science and/or my gut tells me it could lead to a bad outcome:
cocaine
meth
amphetamines
psilocybin
LSD
I never indulged in anything illegal. Not interested and no money at the time. I’ve only ever smoked one tobacco cigarette and my mouth tasted bad for a whole day. I do drink alcohol, but not to drunkeness, having learned early to be wary. But a cold beer on a hot day is wonderful.
I had a somewhat ‘eclectic’ relationship with drugs when I was younger: the time I farmed the kids off for the weekend so I could try LSD, only for it to have no bloody effect whatsoever!
There was a couple of weekends when a ‘friend of a friend’ had done a heist on a local chemist, stealing (amongst other things) bottles of dexamphetamines and I TOTALLY LOVED THOSE THINGS. Damn that they ran out!
I’ve smoked weed off and on (I’m 62 now), last time was about 2 years ago. I gave up cigarettes about 6 months ago, so no way am I going to be rolling a joint any time soon…even though I quite like weed.
My WORST experience was visiting some out-laws about 30 years ago, major druggies, and they wanted to go mushrooming. I was curious, we found mushrooms in a pine forest, they made tea, and I had a most horrific time after taking a few sips. Never again!
I used to be a regular marijuana user. I also tried mushrooms once but didn’t especially enjoy it. The pot, though, was quite enjoyable, and when my kids grow up and move on I’d welcome a return to occasional use.
However — when I was offered cocaine and opium on various occasions, I always Said No. Things like that always seemed like a big step up, and the people I knew who used them were generally more obnoxious and less socially functional than the potheads.
Plus I thought the whole “gateway drug!” warning from the DARE program was stupid fearmongering, so as a pot user I felt like saying no to opiates was less about accepting their bleating about “hard” drugs and more about proving that their slippery-slope argument was bullshit.
