When I was about 15 (that would be in 1968), I decided I wanted to buy a house eventually.
So I never smoked, never used other drugs (and never paid interest on my credit card.)
I only drank champagne at weddings (so I’ve never bought alcohol either.)
Now I’ve owned a house for decades. 
This stoner has owned a very nice home in Santa Barbara for thirty years. It’s worth over seven times what I paid for it.
A friend of mine who served famously stated, as he was lighting up, “It’s one of the things I learned in the Army - how to roll a joint.”
I was in St. Thomas during Carnival in '76. You could get a contact high just walking down the street. So I gave it a try, had a horrible coughing fit, and decided it wasn’t for me.
I’ve often thought that you and I are clones 
.
I too have never used recreational substances, despite being in an age group where drinking to excess was commonplace, and marijuana wasn’t terribly uncommon either. In my case, a prudish, goody-two-shoes attitude contributed, as well as my lack of social skills: I simply never fit in with any real crowd for whom these were important activities.
I’ve never even tried tobacco. Both my parents smoked: Mom had her last cigarette the day she went to the hospital to have a lung removed. Dad smoked cigarettes when I was very, very young (I think) but all the years I knew him, he smoked only pipes or the occasional cigar. I loathed any kind of smoke, so was never even tempted (again, helped by my limited social circle).
I have had enough alcohol to be tipsy on a few occasions, and I rarely even drink anything. The social thing prevented me from experimenting with getting completely wasted as a younger person, then a sense of responsibility as we were raising a family, as well as an awareness of significant alcoholism on both sides of the family.
I did visit a weed dispensary last year: we were in Oregon, and they were as common there as Starbucks are here. Didn’t make a purchase, I just wanted to see what it was about.
My employer has made it clear that despite marijuana being legalized in many states, it’s still illegal at the federal level and we are NOT supposed to indulge. While random drug tests have never been a thing for me (something I gather is a bit unusual), I suppose in theory usage might be found out in other ways. Mild curiosity is NOT a reason to risk a job.
I joke that the best part of my numerous colonoscopies is that brief 2 seconds where the room tilts as they sedate me, as the only “fun” drugs I ever have. I suspect I’d find it terrifying if it lasted longer than those 2 seconds. I presume the buzz from something like a few puffs of a joint is less sudden and less intense.
And I frequently say that there cannot be ANYTHING that matches the high of stepping out of a wrinkled car that has just been in a head-on collision, and realizing everyone involved just survived, uninjured. Find me a drug that does that, and I’m a goner.
That’s a brain development thing, actually. Teenagers and young adults simply don’t have the judgment and life experience to weigh the risks, and there’s a sense of immortality they have (often proven tragically wrong as a result). Us old fogies know how badly things could go.
Now, when I retire in a couple years, I might just have to pop back out to Oregon and visit one of those shops. Some of those edibles looked tasty even without the added ingredient!
When visiting Puerto Rico in the mid 80’s a friend and I met a couple of Navy Pilots from the Roosevelt Rhodes Naval Air Station. We hung out for a few days and partied and yeah hints dropped about easy smuggling back to the mainland. Those fly boys were goody two shoes on the outside but party animals in the inside.
In my teens and twenties I’d smoke, snort, ingest and drink just about anything in moderation of course. Tried my dammdest to pick up on cigarettes never could stomach those things. Now a few drinks and a few tokes and all is good. TBT the variety of products at the dispensary are mostly beyond my grasp. I’d like to vape flower but for now the one hit suffices.
In high school I drank occasionally. I usually had to drive at some point, so typically it wouldn’t be more than a few beers. Once or twice tried weed.
College was a different story. It was a pretty big party school with not much else to do, so we used to get drunk all the time. I wasn’t that much into other drugs, but if a bunch of people were smoking weed, I had no problem participating. It was more that I just couldn’t be bothered trying to track down where to find weed on my own. Even now that’s it’s legal-ish in NJ/NY, I still can’t be bothered.
I was in Army Aviation for the beginning of my career. We got tested a lot. Like a lot. Even knowing that we still had failures. Even when I was part time in the National Guard we had lots of testing and some failures. You could roll the dice and not get caught for a while but a frequent pot smoker is going to get caught. Prior to my time it might have been easier.
Oh my, do take this advice to heart:
I’ve tripped many, many, many times. Almost every time on LSD I’ve reached the point of something like “Ok, this was fun seven hours ago. Right now I kinda wanna stop tripping more than anything.” It was usually over in about three hours after that, but I have had some trips that went much longer. Mushrooms are usually over much more quickly, and generally a bit less likely to cause terror. But even with them, I feel like having the training wheels of smoking a joint under your belt first would be a good idea.
But I’m not you. If nothing else, I’d advise having someone who you trust (who isn’t into playing jokes on you, for instance) being along on your first trip. I know my wife loves me, and she knows what a mean trick it is to do, but even she has intentionally tried to screw with me when she knew I was tripping.
Yeah, I have to say. You guys really are kind of amazing in that regard. The worst part about the Boy Scouts was that everyone’s weed was garbage, and they still wanted to smoke it. You guys go!
Umm, yeah. Still am. The only drug I tried that I didn’t like was cocaine. Either lines or sprinkled on a joint, I’m going to get a headache, I’m going think you are all assholes, and my heart rate is going to go nuts. I kind of enjoyed meth the few times I tried it. But if I want to lack sleep, I’ll just take acid, thankya.
And even then, there are some drugs I avoid because I know I like them too much. Does that count as saying “No”?
Never tried drugs. My biological father was an alcoholic and a pothead and I hated both of those things. In high school I was devout Christian goody two-shoes. One terrible desperate day I did ask a friend for pot and he wouldn’t give it to me because it was so out of character, he was looking out for me, I guess. I had a bad childhood and was struggling with severe depression throughout my teens and I guess I was just looking for something to numb the pain.
I did drink on my 18th birthday but I didn’t really dig it. I’ve been fantastically drunk a handful of times, for better or for worse, but my medications are so unpredictable when it comes to alcohol that I generally don’t drink unless I’ve got my husband to drive me home, and I’m rarely in a situation like that.
I would never do psychedelics with a family history of psychosis. I know my mother and uncle both did and they are/were batshit crazy.
Now that all this research is coming out about the neurological damage associated with marijuana use, I’m feeling pretty good about that decision.
When I was younger, my brain was working well enough that there didn’t seem to be any point. No need to risk an addiction. Now I’d be afraid that it would screw me up more.
All I’ve seen is for chronic use in adolescents. Can you share this please? In moderation, it’s about the least harmful vice there is. Around 20% of the US are pot users. We aren’t a bunch of zombies
Mid-40s here. I favor the complete legalization of all drugs. I’ve never used an illegal substance* and have never smoked, snorted, or shot up anything. I drink rarely, sometimes to slight intoxication, but I can leave it alone again until whenever (usually a few months to a few years between drinks). I guess technically I drank underage.
That said, I do use drugs. I have no moral or ethical objection. Most people use drugs (often performance-enhancing, though often for escapism as well), whether caffeine or nicotine or anti-depressants or painkillers or whatever. Some legal and socially acceptable substances likely offer great risk of addiction and harm to persons and their loved ones than a lot of illegal or taboo substances.
*I’ve recently (past couple years) on a handful of occasions accepted “medical” gummies/edibles from friends and I’ve tried very low or no THC CBD oils.
I have never done any illegal substance. I don’t even drink alcohol. I simply don’t desire intoxication.
I’ve been stoned on laughing gas in a dentist’s office. It was fun, but I would not pay money for it, and I certainly would not break a law for it.
I’m allergic to tobacco, and its smoke. I have been told that I turn green when I sit in the smoking section of a restaurant.
Have you ever seen someone standing outside the smoking section of a restaurant, begging random strangers for cigarettes? And that’s just for nicotine. Addiction is . . . undignified.
In high school, I ran with a pretty good crowd. Lots of Catholics, and a few Mormons. The first time anyone ever pressured me to drink was at a party after the last day of school of my senior year.
In high school and college, I was the one who gave people rides home when they were too drunk to drive. About midway through college, I realized something: I had seen my friends when they were sober. I had seen most of them when they were drunk, and some of them when they were stoned. I liked them better when they were sober. After that, peer pressure ceased to be an issue.
Having said all that, I favor the complete legalization of all drugs. I’m not being nice. I’m a social Darwinist.
Never done any illegal drugs, nor had enough alcohol to be intoxicated. Never smoked, either. It’s not some goody two-shoes or moralistic thing - I was just never interested. I don’t like being out of control, and watching friends get drunk or stoned and act like idiots only cemented my lack of interest.
My parents had alcohol around the house, out in the open. They rarely drank themselves, but they entertained a lot. When I expressed an interest as a kid in knowing what it tasted like, they let me try a little. I didn’t like it, so that was that.
I’m occasionally tempted to try pot (which is legal where I am), and if LSD were safe and legal I’d be really tempted to try that. But it’s not and never will be, so that’s not gonna happen.
My advice to all those who really want to try LSD, is to find a reputable MDMA source instead. It’s all of the good of a trip, none of the cerebellar scuba, with no breath . Although, I have only done LSD twice (possibly, unknowingly dosed a third time), and MDMA once. My advice is to stay away from LSD. Never done psilocybin.
I was pretty much a “just say no” person, too - but I grew up in a place where it was basically impossible to get such drugs even if I wanted to. Also, I had only heard bad things, never anything good, about them.
But then recently I read people sharing their accounts about how psychedelic drugs greatly helped them, improving their mental outlook or curing their depression, etc. I was shocked - it was as weird as if a smoker had said, “Tobacco is good for your lungs!” I got interested and then started getting ketamine (prescribed by a doctor, legally - which unfortunately didn’t do any mental good for me) and am lately interested in getting shrooms legally in one of the legal regions in the USA.
Doesn’t MDMA have higher risk of hyperthermia, heart issues, electrolytes getting out of balance?
Although it does seem to have less risk of psychosis, which would be good since I have a bipolar sister.
I’ve done LSD several dozen times and MDMA nearly twenty times. I strongly disagree…for me. MDMA gives me a hangover of a week of chemical depression. It’s awful. LSD puts you in less control and is riskier while you’re on it which is why you need a buddy with you unless your an expert. It’s apples and oranges and highly dependent on personality and circumstances.
From what I’ve read, cannabis is significantly likelier to cause psychosis or trigger existing family-DNA mental disorders, more than any other drug, even LSD or shrooms. (Sadly, busy at work now, cannot find the source).