Never did any illegal drugs; tried out smoking a few cigarettes but it did not do anything for me; did get tipsy a few times but never drunk; 1/8 of a liter of wine watered down 50/50 is my dose for a good dinner.
All of the above not for any reason not to dope, smoke or get drunk, but for lack of a perceived benefit to do so.
I still get angry at some really important things that were taught us that simply weren’t true.
I’m 46. I’ve never smoked anything, never taken illegal drugs, and rarely drink before it just makes me kind of dizzy.
And I’ve never been prescribed anything for pain other than tylenol 3 and cough medicine with codine. When I fell off a ladder 3 years ago and injured my hamstring badly enough that I couldn’t walk without my knee buckling every 3 steps, the 2+ weeks I was in a knee immobilizer they just had me take 4 Aleve a day. So I don’t know how badly you need to injury yourself to score other opiates.
The 1970s-era anti-drug campaigns effectively discouraged teenage me from trying pills or coke (or maybe I just didn’t know anybody who had pills or coke? or some combination of those factors). I did smoke cigarettes now and then in my mid-teens but abandoned them in a (mostly unsuccessful but still beneficial) effort to become less mediocre at athletic sports.
Smoked friends’ pot a few times in high school and early in college, but then realized that I had no intention of seeking out or purchasing any illegal drugs myself and it was dishonorable just to continually mooch off other people’s, so abandoned that too.
Briefly lived in legal-pot territory in the Netherlands nearly twenty years ago, but never bothered trying the stuff again, on connoisseurship grounds: I didn’t want to waste any time and money smoking bad marijuana, and I didn’t want to invest the time and money required to become a sufficiently discriminating marijuana consumer to identify the good stuff.
Besides, at the time I had Belgian beers to exercise my connoisseurship development on, in moderation, and never regretted the choice to stick to the pothuis (pub, where you drink beer) rather than the coffeeshop (where you smoke pot; neither to be confused with the cafe, where you drink coffee. Dutch is a great language! 
). (No regrets, that is, other than the twenty extra pounds accumulated over two years and shed much more slowly afterwards, but still, worth it.)
Still haven’t bothered with cannabis now that it’s legal where I live in the US, for much the same reasons, and also don’t want to risk messing up still-okay middle-aged health with unnecessary substance use.
Ok, gloves off, knuckles bare, I had a brother and sister that were a generation older than me, that both indulged in all the wacky tabaccky, and psychedelics, and goofballs and speeders (pills) of the sixties and seventies, I was the late sibling… the youngest, taught through all the disappontments and bad trips and OD’s of my fifties Mom and Dad who drinked and smoked and demonized pot and anything unnatural or illegal through their 1950’s adolescence. Of course my dad would get shit faced and get in fights and beat my mom . I was a goodie twoshoes for a quarter of my life. The propaganda slipped with my awakening. Now, I smoke , cigars, drink, and toke, leavened after some early bouts of addiction. I heard Nancy, and agreed. 4 years later I was smokin crack.
Never tried illicit drugs. I got drunk a couple of times in college but now rarely consume alcohol.
The issue for me was the people who did do drugs when I was growing up were not the people I wanted to be around with for any circumstances.
My brother smoked pot and then quit but started back in his 50s and 60s despite the possibility of losing his job. He also has an alcohol problem.
My sister never took drugs - was an athlete in school - but has recently started smoking pot and getting high in her late 50s now that she is retired disability.
I really don’t feel like I missed anything and I still avoid those who I feel take them excessively. This includes those in my own family.
Never did any illegal drugs, and have only had enough alcohol to get a light buzz. Probably the closest I’ve come was finishing off the N2O from an empty can of Reddiwhip. No particular reason why I didn’t, but it just never really was an issue. Although I went to a college with a significant drug culture it didn’t much affect me. I was only actually ever offered drugs once and that was very half hearted. I was playing a board game with some friends and they said basically “If you don’t mind we’re going to smoke some pot. I don’t think its your thing but you can have some if you want.” I politely declined and that was that.
Recreational Marijuana is about to become legal in the state and maybe now I’ll try some out, but also maybe not.
Add me to the list of people who never had a chance to say no - no one would have offered anything to me when I was in school, even in college no one offered me alcohol.
By the time I got around to trying cannabis, it was already legal in the places I tried it. I tried some edibles and even a hit off a bong. I am very sensitve and do not like how it makes me feel, so I haven’t tried it again. I have taken a sublingual CBD drops to help sleep - not sure if they help or not.
Never tried any other recreational substance, and I’ve never tried any tobacco product.
Besides a sip or two at dinners with my parents, I never drank alcohol before I was legally allowed to. I didn’t really get into the habit of drinking anything until I was over 30 and had moved to Europe.
Been really tipsy less than a dozen times. Normally one serving of alcohol is enough, but I’ll have 2-3 about 3-4 times a year, namely cocktails and wine with dinner while out with friends.
I’ll take any Islay whisky, but otherwise this fits me as well, at least at home.
The marionberry taste really good, according to my husband.
Someone mentioned laughing gas. I got too much when I was a child, and it makes me nauseous to the point of vomiting. Very glad they don’t use it here.
I’ve had nitrous oxide at the dentist as well.
My husband’s experience was as a child, where the dentist use it INSTEAD OF novocaine. He did not like it at all.
My first experience was as an adult: the dentist used it in conjunction with an oral sedative (Halcion), and local. “You won’t be able to tell that time is passing”. Well, I could, I just Did Not Care. I won’t say it was fun at all - never stoned, just profoundly relaxed. I’ve since had it solo (no oral sedative) along with the local anesthetic: the relaxation allows the injected anesthetic to actually WORK.
It’s actually unpleasant on induction: a brief sensation of panic. And one time, I don’t think they had enough oxygen in the mix, and I kept feeling like I could not get enough air. I wanted to reach up and move the mask, but could not make myself do so. I did manage to take every second or third breath through my mouth instead of nose. That was the only time that particular situation happened.
But between the onset-panic, and that one experience, I’ve never really “enjoyed” it - though the relaxation is pleasant and I’m always a little sorry when they turn it off.
People tend to think of nitrous as harmless (and it’s easy to obtain, I gather, since it’s still sold in cartridges for whipped cream dispensers). A kid in my college town died of it though: IIRC (this was 40ish years ago) he filled a large plastic trash bag with it… and suffocated.
It’s far from harmless and a big problem in the live music community. I know a guy who died from it maybe seven years ago. He bought dozens of those whippets and did them in his car with all of the windows closed. I’ve seen people pass out hard. They woke up quickly but they could easily have hit their head wrong.
This doesn’t even touch on the “nitrous mafia” who man the tanks after shows. I won’t bore with the details but nitrous has been banned at many of the big music fests that are generally very permissive.
Well, in my case (and I’ve told this here before): be a fat middle-aged female with a “sprained elbow”, waiting patiently in an ER in a city 2,000 miles away from home, at midnight.
I’d gone because the elbow felt an awful lot like the other one had felt, a few years before, when I broke it. The ER doc looked at the X-ray, said “not broken, just a sprain”… and handed me a scrip for Vicodin.
I wound up taking one a day, at bedtime, for the remainder of the trip, because the injury caused my Restless Legs Syndrome to flare up. I found the remainder of the bottle in my closet, many years later. Oh, and the elbow WAS broken, as confirmed by a local orthopedist shortly after we got back home.
I’ve actually routinely been given narcotics after procedures. One doctor actually said “You don’t seem like the sort who is likely to develop a problem”. Which was little mind-boggling. Yeah, I’m terrified of dependence - with the alcoholism in the family, it seems quite possible - and I rarely use those meds for more than a day or two. Except with my wrist surgery (and it was that doc who made that comment, AND gave me a refill on the Percocet, unasked-for). That wrist surgery was the first time I’ve ever used narcotics for more than 2 days or so, and I was very, very careful with the ones I did use (never needed to break into the second bottle, but it was close).
Add me to the club. I’m almost 62 and have never tried any recreational drugs, I rarely drink - I think the last time I had any alcohol was probably 8 years ago, and I’ve never smoked…anything. I had/have no desire to try any of it.
See, I find it super weird when people say they have NEVER or RARELY tried alcohol, only because alcohol is so ubiquitous in society. You’ve never gone to a bar, or a restaurant, or a wedding, or an office happy hour, or some other event where alcohol was served? You don’t have friends who go out for beers? You’ve never kicked back with a margherita on vacation?
I guess the way I look at it is that in your teens and 20s, drinking and some light drugs like pot seem cool and fun and you are probably pretty lame if you haven’t experimented with any of that stuff.
But like anything, there are people who do too much of it, or they get into harder stuff that will just fuck them up, or drugs and alcohol becomes the focus of their life. And especially as you get older, excessive drinking and drugs is no longer “cool” or “rebellious” or whatever and it doesn’t make you more interesting or exciting. Then you just kind of turn into a loser who just likes to get high a lot, which isn’t really my scene.
I’m curious as to this reasoning. I drank exactly as much in my 20s as I do now, because I don’t enjoy the feeling of tipsiness or the taste of alcohol, i.e. anything much higher proof than wine. But I learned both of these things at home: I didn’t need to experiment in a social setting. (Benefits of being Italian-American—when I got my first apartment at age 18, my dad dropped off a case of red wine and a case of white wine and said “call when you need more.” I mostly used it for cooking.)
As for things that you smoke, they all smell bad and seem messy. I’ve never understood why anyone would bother. It sounds like you’re saying that people should try these things. I do think people ought to be experimenting with all sorts of things in their teens and twenties, as they get to know themselves as adults, but not everyone has to do everything, and it’s pretty easy to observe the effects of alcohol and light drugs without actual first-person experience.
I enjoy an alcoholic beverage a couple of times a year. But I’ve been to a lot of bars, restaurants, weddings, happy hours, and other events where alcohol is served and choosen a non-alcoholic beverage. Sure, i have friends who go out for beers. If they invite me they know I’ll be having gingerale. Or a nice glass of water. And no, I’ve never kicked back with a margarita. Ick. Also, like several others in this thread, i don’t like how alcohol makes me feel. I don’t want to ruin a nice vacation evening but feeling tipsy. I realize that most people enjoy what alcohol does to them. I’m pretty sure it feels different to them than to me, because i just feel tired and antisocial. On a related note, my husband and i take almost totally different OTC drugs, because we react differently to them.
I am, at age 68, in the same minority.
I have never wanted to be out of control.
Only had a shot of whisky once. My uncle gave it to me when in the car driving away from the unveiling of an aunt’s cemetery stone. I think I was about age 14. I instantly started laughing, and was utterly appalled at my inappropriate involuntary behavior in front of my father, who was driving.
Alcohol in lesser quantity makes me sleepy, which I do not like. I used to have a limit of one mixed drink but now prefer zero.
After surgery, I may take a few prescribed pain meds but throw out most of them.
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.
I have a sister who’s never had alcohol ever. She’s a super-picky eater, so it’s not surprising to me that she wouldn’t want to try something like alcohol. Heck, she’ll only drink Coke, not Pepsi, no generics, no 7Up, no Fanta Orange…
Since my folks allowed us to try alcohol, it didn’t have any mystique so it didn’t seem cool to me. 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.
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. Have been around drunk people, didn’t see anything I wanted to emulate. Never been tempted to try harder drugs.
Have had hydrocodone and morphine in medical situations. Works great for pain, but hate the way it makes me feel. To the point where when I had my second kidney stone last month just suffered through it at home rather than go the the hospital where they would drug me, or even take the unopened hydrocodone I was proscribed after some dental work.
I do enjoy dark chocolate pretty regularly, but that is for the taste rather than the stimulant. (Or at least that’s what I tell myself).
Yes, binge drinking is really common in the US, it’s odd when you meet people who don’t binge drink (I think binge drinking is now defined as something like 4 or more drinks in so many hours?) Plenty of people do worse than that every weekend.
I’ve been wasted three times in my life. First time, I threw up. Second time, I got naked. Third time I kind of pissed off a friend. That was over ten years ago. Why repeat it? Yes I enjoy a drink occasionally, but I’m 40 now, not 20, and I feel it no matter how much I drink. If I drink more than one drink I feel bad the next day. It makes me depressed.
Research is now showing no amount of alcohol is good for you. It causes brain damage. My father was a hard-core alcoholic, and by that I mean he dragged me into bars every weekend he had custody and offered me schnapps when I was six, and told me with utter sincerity, “I can love alcohol and you at the same time. You’re just going to have to accept it.”
Hard pass.
My husband drinks even less than me. He tried alcohol twice and hated it both times. And he’s allergic to anything fermented. People have their reasons.