# Immaturity rant **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 3, 2004, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immaturity-rant/238022 "2004-04-03T04:19:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nameless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/779978/32.png) [@nameless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nameless)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immaturity-rant/238022/21 "2004-04-03T15:38:18Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > No he wasn’t. And it’s **Halsted**. > > He was hopelessly addicted to cocaine. So he went to what passed as a treatment center in those days. They managed to break his cocaine addiction with morphine. He spent the rest of his life hopelessly addicted to morphine instead of cocaine. At the time, morphine was much more socially acceptable than cocaine. Interesting. Here’s my cite, which may well be wrong– > [@](#): > > One such individual was Dr. William Stewart Halstead, one of the founders of Johns Hopkins Medical School and one of the most brilliant surgeons of his day… during his career he was addicted to morphine, a fact he was able to keep secret from all but his closest friends (Brecher & the editors of _Consumer Reports_, 1972, p. 35) This is taken from a class textbook mind you. _Drugs and Behavior: an Introduction to Behavioral Pharmacology (5th ed.)_ by William A. McKim. Good textbook, one of my favorites. Okay, so I was way off base on the heroin thing (faulty memory). The name is spelled in the cite as I have typed it above. However, having looked over **your** cite, I am apparently mistaken and my textbook is wrong-wrongety-wrong. Consider me re-educated. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![nameless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/779978/32.png) [@nameless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nameless)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immaturity-rant/238022/22 "2004-04-03T15:46:12Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Is it really so terrible that **NT** doesn’t think competitive drinking is cool? My college was overrun with students who would **brag** about how soon they passed out, after how tremendous an amount of alcohol in how short a time. Or how much and how violently they’d thrown up. Or how they’d injured themselves, or what kind of property damage they’d done, or how big their memory gap was, or how close they’d come to getting arrested. Fools! That’s not how you’re supposed to drink! A mature person drinks to **enjoy** an evening, not to ruin their life and their liver. (underlining mine) I think there’s the seeds of a debate in this question. I think its TOTALLY acceptable for NT to think that drinking is “not cool.” What I DON’T think is OK is for him to dismiss people who indulge in alcohol as “idiots” and “morons.” Substance use is way more complex than that. It’s something that I don’t think we should dismiss offhand as being “evil” or “immoral” or “stupid.” And honestly, I think throwing around the “maturity” label is a little… I dunno, trite? Maybe? Maturity is so overrated–being called immature is a lot less insulting to me than it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immaturity-rant/238022/23 "2004-04-03T16:03:09Z")
At my school, there are many people who think drinking is cool. I just accept it. It is who they are. Do I drink? Naw… but I still respect them. Unless they brag to my face about it. That is usually when I shut them down or I just shrug it off. It is highschool. Just be glad that the idiots you encounter now are innocent, the ones you will encounter later will have no self-respect. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immaturity-rant/238022/24 "2004-04-03T17:01:02Z")
> [@nameless](#): > > Consider me re-educated. 😃 Then my work here in this thread is done! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immaturity-rant/238022/25 "2004-04-03T18:07:08Z")
> [@nameless](#): > > What I DON’T think is OK is for him to dismiss people who indulge in alcohol as “idiots” and “morons.” Substance use is way more complex than that. It’s something that I don’t think we should dismiss offhand as being “evil” or “immoral” or “stupid.” I’m not sure if your take is that I’m saying “drinking is evil” (and if not, my apologies), but that’s not what I’m trying to get across. What I’m criticizing is people who drink _because they want to be admired for it_; those who get hammered on the weekend so that on Monday they can brag about how many beers they downed. I agree completely that most people who drink aren’t idiots. Some of my closest friends and some of the smartest (underage) people I know drink. Believe me, I’m not trying to put on a holier-than-thou attitude about drinking just because I don’t do it. > [@Bad News Baboon](#): > > You have to ask yourself, “Does it really matter?”. If their actions aren’t affecting you, why the hell should you care? Because their actions can potentially (and in some cases already are) screwing up _their_ lives. For example…one guy at my school was given a soccer scholarship for next year when he heads to college. His scholarship was (it may still be, I’m not sure) in jeopardy because of an incident involving alcohol, pumpkins and car windshields. Maybe I _am_ too concerned with interfering with other people’s lives, but I can’t help but feel a little angry about such a waste of potential as I mentioned above. On another note, thanks to you guys for keeping this thread civil. Even though this is the Pit I’m glad everyone has posted rational thoughts (and some healthy criticism :)). ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immaturity-rant/238022/26 "2004-04-03T20:14:27Z")
> [@nameless](#): > > (underlining mine) > > I think there’s the seeds of a debate in this question. I think its TOTALLY acceptable for NT to think that drinking is “not cool.” What I DON’T think is OK is for him to dismiss people who indulge in alcohol as “idiots” and “morons.” Substance use is way more complex than that. It’s something that I don’t think we should dismiss offhand as being “evil” or “immoral” or “stupid.” I said **competitive** drinking. If **NT** ’s classmates are doing what I described above, then they are idiots and morons. Courting liver damage, and brain damage, and death, just to prove how big your dick is, is idiotic. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immaturity-rant/238022/27 "2004-04-03T20:40:30Z")
> [@Nightwatch Trailer](#): > > Maybe I _am_ too concerned with interfering with other people’s lives, but I can’t help but feel a little angry about such a waste of potential as I mentioned above. I think you may be, too. Don’t you have enough going on in your own life to be wasting time being ‘concerned’ about others’ _partying_ habits? It sucks that the guy may lose his scholarship. Maybe that will teach him a Valuable Life Lesson®. Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it’s really none of your business, unless he himself asked you for your thoughts or you are the one funding his college career. As it is, you come off sounding sanctimonious. Like I said, you’d be better off expending the energy elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![nameless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/779978/32.png) [@nameless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nameless)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immaturity-rant/238022/28 "2004-04-03T21:42:32Z")
> [@Nightwatch Trailer](#): > > I’m not sure if your take is that I’m saying “drinking is evil” (and if not, my apologies), but that’s not what I’m trying to get across. Yeah, after I posted that, I immediately regretted putting quotation marks around words you didn’t use. Since you didn’t say them, I can see how one would interpret it as me projecting those views on you. The evil/immoral/stupid argument is one that I hear a lot in connection with drinking excessively, and it’s one that I just don’t like. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immaturity-rant/238022/29 "2004-04-04T20:57:20Z")
> [@nameless](#): > > Yeah, after I posted that, I immediately regretted putting quotation marks around words you didn’t use. Since you didn’t say them, I can see how one would interpret it as me projecting those views on you. The evil/immoral/stupid argument is one that I hear a lot in connection with drinking excessively, and it’s one that I just don’t like. My bad. I’d just like to say that you are now one of my favorite posters, after what you’ve done in a few threads I’ve read today to dispel myths about substance use. I see you haven’t picked up your membership yet. Although I can’t sponsor you now due to not having control over my financial situation (I’m a high school student), I will sponsor you in September or sometime over this summer (basically, as soon as I’m financially independent) if you want to join up then. Drop me an email or an IM around then, send me the $15 if you have it, and I will gladly sponsor you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immaturity-rant/238022.md?page=1)