The only line that should be drawn is when one individual initiates an action that harms or threatens harm to another by behaving recklessly, being negligent or by intent.
For me, what, if any, substance was in their body doesn’t matter. To carry that one step further, if it doesn’t matter then, why should it matter when they don’t pose a threat nor harm any one else?
You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims. -Harriet Woods-
Oxygen is a drug. A nurse can’t technically administer oxygen to a patient unless it’s ordered by a physician. The percentage of oxygen is specified in the order.
In home health, when a patient uses oxygen at home, we have to list it on the medication record with his other drugs.
Although oxygen is a natural thing, high concentrations of it are not. One does not normally encounter 100% O2 in nature. It’s certainly possible to harm a patient by misusing oxygen.
It seems to me that what a person uses it for is the most important aspect of any substance. I can’t say that sugar is a drug, but I know lots of people who use it like one (think of the nervous guy next to you at work with the bag of M&M’s and a coke on his desk), and its effects can be as far-reaching as any pharmaceutical. When people get caught up in deciding what something “is”, they tend to get stupid. Medical marijuana is not legal in most places because marijuana “is” a drug–with a capitol “d”. The distinction of purpose gets ignored. Sugar “is” food. However huge doses of it are unhealthy and unneccessary, and it’s use goes far beyond that of basic sweetening or the meeting of caloric needs. People self-medicate with it. Common sense gets neglected because we’re so busy putting labels and definitions on things.