I found an online recording of the IQ2US debate, “Is America to Blame for Mexico’s Drug War?”
A big part of the debate was the fact that the US is the world’s leader in drug use.
Ok, let me ask a silly question, I never used and can barely comprehend by alcohol is so popular much less opiates and coca.
So why are so many people using drugs in the US? Why use them at all? I really don’t get it. Do I need some ‘smack’ to understand?
I have wondered the same.
Like you, I have never used illegal drugs. I have always been afraid I would like them and get hooked.
And beer gets me in enough trouble at times. Why double down? 
Since you’re looking for opinions, I’ll move this from MPSIMS to IMHO for you.
Because drugs are fun.
Cocaine is a rush. Heroin takes me to a dream state. Don’t like pot. Never tried meth. Acid was fun, but that was in high school, I don’t think I could handle it now.
Pretty much stick to alcohol as drug of choice now.
Never gotten high before, but I’d guess it’s for the same reasons why we get drunk, but they give you a higher…high. Plus most drugs don’t make you want to puke, unlike alcohol.
Really?! This is a serious question? You wonder why people do drugs? Hmm, let me count the ways…They feel good to use, they can help you forget about your problems, they are physically addicting, they are psychologically addicting, wait, no; this is some weird sort of sneak-bragging, right? (I’m so straight edge, I don’t even “get” drugs).
http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/infofacts/understanding-drug-abuse-addiction
It all sounds reasonable to me.
I’m not into drugs. Never have been. Alcohol? Meh. Pot? I get violently ill from even the second-hand smell. Harder stuff? Never had an interest/desire. Even in the worst moments of my life, drugs were never an option. When I get sick, you literally have to drag me kicking and screaming to take aspirin or ibuprofen. So yeah, I’ve endured some pretty bad headaches far longer than necessary because of my aversion to drugs, even the “good” ones, properly administered and managed.
In blunt terms, I don’t need/want anything to get through life. I don’t need/require the crutch because I’m not weak. Yeah, I said it.
The same reason people doing any other recreational activity - because it’s fun and feels good.
Being too hardass to take an ibuprofen for your headache is only impressive in its stupidity.
Drugs are fun. Really. They’re not for everyone, of course. I’m told Bunco is fun, too. I don’t see it, but I’m willing to believe that the people who play enjoy it.
Sorry I have to…:rolleyes:
That’s like asking why do people have sex when it causes STDs.
I have never done illegal drugs myself. A doctor gave me morphine once. But that was only for a week after a motorcycle accident and 18 hours of surgery.
And real pretty women brought me food and fluffed my pillow.
Thats the way to get high!
I always think this must be some kind of mental disorder when I hear people say this. You won’t take an ibuprofen or a Tylenol? Really?
And you get “violently ill” from the smell of pot? Really?
There has to be something pathological going on there.
nm
I greatly prefer pot over alcohol. If it were legal I’d probably never drink again.
I tried lots of different drugs in my younger, wilder days. Some of them I liked, some of them I didn’t. One of them (ice - a meth derivitive) I liked so much the first time I never tried it again.
Why? Because it was fun. Some people jump out of airplanes for fun - now that I don’t understand!
Okay, I get that drugs cause a high which some people find fun. That doesn’t seem to be a sufficient explanation. The high is expensive and rather dangerous (in both legal and physical senses), and it just doesn’t seem worth it. For someone who isn’t already addicted, what would lead them to take that risk?
I would say marijuana is quite a bit cheaper and definitely less dangerous physically than alcohol. Depending one’s environment, legal risks can be minimized, as well.
Why not? People do all kinds of things for fun, and people also place different values on fun. People skydive. They do it because it’s sufficiently fun for them that it’s worth the risk.
During the *Drugs are Bad *week in high school, one of the handouts was a fact sheet on drugs. Among the long list of scientific names, street names, forms, etc. was a column of effects on the user. Down among the various descriptors was a phrase that still, what, thirty years later, makes me smile warmly.
Intense euphoria.
People. You do not tell a budding Deadhead that one effect of LSD is intense euphoria. Not if you don’t want him kicking in the doors of perception.
People take drugs because they work. They do what they’re supposed to do. Not every experience is for every person, and some people may not like any at all–but those people are an intense minority.
For medicinal purposes.