# Silly question: Why do people use drugs? (Narcotics & Mary Jane)) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 16, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645 "2012-01-16T00:29:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/21 "2012-01-16T03:14:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Silly question: Why do people use drugs? (Narcotics & Mary Jane)) To escspe from pain and sorrow. To escspe from what is unbearable in their lives. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/22 "2012-01-16T03:20:14Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > To escspe from pain and sorrow. To escspe from what is unbearable in their lives. You forgot fun. Lots and lots of fun. The “to escape” has a nice Nancy Reagan ring to it, but is one of those silly little lies that tends to backfire when kids find out just how much fun drugs can be. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/23 "2012-01-16T03:23:52Z")
> [@Trom](#): > > 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. This. You can drink yourself to death in a single night, if you’ve a mind to. Pass out, puke, aspirate your vomit. Done. And it happens, in the real world. Weed doesn’t do that. Oh, it may give you lung cancer, eventually, but unless you’re foolish enough to drive, you won’t kill yourself on any sort of short-to-medium time scale with the stuff. ETA: This is why, if I had a teenager, I’d much rather he/she do pot than booze. I’d be very unhappy with either, of course - but if I had to choose, I’d rather my hypothetical kiddo take on legal risks instead of physical ones. ---
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/24 "2012-01-16T03:29:54Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > You forgot fun. Lots and lots of fun. The “to escape” has a nice Nancy Reagan ring to it, but is one of those silly little lies that tends to backfire when kids find out just how much fun drugs can be. Are drugs fun? Ask a crack-whore. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/25 "2012-01-16T03:37:06Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > Are drugs fun? Ask a crack-whore. :rolleyes: God, there aren’t enough rolleyes in the universe. ---
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/26 "2012-01-16T03:50:05Z")
You must think pretty poorly of me. I really don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/27 "2012-01-16T03:54:40Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > Are drugs fun? Ask a crack-whore. :rolleyes: Yes, the vast majority of crack-whores started out a plain ol’ down-on-their-luck whores who, desperate for some escape from reality, turned to crack. No, wait, they were addicted to crack _then_ they became whores. It’s whores all the way down! ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/28 "2012-01-16T04:00:18Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > And you get “violently ill” from the smell of pot? Really? > > There has to be something pathological going on there. Well, _I_ don’t get violently ill but it does make me pretty nauseous. The same goes for pipe & cigar smoke\* for that matter, which many people seem to find pleasant. People just react differently to such things, I think. \*Except for one time when I was recovering from the flu; then it _was_ enough to make me vomit. Especially obnoxious since it was from a bunch of people smoking in the non-smoking section of a restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/29 "2012-01-16T04:02:15Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Okay, I get that drugs cause a high which some people find fun. That doesn’t seem to be a sufficient explanation. I get the impression that more and more research is showing that some people have certain brain “wiring” (for lack of a better and more scientific word) that clicks with drugs and/or alcohol. In a way, if you don’t have this “brain wiring,” you’ll never “get” it. Conversely, those that do have this “brain wiring” might never understand how you could ask this question. It’s not really about “fun,” though that might be the word that comes closest to explaining it. > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > For someone who isn’t already addicted, what would lead them to take that risk? The brain can’t really process the risk, in light of the effect that drugs have. This is especially true for people under the age 25, which is when the frontal lobe of the brain (where risk is processed) finishes developing. ---
**Author:** ![Theophane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Theophane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theophane)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/30 "2012-01-16T04:10:06Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Yes, the vast majority of crack-whores started out a plain ol’ down-on-their-luck whores who, desperate for some escape from reality, turned to crack. No, wait, they were addicted to crack _then_ they became whores. > > It’s whores all the way down! That’s not funny, that’s just perverse. And stupid. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/31 "2012-01-16T04:12:36Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > Are drugs fun? Ask a crack-whore. :rolleyes: Are the majority of drug users crack whores? Ask an hysteric. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/32 "2012-01-16T04:12:54Z")
> [@Theophane](#): > > That’s not funny, that’s just perverse. And stupid. Did it at least illustrate the, er, crack whore-sized gaping whole in the logic of your post? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/33 "2012-01-16T05:10:17Z")
Why did I, personally, take drugs? Because they made me feel really, really good. This pretty much summed it up: [**Trainspotting**] _RENTON_: People think it’s all about misery and desperation and death and all that shite, which is not to be ignored, but what they forget is the pleasure of it. Otherwise we wouldn’t do it. After all, we’re not fucking stupid. At least, we’re not that fucking stupid. Take the best orgasm you ever had, multiply it by a thousand and you’re still nowhere near it. When you’re on junk you have only one worry: scoring. When you’re off it you are suddenly obliged to worry about all sorts of other shite. Got no money: can’t get pished. Got money: drinking too much. Can’t get a bird: no chance of a ride. Got a bird: too much hassle. You have to worry about bills, about food, about some football team that never fucking wins, about human relationships and all the things that really don’t matter when you’ve got a sincere and truthful junk habit. [/ **Trainspotting**] ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/34 "2012-01-16T09:19:29Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > 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? Usually, people don’t leave the house saying “I think today I’ll try [insert drug here]”; it’s offered to them in a social context. And IME many people seem to think they can’t have fun without chemical help, which I find completely incomprehensible - they, in turn, find my assertions that I am, indeed, having fun equally incomprehensible. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/35 "2012-01-16T10:19:17Z")
I don’t really even get where people FIND drugs. I guess I encountered pot once, but if some evil mastermind said he’d kill me in 12 hours if I didn’t get him some illegal substance I’d… I don’t know, wander around dark alleys hoping I found a dealer before I got shot? Is it just one of those things where you happen to know a guy who knows a guy? I seriously can’t fathom it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/36 "2012-01-16T11:03:14Z")
Shrug, when I was 15 I had classmates who’d steal their mother’s medications; the only reason my friends could give me to try pot was “it’s cool!” but the dealer (of pot, pills and heroin) who lived in our same building was pretty much the epitome of uncool, so I didn’t try it due to a complete lack of motivation - if I’d wanted any, all I had to do was cross the hallway and ask the neighboor to hook me up with some. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/37 "2012-01-16T13:23:41Z")
People use drugs for the same reason people sky dive, have sex, or eat ice cream. It stimulates pleasureable feedback mechanisms in the brain. Drugs just happen to be a more direct, extreme, and potentially dangerous way to go about it. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/38 "2012-01-16T13:29:53Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > [**Trainspotting**] I love that movie. It almost feels like a more stealthy version of Reefer Madness but it really does seem impartial. I tried pot as an experiment–just to see what all the fuss was about. Made me sleepy, screwed with my vision, impaired my motors. Felt like beeing too drunk, too quickly, and made me uneasy because it’s illegal and man I’d hate to get busted doing something illegal that gets me into the same state as something that is not. Then someone told me, “Oh, some strains of pot will do that, others will have effects x and y.” Which sounds to me like the different drunks between tequila, vodka, beer, etc. It’s all alcohol, and it’s all THC. How different can they really be? Count me as one who is mystified why anyone should die for pot. Legalize it, hell don’t even tax it, and make the gangsters find something else to kill each other over. Incidentally, I don’t like being drunk. It’s an unfortunate side effect of really liking the taste of beer & red wine (but not together!). I will use it as a tranquilizer from time to time. So…that’s me and drugs. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/39 "2012-01-16T13:39:27Z")
I’m reminded of the song \*Cure For Pain \*by the band (ironically) **Morphine** : “When they find a cure for pain, that’s the day I throw my drugs away.” ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645/40 "2012-01-16T15:37:45Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Then someone told me, “Oh, some strains of pot will do that, others will have effects x and y.” Which sounds to me like the different drunks between tequila, vodka, beer, etc. It’s all alcohol, and it’s all THC. How different can they really be? It’s not just THC that gets you high. There are [other chemicals](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabinoid) in marijuana that have an effect on what you feel. Different strains can have different amounts of these chemicals. Also, some strains have been carefully cultivated for decades to maximize THC production. Those strains are going to be much more potent than something you find growing in a ditch somewhere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silly-question-why-do-people-use-drugs-narcotics-mary-jane/609645.md?page=3)