# What recreational drugs in your opinion should someone avoid taking at all costs?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-recreational-drugs-in-your-opinion-should-someone-avoid-taking-at-all-costs/831220>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [March 16, 2019, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-recreational-drugs-in-your-opinion-should-someone-avoid-taking-at-all-costs/831220 "2019-03-16T07:34:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 13

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**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2019, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-recreational-drugs-in-your-opinion-should-someone-avoid-taking-at-all-costs/831220/13 "2019-03-16T16:22:22Z")

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There are stats about the dangers and costs of different types of drugs to the person taking them, and to larger society. For both legal and illegal drugs.

Is this graph readable? [https://dynamic.decorrespondent.nl/media/904/59144b53679eb0254961807.png](https://dynamic.decorrespondent.nl/media/904/59144b53679eb0254961807.png)

From worst to less bad:  
Alcohol  
Heroine  
Crack  
Meth  
Tobacco  
Amphetamines  
Cannabis  
GHB  
Benzodiazepines  
Ketamine  
Methadone  
Metphedrone  
Bhutaan  
Qat  
Anabolic steroids  
XTC  
LSD  
Mushrooms.

Herbal psychedelics like ayahuasca, and huasca, and iboga root, aren’t even on the list. They are rarely taken recreationally, but always in a ritual setting with a careful sitter, who -if it is done right- prepares the triptakers and prevents and helps if problems arise.  
And none of these herbal psychedelics are considered addictive by professionals studying drug addiction. On the contrary, they are used to combat addiction. And the therapeutic potential of such drugs is more and more researched.  
Such herbal psychedelics are even produced in an responsible way. Having taken them a couple times I can understand why. Such plants and the experience they yield command respect from everyone who experiences them.

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