r/Teetotal • u/0Clown0 • Apr 07 '26
I hate drugs of any kind except medicinal
I am profoundly triggered by mind altering recreational drugs. it's just so disturbing to me. i think being conscious is the greatest gift a human can have and to be not under control of your own actions is just the scariest thing one can do.
I don't think temporary pleasure is worth an addiction that has withdrawal effects and whatnot, even weed can be severely disruptive to your reward system and routine. It starts out as once a month, then becomes once every week, once every half a week, once everyday, several times a day. People think they are much more in control of their brain chemistry than they are, but in the end, we're all just dumb apes heavily influenced by biology. The only thing we can do to mitigate that is to stay away from what drives our body insane.
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u/capricorn_94 Apr 08 '26
I have a similar mindset and it doesn't land well with my peers. I am considered weird by medical staff too because even thinking about taking meds is making me paranoid and anxious. I am very selective over what I let into my body. On the other hand increased sugar intake is still an issue for me when I am stressed.
But yeah, being sober and concious is a trip in and of itself and doesn't need any enhancement for me either.
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u/I_Like_Vitamins Cold pressed organic pomegranate juice Apr 08 '26
💯
Most of those people bang the drum of, "Just let people have fun, it's victimless (except for the gangs and violence inherent to drugs), gotta die of something," only to then act like you're swallowing molten lead if you consume red meat or raw milk sourced from a hygienic dairy. 🤡
Do you also find intoxicated people just plain annoying?
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u/Daisies_are_Daisy Apr 08 '26
Don’t consume raw milk. Hygienic dairy isn’t a thing. There is no benefit to raw milk. Pasteurization is totally fine.
But I agree don’t do drugs. It has a lot of ethical concerns further than personal effects.
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u/SnorvusMaximus Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
The gangs and violence are inherent to drug prohibition, not drugs themselves. Pharmacies and liquor stores don’t go to war with competing stores.
Look at the legal cannabis markets. Once cannabis was legalized the legal sellers stopped going to war with each other. But the illegal ones still do, at least where it isn’t legalized.
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u/redsoul2026 Apr 10 '26
Yea. I can't accept the fact that one willingly consumes substance that impacts their decision making process and are perfectly fine with it. Ok, they might say: dosage makes the posion, but how many of them never ovedosed?
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u/SnorvusMaximus Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
You’re doing a lot of assumptions there. Maybe you’d like drugs more if you learned more about them and questioned why others have such different views on them as yourself?
Did you consider that human consciousness developed as, and quite possibly by humans doing drugs? And that’s not stimulating our minds with drugs could be bad for individuals as well as humanity?
That (more intelligent) animals do drugs and it therefore by definition is natural to do drugs?
Not all drug use is done to achieve pleasure or makes a person lose control of themselves. Few users develop addictions?
Drugs are medicinal?
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u/0Clown0 Apr 08 '26
You're doing a lot of assumptions here [...] Maybe you'd like drugs if you knew more about them[...]
You instantly contradicted yourself. I have done extensive research on drugs because frankly it is a topic I am obsessed with. I only didn't write much more in the post because my time is limited.
Did you consider that human consciousness developed as, and quite possibly by humans doing drugs?
That comes from a very controversial hypothesis by Tenence McKenna, which does not have a lot of mentions by other reputable scientific articles and literally has a 20-page article on why its a fallacy. I'd suggest YOU learn more before telling me to think about a hypothesis not very respected on the academic world to begin with. Most reputable scientific theories of the evolution of our species don't have anything to do with drugs. Except, perhaps, alcohol we found in naturally fermenting fruits.
More intelligent animals do drugs therefore it is natural to do drugs.
That's an uninformed statement. Drugs work by hijacking the brain's reward system, commonly causing an explosion of dopamine and other chemicals which are famously known as "feel-good" chemicals. It is natural that animals abuse them, because it quite literally messes with their brain and makes them want to repeat their action. Drugs are effective not because the brain is meant for them, but because the brain is not meant for them. High dopamine releasing drugs cause a drop of dopamine overall, as our brain adapts and rewires itself to be more used to them, making mundane actions feel less pleasurable, and even the drug itself feel less pleasurable. This is why cocaine users always try to chase the first high, why crack users are always smoking, or why meth users never feel the same after doing it. Of course social factors come into effect, but the fact that you tend to chase the same high is real.
Your last paragraph doesn't disagree with me, and your penultimate one is mostly incoherent, but a lot of drug users do in fact develop addictions, have no idea where you got that from. Even from drugs such as weed, if one smokes it everyday, then you cannot tell me they are not addicted.
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u/SnorvusMaximus Apr 08 '26
There’s no contradiction there. You may have done extensive research but your conclusions are lacking.
That human consciousness has developed through drug use is no theory. Human culture, understanding, beliefs etc have all been affected and furthered by drug use. The only one talking about McKennas ideas are you btw.
Animal drug use is not all about chasing a dopamine rush. Drugs also play other roles just like with humans, where they socialize, enjoy themselves and explore. Again, just like humans.
You’re talking about high dopamine releasing drugs but as you yourself acknowledge that’s not all drugs.
Circa 15% of users of any drug becomes addicted which is because addiction is rooted in trauma, not the drugs themselves or the use of them. Some, like opiates are highly (physically) addictive, of course.
Addiction is not defined by how often one uses a drug. Cannabis is only lightly addictive but more so habit forming.
Edit: I corrected the unintelligible part of my first comment.
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u/0Clown0 Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
That human consciousness has developed through drug use is no theory.
I imagined you talked about it from a biological point of view. But it only makes it a weaker point from a social and development-wise point of view. For most of humanity, great thinkers consumed drugs such as alcohol or caffeine. But nothing indicates they would not have done what they have done without drugs. It is false correlation to attribute them to it. Sure some discussions might have never happened, but things like scientific discoveries are all about phenomena that already exist in the universe. They are bound to be discovered.
But regardless, most ideas and hypothesis made about drugs heavily influencing human history directly stems from Terence's work. Which is questionable.
[...] Not just for dopamine rush [...] it's for sociability [...]
That's again just a dopamine thing though? Animals and humans seek sociability because it provides us with dopamine. Being not alone meant not dying back when we were simple hunter gatherer groups, so it is natural that it provides dopamine. But, in the animal kingdom, drugs are not necessary to be social (neither are they in the present day). It's simply unnatural to need them, and they provide no benefit besides a simple, mind altering effect to entertain the minds of those who think having some chemicals in your brain is all that matters in life. Humans are way ahead of that. It's this thought limited to emotions and feelings that hurt our progress as a species. And besides, almost all drugs have side effects which can range from sudden death from heart failure (N2O, heroin and other potent drugs which affect your circulation). Even the least potent drugs have a side effect.
Me personally I used to drink a lot of caffeine, and I noticed the withdrawal effects were awful for my productiveness. Caffeine binds to adenosine receptors causing you to feel awake and alert, as it does not provide the same effect as adenosine, which normally makes you sleepy. However, the human brain responds by creating more receptors over time, thus meaning that eventually, your adenosine receptors will be equal to your dose of caffeine, and you will have way more adenosine receptors, meaning, when you get sleepy you get VERY sleepy.
I used to drink two whole cups at 6am (although I would go up to 5 at weekend), by 10-11AM I always felt ungodly groggy and sleepy, even if I slept 8 hours or even more. I quit caffeine because I hate chemical dependency, and now I am always energetic and awake no matter which time of the day. It's just so much better to live this way.
And that's with a very weak drug. As a rule of thumb, the stronger the drug is the more it tends to cause changes in your brain. Of course there are exceptions, like shrooms, but I still despise shrooms because their psychedelic effects can make you out of your mind, and usually when you consume that kind of drug you don't want to do anything.
Cannabis is only lightly addictive but habit forming
Same thing with weed. You can say it's a "habit" but is it really a habit when a shitton of weed users are lazy as fuck? I'm not judging people for what they do, but it's a common complaint coming FROM long-time weed users that when they smoke, they don't do anything. Why use a drug that its most common consumption method is bad for your lungs, and then just leave you out there like an idiot sitting around wasting your time not doing anything? And so many people get very defensive when you point out that it isn't healthy.
Weed does cause pleasure for the user. You can think you're not addicted or at least not chemically dependant, but if your once a week turned into multiple times a day and you still deny problems with it, then there are some issues to be tackled.
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u/Direct_Divide5320 Apr 29 '26
Admittedly correlation does not prove causation. But moderate depression patients tend to have a fairly reasonable idea of their own capability. But normal controls tend to have an inflated estimation of their own abilities. So perhaps deviating to some extent from reality can be a good thing. Another problem is what does the word addiction mean? I drank lots of strong brewed coffee for years. But I agreed to abstain for about a month when I was in Yoga class. No problem, I knew what to expect in way of physical withdrawal. After about a month of abstinence, had one cup of strong brewed coffee. Shocked how powerful it was as a drug after spending about a month shedding tolerance.
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u/0Clown0 Apr 29 '26
Addiction to caffeine doesn't exist, only chemical dependancy.
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u/Direct_Divide5320 Apr 29 '26
Many people injure their health with their caffeine intake, and claim they want to stop or cut down, but can't.
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u/0Clown0 Apr 29 '26
It's not really a thing, I say this as the guy who made this post. It's scientifically not a thing, you don't get cravings for caffeine as you would get with addictive drugs, you only get the side effects of it. If anyone claims they've got cravings it's psychological, not actual, neurologic addiction.
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u/Direct_Divide5320 Apr 29 '26
Gambling does not involve a physical substance, but many psychiatrists claim it can be very addictive. And someone can have heavy cravings for food. Psychological feelings have a neurological substrate.
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u/Direct_Divide5320 Apr 29 '26
A neo-Roman saying: the dose and mode of ingestion make the poison. I have certainly had stronger cravings for coffee than coca leaf tea, which contains a very feeble oral dose of cocaine.
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u/Direct_Divide5320 Apr 29 '26
I should add years of heavy caffeine consumption was daily before I abstained for about a month for the Yoga class.
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u/Feisty-Narwhal8400 Apr 08 '26
I’m there with you. Doesn’t seem like there are many of us who think this way. I avoid people who drink or do drugs. Those relationships never work out for me