Alright, already! I've gotten many replies to this, most of them arguing about
points I did not make here. So to sum up the node, before you read it: Most nodes about drugs that I've seen take a very
one-sided approach:
drugs are cool. I'm not saying everyone is
weak-willed, but many people are easily affected by
impressive documents (no, of course not YOU). Most nodes which are supposed to be informative give only the positive side of drugs. For some reason, the possibility of
flashbacks 20 years later and such unimportant information seems to be omitted. I've seen
more than my share of the negative. When you DO choose to write about something, remember that what you write could affect someone, so, especially when writing about something that could kill someone, try to give the full picture. That's it. Too many people don't realise the power of the pen. The original node ensues:
Oh, I'm sorry, did I say the problem with nodes condoning drugs? I meant the problem is nodes condoning drugs.
Picture if you will the following scene: a 16-year old boy has just been offered by some friends to take acid with them. He knows drugs are bad, so he says no. But then has a fight with his parents. He chances upon a wonderful node explaining what acid does to your brain. It looks cool. Just like LSD, but no side effects are written there (he doesn't even know acid and LSD are the same). Cool. Then he sees a daylog of someone writing under the influence. Awesome!. People do it, and enjoy it. It's probably not too bad! So he calls up his friends, and says he's in. They go to the tracks, take some LSD and he gets hit by a train.
I guess everyone should be allowed to write what they want and say what they want. Unfortunately, most people are easily influenced by what they read. Especially when what they read seems to be very scientific and precise, like the Psychedelic Guide. This was written by someone who knows what he is talking about! The highs look great! What about the lows? What about bad trips? What about flashbacks? What about permanent mental effects? Oh, no, no need to mention them. In fact, some of them are not even known.
So I see a node on mushrooms. They look good. Maybe it even says that there are NO side effects. I look around. I see 5 more nodes saying how mushrooms changed people's lives. But I don't see any nodes by people who are in mental institutions because they took mushrooms and lost touch with reality. Why is that? Don't they have the internet in mental institutions?
Drugs are
NOT COOL. Drugs can fuck up your life for ever. Even
cannabis, a
soft drug, has at least one
seriously hallucinogenic variant. If you're not aware you took it, you might just
try to fly. I actually know someone who almost got run over by a car because he didn't know what was in his
joint. It was either a really strong variant or was
laced.
Before anyone takes any drugs, they should know what they're getting into. This is not some 'Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine' situation. You're playing with your nervous system, you're playing with your brain. You're playing with your life.
A node that say drugs are cool could just have ruined somebody's life forever.
P.S.
Not that I give a shit about how much reputation this node has, but it has been taking a bit of a hammering. I personally don't downvote something because I disagree with it, but your votes are yours to do what you want with. Just one tiny request, please: if you DO NOT do drugs, and DOWNVOTE this node, could you please /msg me about it? I will not hold a grudge, I promise, but I would like to know. Thanks. (Also, if you DO do drugs, and UPVOTED me, I would appreciate a /msg).
I don't usually like replying to replies, but Nanosecond asked me to, so I will. ink- said marijuana is not hallucinogenic. It is. Don't take my word for it; check for yourself. A simple google check with something on the lines of 'hallucinogenic drugs' will get you loads of pages listing hallucinogenic drugs. See if cannabis is there. Or if you don't trust these web pages, check out a source that you believe (Encyclopaedia, maybe?).
As I'm already replying to ink- : the cynicism is lost on me, as I never said alcohol and nicotine aren't drugs. They are. (Yes, you can run a google check on that too). And that was hardly the point of this node.