Alcohol and Substance Abuse Counselling Thread

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Shoot. I tend to read mum's magazines now, and it has a lot about ice in them. I read that a fifteen year old girl died because she used ice.

From what I've heard, it's pretty f***ing addictive. As I noted before, Ice is similar to crack cocaine, but Ice has one advantage here for the drug makers. Cocaine has to be imported, while methamphetamines can simply be synthesised.

Never think a street drug is harmless. GHB (aka 'fantasy' or 'liquid ecstasy') is really (in terms of effect, rather than exactly chemically) a sort of super-alcohol, and if you mix it with alcohol, well, you're dicing with death. Remember Dianne Brimble? Those a***wipes shoved GHB and alcohol into her, and did things to her, and she died, poor thing. And as far as I know, they're still free and laughing....

Not only that, but the idiots making the stuff do so in very unsafe conditions. I read a textbook on the forensic investigation of clandestine labs, and it's scary stuff. As in "die a horrible death from chemical fumes/explosion" scary.

I'll never do drugs after what I've read in magazines.

Good.

Mum said to my brother and I that we are NOT allowed to do drugs or smoke.

What a dream child you are. I told my daughters the same thing and it's only now, years later, that I find out the truth. I'm only glad that no harm came to her.

Stay on the straight and narrow, RedMage.

So you are Australian, RedMage. So am I!

I will! I won't even drink alcohol!

I sure am. I'm from SA.

I'd better not stray off the topic for too long, but I'm in the Sunshine Coast. And to stay on the topic, I do drink alcohol.

I haven't talked live to anyone else before, but i guess we'd better stop on this thread.

Some things are fine...in moderation. Alcohol or marijuana, for example. In excess, most anything is harmful. A couple beers in a night is nothing, though it should not be every night.

Other substances, like cocaine, heroin, crack, crystal meth, there is no moderation. Any amount is a bad amount. Same can be said of cigarettes, they serve no real purpose other than to get you addicted so you buy more. I don't even notice the "benefits" of smoking them any more.

Unless marijuana is illegal where you live (or you're underage for alcohol). Getting busted can screw up a lot of things.

Yeah, I know that one from experience. As for smoking (and at the risk of sounding like a facilitator) you can take precautions that drastically decrease your risk of getting caught. Things like not smoking outside of the place you live (assuming it is an apartment or your house, not your dorm room or your parents' house), taking action to decrease the odor caused, etc.

More than that, even though I don't consider smoking to be dangerous, most people would consider it safer to not be out and about while high.

Drinking, similar.

Again, the key is moderation. It is more important than anything else. Even if you are underage, if you drink in moderation there's a lot lower chance that something will happen to alert the authorities, the parents, the RA, or whoever could bust you. More than that, if you show restraint / control / responsibility / whatever, even if you do get caught (except by the police) there's a lower chance that the person that catches you will be upset or angry.

You do realise that smoking marijuana, besides the risks I'm going to talk about later, will still give you cancer? Most things smoked and burnt will do that....

Instead of flat-out saying "You're wrong!" and giving half of the research on it, I'll state that I've seen research that goes both ways. Didn't look too in-depth, so I can't really say I know which side is more accurate. I did see a study saying that, while smoking marijuana alone did not show a significant increase in risk for cancer, smoking it and cigs did not have the same "benefit."

I've also been in chemistry labs for four of the past five years for classes. Didn't pay much heed to the TAs saying "WEAR GLOVES." Even when I did, let me tell you, sticking a gloved hand in a base bath and realizing there's a hole in it, wasn't much fun. Lots of stuff in the labs that could cause cancer, or worse.

Past that, I smoke about a pack of cigs a day already. I'm aware of the cancer risk of smoking, well, anything. At this point, don't much care. As for other risks, psychological addiction (though some say that's not the case) I'm aware of. Memory problems: aware of. Past that, I haven't noticed any. I have noticed benefits for myself. (Key there is myself, I'm not recommending it to anyone to treat any problems, it has helped me through some rough spots, such as last week's events.)

edit: thought of something else important to add.

If someone decides to use any substance, legal or otherwise, they should have a good understanding of the effects and the risks involved.

It is hard to give up alcohol when at times it makes me think far more clearly than "normal." Sure, that sounds like complete and utter BS to the casual bystander, but, well, knowing there's no way of convincing anyone else that it is the case (on occasion, not always, believe me at times I just become the childish, belligerent drunk...) so all I can do is say that it is the case.

I'm rather intoxicated right now, but at the same time, it is almost like an extreme form of focus. Something I felt at times while high, though I've given smoking up for now, because I need a job, and because I need to get away from substances. That being said, alcohol...given the "right" circumstances, does some really nasty things to me. Stuff some might see as a benefit, right now I just see it as a burden. A very interesting burden.