Information about Illegal Drugs

[Beanieboy]

Due to the technology of the internet, one can find a lot of information on the internet about illegal drugs on a number of sites.

You can find out how long it lasts, it's addiction potential, dosage information, danger of ODing, and trip reports - experiences from people who have taken the drug.

You can see the experiences of those who had good experiences, bad experiences, those who did a little, a lot, or in combination with other drugs.

At one time, it was argued that such information should not be accessible to everyone, probably because it was inferred that any reader would then go try it for themselves. However, it seems to also warn about what not to do, dangers of taking too much, and inform a person that is going to do it how to do it (relatively) safely.

Others argue that it shouldn't be available to children, but then, if anyone who is young decides to try something, they won't have any information, which seems far more dangerous. I remember hearing about the effects of drugs in as early as 6th grade, and it was enough for our curiousity at the time, since we had heard so much about them from music, pop culture, etc.

Is it better to have such information readily accessible to all, or is that a bad idea?

 

[S53]

Yes. If it wasn't, we'd be censoring others to what happens when you take drugs. And I HATE censorship.

Children especially. My little brother had a K-9 Unit come to his Middle School and search for drugs. And they found some. What's to keep a kid from "just trying" if he doesn't know the effects of drugs?

 

[Beanieboy]

Yes. If it wasn't, we'd be censoring others to what happens when you take drugs. And I HATE censorship.

Children especially. My little brother had a K-9 Unit come to his Middle School and search for drugs. And they found some. What's to keep a kid from "just trying" if he doesn't know the effects of drugs?

Do you think that keeping that kind of knowledge from kids is more harmful than giving them the knowledge or teaching them about it?

In high school, we had a guy come to our high school and talk about his cocaine habit that led to the eventual disintegration of his septum. It wasn't the scare tactics that we learned in health class, but coming from a real person with real experiences. He also talked about how good it felt, which is how he became addicted, so he warned about its seduction.

There was a kid in my school who was alcoholic by 14. I hadn't even had anything to drink yet, since my parents didn't have a bar, and none of my friends knew how to get any.

One of my college friends said that his parent let him drink as much as they wanted in high school and college, but no one could leave. I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, it's much better than the drinking and driving I did with my friends during High School, which was really stupid. Another friend had been served wine since he was about 6 (watered down, of course) with his meals occassionally. He learned how to drink responsibly, and didn't see much of a point to chugging alcohol. Often, you will see the uptight freshman in college bowing to the porcelain goddess because they wanted to know what getting drunk was like, so they had 8 tequilla shots (and a fuzzy navel, and a beer, and a rum and coke). It's kind of a waste of you college tuition.

 

[lawtonfogle]

Do you think that keeping that kind of knowledge from kids is more harmful than giving them the knowledge or teaching them about it?

In high school, we had a guy come to our high school and talk about his cocaine habit that led to the eventual disintegration of his septum. It wasn't the scare tactics that we learned in health class, but coming from a real person with real experiences. He also talked about how good it felt, which is how he became addicted, so he warned about its seduction.

There was a kid in my school who was alcoholic by 14. I hadn't even had anything to drink yet, since my parents didn't have a bar, and none of my friends knew how to get any.

One of my college friends said that his parent let him drink as much as they wanted in high school and college, but no one could leave. I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, it's much better than the drinking and driving I did with my friends during High School, which was really stupid. Another friend had been served wine since he was about 6 (watered down, of course) with his meals occassionally. He learned how to drink responsibly, and didn't see much of a point to chugging alcohol. Often, you will see the uptight freshman in college bowing to the porcelain goddess because they wanted to know what getting drunk was like, so they had 8 tequilla shots (and a fuzzy navel, and a beer, and a rum and coke). It's kind of a waste of you college tuition.

I would like to make my decision informed, and last time I checked, that required me getting information. I don't think being informed about sex will increase you chance of having it, at least it didn't for me. I think most first time sexual encounters are done as an exploration into this thing they have heard half truths and which has otherwise been kept 'under the rug'.

 

[wanderingone]

I have always preferred my children to have the facts when they chose to look for information. A kid old enough to search out information is old enough to have information available. It's always been more important to me to teach my kids how to make use of information than to prevent them from finding it.

 

[S53]

Do you think that keeping that kind of knowledge from kids is more harmful than giving them the knowledge or teaching them about it?

Yes. Like I said; if kids don't know the effects of drugs, what's going to stop them from trying drugs out? They need to learn from others mistakes.

 

[Autumnleaf]

Information from the internet is unreliable. That being the case I think its bad for children to make decisions based on information they get from the internet unless they are able to accurately judge the truth of that information.

 

[Beanieboy]

Information from the internet is unreliable. That being the case I think its bad for children to make decisions based on information they get from the internet unless they are able to accurately judge the truth of that information.

There is some misinformation.
However, there are pretty reliable sources as well, such as erowid, or Pihkal. There are very researched resources, reports of ODing, potential dangers, potential dangerous combinations, as well as numerous experience reports. You can cross reference information for validiity as well.

 

[wanderingone]

Information from the internet is unreliable. That being the case I think its bad for children to make decisions based on information they get from the internet unless they are able to accurately judge the truth of that information.

True, there's misinformation on net, and in books, on tv, in magazines, in newspapers, etc...

I still don't find it reasonable to try to hide information from kids. I don't teach my kids to believe everything they read, see or hear, and I make sure they know that when it comes to personal impact of drugs (even legal ones that are appropriate for medical treatment) they should realize that while most people can expect the same range of effects that you can never be certain what is different about your body and another person's body, and with illegal drugs you can never be sure that the substance you use will have the same strength, ingredients etc.. as the substance another person reciting their tale used.

When it comes to illegal drugs I've also made sure my kids understand the difference between those who experimented in the 60's and 70's when we hadn't yet created an institutionalized response to drug use and possession. All 3 of my children have been exposed to the information on the number of people in jail now compared to 3 decades ago for similar crimes. Never mind the reaction to the drug, is it worth the risk is information they need to know as well. I'd much rather my kids have this information than be sheltered from it.

The young child not old enough to understand who is a reliable source of information and who is not, and what to do with it is also not likely to be finding this type of information... from the time they are in their middle elementary school years I believed it to be more and more important for my kids to learn how to find information, and what to do with it. To me a talented researcher can make their way in the world much better than someone who knows a bunch of facts but not where to get more info about those facts, or how to apply that information to the other things they know to make reasonable choices.

 

[Lynden1000]

There's a difference between having the facts and putting said facts into practice. One can have the knowledge needed to build a bomb and yet not build a bomb. The easy availablity of information on the internet has become a scapegoat for bad choices.

 

[Kevin Wier]

Yes reliability is key, but I definitely agree that kids should have the information in order to make an informed decision on drugs. I would hope that the parents would talk about this to children as well so it not the only source of information they have on this subject.

 

[Autumnleaf]

Parents should talk to children about drugs. My only concern about the internet is that I've received extensive study about good sources to do research with and very few of them are to be found on the net. The net seems to be a place for all kinds of morons to spout all kinds of nonsense with relative impunity.

 

[HollandScotts]

It helps me to know what the affect of the drug I'm going to take for the first time has. It helps me to not OD. It's just great.