I am curious as to all of your viewpoints regarding the use of psychoactive substances. I assume some of you are against the use of any mind-altering substance while others may be okay with some, but not others. If you are one of the people who regards ALL "drugs" bad, then riddle me this: What makes the use of prescription drugs and "mind-altering" substances ok, while the use of alcohol/other recreational drugs wrong? Is it the intent of the user? Is it the practicality of the drug? (This view has its strong points, but I'm just curious as to your own reasoning.)
Bad is not a word I'd use. Stupid, damning or unwise would all be closer.
By damning I do not mean in a spiritual sense of course. But in the sense that it is harmful and holds a huge negative potential. Which I am sure you know.
Let's start off with why there's a difference between prescription drugs and recreational drugs, even when they have a similar mind-altering effect. The difference, I believe, is clear. Prescription drugs are usually regulated to a level where the harm it causes or can cause is minimized. Furthermore, prescription drugs are there to combat a harmful or lethal problem the patient has.
As recreational drugs are not combating any health issues, and are not regulated I don't think they can be compared as you intended. You can't compare chemotherapy to heroin for example. Even if both are lethal and harmful to your body. The one can save your life. The other messes it up.
Let's say you regard alcohol (in moderation of course) to be an acceptable facilitator of entertainment at the appropriate times. What makes the use of alcohol ok in your eyes, and the use of other recreational drugs (for the same purpose) wrong? I think if you DO think that alcohol is ok, then you are riding a very slippery slope. I know a LOT (if not all) of what you see regarding "drugs" are their ABUSES. While alcohol can also be abused, it is generally seen as an acceptable substance. There is a line (fuzzy or not) between USE and ABUSE, and I think that it is critical that everyone acknowledges this. (I'm not a druggie. I haven't done used anything in quite a while, but I just want to know how a general Christian community feels about this topic.) Eh. I have more to say, but I think this should get the ball rolling.
Well, any intoxication is your body's response to excess of a toxin in your body. If you sniff paint or get drunk the response you get is there because your body cannot process the toxins it has gotten into it. And this is not good. It kills brain cells, harms your liver and can harm other parts of your body too. Depending on the toxin.
Personally I consider any intoxication too far. If you have had one glass of wine and discover you're a little woozy, then don't have a second glass. It's as simple as that.
I am vehemently opposed to intoxication for a variety of reasons. One, it is usually quite addictive. This is dependent on a plethora of factors of course, to sum them up nicely it depends largely on who it is who's getting intoxicated, and how much of what substance that person has used to get intoxicated. Say you get high on heroin but once. That can be a lethal decision. Most who do that have serious issues getting off the drug again. And those who do have a tendency to be completely and utterly destroyed afterwards.
Another reason is what such use tends to do to us. As I said it is harmful. How harmful and in what way depends on the substance. Alcohol kills brain cells, and weakens the liver if you get intoxicated. THC numbs your short term memory and can cause a number of other effects like paranoia, depression and even trigger schizophrenia. Crack can make you obsessed with sex, and messes up your personality a fair deal. Heroin makes you unreliable, and kills your brain with lethal efficiency. MDMA can cause severe depression and suicidal behavior. Not to mention that it can alter other parts of your personality too.
All in all, drugs tend to affect our brain the most. Yes, they can also affect or airways, blood, liver or other things. But recreational drugs, whose effect can be hard to predict - or it may be easy to predict yet very dangerous - all work by affecting receptors in our brains. Some people are more receptive to these changes than others and the results may be stronger than in others. The results may also last longer, or even be chronic. And there may be no way to tell beforehand.
Our brains, are us. I am my brain, you are yours. You can sever any and all other parts of your body, and place your brain in a machine which will perform the tasks of your body and you'd still be you. So when you use mind altering drugs you are using drugs which alter you. Or harm you. Our brain is who we are. If we damage that, then we change accordingly. We must take care of our brain, exercise it and use it well. If we do that, we can increase our intellect, increase our wisdom and how charismatic we are (how much other people are prone to listen to us or like us). If we harm our brain, well. Then these things decrease. And we become less of the human beings we once were. Not worth less mind you. But using less of our potential. Reducing our potential for contribution, efficiency, happiness and joy.
And this is why I am opposed to it, in simple terms. If you use drugs more than you absolutely must for your health's sake, you're damaging your brain and body. And when that happens, you're harming yourself for a lifetime - all for a short buzz from a bottle, cloth, pipe, pill or needle. And that is not worth it at all.
All that said, alcohol is probably more sociably acceptable because it is old and engrained in our society. Using some alcohol (less than what will cause intoxication) even on a weekly basis is healthy. Using more than that however, is harmful. But at this point it is too engrained to be outlawed. But we can, and should, work to reduce the abuse of alcohol as we should any other substance.