Luke_D said:
Hello? Is anybody listening to me? Alcohol is LEGAL and WIDESPREAD. Alcohol can have much more predictable effects, and to a lesser extent on people than illicit drugs. At least you know what is in alcohol. With pills, you could never know, how much of what is in them.
The fact the alcohol is legal doesn't make it good for you, and the fact that it's use is widespread is not a testement to it's percived safeness. If anything, the fact that alcohol use and abuse in this nation is so widespread is alarming! Alcohol does not have what I'd call predictable effects - I can drink and find myself severly depressed, or I can drink and be on top of the world. It makes some people happy, some people cry, some people aggressive and some extremely violent.
Pills, if you reference
http://www.pillreports.com, are actually relativley safe. Moreover, many regular users have testing kits to tell whether or not pills are clean - some are laced with speed, others just a mix of odd chemicals - however testing kits, or simply using pillreports.com will give you a good idea of what to avoid.
Alcohol may be legal, but that does not make it harmless. Tell me, how many people do you know addicted to MDMA? How many people will blow rent money on MDMA? How many people will regularly turn violent on their spouses/children/mates when using MDMA? How many people have actually ODed on a CLEAN PILL? Alcohol may be legal, but as far as I can see, causes much more social problems than MDMA, but it's simply seen as part of our culture. And if you want proof that alcohol has a direction correlation to domestic violence, look at the rates of incidence. In rural NSW, the top 3 towns for domestic violence are:
1) Bourke
2) Walgett
3) Coonamble
You know what each of these towns share? An alarmingly high incidence of alcohol abuse. Every town has reported high levels of alcohol addiction and alcohol related offences. Each town has an amazingly high drinking culture, more than most other towns and definatly stronger than you'll ever see in Sydney. Yet these towns have very little drugs - many people I know who are born and bred Bourke are horrified by the use of drugs, yet have no problem getting completley plastered, picking fights, turning violent or simply going home with complete strangers. While people on MDMA are overly friendly/won't shut up/are all smacked out/just 'chill' etc very rarley end up in any kind of comfrontation - certainly don't cause violence. It's the contaminated pills you need to watch out for and once you get passed that problem, you're safer than getting drunk as far as i'm concerned.
The after-effects are also a problem. Alcohol also dehydrates brain cells through osmosis, hence the headaches the day after, they can lead to alcohol posining, provide a greater opportunity to spike drinks, and leaves you tired, run down and nausea for the next morning and can even go onto day 2. Long term effects like depression, brain damage, much higher chance of stroke, aids high blood pressure, increased chance of developing Type 2 diabetes, liver disease, chronic liver failure not to mention the social conequences such as family breakdown, addiction, domestic violence/child abuse, social isolation, loss of jobs, financial burden etc.
MDMA, suprisingly, does not have as much side/after effects. (Clean) pills leave you with a sore jaw from grinding, ones that hit hard do often have harsh come downs - such as a sudden drop in core body temp (which is dangerous if not looked after), feelings of depression as seritonin stabalises by suddenly ceasing it's release to recify the excess levels of the hormone. Everyone knows it overides your senses, so it's important to drink a sensible level of water - other wise you'll end up either dehydrated or you'll overload yourself with fluids and essentially your brain will drown within the excess fluids. Long term effects can involve several problems with your teeth - they can crack if you grind with no chewing gum, so lots of gum kids - and prolonged use can lead to disrupted seritonin levels - and, similar to those who use pot and have a natural predisposition to pyschosis or schizophrenia can develop the illnesses after a few session - MDMA can bring on illnessess such as bipolar and borderline personality disorder, as well as straight depression as the mood chemicals have been messed up with too many times, or it can simply bring the illness on earlier than it would have.
So yes, i'll admit, MDMA and pot do have negative consequences, but as far as i'm concered, they're on the same level as alcohol. While I'm not saying the use of illicit drugs is right, my point is, alcohol is just as detremental to society, if not moreso, the only real difference is it's legality. I simply find it very hypocrtical of people saying how bad MDMA and pot is, yet find no problem with alcohol and the health problems it causes. Working within the health system, I see far more far reaching problems and health concerns sprouting from alcohol use/abuse than I ever have from MDMA or smoking pot. The only exception I can think of is the 'Gateway Theory', one that is somewhat assuming in itself anyway and really isn't too well proven.
Those who say 'well, it's illegal so don't do it' have a point. Those who believe it causes so many social and health problems, yet condone alcohol are rather hypocritical.
