You know, even once is enough for you to OD. Drug dealers are not the most trustworthy of human beings, especially when it comes to shit like heroin or meth. Unless you make it, you don't know what you're getting, how pure it is, or if it was mixed with something you're going to have a horrible reaction to.
You've identified an area where caution must be exercised. I say exercise that caution. Know your dealer. Make it yourself. Whatever it takes. If it's
very dangerous then be
very cautious. Do the research before you get into anything.
I mean, why chance it? Ooh, for the experience. I'd rather have the 20 bucks in my pocket and go see a movie and get something to eat. Beats having my kids find me dead or covered in puke on the bathroom floor, eh?
Again - here you've identified an outcome which is harmful to those around you. If you're going into something very dangerous and you haven't taken the precautions necessary to remove the risk and the outcome will hurt others then don't do it.
Your line of reasoning only works in the case that you don't find something you REALLY like and continue to do even though you are fully aware that doing so is harmful to you. If you do, then you'll fully understand my line of reasoning.
Like I said earlier: if you're a self-indulgent idiot then by all means kill yourself with drugs and be done with it. If you have no self control and if you can't resist the urge to pleasure yourself again and again after one try then I have little sympathy for you. There are a lot of things I really really like that I don't do all the time. I'm not so strong-willed. If even I can handle temptation surely you (whoever) can as well.
Furthermore, I posit that unless your knowledge of how tobacco and meth affect a person are going to be used in some way to assist others suffering from their addiction or help prevent others from from becoming addicted that it's useless and may in fact be construed to be harmful to society as a whole since it seems to have reinforced your platform of cautious exploration (now being soapboxed in a public forum).
Society? I'm looking to improve myself on a
personal level. By society's standards I probably watch far too little MTV and I should be shunned for adhering to an atheistic personal philosophy. Society is really a poor way to measure an activity's overall utility. I'm not opposed to doing things for the benefit of society, but it's not the standard by which I live my life. Eating delicious filet mignon doesn't help society, in fact it probably hurts society. But if I only do it once for the experience then go on and cry emo society. Nobody cares.
Rhetorical question, if someone showed you four buttons and said that pushing each button would pleasurable in a different way but that each time you pushed a button there was an unmeasureable chance that you might die or simply have your life ruined, would you seriously consider pushing them?
If by doing the research I could reduce the likelihood of death or ruination of life to a vanishingly low probability then yes. That's all I'm talking about. I would certainly push each one once if my likelihood of problems was so low.
So now, rhetorical question for rhetorical question:
If someone showed you a button that if pushed would allow you to see a new color (a color no human who hasn't pushed the button has ever seen) but that if you kept pushing it over and over again then you would die, wouldn't you push it just once? Let's even heighten the drama by saying that for some percentage of people, there is a crazy allergic reaction that will hurt you badly if you push it even once. Then you were given as much preparatory time as you needed to research the shit out of it and learn if you have this reaction and how to prevent its effects, then wouldn't you do the research required to have the new experience of seeing the new color? Wouldn't you be miffed if there were laws barring you from pushing the button even if you didn't have the allergy?
The last thing I've got to say about it is, "Please, stay the fuck away from my kids with your pro-drug propaganda."
This is supposed to be pro-experience propaganda. If the emphasis changes from pleasure to experience then there's no problem as far as I can see. People think of drugs in the wrong way. Using to feel good about yourself is self-deception and indulgence (which can be ok in some situations - like with moderate alcohol use for instance). Trying something to gain a novel experience is something wholly different.
Let's be clear - I'm not saying that repeated and unguarded use of drugs is a good thing. I'm saying that new experiences are. If you categorically exclude drugs from your pool from which to draw experiences then you are limiting yourself. Whether it's because you're unwilling to do the background research required to be safe or whether it's for some legitimate reason involving dependent children and your known inability to control your urges (not you, psycho, but anyone) then sure those limitations can be acceptable to you on a personal level. So you can exercise your free will and not experiment. By condemning new experiences in a public forum, however, you act to influence others (who may not share your personal weaknesses/responsibilities) to limit themselves. By enacting legislation outlawing these experiences you kill intellectual curiosity.
I know the reason behind it is for the good of those who are idiots about substance use. You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs and all that. Heck they even got rid of our trans fats for our own good. But, idealistically speaking, such fascistic measures are not necessary. Granted we don't live in an ideal society. I don't care. I'll still live ideally.
But I also don't recommend it.
I only do on chat boards and the like. I strike a firm anti-drug stance with my family and friends. Not because I don't believe what I'm saying above, but because I'm cynical and, who knows, maybe my family and friends are incautious self-indulgent fools in the end. I love them regardless and don't want them to risk it.
As a compromise I tend to explain the effects clearly to them so they can see that there's nothing magical about it. Rather than just spouting anti-drug catch phrases, and perpetuating the ridiculous notion of instant addiction I hope that by explaining things as they truly are I can earn their respect enough to listen to my advice that it's not all that. But I speak from personal experience and not from some hand-wringing society-conscious perspective. If I've never done it before and can't give an account of the experience then I don't condemn it. Let's say one of my friends tells me he's going to try heroin and asks if he should. I would tell him that it was his decision, but to be fucking careful because that stuff is well-known to be very dangerous. I'd tell him he can reach a non-judgmental friend if he needs any help during or after the experience. I wouldn't tell him not to though. In fact I'm kind of jealous because he'll be seeing colors I couldn't even dream of. I'd probably recommend against it to my family but for purely selfish reasons I assure you.
Ultimately I think a hardline "Drugs are bad, hmmkay?" stance does way more hard than good unless the person who's telling you not to try the drugs has already done them and tells you the truth. All it takes is one curious dick to try it anyway and when he learns that this instant addiction warned of is horseshit, then all of the drug advice is disregarded. There are problems and dangers associated with drugs and shooting straight with kids will probably be the best way to educate them of these harms. Let's not make drugs a forbidden fruit. Kids are idiots, but they are also anxious to learn - even if they have to do it themselves. Once they find out you were taking them for a ride, they lose all respect for all of your advice.