"Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood."
Published on August 20, 2006 By Sally jacobs In Misc

I've met some new people this week. As many of you know I am not really a social butterfly. I am more like a social slug. This isn't really down to an inability to get along with people, it is more down to the fact that I don't want too. I know that sounds awful, but I'm really not a people person. I like to have a close circle of friends, and people I trust, and I'm not really bothered about anyone else. I hate people phoning me all the time, people asking me to go out places all the time, and just general mithering. I prefer to be left alone, and when I want to do something, I will, without getting pushed and pulled in a million different directions. That's just me. I like my own company. I think some people think it makes me really miserable, but I don't agree. Not everyone can be the same. Anyway, I am getting off topic here. This week, I have made an effort with the new people I have met. To be that little social butterfly that everyone seems to want me to be. It was going pretty well. For like a day or so. Ha.

So I met these new people, and for the most part they were very nice. Obviously there is going to be exceptions to the rules, and I am fully prepared for dealing with people like that. I'll actually go as far as to say I liked these people. They shared a similar sense of humour to me, something that I consider to be very important, and I could talk to them quite easily. So everything was going well. There is about 8 people in this group of people. All of them a similar age to me. Most had done the whole going to uni thing, and studying, and by all accounts they had partied pretty hard during this time. Again, that's not really my thing, but each to their own. I understand that partying goes hand in hand with going to uni for alot of people. So when conversations turned to such things I just didn't really participate, and it wasn't a problem.

However, the converstation turned to drug taking, and what kinds of drugs people had taken on nights out and so on. Now I have a real problem with drugs. I hate them, and I will never ever take them. Now I realise that my position on drug taking is biased because of the bad experiences I have seen people I care about go through with them. I know that not everyones drug takings reaches them limits, and there are some people who can do it on a weekend, and that's it, and it just adds to whatever they are doing. Again, it might not be the most sensible of decisions on their part, but it is their choice, and they will have to live with the consequences of their choices at the end of the day. So when listening to things like this, I do try and judge the situation for what it is, and remind myself that just because it isn't for me, it doesn't mean other people can't do it.

Except the drug taking, and the partying, and everything that goes with it, is starting to be a constant in our conversations. There is one lad in the group, that it would appear is trying to gain as much knowledge about drugs as possible, and not the kind of knowledge where you learn about what they do to you, but more what's the best to take and why. The others in the group are only to happy to share their stories, and it is starting to be a bit of a competition, and I am really starting to dislike the whole thing. For not one second does anyone concentrate on the negative effects of drug taking. In all their eyes it appears to be a wonderful thing, and just the normal thing that people do when they go on a night out. Which may mean that in their eyes I am just not normal. Which isn't something I could careless about really.

Now I am not one to keep my opinions to myself, and many times during these conversations I have been asked for my views on certain situations, and I always remain honest, and tell them that I don't like drugs in any form. This usually gets dismissed because I have never tried them, and therefore don't know what I am talking about. Which is fine with me. I don't wish to educate them about the error of their ways, because it is only my opinon. They can do it if they like, and I can choose to hate it if I want to. This constant topic of conversation is making me want to distance myself from this bunch of people though. Even though I like them, and they are decent people, I just can't stand to listen to another situation glorifying recreational drug use. In my opinion, drugs are drugs, and I just don't want to subject myself to continuous conversations of the same nature. Maybe that is small minded of me, I don't know. But if I don't have to listen to such things, I really don't see why I should.


Comments (Page 3)
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on Aug 23, 2006
I really do despise people who falsely tell people you can take drugs and live an otherwise normal life.


What's a normal life? The same as yours?

God put marijuana here. Must have been for a reason.
on Aug 23, 2006
You're the perfect example of an ostrich with it's head in the sand.


Wrong. People who are "ostrichs" believe everything is fine. I believe everything is screwed up.

he started off using weed and got intouch with dealers who supplied the harder drusg through his weed man.


Are you blaming the dealers for his death?
on Aug 23, 2006
It seems George is a little to emotional about the situation to approach it rationally. I'm not saying that his decisions are wrong, but in the way his position is conveyed to others. It comes across too much as wailing and holier than thou preaching, two things which tend to create defensive postures in audiences. Particularly mellowed out audiences.

An ostrich denies that there are any problems at all. A rational person recognizes that there are tradeoffs. For some people the risks are too high to account for the rewards. For others, it can be the other way around. But when something is portrayed as the be all end all of evil, when for most people that is not the case, most will naturally decide that there is a significant amount of exaggeration.

The only thing that makes weed in any way more of a gateway drug than soda or coffee is its illegality. It puts people in touch with the underworld in which other drugs can be obtained.

The fact that people who use harder drugs usually started out with weed doesn't make a causative connection, only a correlation. For something to be a gateway it would need to be a causative relationship.
on Aug 23, 2006
#35 by Demosthenes Locke
Wed, August 23, 2006 4:17 PM


Thank you.

I despise people who call something that nature (or God, whichever you want to call it) created "evil."
on Aug 23, 2006
While I totally accept responsibility for my own mistakes, it was the extra permissive time in the late 60's and early 70's that set me up[ to get the disease I have. {hep c} from sharing needles.

Today I remember what I did last night, I no longer freak out when I See the police in my rear view mirror, I no longer jump when someone knocks on my door and while I still have firearms, they are no longer everywhere in the house fully loaded and ready to use.


drugs+STUPIDITY= Death.

MM a grateful recovering druggie and boozer!
on Aug 23, 2006
"I despise people who call something that nature (or God, whichever you want to call it) created "evil."

God & nature didn't tell humans to roll various herbs up and smoke them! You sound like a comedy hippy, nature told me to do it maaaaaaan!
on Aug 23, 2006

It seems George is a little to emotional about the situation to approach it rationally. I'm not saying that his decisions are wrong, but in the way his position is conveyed to others. It comes across too much as wailing and holier than thou preaching, two things which tend to create defensive postures in audiences. Particularly mellowed out audiences.

I think he is coming from the perspective of what it did to his brother, and is passionate about it for that reason.  But being anonymous, and not having read any of his work, it is hard to make a distinction.  Still, I sympathize with him for his brother and am giving him the benefit of the doubt.

on Aug 23, 2006
You sound like a comedy hippy, nature told me to do it maaaaaaan!


Not told me to; gave me the choice.
on Aug 23, 2006
gave me the choice.


You know, I've been waiting for someone to say this. Like most things in life, drug taking is a choice an individual makes. It is not for me to say whether someone else's decision is correct or incorrect because my viewpoint is subjective. As Doc Guy said recently in an article, there is individual perception and then there is reality.

George's perception of drugs is evil, while Icon's perception (and mine too, if the truth be known) is not. The individual's right to choose to drink, eat, smoke or inject is just that: their choice. The subjectiveness of their decision is only based on what the individual finds personally comforting. Whether the substance is legal or not is only a reflection of how society views the substance in question.
on Aug 24, 2006
God put marijuana here. Must have been for a reason.


Yup. Good call, iconoclast!
on Aug 24, 2006
Yup. Good call, iconoclast!


Thanks, GM.

The idea that a plant is either good or evil is one of the most stupid things I've ever heard.
on Aug 24, 2006
God put marijuana here. Must have been for a reason.


This "God" you speak of is also credited with putting poppies here too, not to mention the peyote cactus and a whole slew of others. He/She has created one delightful, massive head shop. Love it!
on Aug 24, 2006
This "God" you speak of is also credited with putting poppies here too, not to mention the peyote cactus and a whole slew of others. He/She has created one delightful, massive head shop. Love it!


He/she/it certainly did. Some people use some of them to have religious visions.
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