When is it a problem?

[Magenta]

Not gonna go into many details for this post 'cause it's not totally relevant but my question was:

When do you consider someone's casual drug use to actually be a drug problem?

This applies not just to addictive street drugs or prescription pharmaceuticals but "non-addictive" over-the-counter drug abuse and alcohol consumption as well. Namely the latter two.

[workingatperfect]

I think when you start getting stressed when you run out is when it becomes a problem. Like, when I was younger I was really into pot, cigs and otc sleeping pills (recreational and for sleeping) If I didn't have weed or cigarettes, I was perfectly fine. But when I ran out of sleeping pills I'd get tense and after a week or so, I'd be freaking. I had a pill problem, but not weed or cigs.

[Sordid Saint]

When it is the only thing on your mind it is a problem. Once you see changes happening, people telling you you're different now, changes in what you wanna do, stuff like that. When you want to pull your hair out if you don't have any of your drug of choice. I'm talking from experience so im talking about harder drugs but it does still apply to what you were mentioning

[Jinxxy]

I smoked pot regularly and have tried a variety of different drugs, but NEVER have I had a problem with any but smoking normal tobacco.

Addiction is a thing of the mind and some people's will-power is a lot stronger than other people's. Mine just turned out to be pretty strong and I never got addicted to anything I took, including tobacco!

It's when you're offered drugs and you just can't turn them down that you have a problem. I never have and never will get to that stage, though :)

[Sordid Saint]

I smoked pot regularly and have tried a variety of different drugs, but NEVER have I had a problem with any but smoking normal tobacco.

Addiction is a thing of the mind and some people's will-power is a lot stronger than other people's. Mine just turned out to be pretty strong and I never got addicted to anything I took, including tobacco!

It's when you're offered drugs and you just can't turn them down that you have a problem. I never have and never will get to that stage, though :)

Yea this is true. Like she said, everyone reacts to it differently. I have done madddd different drugs before a lot of times and I've only been addicted to two, and one of them is cigarettes. The other one is opiates and that just pulled me in like I wouldn't even imagine. Even though I fucked with other drugs enough to be addicted to them none of them made me feel like I HAD to do more except those. So it's all a mental thing in my opinion but once it's in your mentality it's in there good.

[Hungman]

when it starts to interfere with your normal process, be that family life, your job or school. If you can get what you need to get done, then what you do in your SPARE time is fine. Keep your priorities straight, and you should be good to go

[Nellerin]

Not gonna go into many details for this post 'cause it's not totally relevant but my question was:

When do you consider someone's casual drug use to actually be a drug problem?

This applies not just to addictive street drugs or prescription pharmaceuticals but "non-addictive" over-the-counter drug abuse and alcohol consumption as well. Namely the latter two.

Depends on the "casual drug" you are talking about.

Is it weed?

Then it only is an issue when you prefer to smoke over get work done.

Is it cocaine, heroin, meth, etc?

Then it is bad from the start.

Is it shrooms or LSD?

Do you do it often, then it is bad. (I never recommend shrooms or acid of course, but unlike heroin, they cannot kill you by themselves.)

I smoked pot regularly and have tried a variety of different drugs, but NEVER have I had a problem with any but smoking normal tobacco.

Addiction is a thing of the mind and some people's will-power is a lot stronger than other people's. Mine just turned out to be pretty strong and I never got addicted to anything I took, including tobacco!

It's when you're offered drugs and you just can't turn them down that you have a problem. I never have and never will get to that stage, though :)

Addiction is not a thing of the "mind" it is a thing of the "brain." Your brain becomes addicted due to the drugs interference with normal brain activity, will-power doesn't play much of a role in it.

[anyone50]

I agree with most of what already been posted and might add that one sure sign it's a problem would have to be if your busted doing drugs. I would think thats when your problems could really start

[Shadow]

Casual drug use becomes a problem when it starts to interfere with the important things in life like school, family, friends, and everything else. When it gets to the pint that that Is all you ever do. That is when it becomes a problem.

[Yonkers]

abcd

[Nellerin]

Drug usage is only a problem when you are physically unable to lead a normal life due to your substance abuse. Basically, they only become a problem when not used properly, safely or maturely.



Why do you groups heroin, coke, meth and "etc" together? Those are all different drugs with different effects and side-effects, including risks. Also none of those drugs are "bad from the start". Example, heroin and other opiates are used as analgesics frequently throughout the world and have been been for centuries. Amphetamines are prescribed ever day in the US in the form of 'Adderall' to sufferers of ADHD.

Etc in that group applies to all non-hallucinogens. Therefore I include things like molly, ecstasy and other drugs like those in that category.

And yes they are bad from the start for the most part, but when they are diluted and carefully administered by doctors the side effects such as potential death are lessened.

[Yonkers]

abcd

[Nellerin]

It's illogical to groups those drugs together though. Heroin causes relaxation and mild euphoria, which is the complete opposite of cocaine which is a stimulant and thus causes bursts of energy. That category doesn't exist. Also, MDMA (molly) is ecstasy.

Contrary to your 'bad from the start' opinion, cocaine has been proven to be non addictive when used sensibly (cite (http://www.cedro-uva.org/lib/cohen.cocaine.html#RTFToC19)). Similar studies have been conducted regarding other psychoactive chemicals.

Research time and time again shows that cocaine is addictive http://wings.buffalo.edu/aru/COCAINE.html

I am not saying it is a guarantee of addiction but after a few uses the addiction rate is above 70% according to must studies.

[Yonkers]

abcd

[Nellerin]

The study you gave is older than the one I cited. Also, if you had actually read that study, it uses non sentient animals given an unlimited supply of cocaine. Said animals are unable to limit or restrain themselves meaning they subsequently enjoyed frequent cocaine binges. The Dutch study I cited was written about human users of cocaine who reduced their usage to small amounts to a maximum of once or twice a week and consequently were not addicted to cocaine. Another study conducted in the USA revealed that cocaine users aged 11 and up who use coke regularly for up to two years had a 5-6% of becoming addicted which increased to a 15-16% chance after 10 years of use. This study didn't take into account the different methods of cocaine intake i.e. snorting, injecting and smoking.

True I should have used a different term when talking about Cocaine. Cocaine (technically) is not even addictive as it does not have physical dependence associated with it. Continuous use rates are much higher however even though they are not "addicts."

Therefore the addiction rates are incredibly low. Of all the non-Marijuana drugs, Cocaine is probably one of the least harmful.

I still group it with the other drugs in the category because I only broke ALL DRUGS into two categories.

- Hallucinogenic
and
- Non-hallucinogenic

[LoNgPyJaMaS]

When somebody cant live without a drug, it is a problem. If someone is destroying his or other peoples lives than it is a problem.