What are the Dangers of Drugs?

in #musing6 years ago (edited)

View the original post on Musing.io



As someone who has an entire YouTube channel talking about drugs, and performed a lot of self experimentation, I think I'm in a unique position to answer this question. That being said, I'm not a physician and I speak to my experience, not to medical advice of any kind.

Not All Drugs Are Created Equal

When asking about the dangers of drugs, many may presume the "drugs" in question are ones classified as illegal in the area they live. This presumption isn't something that inherently good or bad, but it's important to remember at least two things:

1. Types of government regulation don't always correlate to types of danger: for example, the United States has categorized cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug - meaning - no medical benefit. This is, of course, ridiculous and bureaucrats often arbitrarily categorize things incorrectly and irresponsibly. Cannabis is also illegal at a federal level (even though some States have legalized it in various ways.)

2. A lack of government regulation doesn't equate to safety. There are plenty of drugs, like JWH compounds (which used to be available in gas stations) and other synthetics forms of currently illegal drugs which can cause a lot of harm.

What Is A Drug?

Dictionary.com has an incredibly vague definition: "a medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body." Practically everything in that "other substance" category that we regularly ingest (like food) has physiological effects on the body. So, really, we're talking about:

  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Vitamins
  • Supplements
  • Over-the-counter Medicines
  • Illegal Drugs (Broad Range that overlaps categories here.)
  • Plants & Other Drugs found in nature
  • Food
  • And more!

How Can We Broadly Categorize Drugs?

There's too many categorize to list even speaking vaguely, but if we remove the medicinal component (yeah, that cold & congestion medicine or that stomach acid reviler you bought is a drug but might not make it into the categories below.)

Uppers: Stimulants that temporarily increase subjective sensations & feelings of alertness & energy. Examples include Meth (highly illegal,) Adderall (highly regulated,) Smart Drugs & Nootropics like Aniracteam (not really regulated in the U.S.) Stimulants might increase neurotransmitter (chemicals in the brain) activity like dopamine and/or norepinephrine.

Downers: You can think about these types of drugs in the opposite way you think of stimulants. Downers tend to slow physiological processes rather than stimulate them. Examples might include Heroin (highly illegal,) Xanax (highly regulated,) and things like Phenibut, L-Theanine (this is actually an amino acid,) & Kava (lowly regulated.) Downers might increase neurotransmitter activity like GABA, but certainly can work on others too in the upper category (like dopamine.)

Psychedelics: The definition of the word psychedelic means to bring parts of the unconscious mind to the conscious mind. In the drug world, this means things like: altered states of consciousness, hallucinations, and personal insight, among other things. Examples include LSD (highly illegal,) Salvia (moderately regulated,) and Nutmeg (not regulated.) Psychedelics often work on the neurotransmitter serotonin, in various ways. 

Not All Danger is Created Equal

This isn't a fear piece (more on this below.) However, there's A LOT of information to consider in order to protect yourself before using any drug or supplement. This is why consulting with a physician is key.

Here are some dangers that apply to every category of drug discussed:

  • Harmful interactions with food, alcohol, and/or other drugs & supplements
  • Allergic Reactions
  • Unknown Side Effects
  • Addiction
  • Withdrawal
  • Temporary and Permanent Physiological Damage
  • Death

Here are some example dangers of, but not limited to, Uppers:

  • Anxiety
  • Panic
  • Heart Attack

Here are some example dangers of, but not limited to, Downers:

  • Loss of Motor Function
  • Memory Loss
  • Decreased Heart Rate

Just Say KNOW

This is not a blog post to induce fear. This has written primarily to answer the question, however, also to make a point I believe to be incredibly important: knowledge can save your life. Independent research and consulting with professionals like physicians increase the likelihood of staying safe.

Resources I Use (in addition to my Doctor.)

Drug Interaction Checker: https://www.webmd.com/interaction-checker/default.htm

Poison Control Hotline: https://www.poison.org/

Erowid Center: https://www.erowid.org/

The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Book by James Fadiman

Thanks for reading!

And, oh yeah, don't do drugs. This post is about my experience and education. I don't promote drug use.

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Great answer Steve... it's pretty awesome to have you on Musing. I'm a big fan of your content and was really into nootropics in the past. I founded Musing btw - Just wanted to say hi :)

Oh hey dude, thanks so much for the kind words! THE FOUNDER OF MUSING!? Haha, that's pretty awesome. If I was in any way a developer, I'd join the endeavor of adding to the blockchain so I'm glad people like you are doing that work!

Well, I really enjoy your platform because it makes it really easy to write a high-quality blog post (love the feature to mirror the Musing answer to my Steemit blog) when I don't have too much internal inspiration that day. I just scroll through the questions and find something that's like "yeah, I can totally answer this." It's a win-win, great content for Musing & great content for my blog.

Are you a fan of my Steemit content or have you seen me elsewhere too :)

Thanks for reaching out!

Haha thanks man. And actually I would watch your Youtube videos way before I even knew about Steemit! So yeah I know the story/background and how you got into nootropics in the first place. I used to experiment with different nootropics for fun :) and I actually wanted to build a website for biohackers at one point.

It's a shame that Youtube is making it difficult for a lot of you guys :( Not sure if you have heard of them yet, but d.tube is probably the biggest app on Steem today, and one of the awesome things is that they are censorship free for your videos! Definitely check it out if you haven't.

Awesome! It's neat to chat w/ people on here that know me from YouTube before I came to Steemit.

IDK what you use to host Musing, but I work for a company that leases virtual machines, I can certainly set you up with some credits for any projects you may be working on. I joined your Discord server, so you can hit me up on there regarding this so we don't have to share info in public.

And if you know of any good resources (like books, courses, videos) for developing/deploying on the STEEM blockchain LMK! Being more than just a user of dApps on the platform I think will help me understand it better.

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