Let's talk about drugs

It's been a while. Life happened, but not nearly enough life for my liking. Today, a bunch of work colleagues and I started randomly discussing drugs. This was spurred on by this handy diagram:

I've seen this before, but I can't remember the source, so excuse me for not being the Credible Hulk this time around.

It all started quite innocently with the suggestion that we get weed instead of coffee

As you can plainly see, weed is far less dangerous than coffee, in terms of both dependency potential and lethal dosage. I suggested that one may need to butt chug caffeine to get the required lethal dosage, but I was promptly corrected that even then, one may not achieve the desired effects. Oh well, there go my weekend plans.

About that dependence potential

I love how it's narcotics! Depressants! Stimulants! Anaesthetics! Hallucinogens! Oh yeah, and cannabis.

The dependence potential for heroin is very high, while for LSD it's fairly low. It so turns out that chasing the dragon is pretty addictive, but once a dragon has chased you instead, you don't want it to happen again.

Would a good drug make you high enough to stop you from getting any more high?

Instead of a precaution, I thought this was a rather clever business model.

"aw man I just got so high I bet if I took more I'd get even more high.. nope.. nothing.. dammit. let's phone the man and get more of this stuff!.. "

The depressing parts about depressants

Rohypnol is listed as a depressant. In more ways than one, I bet. But alcohol is also listed as a depressant and that usually makes me happy. Especially tequila. So I had to research this:

A depressant, or central depressant, is a drug that lowers neurotransmission levels, which is to depress or reduce arousal or stimulation, in various areas of the brain.

Cannabis: Always the odd one out

That made me wonder about cannabis. I would surely list that as a depressant? But apparently it's not that simple.

Cannabis is often considered either in its own unique category or as a mild psychedelic.[4][5] The chemical compound cannabidiol, which is found in cannabis, has many depressant effects such as muscle relaxation, sedation, decreased alertness, and tiredness.[citation needed] Contrary to the previous statement, activation of the CB1 receptor by cannabinoids causes an inhibition of GABA, the exact opposite of what central nervous system depressants do.

I love how it's tiredness.. [citation needed]. Nah, too tired to cite.