Has drug use ever added anything to society?

[rhino47]

I know the destructiveness of drug addiction.I have seen many of my friends and yes family fall victim to this horrible affliction.
I was thinking however that especially in the arts that perhaps drug use might have enhanced creativity.
I was wondering if the altered reality that drugs give a person is at times more relevant then unaltered reality.
Example would be John Lennon,Jerry Garcia etc.
What are your views ?

[LeftCoast]

1. Alice in Wonderland

nt

[Metatron]

2. Hunter S. Thompson

as well as great works of art

[rhino47]

3. So you feel that drug use and its altered state has

contributed a positive statement?

[Metatron]

7. Yes, I do.

I believe that altered states of consciousness (whether through drug use, religion, meditation, etc.) have certainly contributed to society in a variety of ways.

[elfwitch]

4. Sure as hell hasn't hurt my music collection!

I think drugs, much like anything else, are only harmful when not used in moderation. As many lives that drugs have harmed, think about how many more have been torn asunder by an addiction to religion.

[bettyellen]

5. marijuana can increase your sensual perception...

things are not necesarily more vivid but your appreciation can be greatly enhanced.. the sand between your toes, the sunset colors on water. and the appreciaion can stay with you long after the high wears off.
how about mary and percey shelley as well as byron?

[elfwitch]

6. and everything tastes better...

n/t

[Parrcrow]

8. It took Rush out of circulation for a few weeks

That's got to count for something.

[rhino47]

9. Now there is the greatest benifit of drugs thus far Parrcrow lol.

n/t

[Dora]

10. Why restrict the disussion to illegal drugs?

Look at the drugs we legally consume... caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, sugar, chocolate. What else?

I have always been struck by how much clearer and bigger my field of vision is after having a cup of coffee. As well, I smoked cigarettes for 17 years, and smoked a carton a week while I was writing my Master's thesis in poetry. I haven't written a lick since I quit smoking last summer.

[MissBrooks]

12. Coffee? Chocolate?

I just don't think that Jerry Garcia would have been as creative if he had a Grande Mocha instead of the pharmas he was on....

[Dora]

19. Too bad Jerry isn't here, eh?

When considering the impact that both coffee and chocolate have had on world trade through the course of history, it strikes me as a little flip to discount their pharmacological effects.

People buy it for a reason. I recommend you try giving up caffeine, sugars, and other processed foods for a week or more. Then have a nice cup of joe and see how you feel.

On edit: Sorry I'm so snippy. I've been sitting at home with a sinus infection for three days and I'm a bit stir crazy. I'll have to write a new rule for myself: "Do not Respond to Flip with Snip."

[ragin_acadian]

16. how about

paxil. makes you happy. loosens your bowels.
flonase. alleviates congestion. gives you nosebleeds.
prozac. makes you happy. dissapoints your significant other.
ephedrine. you can go faster, longer, harder. then you die.
ritalin. helps your concentration. gives you facial ticks, stunted growth, fuckfuckfuck tourrettes too.
vioxx. without my arthritis, i can play baseball with my grandkids, now if i could only do something about the pain in my chest.......

brought to you by pfizer adn glaxosmithkline. we do aids research. sometimes.

what the hell did we do before medication? i guess we lived or died. maybe we just lived.

hell, give me medication or give me death. no? o.k. i'll have a little of both.

[politicat]

11. Coleridge's Kubla Khan. Early Ray Charles. Several medical personnel.

At least in the case of opiates, when a user has adequate access to maintenance amounts of the drug in a reasonably clean state, they can be functional and even innovative. It's less the addiction than the amount of time, energy and money it takes to feed the addiction that causes people problems. There are multiple accounts of medical doctors from the late 19th and early 20th centuries who became opiate addicts who basically started the day off with an injection, took a few minutes to nod, worked effectively till dinner, repeat, work again till bed time, repeat. Or laudanum, or opium bon-bons... Purity has a lot to do with it.

And drug use - as opposed to abuse - is not inconsistent with productivity. The Swiss have handled this effectively; they have a government opiates program for addicts to keep the addiction from getting out of hand and causing crime.

Pcat

[Porcupine]

13. Read "Food of the Gods"

The best book ever written on drugs by Terrence Mckenna. His premise is that certain drugs co-evolved with humans. Not unlikely considering dogs and cats.

[vpigrad]

14. It gave us George W. Bush...

oh nevermind, that's a bad thing!

[AlCzervik]

15. I remember seeing a documentry on alcohol abuse a long time ago and in the

late 50's and early 60's they tried to use lsd to cure the person and in some cases it worked. Of course now they were tripping on acid but it was interesting.

[Kire]

20. the founder of AA did LSD many years later

Bill first took LSD in California, under the guidance of Gerald Heard. Also present was Sidney Cohen, psychiatrist at the Veterans Administration Hospital. The date was August 29, 1956. Tom P. was there, and he and Gerald Heard took notes about the events of the afternoon.

Bill was enthusiastic about his experience; he felt it helped him eliminate many barriers erected by the self, or ego, that stand in the way of one's direct experience of the cosmos and of God.

http://www.csp.org/chrestomathy/pass_it_on.html

[Kire]

17. the Beach Boys

[Radical Activist]

18. the 60's

pretty much half the culture of the decade.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

21. Have you ever read

The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castaneda?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0671600419/103-6092831-8001447?v=glance

It's been a long time since I read this book, but it speaks volumes on the subject. Fascinating stuff...