From: mgo5s@faraday.clas.Virginia.EDU (Mark Griffith Ocker)
Newsgroups: misc.legal,talk.politics.drugs,alt.drugs
Subject: Re: Legal Cocaine? (WAS Re: Drug legalization)
Date: 4 Apr 92 17:25:41 GMT
Organization: University of Virginia


nder how you and those reading this define "addiction"?  In the
>way the word is tossed about, I wonder if addiction is always a bad
>thing?  I mean, today you hear about people addicted to sex, love
>and other BS.  I think by this type of definition addiction is 
>a part of human nature that is not necessarily bad or harmful....


it is likely that there is no concrete definition because there is 
no such thing...but only an array of similar behaviours.  
we have a tendency (as a specific breed of animal 
which understands most of our world through our language) to try 
to group broad catagories of similar phenomena under neat 
little headings and labels.  can anyone tell me a concrete 
definition for love?  of course not...because love is something 
different for every person.  we have just come up with a word 
which we are programmed to blurt whenever we observe people 
acting in some similar way to how some other people were 
acting when we previously heard people blurting the word.  
i am not even sure if i know what love...or addiction is 
to me (or maybe even that they aren't interchangable)...
even although i have experienced both.


>Also there seems to be a double standard that use of pot and acid
>is OK and creative (but aren't regular users addicted?) but other drugs
>(coke, smack,speed) are bad (because they are so good???  DOes that
>mean the people are using drugs they don't like so that they won't
>get addicted???  I mean, isn't that like saying I don't want to
>have fun becuase if its too much fun I'll want to do it more?)


yes, this bothers me too.  there are lots of drugs which i 
don't/won't do.  but it bothers me that some people who 
vocalize (textize) about the freedom they should have in 
their own use, and yet cast a negative eye on someone elses 
choices.  i like certain kinds of trips.  i know what i am 
looking for (at least a vague idea), and i try to find trips 
that facilitate that.  i think that there are other kinds of 
trips that would be bad for me...and evenstupid for me to 
try.  however, someone else's life might be most meaningful 
with a preponderance of just these sorts of highs, and might 
find my sorts to be wrong for them.  that's THEIR BUSINESS,...and 
as far as i'm concerned, it's equally valid for them as my 
preferences are for me. this hold true so long as they don't
intefere with anyone else's  ability to live
their own lives as well.   (especially mine!!)  :-)   


    on the other hand, although i support legalization of 
everything (including all drugs), if it became obvious 
that such a view might gain partial sucess if i 
was willing to comprimise a bit, i can 
see the _physical_ addictiveness (when proven) as a more 
logical dividing line than anything we have now.  the issue, 
after all, is freedom, and there is a real question as to 
someone's free will once they are physically addicted to 
something.  of course this would mean that we would have 
to prohibit tobacco and alcohol, but would have plenty of 
sweet bud.  =-)  

>I've met very few people who use pot/acid on a super-regular basis (ie.,
>every day.)  Of these people, I don't think anyone wouldn't be able to handle
>a few weeks or even a few months without a toke/trip


i find this incredulous.  from my experience i would estimate 
that you haven't know much of a cross section of pot smokers.  
MOST of the pot smokers i know (BY FAR) are daily users.  
anyone else have any similar/differing estimations?



>-- I can't recall the
>last time I heard of someone steeling his parents stereo system to support
>a 'weed addiction' or 'acid addiction'.


well, i'm not sure why you group these things together, 
as they are clearly worlds apart.  in any case, it may 
be relatively rare, but plenty of shady business (including 
stealing) goes on when some people are really "jonesing 
for a buzz" (weed). 



peace and long life.

mark.
Xref: sparky misc.legal:8962 alt.society.civil-liberty:3281