From: twiggs_te@lrc.edu
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: ECSTACY followup
Date: 17 Nov 92 13:04:41 EST
Organization: Lenoir-Rhyne College, Hickory, NC
News-Moderator: Approval required for posting to soc.religion.christian

ricko@ee.uts.edu.au (Rick Jelliffe) writes:
> twiggs_te@alice.lrc.edu writes:
> 
>>I recently tried the drug 'ecstacy' (xtc) in a club with a few of my friends.
>>I don't know why I did it....I just wanted to see what the craze was about.
> 
>>It was nothing like I expected an illegal drug to be.  I mean, I am on the 
>>Advisory Committee at my church (a Lutheran church), and have always thought
>>that drugs were scary, evil substances.  But I was shocked as to how 
>>spiritually enhancing this substance is.
> 
> Of course drugs are pleasant or amazing or strengthening, that's why
> they're popular. The unpleasant parts are often not seen at first (habits,
> needing money and therefore having to steal and cheat, paranioa, mistrust
> of authority, etc.).

What?!?  You're talking about heroin, crack, and cocaine.  Ecstacy is not
a kill-each-other drug!  It's not even as bad as pot!  Psychiatrists used
it to treat depressive patients.  


> 
> I`ve never taken ecstacy, so I don't know if my idea of heaven matches
> yours (though your heaven seems to do without a direct vision of God,
> which is interesting). And if it is physically safe (don't trust anyone
> you buy it from!!), then it does sound fun.

I am lost as to where you conjured up the idea that my idea of heaven is
without a direct vision of God.  

> 
> But I think you should be very careful of where you buy it from. If you
> buy something from a business that kills, whether policemen or rivals
> or anti-drug campaigners, then you get their blood on your hands. To
> me this makes a fundamental difference between alcohol (the drink
> companies have not killed anyone to make and distribute their product)
> and most drugs (can you be sure that your pleasure hasn't been ensured 
> by murder).  Following this line, I also think marijuana grown at home for
> private use is an entirely different kettle of moral fish than marijuana
> bought from someone in the mafia system: both still have health and civic
> arguments against them, but the latter is a million times worse in my view. 

There seems to be a bit of misinformation here.  Alcohol is addictive.
Alcohol is responsible for over 300,000 deaths each year in the USA.  All
drugs combined, including crack and heroin, are responsible for only 3,000
each year.  Alcohol is MUCH more dangerous than ecstacy.  The reason drink
companies have not killed anyone is because it's *legal*.  That's plain and
simple logic.  And, believe me, the mafia does NOT deal with something as 
miniscule as pot.  That's like saying drug lords deal Brach's candy.


> 
> So perhaps ecstacy might be harmless fun in your view (though haven't there
> been a lot of heart failures at raves attributed to ecstasy?), but if it
> puts you at the end of the money chain in a black market that does not
> hesitate to use violence and murder to protect itself, then it is not
> harmless at all: no matter how much fun it is, it compromises you.

If there have been numerous heart failures, then noone's heard of it.  And
if no scientists or medical authorities can say that ecstacy is dangerous,
then how can we say that?

> 
> Its just not loving to allow innocent people (e.g. policemen and their
> families) to suffer because of something that gives you pleasure when dancing.
> 
> This point is also made by the English poet George Herbert(1593-1633), 
> speaking about a woman's love of pearls for which some diver had risked
> his life: "Who with excessive pride/ Her own destruction and his danger
> wears."
> 
> -ricko


	I need to make a few things known at this point.  My name is Todd
Twiggs, and I'm a junior communication major here at Lenoir-Rhyne College,
which is a private Lutheran school.  Most people on the net know me as
D.J. X, because I'm a rave DJ and station manager of the campus radio
station.
	The reason I took the approach that I did was to gain completely
unbiased views from all of the people in soc.religion.christian.  The fact
is, some of you might call me a *druggie*.  I'm the kind of person that
most of you wouldn't talk to on a daily basis.  I don't mean that I'm
anti-religion, I just mean most people consider my personality and views as
*different*.
	I started smoking pot in 8th grade, but didn't do it regularly until
my junior year of high school.  By 'regularly' I mean more than twice each
month.  The summer after my freshman year of college, I tried LSD.  I had a 
blast on it, and did it a lot after that (about 75 times to this date).
However, I've grown tired of it, and don't do it very much anymore.  Other
things I have tried are mushrooms (they're a lot like LSD), nitrous oxide,
speed, freon, cocaine, and valiums.  Before your jaw drops, I just want you
to know that I hated cocaine, and the only other things I've done more than
once are speed and mushrooms.  I mainly only take speed when I'm alone making
the 10-hour car trip up here from home.
	Now.....if you'll notice, I don't like the drugs that people do simply
to get messed up.  THAT's the difference between something like cocaine and
LSD.  LSD is a perception-enhancing drug.  One of my good friends - a devout
Christian - goes up to the mountains alone all the time on LSD to be with God
and nature. He's got one of the more solid faiths on this campus.  You see, 
there are SO MANY misconceptions about drugs.  In school they teach you that
if you smoke pot, you'll go crazy and run out into the streets naked.  It's 
no surprise that when people do try it, they lose all trust in authority.
In that sense, pot really IS a gateway drug -- it teaches you disrespect for
authority.  If people were more open and honest about it, drug education 
might actually be more effective.
	People don't KILL each other for pot, LSD, ecstacy, or any other
'hippie' drug.  That premise is absolutely ridiculous.  The funny thing is,
it's a well-known fact that these drugs are safer than alcohol, yet alcohol
is legal.  We live in a hypocritical society.  People are dropping like flies
as a result of alcohol, and families are being ruined.
	I'm not advocating the use of drugs, and I certainly agree that they
induce unreal feelings.  What I'm saying is that in some cases, these false
feelings can be utilized in a very good way.  My best friend, who had a
hideous childhood and for a long time didn't care about living, tried ecstacy
this past summer.  The change in his attitude toward the world is phenomenal.
Before he was full of hatred and depression.  Now, when my friends meet him,
they think he's one of the most hyper, happy people they've ever met.  And
no, he doesn't need it all the time to stay that way.
	Of course, it would be nice if everyone could feel like this without
drugs.  I think that's what makes an artist.  Artists are gifted by God with
the ability to alter their perceptions without using drugs.
	The side effects of ecstacy include being in a good mood anywhere
from one week to the rest of your life.  I know that it's wrong to alter
yourself through drugs, but I truly believe that ecstacy has the potential 
to heal a lot of hatred and misguided ideals in this world.  The Holy Spirit,
idealistically, is the true answer to the world's problems.  But there are 
a lot of people out there who cannot relate to religion.  Charles Manson,
for instance:  Sure, you can put a Bible in front of him and tell him it'll
change his life, but I'd be willing to bet my life savings he'd stay the same.
On the other hand, if you put a pill in his mouth, he'd be giving you hugs.
	I don't think that everyone should do ecstacy.  I definitely don't
want my kids to do drugs.  I just want people to realize that some drugs 
aren't as bad as the rumors they hear about them.  Our society has been so
conditioned to condemn the common drug user that it's made us NUMB!  
	Satan, I believe, is the proprieter of drugs such as crack.  I also
tend to believe that ecstacy may be God's tool for touching the lives of 
certain people.  It's a very mild drug (in addictiveness), and I've never
known anyone who has ruined their life because of it.  That, certainly,
does not follow Satan's ideals.
	I think my point was made a while ago.  Ricko, sorry if I came off
as very defensive.


						Increase the peace!!!

								DJ X