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[Lemurnator]

There's been a lot of anti-drug programs in schools and on TV. How effective are they really? Has anyone ever passed you a joint and you thought to yourself, "No way, Scruff Mcgruff says this shit is whack."

 

[drohne]

i actually recall that those D.A.R.E. presentations made me really curious about drugs. and indeed i've done lots of drugs over the course of my life, though i'm pretty clean lately. so, uh...no.

 

[Triumph]

The only thing that keeps me off drugs is lack of funds and the fact that I usually have to work by noon.

 

[Lemurnator]

Maybe if all the parents and teachers did drugs none of the kids would because it's not cool if adults do it.

 

[Spiritreaver]

Eh, no. We had presentations and what not from DARE in school, but to be honest my complete 100% virginity for drugs/alcohol comes from just not being in a household with such items. I've never lived in a house where I could easily get my hands on a can of beer or a bottle of wine, cigarettes, cocaine, or anything. Hell, I've never even sipped any kind of alcoholic beverage, or even been offered a drug.

 

[XS+]

It would benefit these antidrug programs to underscore how much of a costly habit drug use is (instead on the usual 'this is your brain' and 'your helping the terrorizm!' nonsense). I'm clean (save for alcohol) largely because I have better things to waste my money on.

A tight budget
My Anti-Drug

 

[Dice]

No, common sense has kept me off drugs.

 

[MrPing1000]

I don't think any amount of scare tactics will work, its going to be based on the person. Here in the UK we cudn't give a damn about smoking weed u don't even get arrested for it anymore. This is probably a good thing, now they just gotta hope they don't make it fully legal and the government slaps a big tax on it

Incidently I've never taken any drug, cept caffeine i guess, nobody influenced me, just what I decided

 

[firex]

After I realized programs like this just spread lies and misinformation to try scaring you out of trying drugs... Well, I still have no desire to do drugs. But I don't believe a lot of things the government says about them.

 

[isamu]

No, common sense has kept me off drugs.

ditto

 

[Blackie]

Hell fucking no. As others have already pointed out, the more you mature and get accurate non scare tactified facts about drug use, the more you understand that they are just another tool you can use to unwind and free your mind from it's constraints.

I never thought I'd say this as a kid (I was 100% brainwashed back then), but do drugs. Especially marijuana.

 

[LinesInTheSand]

Hell fucking no. As others have already pointed out, the more you mature and get accurate non scare tactified facts about drug use, the more you understand that they are just another tool you can use to unwind and free your mind from it's constraints.

I never thought I'd say this as a kid (I was 100% brainwashed back then), but do drugs. Especially marijuana.

You're a genius.

 

[etiolate]

I actually listened to DARE, but I also had common sense. Their new anti-drug program should be "DRUGS ARE A FORM OF ESCAPISM, LIKE HOW MOMMY DRINKS LOTS OF WINE BECAUSE DADDY STAYS LATE AT WORK TO BONE JANET THE NURSE"

 

[Alcibiades]

Yeah, I remember those programs big time as a child, when the sheriff (as a DARE representative) would come give speeches, and the special programs that were held at places where there was education about drugs and tabacco.

Actually, when I realized a bunch of my pals (mostly girls only actually) were doing weed (like in 8th grade) I was pretty shocked.

I actually asked on of my best friends (after she shared some of this info w/ me about what her and her friends were doing) if she remembered all that DARE stuff and how that's bad for you, and she just responded "we don't care" or "that doesn't matter" or something like that...

that said, now in college, I'd had the opportunity to try weed twice, was pretty cool experience, and the only thing keeping me from trying it more often is just knowing people and having access...

The first time was pretty freaking though, my mind went berserk and I just felt like I was being spun and in some sort of unnerved state where my mind was feeling heavy, confused, scared, all over the place, unfocused, dark, clashing, it's kinda hard to explain, but it scared me big time, especially since I had never felt smoke going into my lungs and they kinda felt burning... after that, I just went around walking in circles for like 30 min. with this kinda focus like I was on another plane, some sort of floating feeling. Not exactly like flying, just this pretty smooth ride or something. I just kept focused on that feeling so I would stop thinking about the pain in my chest and the dark/bizarre colorings/patterns/thoughts that had first taken hold of my head... It took forever to calm down, but I think I just went to strong for my first time and my body wasn't ready.

That said, the feeling was so foreign, that when I had another chance, I went ahead and smoked a little. Nowhere near the trip I took the first time I did it, but I did feel it up a tad... Maybe I was being too cautious, but if I ever have another opportunity, I'd like to get it inbetween the two time I did it. Not too strong, not too little...

 

[Rei_Toei]

Funny - I didn't feel much the first couple of times, nor did any of my friends. Then again, those were all battle-hardened Dutch people .

 

[gofreak]

I've never taken any drugs, sans alcohol, but it wasn't because of any school programs. I don't know why, but taking drugs just always seemed...stupid to me.

 

[Alcibiades]

at first I didn't feel anything either, but I had been taking in cautious inhales. My buddies were asking me if I felt different, and I'm like no, so they were like "you gotta keep the smoke in your lungs longer, etc.." so then I took one really strong and long inhale, and things kinda went crazy from threre...

I'm not a regular smoker at all, so there was the shock of the burning sensation your lungs go through as well.

I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but the first time, we were using this metal pipe-like thing where they'd use a lighter to burn up some of the weed as I inhaled, while the second time (where my experience was not nearly as strong as the first time), it was a regular joint...

I have no idea about these things or if they were using different strengths or what, but I was being more cautious the 2nd time around as it was probably in the back of my mind how things went the first time...

 

[AniHawk]

D.A.R.E. TRUTH, ect ect. Have they helped to keep you off drugs?

Not really. 1) I wouldn't know where to go in the first place 2) life's never gotten too rough where I need drugs/alcohol/cigs to unwind.

Also, I watched my maternal grandfather slowly die from throat/lung cancer over the course of about 5 years, the final and worse stage taking 6 months. He was already skinny, but he went down to 100 pounds and he was 5'9", couldn't walk, could basically sit up, and the last three days he was alive he was asleep- most likely dying from dehydration. There's also a history of substance abuse in my family (except for my paternal grandparents, who can drink without getting drunk [unless they try]), so I know it'd probably be pretty bad if I start.

 

[NLB2]

Maybe if all the parents and teachers did drugs none of the kids would because it's not cool if adults do it.

Oh, you mean like how none of the kids drink 'cause they see there parents drinking and parents are totaly whack?

If you think kids only rebel against their parents read some Freud

 

[BobbyRobby]

Anyone ever get to wear those goggles that are supposed to simulate your eyesight while drunk?

I always wanted to wear those when I was drunk.

 

[DSN2K]

No, common sense has kept me off drugs.

IAWTP

 

[Boogie]

No, common sense has kept me off drugs.

+1

 

[wandering goat]

I used to be completely turned off of drugs, not really because of the commercials, but because it was said everywhere how horrible they are for you. My friends started smoking marijuana and I was pretty shocked. Then I actually started looking up on the effects of drugs and saw how missinformative all of the information I had previously received was. They made it seem like you'd die or lose your brain just from smoking weed. Even with harder drugs like cocaine the bad effects are greatly exaggerated (not that I'd do them anyway though).

There is just about no "peer pressure" involving drugs that I saw anyway during highschool (besides my friend offering me marijuana and when I didn't want to, didn't press the issue), so the first time I smoked marijuana was when I was 18. And because a lot of people here keep mentioning this point, drugs aren't just an "escape from reality" and used by people who can't have fun without them (I'm sober the vast majority of the time anyway, from both drugs and alcohol). It's just another thing to do both to have fun and to explore yourself and have a different outlook on the world. I would encourage everyone, including those who have no desire to ever do drugs, to look up the effects of many on unbiased websites just to have a better understanding of them and the reasons people have to do them.

 

[Sirpopopop]

"Common Sense", heh.

You mean, that without being armed with knowledge from anti-drug programs or any cues from friends that your body is automatically to tell the exact effects of a drug, and the many ways it will effect it? Wow, I wish my body was able to behave like that...

 

[Error Macro]

"Common Sense", heh.

You mean, that without being armed with knowledge from anti-drug programs or any cues from friends that your body is automatically to tell the exact effects of a drug, and the many ways it will effect it? Wow, I wish my body was able to behave like that...

Well, the common sense in my case was observing my friends under various levels of intoxication, on a range of different substances. Not only did it cause me to turn my back on drugs, it caused me to turn my back on my friends, since it was obvious they didn't want a non-user around them anymore. Man, high school was rough.

 

[Richard Cranium]

My intro to psych book has an entire page devoted to the failure of D.A.R.E., entitled, "Just Say No --- to DARE?" One study showed that D.A.R.E. graduates were more likely to use marijuana compared to a group who hadn't participated in the program.

 

[MIMIC]

I was in a DARE program back in elementary school (and this other one with green logos...I can't remember the name).

Honestly, I didn't need help to figure out that I shouldn't be doing drugs (which I don't).

 

[RevenantKioku]

No, but seeing my one friend on acid, and the death of another indirectly due to marijuana (also an unlicensed driving illegal immigrant no less) kept me off drugs.

 

[Dan]

Not really. I wouldn't be interested even if drugs had absolutely no negative side effects. I prefer my reality to be an authentic one. DARE was irrelevant.

 

[All Hail C-Webb]

People who have never tried drugs have some weird misconceptions about them.

Drugs are just like videogames. It's a few hours of fun, when you could be doing something more constructive. There are probably more videogame related deaths than there are weed ones.

Just look at the commercial for the PS9, if that's not a drug, I don't know what is.

 

[Aurum]

Couple things-

For everyone who says "common sense kept me off drugs," I think what you fail to realize is that "common sense" is really only constructed by the various influences you experience as a child. What your parents tell you about drugs, what you learn in school, and (on a very similar note) what you learn in drug-prevention programs, whether or not you consciously internalize it all, has a great effect on your "common sense." Anyone who gives that answer was probably influenced, at least in some way, by the message such programs promote.

Second, asking people on an Internet website obviously produces very skewed results, because you're asking people who at least come from some degree of wealth (i.e., we aren't talking about inner-city kids without access to a computer). My guess would be that drug-prevention programs are naturally directed more at that demographic anyway.

 

[Firest0rm]

Well I didn't need them, I used my own common sense and told my friends that I don't do any kind of drugs and I don't drink. Even though all my friends drink. Besides its funny watching everyone making a fool of themselves, and then being the only one that remembers it the next day .

 

[Boogie]

People who have never tried drugs have some weird misconceptions about them.

Drugs are just like videogames. It's a few hours of fun, when you could be doing something more constructive. There are probably more videogame related deaths than there are weed ones.

Just look at the commercial for the PS9, if that's not a drug, I don't know what is.

That sounds like the misconception to me. But I'm not going to argue with you people. If you're taking drugs, you've obviously already decided that they're harmless. I'm just going to call you all douchebags for thinking that.

 

[Lyte Edge]

No, watching my older brother's friend get totally fucked up and ruin his life is what kept me off of drugs. Oh, and a guy that lived in my neighborhood died in a car accident while fucked up; that pretty much kept me clean.

 

[LakeEarth]

Smoking's nones the cool! Word!

 

[belgurdo]

Watching the crackheaded prostitutes three blocks down the street stumble down the alleyways, talking to themselves is what kept me off drugs, not semi-humourous commercials

 

[Ned Flanders]

Education, moderation. My credo with regard to drugs. I think everyone should have at least a few "experiences" before they die, just like everyone has occassionally floored it on the highway, had some in-the-moment questionable sex, or jumped off of something just a smidge too high. Life is for the living, and if you never take some risks, you may as well just live in a box.

That said I'm a complete advocate of doing things responsibly and with moderation. Don't just try something new at a random party with a bunch of people you don't know, plan ahead.

Drug campaigns should take a line closer to that of safe sex ads. If they are pro-abstinence, then don't mock me with scare tactics (safe sex ads don't say "Your dick will rot off!! Wait till marriage!!"), and if you're not gonna tell me to abstain, then at least tell me to conduct myself responsibly.

 

[White Man]

i actually recall that those D.A.R.E. presentations made me really curious about drugs. and indeed i've done lots of drugs over the course of my life, though i'm pretty clean lately. so, uh...no.

That's what made me interested in giving thema try. Before DARE, I doubt I ever even thought about it much. Once the idea was in my head, I started doing research. It was all innocent curiosity.

Of course, through most of my teens I guess I could've been classified as a chemical dependent. I calmed down when I came to terms with myself (sort of).

 

[Lathentar]

My hatred for cigarettes have kept me off any smoking in general. I don't mind alcohol at all though, unless of course its a consistent thing.

I've always felt there are better things to do than drugs. Even if Marijuana is perfectly alright for me, I really don't care.

 

[fennec fox]

My uncle spent a fairly long time in jail during the 70s for dealing. That was discouragement enough for me.

I have a cigarette about once a year.

 

[Dice]

"Common Sense", heh.

You mean, that without being armed with knowledge from anti-drug programs or any cues from friends that your body is automatically to tell the exact effects of a drug, and the many ways it will effect it? Wow, I wish my body was able to behave like that...

No, it's more about observing it screw up my friends and knowing that it DOES effect it. I am fine with actually facing life, dealing with my problems and enjoying a truly freed mind that is reconciled to the world and itself. My greatest enjoyment of life has come from my understanding of it, people who say life is boring without drugs and things like it obviously don't understand it at all.

If they spent a little more time pondering all of life and working through the hard things insetad of figuring out how they can best escape it for a short time without totally screwing themselves over not only would those people would be happy but they'd also have a good influence on their friends. To actually use their brains instead of inhibit them and actually see the beauty of life instead of some pretty colors in a hallucination.

Couple things-

For everyone who says "common sense kept me off drugs," I think what you fail to realize is that "common sense" is really only constructed by the various influences you experience as a child. What your parents tell you about drugs, what you learn in school, and (on a very similar note) what you learn in drug-prevention programs, whether or not you consciously internalize it all, has a great effect on your "common sense." Anyone who gives that answer was probably influenced, at least in some way, by the message such programs promote.

Second, asking people on an Internet website obviously produces very skewed results, because you're asking people who at least come from some degree of wealth (i.e., we aren't talking about inner-city kids without access to a computer). My guess would be that drug-prevention programs are naturally directed more at that demographic anyway.

See above. I grew up poor in the ghetto, surrounded by drugs and gangs, there have been a couple big drug busts next door, and the arcade I played in as a child was just a big drug front which eventually got turned into a city-run ice cream shop where the workers are all doing community service. I was homeschooled so I never saw a DARE presentation, as I said before my encounters with drugs were peope that were high. My parents didn't shelter me, but they were honest with me about life and encouraged research of anything I was curious of.

I know how drugs work, and it's not just the harmful mispractices that I think make them bad. The whole concept is bad and is rooted in intentions that are bad. Even if only short a short time, throwing away your good sense is one of the very worst things you can do to yourself. You are not experiencing life to a greater level, you are only experiencing it's senses in greater intensity. But you know, your mind can be a wonderful thing, and understanding of even the simplest things can bring such a greater pleasure to your senses as they are than drugs could ever hope to emulate.

Nothing that drugs offer can possibly be worth what I lose in using them, not only my good sense but the money from my wallet. If thats how you want to live your life then I won't stop you, that is not my responsibility. But I will not join you and I think I have good reasons.

 

[Brannon]

What my father went through and came back from pretty much sealed the deal with me ever doing drugs, and my complete aversion to the taste of alcohol keeps me from wanting it. The commercials were fun to watch I guess. If only they could bring back the "This is your brain on drugs v2.0" commercial, that'd make my day.

 

[cubanb]

i am an alcoholic pothead gambler..... dare has worked for me!

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

I used to be completely turned off of drugs, not really because of the commercials, but because it was said everywhere how horrible they are for you. My friends started smoking marijuana and I was pretty shocked. Then I actually started looking up on the effects of drugs and saw how missinformative all of the information I had previously received was. They made it seem like you'd die or lose your brain just from smoking weed. Even with harder drugs like cocaine the bad effects are greatly exaggerated (not that I'd do them anyway though).

This is pretty similar to me. I learned "Drugs are bad, and bad for you" at a young age, and just took it as unquestioned fact for a long time. At a point in high school, though, I became a much more open-minded person. Stopped associating "law" with "absolutely right", and didn't take my previous stances on issues as gospel. About that time drugs stopped seeming necessarily bad, though still not for me for a number of reasons.

So yeah, those messages helped keep me off drugs at an early age, theoretically... but it's not like I was offered any during that time.

There are probably more videogame related deaths than there are weed ones.

Now there's an argument that could tear the two main sections of this forum asunder!

 

[Cool]

Going back to the original question of the topic, the fact that I have never done drugs could probably very well be because of all the horror stories I heard growing up in school, and the fact that I am very cowardly and cautious to attempt such things.

 

[snapty00]

I don't smoke anything, and I don't drink, but it wasn't because of any awareness program. If anything, they did make me want to gouge my eyeballs from the fact that they thought I was too dumb to understand that "drugs are bad, mmmkay."