I recently wrote a response to a person's view on "responsible" drug use: he started a thread in which, he hoped, people would share examples of "responsible drug use". I want to know what milky mooners think of the subject. (swim == someone who isn't me; sotts == somebodies other than themselves: we had to use this silly indirection which, I of course, mocked mercilessly.)
It is not an easy thing to "show...what responsible drug use looks like". No, it isn't. It is a rare bird indeed. (It would be far easier to describe what responsible drug use IS NOT.) I've been doing drugs for far too long and it has no end in sight. Let me take a shot at responsible drug use: I'll start with the person who has not begun yet to take drugs.
I've come to the conclusion that nobody ever told me THE greatest danger in trying a drug for the first time. It is not that my head might explode, or that I might have a seizure and my heart might fail, or that I might suffer brain damage, or that I might wreck my car and kill someone or myself, and all the rest of this type.
The greatest danger that I NOW know is....THAT I WILL LIKE IT!
Now, I never took a drug in the hopes that I would NOT have a good experience, that I would NOT like it; And this is THE huge problem for people who have addictive personalities or who tend to find and get into trouble when getting high.
So: you think, it's simply a matter of determining whether you have and addictive personality! Who among us know this BEFORE trying drugs?--and, surely, no one thinks that trouble is around the corner before trying that first joint, beer or hit of crack. As a matter or long-established fact, humans (you and me) tend to focus on all the possible good that will come from something, anything. This is all the more true when we, uh, they are turning to reality alteration (drugs) to AVOID something--pain or discomfort of any kind, big and small.
In hindsight and before I cared that I had an addictive personality/found trouble, when I had that first hit of MDMA in my hand, I should have said to that guy over there, "Here it is, that wonderful stuff everyone has been raving about (pun intended). I sure do hope I HATE it!!! Gulp..."
For the person about to try drugs for the first time, there appears to be no drug use that can be called "responsible". Knowledge of this will stop very few people from taking that leap anyway. Swim suffers no illusions in this regard.
Now, for someone who has already started--how do we recognize responsible drug use? We NEVER look at the ACT of using, acquiring or the behaviour while that person is high: It is obvious that the person who hits an old lady over the head to steal her purse and buy drugs does not provide the example we seek. Those sotts must look at the entire state of that person's life, separate from the drug use, the acquiring, using and duration--does that person have unpaid bills, a child who needs new shoes, have unpaid alimony, a car in need of repair, no car at all, homework undone, grades in the toilet or on the way down, and so on.
Personally, tpoth (this person other than himself) may be tempted to say that there were a few months within 1982 to 1983 that resembled something like responsible drug usage. He overcomes this temptation to say that he can't provide any description of responsible drug use as he has always had an addictive personality and caused trouble for himself through using drugs or acquiring them or thinking about them...
All this is to say that the premise of this thread, as described in the OP, is preposterous. I don't derive pleasure from saying this--I have spent many years living with my blankie pulled up over my eyes so that I would not be discouraged from doing what I pleased, those around me be damned. I no longer live this way. I prefer the truth, even though it is repulsive to the eyes and ears.
Let me re-phrase: I have no desire to go around here and piss on everyone's fun. I've had my say on this topic and it's done. I am open to being convinced of some other way of looking at all this, if someone will try.