It quite simple: drugs cause an excessive change in perception and/or motor abilities by altering your bodies chemistry, possibly with long-term ramifications.
Growing up poor and having nothing, I came to value my mind. Simply because it's something that I could invest in and not have to worry about someone stealing.
So, I said no to shit like drugs a long time ago.
Yeah, I've tried them a couple of times for the experience, but that ended there. The body has a hard enough time growing old without throwing unneeded chemicals into the mix.
I think that some people may need them, but for most, it's nothing more than a crutch for those that can't deal with life.
This thread has evolved into something interesting so lets just run with it.
You might have a point with the bolded statement, but before I give you that, we must agree on a definition of need.
I say need is an uncontrollable urge or impulse to acquire, use, or do something. I think the key part is uncontrollable. Now, for all intensive purposes lets use myself as the ginny pig. I can without much trouble at all pick up or set down any drug except caffeine. Caffeine is a drug that has played a huge part in my life since I was about 17. I am a coffee junky like many other Americans, and I do not function well without it. I would say that I need caffeine. Caffeine is a crutch.
Now, lets talk pot. I smoked pot everyday since the last day of final exams about a month ago. I smoke everyday as long as it does not interfere with my goals. It hasn't, therefor I have not stopped smoking. The day the fall semester starts, I will stop smoking as I did last semester and my life picks up without skipping a beat. To be honest, I will probably be sick of pot by then anyway. After being high becomes the norm, you go back to reality for a change. It really just amounts to boredom really. I am not smoking weed to deal with the pressures of life, but the opposite. I am smoking to enhance my enjoyment of my time away from the stresses of school. I would say pot is not a crutch.
Now then, lets talk about the harder stuff. I haven't touched anything harder than pot in over a year. Not because I had to quite or because drugs were adversely effecting my life, but simply because the cost benefit of doing those drugs was not acceptable. I would cost me money, time, for both doing the drug and recuperation, then it would hurt my gains in the gym. Those drugs are terrible for making gains, so I just didn't bother.
Lets go a little bit farther. Lets talk about the drug that everybody on this site is addicted to. Thats right baby, endorphins. The grand daddy of drugs. You can't buy them on the street. You can't get them from your local pharmacy. There is only one way to get them, and that is to work your mofo ass off in the gym. They have no comedown, ill effects, or sire effects. But, they do have withdrawal effects. If I don't workout for a certain amount of time I start to become depressed, lazy, and start to have trouble sleeping and a whole host of other problems. I would say most of the people on this board also have these issues. I am stepping out on a limb, but I would say at least half of the board members are endorphin junkies.
Do ya'll see what I am getting at here? Please somebody say that get it.