Slaphappy

No it's not a straw man argument. Alcohol is not even comparable to narcotics. From the effect it has one your body, addictive nature or legal status.

Omniscient

I love the extreme taken on both sides...

Why does the example of alcohol have to be “legal” and “1 drink” while opioids are “shooting up” and “illegal”

You do realize that people are addicted daily to opioids from prescribed legal prescriptions, prescribed by accredited and licensed physicians? Your idea that every opioid addict is a heroin “junkie” in a back alley really speaks to ignorance; just as alcohol abuse being as simple as an innocent 1 drink of legal alcohol consumption.

How many innocent people die every year from being killed by someone under the influence of alcohol vs the influence of opioids? Numbers aren’t even close.

Point is there is not such thing as harmless addiction, or stereotypical addict types. All shapes and sizes, all walks of life.

Honestly I think you’re either just enjoying taking the counter of all arguments or just really stuck in a prior time of ignorance and non acceptance. Every topic you take the counter argument whether it’s women in aviation, discrimination accusations, United drag parade, etc.....

Intolerant views that are causing so much destruction today.

rickair7777

I did not suggest these guys both got arrested due to natural physiological BAC. Just pointing out that on that particular overnight, you don't need to be an abuser or addict, just a bit careless since the standards are so stringent. Also they are looking for it... apparently eagerly. When both guys get busted that hints at poor judgement vice abuse.

flensr

Are some of you tools actually equating drinking alcohol to using drugs like cocaine or meth? That's pathetic, regardless of whatever life experience has led you to believe in that particular point of view.

I do know firsthand what alcohol abuse can do to individuals or an entire family. But that particular comparison is invalid.

rickair7777

Yeah there really is a vast difference. Alcohol can certainly be abused, and be addictive, and can have all of the same consequences as illegal drug use but it's been part of human civilization for so long that most ethnic groups have literally evolved tolerance. Picking up a beer is not debatable in the same context as picking up a needle or meth pipe... unless you know you have an alcohol addiction issue, or genetic predisposition. I have a good friend who doesn't drink for the latter reason.

PhantomHawk

There are waaaaaay more cases of people doing horrible things after drinking than there are due to drug use. I’m definitely not saying they are the same thing when it comes to casual use, but once you’re down the rabbit hole.....it’s essentially the same thing. I’ve worked in this particular field, and I’ve seen more people destroy themselves with alcohol than drugs. Drug use just has a stigma, as demonstrated by the responses on this post. But whatever....arguing on here is dumb, because closed minds thrive on the Internet.

rickair7777

You've seen more because many more people drink in the first place.

Drugs have a stigma because they are worse, in several ways. Many are far more potent, are unpredictably potent, often don't contain what you think they do, and may be highly toxic. The booze that most folks drink is correctly labelled as to potency.

A small percentage of drinkers destroy themselves, a higher percentage of illegal substance abusers do so. Excluding MJ, since that's pretty much legal now.

PhantomHawk

Fair enough. I agree with most of what you say. I was never saying that they are all the same....but once a person is destroying themselves and putting others in harms way because of their own reckless behavior.....you can’t say it’s somehow more respectable because it’s legal. Once that line has been crossed....yeah, it’s all the same.

Using the term “drugs” is pretty broad. I’m not going to defend jacking heroin into your arm and saying that’s on a level with having a glass of wine with your dinner. However....I do know some people who were able to use certain drugs on a casual level, just like I know some people who can’t even have a couple beers without self destructing. And the recovery chances aren’t set in stone, either. I know alcoholics who will never fly again....with good cause. I also know recovered addicts who work for Legacy carriers, and I’d trust them with my children’s lives. It’s a case by case thing.

This conversation is mostly pointless, which I should have known. It’s like politics.....people have very deep feelings, sometimes without even considering the other point of view at all. One thing is CERTAIN....legal or not, no amount of drug use is safe or reasonable when it comes to this career....and alcohol can ruin a good thing if you aren’t careful.

rickair7777

No argument there


Back in the day, it was not unreasonable for someone to attempt casual drug use. Today it's quite different, and illegal drug use is quite risky, reckless really, because of the way they manufacture the stuff... it is likely to be far more potent than back in the day when speed was speed, and coke was coke (or maybe powdered sugar). Now you're quite likely to be doing fentanyl without realizing it. In addition to giving the customer the impression that he's buying "really good $%*&", fentanyl is highly addictive and readily fatal (compared to things like coke or meth).

To make matters worse, fentanyl is now being used to to enhance pot... so now it really can be a gateway drug (in addition to OD risk to someone who has no idea that he can't just smoke as many joints as he wants).

IMO the only safe recreational drug today is homegrown pot, or from a reputable outlet (not all are reputable, many are simply former illegal growers/distributers who crawled out into the light day).


I've gone hard over lately. As a long-hair rocker type, I was surrounded by drug culture as a kid (managed to almost completely avoid it myself, thanks in part to a smoking hot GF in HS who loved sex but absolutely hated dope).

But as my kids have gotten older, we've been educated about the CURRENT realities of drugs... it's so bad they have emergency outreach from the DEA now in grade school and middle school, that slide show is eye opening to say the least.

Abuse of legal/prescription drugs is a whole nother issue... glad to see the feds cracking on down on the root of that problem: big pharma and white-collar dope pushers operating under a medical license.

sailingfun

Alcohol is simply a legal drug. It is far and away the most destructive drug in our society. It’s legal but lethal. Let’s call a spade a spade. Yes, I do enjoy a beer but I have no concept of it being any different than a joint or a oxy tablet. It’s one of many ways to get high. In the end a very destructive one.