ITM drug survey... living for the next high?

[jaynie]

It seems so small but to me it is also so disturbing.

The majority of users of ITM have registered 'always' as their drug survey response. Disregarding all the social, moral, ethical side of the debate (we've heard it all before), I am questioning why... (ps- no, I'm not a psych or philosophy uni student).

Drugs as an enhancer... common response to this 'why substances' question. But always needing an enhancer? I hope like hell sex aids aren't a part of your sexual routine every single time you get shaggy.

Something more consolidated need to satisfy my mind... Is the music not good enough? Are you physically not up to it (ie: after a long day at work)? Or maybe you really, deep down, don't want to be there.

Come on guys, think harder.

Once a friend told me he need some substances to help him get up at a club, on a regular night. Just something a little sparkier than the residences. While I understand where he's coming from... but why don't he, and possibly a lot of people who filled out the survey, just save their money for big events?

Let off steam on a weekend, sure. You love the music, sure. But if you love it so much why do you have to use added enhancement everytime?

I have no real answers, and this rant is probably too sensible for my own good. But having seen someone I cared about living the pill'ed life... purpose of life being living for his next high, sometime middle of next week after a forgotten weekend... I wonder.

Now and again, sure... do it, it can be fun. But so can sex in karma-sutra recommended positions, requiring loads of flexibility but nothing external.

Living for the next high? Mmm...

[shellos]

hey is this jaynie from darling harbour?

if it is... shellos here... remember me?

send me an email, let me know how youve been going!!!

as for your post i think i agree with most of it. Comming from a drum&bass background i dont get into the pill thing at all. Its always been the 'Jah, gettin the red eyes and goin low with the bass. Really its a different thing. But having been to raves and just generally out n about I've seen people really fucked up and to me thats not what going out is about.

In the words of Alli G "aint the most dangerous thing about these things (ecstacy), that it actually make you enjoy dancing to house music"

my 2 cents
shellos

[bigbrother]

Jaynie,

I think there are a few things that you are overlooking while coming to your conclusions. First of all, the question was "do you" take drugs every time you go to a club, not "do you need to". I can understand where you're coming from, but with your point being that the people surveyed obvoiusly need to take drugs in order to have a good night out is possibly a bit misguided.

As for your drugs as an enhancer arguement, how many people go out to clubs/pub/bars and don't drink alcohol (if they do does that mean that they really don't want to be there deep down)? The majority of people who frequent clubs/events/bars are there for a variety of things music/social interaction/alcohol/drugs - the music is an obvoius part of going out, but it makes up only part of the entire "experience".

[Juggalo Muli]

word jaynie, i only take drugs occasionally, only when i plan on having a really big night, i have taken it like once a month if that so i totally agree with you.

Cheers

Muli

[GfunK]

didnt we all start like that?

[Rompy]

to me the poll shows only 27% selected 'always'. Thats nowhere near a majority

[Alistair]

This weekend ive been up in sydney and ive been only on the grog. And its proven to me a few things
1) I dont need pills to have a good time
2) I dont need pills to have a good time with my friends when they are pilling, they are just as much fun when im straight and they dont find it wierd that im not as off my tits as they are.
3) I get more sleep when i dont have pills, and feel less crap (but still crap) the next day
4) I am more selective/snobby about my music when im not on pills (the chapel at the greenwood today (sunday) was shocking, damn i hated that hard stuff - but on a pill i can get into that stuff)

All this has been really good for me, and whilst i wont be stopping taking the drugs any time soon, I will prob consume less. But certainly, the 27%majority that always do it prob do it coz they like it, can afford it, and because they want to. I really dont think many of that 27% that always do it have a problem with doing it every time they go out, and for me that is less cause for alarm than my housemates who cant get through breakfast without a bong.

[Sherbos]

went to dimitri without pills and have come to the conclusion that I'm not really fussed whether I have them or not on a night out. I was going hard until 4 (when my legs gave out as I'd also had a ripper the night before) and then just sat back and watched the man play.

[trouble]

Jaynie,

I agree with what bigbrother said above, but I would also add that for many people, going out is about the whole experience. Music, atmosphere, people AND drugs. If one of these elements is wrong or missing it can screw your night. Sure, if you only go for the drugs and the company, then the music won't matter much, and if you don't do drugs, then as long as the music and the crowd are going hard you'll have a ball. But for me it's important that I get into the music, that the atmosphere (set and setting) is fun and comfortable, the people have the right attitude and the drugs are doing good things for me. It's about enhancing the good things, not hiding the bad.

[i-clanVJ]

drugs. interesting how terms mean different things. medications. same terms, different laws.... different things really...but some people have only bought from people they know, and usually get fairly pure stuff, it's a bit of an issue, but certainly i must say.... to thine own soul be true.

[marty]

i have been to parties high, straight and drunk. i dont need the pills, but i really think its just another aspect of the whole experience. i loooove my music and the drugs are just a part of the scene, just like the music, the people, the atmosphere and venues.
the parties i have done straight prove to me that i dont need the drugs, they just make it a very different experience, not worse or better, just different.
that said...i don't care how much anyone loves dancing or the music, i find it incredibly difficult to believe that people can go hard past 4:30 maybe 5:00 without conking out.

marty

[Elmo]

First off I have an aspirin when I wake up (cures my headache).
When I go out I pop a pill (can't leave house with out one).
Then I need whizz to get my @!#$ tohether and get the energy to dance.
I then need coke to give me the confidence/arogance to talk or communicate with people.
After I have all of these I am in the right state to lower my inhabitions even further by having some liquid(gb-whatever) or alchohol.
Now I have the courage/lack of eyesight/lack of shame to pick up.
After all this I get a girl home and I have to pop a viagra cause with aIl the @!#$ in my system I can't get it up.
Next day I wake up with a headache.

Help me break this vicious circle.

[trouble]

lol@elmo... nice one :)

[Brakes]

i don't know why more people just rely on a natural high like i do, with a couple of beers and maybe half an e or something every now and again. Sure you won't be able to dance all night, but consider the advantages.

-you'll start to think trance, hi-nrg and house is @#$%, and start listenting to cool tunes

-one will able to remember the night, and have no or little mid-week blues

-you won't risk suffering long-term effects of regular drug use

-there will be little chance of having a bad trip

-+ many more

i know heaps of u won't agree, espec about the first advantage, but that's what i think, and i have seen first hand bad effects of drugs, and they are scary, resulting in life being put on hold + suicide attempt.

[Ravermon]

Actually I love heading out for a night out and having a boogie...and I'll take substances more often than not because of this reason:

I just enjoy dancing more on substances.

There is nothing more enjoyable than popping a pill of enjoyable substances and floating on the floor, enjoying the extra flexibility in my limbs, enjoying the social values of the drug @ hand -it was used once upon a time for therapeautic methods...for me there is nothing like it...

Why don't I save up for the larger nights? Why get completely smashed @ a huge event with less room to move, more likelyhood of getting so smashed that I can't remember half the weekend, and plus I enjoy taking things with my group of friends...and @ bigger nights I end up losing them (but I'll admit having great times with new ones...)

Thats my personal preference anyway for those who care to know :)

[danaele]

rofl@elmo

u crack me up

-D :P

[driload]

hmm

i know where the orininal message was coming from

its not a huuuuge statistic but she is concerned, me too to be honest.


personally i havent popped a pill for over a year or so. i tired of being tired after it all, the next day wasted... got sick of come downs, had an anxiety attack on one come down too, but i think everyone has had some form of negative aspect to their illicit pastime.

thats around when i was first getting serious about making music and that took over. i hardly even drink these days and usually have some creative connection to all the events i go to, wether im performing there, did some art, going to review it or taking pics with my sexy digital.... thats my buzz honestly.. its odd

but i know thats not everyone, and i look back to those times i dropped a pill as fun, empathetic and (hopefully) enlightening.
the thing that really concerns me is the reactions of those new to it all. im by no means anti-pills or anything like that, but i do have a hatred of seeing the negative aspects of the drug issue in this 'industry'.

be it kids off their faces, Od's, shady deals, tainted pills, people with serotonin syndrome, speed users suffering from mild psychosis, trippers frying themselves, bad come downs, things of this nature.

im still an optimist, and hope we can ensure people be sensible and safe about the consumtion of drugs, and i do hope one day there can be some acceptance that its here to stay, and work to making supply safe. at least something like pill testing kits is a step in the right direction.

also one last Parent-like bitch... newcomers to E.... they should be made to get a Learners licence : P

haha they should be taught the ramifications of overdoing it (anxiety, depression, freaking out) and also to respect the processes going on in their head, and try to carry that into their own life while straight.


@!#$, ive turned Parent...

call me devils advocate. and guy-who-never-shuts-up ....

[marty]

Brakes,

in response to your first reason...let me just clarify that for me and a large proportion of my party-going buddies, the music is the reason for going to the parties. i listen to psy-trance 24-7 and im not on drugs 24-7, so how could it be that i need the drugs to think that its good?

[feeble]

*sigh*of course I don't NEED drugs. No one needs them, and I can quite happily go a night without them without anyone being able to tell the difference (althought maybe this means that I'm a natural-born gurner, but anyway...)
However, i like drugs, and i feel i should be allowed to exercise my power of choice to take them without beng judged (or without people going on about "natural highs"- @!#$ off and eat a soy bean and leave me and my chems in peace). Each to their own kids.

[CrackWhore]

Coming from a stance where my point of view on drugs is irrelevant, i sit in the middle of the fence - which mind you hurts when you get splinters in yer bum...

Different people have different reactions and tolerances, for different amounts and different substances, so i believe moderation is the key (for most things). As is knowing what you like and what you can handle.

But it would be pretty fukking...hmmm...helpful and perhaps obviously intelligent to have more open awareness campiagns on what effects overuse of chemmies and other actually does have on you. In several senses. Portrayal/s a little more realistic than overdramatised ads that look "real" to the very naive public, which in turn give the sensationalist tabloids and media something to write, or make a lop-sided doco about.
Think of it as facts stated bluntly. OBJECTIVE BRUTALITIES. Then at least people can make an informed decision for themselves.

Coming from the point of view where i know my own limits and thus choose & refuse to do what i want to and when. But also know it's not that of others'. Also the harsh reality that i'm not actually employed as a life-support-machine for O.D. cases, althogh on several occasions I have had to be. Not the most pleasant situation to be in (especially second or third time round !?) when you're not sure if someone is gonna regain consciousness or not. And it's even worse when you witness those that don't.

Something to think about anyway. Point being, if people are gonna play naughty, at least be safely naughty. (eg. knowin what not to mix together might stop your head exploding when you forget how to breathe cuz yer 2 fukd off yer tits). Simple shitt, but important shitt. They've* done it for junkies - needle exchanges, and marketed information on "safe shootin' tips."

(oh...'them'. those nameless groups of 'important strangers' who decide...)

I aint advocating or discouraging the question of whether ppl should consume or not consume. (OUCH...THOSE DAMNSPLINTERS!!). Choose yourself. Just choose wisely. (shite...that could almost launch into a trainspotting monologue...!?)

Anyways, Yes. That is why moderation to me tastes best.
Ciao.




thoughts anyone??