Comment Re:Drugs are good! (Score 1) 717
The only lines being blurred are in the minds of apologists. Devil's advocate? Truer words were never spoken.
When I was in school ADD/ADHD was unheard of yet our graduation rate was nearly 100% in spite of high acedemic standards. 75% of graduates went on to college. The explanation for that is simple. It was a middle/upper middle class, highly educated community where expectations were universally high. These days I have a large group of college-aged friends, some even HS, and I find the abuse of Adderral to be rampant. If you judged by my group of friends, ADD would effect 80% of the population (100% of my school-aged friends) yet these kids don't achieve beyond what kids did before them and many fail anyway despite arguably lower standards. Beyond that, many take adderral well in excess of prescribed dosages for sport. If you've been with someone who's take 4x adderral you know what I mean.
What will it be tonight? Coke, pot, meth, X, adderral, ketamine, vodka? If you don't know how kids party today you need to open your eyes. Adderral isn't a performance enhancing drug for achievers, it's just another drug in the arsenal of the typical kid today. People abuse prescription meds for the same reasons they abuse street drugs. Some do it to meet deadlines but most do it to escape or to have fun. Adderral abuse is no different. It's speed and it's an appealing alternative to meth for many.
I'm not suggesting that there aren't those who don't legitimately benefit from ADD treatments of course. I'm confident, though, that 80% of the population isn't need of that particular treatment. Most just need to get off their asses.
There is no such thing as a drug that is performance-enhancing with no adverse side effects and it's unlikely there ever will be. Even accepting that such a drug existed, it would be hard to argue a positive overall social benefit. I don't want to have to take drugs in order to compete nor do I want my society to have to compete with a bunch of drugged up forced labor in world markets.
Just because there's no "special evil" associated with drug use doesn't mean it's not wrong.
When I was in school ADD/ADHD was unheard of yet our graduation rate was nearly 100% in spite of high acedemic standards. 75% of graduates went on to college. The explanation for that is simple. It was a middle/upper middle class, highly educated community where expectations were universally high. These days I have a large group of college-aged friends, some even HS, and I find the abuse of Adderral to be rampant. If you judged by my group of friends, ADD would effect 80% of the population (100% of my school-aged friends) yet these kids don't achieve beyond what kids did before them and many fail anyway despite arguably lower standards. Beyond that, many take adderral well in excess of prescribed dosages for sport. If you've been with someone who's take 4x adderral you know what I mean.
What will it be tonight? Coke, pot, meth, X, adderral, ketamine, vodka? If you don't know how kids party today you need to open your eyes. Adderral isn't a performance enhancing drug for achievers, it's just another drug in the arsenal of the typical kid today. People abuse prescription meds for the same reasons they abuse street drugs. Some do it to meet deadlines but most do it to escape or to have fun. Adderral abuse is no different. It's speed and it's an appealing alternative to meth for many.
I'm not suggesting that there aren't those who don't legitimately benefit from ADD treatments of course. I'm confident, though, that 80% of the population isn't need of that particular treatment. Most just need to get off their asses.
There is no such thing as a drug that is performance-enhancing with no adverse side effects and it's unlikely there ever will be. Even accepting that such a drug existed, it would be hard to argue a positive overall social benefit. I don't want to have to take drugs in order to compete nor do I want my society to have to compete with a bunch of drugged up forced labor in world markets.
Just because there's no "special evil" associated with drug use doesn't mean it's not wrong.
