Chemical Support

This page is about alcohol, drugs and cigarettes and the way we use them to aid us in our lives.

1. Alcohol

“Fitness, physical health, mental health and long-term health all suffer as a result of medium- or heavy- drinking. The medical effects of alcohol is one of the most serious problems facing UK medical services. Deaths from chronic alcohol misuse have been rising for decades, and so has violence, abuse, vandalism and crime all associated with alcohol over-use, and alcohol-related crime commands the single biggest use of police manpower in the UK. Drinking modest, sensible amounts of alcohol, however, can be good for you. But socially irresponsible over-use of alcohol is inexcusable. The knack of moderation has been lost by far too many people, families and work cultures. The aggression and crime associated with alcohol in some Western countries infringes on the human rights of those who want nothing to do with such behaviour. UK holidaymakers and football fans abroad are bemoaned as the most drunken and most unruly of all foreign travellers. It disgraces the UK; we have seen above that other European countries such as Italy and France have no such problems.
Many of the social effects of alcohol are psychological and cultural; i.e., people don't have to behave criminally or destructively whilst drunk, it is a culturally learned behaviour. Experiments have shown that behaviour can be controlled: Those who do not wish to behave badly whilst drunk, will not do so.”
"Alcohol: The Social & Medical Effects and How to Combat Misuse" by Vexen Crabtree (2006)

Each time you drink alcohol in order to socialize, you become a less friendly person when you are not on alcohol. The exception, which applies to only some people, is that overly inhibited people need alcohol on a few occasions in order to initiate them to loose social behavior. But only a few, and getting drunk is too extreme and counterproductive to that aim. Beyond a limited point, a continued reliance upon alcohol becomes detrimental: Only a few experiences of a "social lubricant" are required before a person can emulate, fake, and self-generate the same feelings. If such lubricants are still required after these few social initiatory primers, then a psychologist or pure willpower is going to more useful than further reliance of the individual on such artificial aid.

2. Cannabis, Weed, Marijuana, Spliffs, Joints

Some of the negative effects of cannabis include paranoia, memory loss and smoked lungs, not to mention developed problems with social behaviour. Cannabis users sometimes develop "temporary psychotic symptoms", but more seriously have "a high risk of developing severe and lasting psychiatric disorders, according to [...] Danish researchers, led by Mikkel Arendt [and reported] in the British Journal of Psychiatry"₁.

3. Nicotine, Cigarettes, Smoking

“Smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.”

Fletcher Knebel

Penguin Dictionary of Modern Humorous Quotations (amazon.co.uk)

Smoking causes cancer and increases the rate of ageing, by damaging the DNA inside cells. "Smoking corresponds on average to 4.6 years of ageing, and smoking a pack per day for four years corresponds to 7.4 years of ageing"₂.

Stress and Pleasure
Smoking cigarettes for social reasons, to relieve stress or for enjoyment are all foolish and counterproductive. You feel stressed for a reason. Smoking fags does not relieve the cause, but causes increased stress on your body, albeit less consciously. Smoking (or drinking) to "relieve" nerves only has a long term detrimental effect on your nerves. If you bend to peer pressure and smoke in order to be sociable, you are weak, a sheep, and have nothing to contribute to society: So why even try to be social until you've learned to be yourself? Smoking for pleasure or relief of an urge to smoke is counterproductive and shorted: The want of nicotine reduces pleasure, abandoning cigarettes altogether results in an increase overall happiness, not to mention cons that are avoided, such as:

“It has been estimated that for every 1000 young smokers, one will be murdered, six will be killed in a road accident and 250 will die before their time because they smoke”

UK Secretary of State for Health (1998)₃

Stinking clothes
Foul breath
Kissing that tastes like ash
Smelly ash trays, house furniture
Unhealthy lungs
Unhealthy veins and arteries, reduced blood flow to the brain
Less healthy mind as a result of chemicals & oxygen restriction
Loss of control of social aptitude without smoking
Loss of control of urge to smoke, loss, therefore, of free will and self control, loss of life

If you smoke, you are irresponsible to yourself, the environment, others around you, those who care for you, those who rely on you, and you are being uncaring also to those who will know you in the future and have to put up with the negative legacies and symptoms of a post smoker.

4. Speed, Ecstasy, Poppers, Nitrates

Each time you rely upon chemicals (including, to a much lesser extent, caffeine) in order to stay awake during parties or nightclubs, your body and will lose their strength in dealing with those situations. Every time you rely on speed to dance or stay up, your body loses, slightly, its ability to stay up. This is cumulative, the more you do it, the less capable you become at doing it without the drugs. Each time you rely on ecstasy to enjoy yourself, you become less capable of enjoying yourself naturally. Once enjoyment and drugs are linked in a particular environment, enjoyment becomes harder to attain naturally.

Natural enjoyment can be self generated with practice, but this ability is hindered and stunted when it is artificially induced. Practice at a skill makes you better at it, cheating makes you worse. Reliance upon highs to enjoy social events reduces your worth as a social partner, makes you more expensive to be with and makes enjoyment itself more expensive, and reduces your ability to find the will to be content, leading therefore to discontent in situations where there would have otherwise been no problem.

Youths and adults who are brought into socializing relying on such artificial means are socially stunted, at a disadvantage, and it is to the advantage of society in general that you help yourself, and others, to wean themselves off such things. By example, I like to club all night (I am an extreme clubber) and tend to rub it in, after people have suffered come downs, aches and pains, and sometimes complained they "can't afford" to go out, that I am capable of enjoying myself more, for longer, without a comedown, without losing health, without spending money on drugs or alcohol and remained both more alert, more social and more coherent than those who rely on drugs. All people can reach this state of self affirmation; but some people have no idea it is possible, this is a result of the failure of socialites to lead by example, intelligence or compassion. If you are either a leader or a follower, a social magnet or a loner, you need to learn these lessons, take up such practices, and become a better, stronger, fitter and more capable person.

5. Acids, Mind Openers, Self Exploration

Despite all of the above warnings, criticism and negative comments, I am now going to talk about a type of behavior that I honestly respect, but will not participate in. This is the intentionally seeking of self-exploratory experiences through psychedelic and mind altering drugs. The aim is to open a persons' mind and allow them to view themselves and think about themselves in way that they could not otherwise do. This facilitates thoughts that would not otherwise have been thought, it is a form of meditation. Indeed, severe meditation, fasts and chanting as used in many religions result in such chemical altered states of mind.

Some of the great creators and experimenters in history have been heavy drug users: They have nearly always burned out; but mostly such people have chosen to burn out, they have embraced it for the sake of a lifestyle which they find more appealing than sobriety. I just wish the NHS didn't have to pick up their medical bills when things go wrong!

6. Religion

6.1. Traditional Religions

Despite their flawed reasoning, many traditional religions have enforced injunctions against drug and substance use. Nearly all religions have exceptions of course - Jesus drunk alcohol, and the principal Catholic ritual involves wine - but one thing that traditional religions have in common is that the extreme wings have strict anti-hedonistic rules. Mormons, for example, correctly shun alcohol and coffee as drugs, and don't touch either of them, nor do they smoke cigarettes₄. Hedonism includes substance abuse, and much of the time, anything else that is perceived to be a troubling amount of fun.

6.2. Satanism

Some modern religions don't have official takes on drug use (most are still against it), and some actively embrace one drug or other. Some, such as anything connected with Aleister Crowley tend to have a large amount of 'experimenting' with any drugs, whilst others such as Rastafarianism devote themselves do a select list. Laypeople are often surprised to hear, then, that Satanism is a religion which has a strict anti-drug stance. Since the founding of the Church of Satan by Anton LaVey, its hierarchy have continually preached abstinence, for a host of reasons, but mostly based around ideas of self-empowerment, clarity and maintaining strength of body and character. The current High Priest of the Church of Satan admonishes those who succumb to drug use:

“Those who wish to lead a drugged existence, whether the addictive element is chemical or media, shall be recognized for the slaves that they are and held in contempt. They can continue their self-destructive paths if so desired, but they shall not be allowed to hold back those who want to achieve greatness.”
"The Satanic Scriptures" by Peter Gilmore (2007)₅

7. Conclusions

I cannot say that alcohol and drugs are always bad, nor could I say that alcohol users and drug users are bad people. I would be a hypocrite to do so. But, I believe in severe moderation and limitation of the uses of alcohol, partying drugs, pain killers and general medications, psychedelics and complete abstinence from cigarettes! If you act antisocially when drunk, you simply should not drink. Abstinence from these can be indulgent in life, as you become stronger, mentally stronger and capable of socializing without these chemical supports when you go without them. They should be used when required, mostly, and not as a source of gratification, pacification or pleasure.