If you know drugs and smoking is bad for you why do you still do it? Or even start?

Because there is more to life than being healthy.

Because it’s enjoyable Also most people are convinced of the immortality until provided with direct evidence to the contrary.

I started smoking at 13…it was “cool” back then. The truly weird thing is, when you first try smoking (or drinking) you can’t stand it…you force yourself to keep doing it. Then, before you know it, you’re hooked. Stupid, I know, but true nonetheless.

First, “drugs” aren’t inherently bad. “Drug abuse” is bad.

Second, “health” is best treated as a very broad term that isn’t limited simply to one’s physical condition. Think “mental health” too.

DARE dumbs down the discussion, substituting anti-drug dogma for critical thinking. That’s not terribly helpful. Health is a uniquely individual pursuit. DARE foolishly argues otherwise.

It is a matter of perception. You may know a lot of things are good for you and you don’t do them and you know things are bad but you still do them. Smoking and drugs and drinking to excess have, in the vast majority of cases, started in the teen years when people think they are invincible and in control of there lives and bodies. They may “know” these things are bad but they don’t understand the nature of addiction. So they think they can stop at any time until that time comes and it not only difficult to stop, it may be impossible

addiction

“I’d hate to advocate drugs, alcohol or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me” – Hunter S Thompson

For one thing when its bad for you its enjoyable most of the time. You only live once so why not to the fullest. Its like sky diving, or swimming with sharks. There is a risk in it, and a possibility of serious injury or death. If we stayed away from everything that could cause harm, we would be a very boring group of individuals. Anything in large amounts will kill you, but when handled in small doses it can be perfectly safe. (this obviously doesn’t apply to everything in life. Theres just some things you should never do. Ex.
: Lighting your self on fire.)

There are the acceptions for people who have addictive additudes, or addictive minds. People in that catagory have a harder time taking things in small doses. And that can be with anything from drinking coffee to doing coke. The better it makes them feel the harder it is to control their addictive mind. This is why Alcoholism can be so hard to handle. It is a disease they have addictive personalities, its harder for them to over come theirselves and addiction then it is for others.

As for me I started smoking weed when I was 14, I do not believe in the “theory” that weed is bad for you. I also do not believe it is addictive. Why? Because I can stop when ever I want to it doesn’t effect me. I stopped for two years just out of choice. And now I smoke again out of choice. The only reason I stopped was because mainly of the fear being caught, and also I associated it with bad memories. But now I smoke again not because I was addicted and was craving it but just because I enjoy it. Like some people enjoy soda or playing video games. I also used to smoke cigarettes I recently stopped,and it does not bother me.

I also apologize for the LONG post.

@Trance

Enjoyable? Maybe.

Living once, so live to the fullest? Fookin flawed argument.
Tell me, if I smoke for the pleasure, how would I be able to participate in physical activities without having trouble breathing?

No, no it’s not like sky diving or swimming with sharks.
Smoking will definitely shorten your lifespan, where as swimming with sharks you take a risk and you’re not going to shorten your life doing so.

Sky diving? Fluther please.

My nice adorable strong husband died a few months ago from lung cancer. When he got diagnosed, he berated himself for having smoked for 60 years. I said, hey you know, all that smoking was something you really liked, it served you well, let’s not go there.
But…

… I was just being nice.

That must be so hard for you susan.

Just out of curiosity, do you smoke?

Each person renders his/her own judgment of the risks/rewards of smoking. Susanc…your husband becomes one of the many millions who got that one wrong.

Most, by luck of the draw, never have to fully account for the more dire consequences of smoking.

Many people simply don’t smoke. It seems that people who don’t smoke are much more satisfied with their smoking habits than people who do smoke.

There are at least a few people who judge smoking to be worthwhile, even after having fully realized its fatal risks. (I do not refute their judgment.) But this seems to be a very small group of people. Regrettably, as with your husband, this last group appears falsely large due to happy-lucky smokers who haven’t fully realized how difficult and likely are their risks.

@Crunchaweezy The bottom line is its your body do what you want with it. Pay for it later. Do you know how many things you do could be bad for you? For instence drinking coffee, eating fatty foods, or certain foods in general, tanning/ exposing yourself to the sun, vitamins, stress of aging, your job (depending on what it is), not excercising or stretching to remove toxins in your body, not enough sleep, to much sleep, stress, and the list goes on and on.

People are going to do what feels good to them. Its natural. If we tip toed around everything that could shorten our life we would be constantly stressed out and having no fun at all. I am not saying everyone should do this or that. Of coarse there are unhealthy choices,and things that can get you hurt or kill you. There is plenty we all agree and disagree on whether or not it should be done or not be done.

i started doing hash when I was 14,why because I was curious and friends did it.
That drugs where bad for you was not a reason for not doing it. On my 18 I was bored doing soft drugs and a year later I was using speed and Lsd,sometimes I was so cranked up that I used heroin too Cooke down.

lol DARE. I wish i could go back to schoool and point out all of the bullshit they try and teach you in those classes.Watch out E is going to take ice cream scoops out of your brain ROFL

Its propaganda 90% of what they teach you is terribly inaccurate. The key is just research whatever your going to consume prior to doing it. As long as you do that, you’ll be fine. Just dont be a dumbass, consume responsibly and know your limits.

Drugs i’ll never touch
Meth
Heroin
Coke
Crack
anything that requires me to snort or inject, not happening.

@Uber; Those are exactly my rules on drugs. The key is moderation, which varies from person to person. And a very good line to live by is ‘nothing up the nose or between the toes’.

Because on the one extreme you have DARE, and on the other you have this man;

“Who lives longer: the man who takes heroin for two years and dies, or the man who lives on roast beef, water, and potatoes till ninety-five? One passes his twenty-four months in eternity. All the years of the beef-eater are lived only in time.” – Aldous Huxley

Find the middle ground and you’ll find happiness. Drug use, not drug abuse.

I had an emergency appendectomy three years ago, after which I received Dilaudid (“synthetic heroin”) intravenously. I haven’t had any since then, but I still crave it. Drugs don’t appeal to your rational side.

Peer pressure.

If peer pressure is your answer, grow some balls.

For some reason bad things makes life, enjoyable… like a bad love,

Life is too short to not try anything at least once. Or twice.. or 5 times.. a day.. for 4 years.
..
.
I think I do it because why the hell not? If I suffer for it then I suffer. I have things that I need to escape from and even the worst illness is better than living each day with reality smack bang in my face. Need a little something every now and then to blur the edges..