The program was about education. But it was also about surveillance.

  • @Motavader
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    359 months ago

    I always thought DARE was right about weed being a “gateway drug”, but not for the reasons they said. When I started smoking it, and realized it just made me relaxed and mildly hallucinat instead of become a refer-madness psychotic murderer, I realized the must have been lying about the dangers of other drugs.

    And I was right. When used responsibility, drugs are not so dangerous and are a ton of fun!

    • deaf_fish
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      149 months ago

      There are some drugs that are dangerous. I think most people don’t understand what being addicted means and how badly it can mess with you.

      Other than that, I agree with you completely. Why do people default to manipulation when they could just tell the truth and let people decide for themselves?

    • @[email protected]
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      9 months ago

      Absolutely not. There are some drugs that even doing safety once will absolutely ruin your life.

      One hit of heroin will destroy a person. Cocaine masquerades as a party and work drug but it will fuck you up. Crack is the same thing just worse.

      Those are just the popular ones.

      • @[email protected]
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        79 months ago

        That’s just flat-out untrue about coke, not even an argument. Like DARE, the fact that you’re wrong on that and lumping it in with scarier-sounding drugs shows (at minimum) you aren’t actually knowledgeable about these drugs and their effects.

        Even with those scarier-sounding drugs, there’s research suggesting they’re more demonized than destructive:

        Dr. Carl L. Hart, Ziff Professor at Columbia University and former chair of the Department of Psychology, is one of the world’s preeminent experts on the effects of so-called recreational drugs on the human mind and body. Dr. Hart is open about the fact that he uses drugs himself, in a happy balance with the rest of his full and productive life as a researcher and professor, husband, father, and friend. In Drug Use for Grown-Ups, he draws on decades of research and his own personal experience to argue definitively that the criminalization and demonization of drug use–not drugs themselves–have been a tremendous scourge on America, not least in reinforcing this country’s enduring structural racism.

        Dr. Hart did not always have this view. He came of age in one of Miami’s most troubled neighborhoods at a time when many ills were being laid at the door of crack cocaine. His initial work as a researcher was aimed at proving that drug use caused bad outcomes. But one problem kept cropping up: the evidence from his research did not support his hypothesis. From inside the massively well-funded research arm of the American war on drugs, he saw how the facts did not support the ideology. The truth was dismissed and distorted in order to keep fear and outrage stoked, the funds rolling in, and Black and brown bodies behind bars.

        Drug Use for Grown-Ups will be controversial, to be sure: the propaganda war, Dr. Hart argues, has been tremendously effective. Imagine if the only subject of any discussion about driving automobiles was fatal car crashes. Drug Use for Grown-Ups offers a radically different vision: when used responsibly, drugs can enrich and enhance our lives. We have a long way to go, but the vital conversation this book will generate is an extraordinarily important step.

        • @[email protected]
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          9 months ago

          Ok? I never said that the propaganda was true. All the woes of the world do not come from crack cocaine, but if you think crack is a perfectly safe and wonderful drug, then you are insane.

          Also of course I would lump them into the same category, and I do have experience with them, that why I say that.

          • @[email protected]
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            -39 months ago

            You put coke as an example of a drug that “even doing safety once will absolutely ruin your life.” That is word-for-word DARE propaganda.

            The research cited above suggests putting even heroin or crack in that category is a stretch. I’m going to put a lot more weight on that than on anyone’s anecdotes.

            • @[email protected]
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              Imagine going to bat for heroin and crack cocaine.

              Also what anecdotes? You accused me of not knowing what I was saying, to which I said I did and you quickly moved your goalposts.

              I have put people in bodybags. Guess what a lot of them were on? Heroin. Crack. Meth. Unlaced stuff too. The laced stuff is a one way death sentence anyway.

              I have seen people utterly rot away with heroin, and become a different person in less then 3 months. Then those people either go through utter hell for months during recovery, or they die. Do you you think weed makes people stab their friends and loved ones so they can get more? No. But heroin or crack will do that.

              “It’s only once though bro! It’s perfectly safe!”

              • relay
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                29 months ago

                maybe just have a society that is just not so terrible that they’d do a shit ton of drugs and OD rather than have to face living in a shit society.

                People do drugs as a way to cope with terrible living conditions. If life is worth living I don’t think people will need to take so many drugs.

      • @OrteilGenou
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        -39 months ago

        One hit of heroin will destroy a person? Yep, no record of anyone ever getting clean after one hit of heroin.

          • @OrteilGenou
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            18 months ago

            Oh so one hit can destroy a person.

            Good hyperbole though

        • @obbelusk
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          19 months ago

          I bet there are a lot of people who try heroin once and then never again. Do uou think it’s common to get hooked on heroin the first time? Honest question, I’m kinda ignorant when it comes to this stuff.

          • @PotatoKat
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            129 months ago

            I’m pretty sure heroin is considered one of the most addictive drugs, like actually try it once and hooked drug. (not saying nobody has only used once and never again, just that those people are very rare compared to other drugs)

          • @[email protected]
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            Imagine the happiest moment of your life, the one filled with the most joy, love, and excitement.

            Heroin is better then that by a 1000 times. When you’re depressed, homeless, stressed, or even just a regulars person, heroin is incredible and you won’t ever want to get off. Plus the comedown is hellish.

            Heroin is not an addictive drug, IT IS THE MOST ADDICTIVE DRUG known to man.

            • @obbelusk
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              39 months ago

              Well, goddamn, that’s scary. I got some oxycontin before surgery, never felt so good. I consider myself lucky that I can’t get ahold of more.

    • @[email protected]
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      69 months ago

      Bro think he Jesse💀

      But seriously, I can’t wait for weed to be legalized but heroin? That’s a huge no no. Idk about coke and meth but I’m weed only person.

    • Absolute
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      59 months ago

      I’ve also always agreed that weed can be a “gateway drug”, but same is true for alcohol. I also agree drugs are fun and can be relatively not dangerous if used responsibly but I would never recommend to anyone to go out of their way to try drugs.

      Drugs have been a significant part of some of the best experiences and memories of my life thus far but they have also brought me to very dark places more than once. I’ve seen a lot of lives get ruined by addiction. So I would hesitate to say they arent dangerous even if doing blow a half dozen times a year or MDMA once in a while is safe from a biological perspective, cuz you never know how a person will respond to such intense sensation.