Recreational drug use  

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-{{Template}}+[[Image:Skull with a Cigarette (1886) - Vincent van Gogh.jpg|thumb|left|200px|''[[Skull with a Cigarette]]'' (1886) by Vincent van Gogh]]
-'''Recreational drug use''' is the use of psychoactive drugs for recreational rather than medical or spiritual purposes, although the distinction is not always clear. Regardless of medical supervision, this label does not apply to the use of drugs for utilitarian purposes, such as the relief of fatigue or insomnia, or the control of appetite.--[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recreational_drug_us]e [Sept 2004]+
 +{| class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
 +| style="text-align: left;" |
 +"[[Hashish]], like all other solitary delights, makes the individual useless to mankind, and also makes society unnecessary to the individual." --''[[Les Paradis artificiels]]'' (1860) by Charles Baudelaire
 +<hr>
 +"[[Common sense]] tells us that [[Subjectivism|the things of this earth hardly exist]], and that true [[reality]] is only in [[dream]]s. To [[digestion|digest]] [[nature|natural]] (or [[artificiality|artificial]]) [[happiness]] takes first of all the courage to [[swallow]] it down. And perhaps those worthy of happiness are precisely those for whom felicity, as mortals conceive it, has ever the effect of an emetic." --''[[Les Paradis artificiels]]'' (1860) by Charles Baudelaire
 +|}
 +[[Image:The Smoker by Joos van Craesbeeckjpg.jpg|200px|thumb|right|''[[The Smoker]]'' (ca. 1654 - 1662) by Joos van Craesbeeck]]
 +[[Image:L'Absinthe (1876) - Edgar Degas.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[L'Absinthe]]'' ([[1876]]) - [[Edgar Degas]]]]
 +[[Image:Morphine.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Morphine]]'' ([[1894]]) - [[Santiago Rusiñol]]]]
 +{{Template}}
-== Related ==+'''Recreational drug use''' is the use of a [[drug]] with the intention of creating or enhancing [[recreation]]al experience.
- +Drugs commonly considered capable of recreational use include [[alcohol]], [[nicotine]] and [[caffeine]].
-By drug: alcohol - amphetamines (speed) - cocaine - ecstasy - hashish - heroin - LSD - magic mushrooms - opium - poppers - pot - smoking+
- +
-By medium: [http://www.jahsonic.com/DrugLit.html] [[Drugs in literature]] - [http://www.jahsonic.com/DrugMusic.html] [[Drugs in music]] - [http://www.jahsonic.com/Drugs.html] [[Recreational drugs]] - [http://www.jahsonic.com/DrugsMovies.html] [[Drugs in film]]+
- +
-Related: addiction - consciousness - medicine - mind - prohibition - psychedelic +
- +
- +
-== Psychotropics ==+
- +
-A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a chemical that alters brain function, resulting in temporary changes in perception, mood, consciousness, or behavior. Such drugs are often used in recreational drug use and as entheogens for spiritual purposes, as well as in medication, especially for treating neurological and psychological illnesses.+
- +
-Many of these substances (especially the stimulants and depressants) can be habit-forming, causing chemical dependency and often leading to substance abuse. Conversely, others (namely the psychedelics) can help to treat and even cure such addictions. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoactive_drug [Mar 2006]+
- +
-== Drug subcultures ==+
- +
- +
-Drug subcultures are examples of countercultures, primarily defined by recreational drug use.+
- +
-Drug subcultures may be seen as groups of people loosely united by a common understanding of the meaning and value (good or otherwise) of the incorporation into life of the drug in question. Such unity can take many forms, from friends who take the drug together, possibly obeying certain rules of etiquette, to full-scale political movements for the reform of drug laws. The sum of these parts can be considered an individual drug's "culture".+
- +
-It should be noted that there are multiple drug subcultures based on the use of different drugs - the culture surrounding cannabis, for example, is very different from that of heroin, due to the different sort of experiences and problems the drugs cause. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_subculture [Feb 2005]+
-External links+
- +
- +
-== Hole in the Head: ==+
- +
-# Early in 1965, I heard of someone who had drilled a hole in his head to get a permanently high {sic}. I put it down as another crankish idea and didn't think much about it. Later that year I went to Ibiza, looking for mescalin or LSD. I knew a few people who had taken acid and said it was even greater than mescalin [...] -- Joe Mellen, Other Scenes magazine, November 1970 http://www.noah.org/trepan/hole_in_the_head.html+
-# http://www.noah.org/trepan/photos+
-# http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/psychoactives.shtml PIKHAL, Phenethylamines i Have Known And Loved By Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin+
-The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics (2001) - Richard Davenport-Hines+
- +
-The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics (2001) - +
- +
-From Publishers Weekly+
-Richard Davenport-Hines offers a sharply opinionated history of drugs structured around three major premises: Human beings use drugs; for many that choice will be debilitating, sometimes fatal; and government prohibition of drugs, as opposed to regulation, is counterproductive and doomed to vainglorious failure. +
- +
-== Artificial Paradises: A Drugs Reader () - Mike Jay ==+
- +
- +
-# Artificial Paradises: A Drugs Reader () - Mike Jay [Amazon.com]+
-Times change--who would have thought that we'd ever see a nonjudgmental mainstream anthology of writings about mind-altering drugs? Editor Mike Jay delivers scores of well-selected hits of wild wisdom from Homer and his cronies to William Burroughs in Artificial Paradises. His mild-mannered but insightful introductions and links between pieces prime the reader for a series of expansive trips through other people's minds as they grapple with medical, moral, artistic, and spiritual puzzlers posed by drugs. Hopped-up coke fiend Sigmund Freud rants about his favorite little helper, while painter Henri Michaux complains that mescaline is a poor muse. The pieces are usually amusing and sometimes penetrating. Jay wisely avoids most of the propaganda we've already been oversubjected to in recent decades, instead focusing on the experience and assessment of drugs and their cultural value. Sections include Researches Chemical and Philosophical: Drugs and Science and The Algebra of Need: Drugs and Addiction, with selections from such disparate writers as Jean Cocteau and Thomas Szasz. Most of the pieces are very short--one or two pages--but highly concentrated, giving an immediate sense of the author's intent and attitudes, often inspiring a trip to the library for another dose. When it's time to turn on, tune in, and drop out, prepare yourself with the guidance of Artificial Paradises. --Rob Lightner for amazon.com+
-Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible (2001) - Chris Bennett, Neil McQueen+
- +
 +==Definition==
 +The concept of "recreational drug use" is that a person can use drugs recreationally or otherwise with reduced or eliminated risk of negatively affecting other aspects of one's life or other people's lives. Advocates of this philosophy point to the many well-known artists and intellectuals who have used drugs, experimentally or otherwise, with few detrimental effects on their lives. Responsible drug use becomes drug abuse only when the use of the substance significantly interferes with the user's daily life.
-== Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible (2001) - Chris Bennett, Neil McQueen ==+Responsible drug use advocates that users should not take drugs at the same time as activities such as driving, swimming, operating machinery, or other activities that are unsafe without a sober state. Responsible drug use is emphasized as a primary prevention technique in harm-reduction drug policies. Harm-reduction policies were popularized in the late 1980s, although they began in the 1970s counter-culture where users were distributed cartoons explaining responsible drug use and consequences of irresponsible drug use. Another issue is that the illegality of drugs in itself may also cause social and economic consequences for those using them — the drugs may be "cut" with adulturants and the purity varies wildly, making overdoses more likely — and legal regulation of drug production and distribution would alleviate these and other dangers of illegal drug use. Harm reduction seeks to minimize the harm that can occur through the use of various drugs, whether legal (e.g., alcohol and nicotine), or illegal (e.g., heroin and cocaine). For example, people who inject illicit drugs can minimize harm to both themselves and members of the community through proper injecting technique, using new needles and syringes each time, and proper disposal of all injecting equipment.
- +
-This book is a wonderfully fresh look at the Bible for the religious and non-religious alike. If you're religious you'll probably be offended at first by much of the author's research, but give it an honest read anyway. The worst that could happen is that you come away with greater insight into how the non-religious view your scriptures. I found the book refreshing and challenging; it caused me to fall in love with the Bible at last because for the first time I was able to read it with some historical and archaeological context rather than simply being expected to accept it as sacred because others have believed it to be so for thousands of years.+
-Read in the context of an emerging tribal culture struggling with the concerns of their time: life, death, food, fertility, war, dominating and avoiding the domination of often more technologically advanced neighboring cultures. This book gave me an appreciation for these ancient peoples without having to accept as divine the horrific treatment they+==See also==
-Our Right to Drugs: The Case for a Free Market (1992) - Thomas Stephen Szasz+*[[Counterfeit drug]]
 +*[[Demand reduction]]
 +*[[Drug education]]
 +*[[Entheogen]]
 +*[[Harm reduction]]
 +*[[Illegal drug trade]]
 +*[[Prohibition (drugs)]]
 +*[[Purple drank]]
 +*[[Recreational use of dextromethorphan]]
 +*[[Recreational use of ketamine]]
 +*[[List of recreational drugs]]
 +==Related==
 +:''[[substance dependence|addiction]] - [[consciousness]] - [[medicine]] - [[mind]] - [[prohibition]] - [[psychedelic]] - [[The Great Binge]]''
-== Our Right to Drugs: The Case for a Free Market (1992) - Thomas Stephen Szasz+:''By medium: [[drugs in literature]], [[drugs in music]], [[drugs in film]]''
- ==+== Further reading ==
 +*[[Drug culture]]
 +*[[Psychoactive drug]]
 +*"''[[Artificial Paradises]]''" by [[Charles Baudelaire]].
 +*[[Trepanation|Hole in the head]]
 +*''[[The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics]]'' (2001) by Richard Davenport-Hines
 +*''[[Sex, Drugs, Violence and the Bible]]'' (2001) - Chris Bennett, Neil McQueen
 +*''[[Our Right to Drugs: The Case for a Free Market]]'' (1992) - Thomas Szasz
-"My aim" states [[Thomas Szasz]], "is to mount a critique of our current drug laws and social policies, based on the fundamental premise that a limited government, epitomized by the U.S., lacks the political legitimacy to deprive competent adults of the right to ingest, inhale, or inject whatever substance they want. . . In summary my argument is that the constraints on the power of the federal government, laid down in the Constitution, have been eroded by a monopolistic medical profession administering a system of prescription laws that, in effect, have removed most of the drugs people want from the free market. Hence, it is futile to debate whether the War on Drugs should be escalated or de-escalated, without first coming to grips with the popular and political mindset concerning the trade in drugs generated by nearly a century of drug prohibitions."--via Amazon.com+{{GFDL}}

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Skull with a Cigarette (1886) by Vincent van Gogh
Enlarge
Skull with a Cigarette (1886) by Vincent van Gogh

"Hashish, like all other solitary delights, makes the individual useless to mankind, and also makes society unnecessary to the individual." --Les Paradis artificiels (1860) by Charles Baudelaire

"Common sense tells us that the things of this earth hardly exist, and that true reality is only in dreams. To digest natural (or artificial) happiness takes first of all the courage to swallow it down. And perhaps those worthy of happiness are precisely those for whom felicity, as mortals conceive it, has ever the effect of an emetic." --Les Paradis artificiels (1860) by Charles Baudelaire

The Smoker (ca. 1654 - 1662) by Joos van Craesbeeck
Enlarge
The Smoker (ca. 1654 - 1662) by Joos van Craesbeeck

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Recreational drug use is the use of a drug with the intention of creating or enhancing recreational experience. Drugs commonly considered capable of recreational use include alcohol, nicotine and caffeine.

Contents

[edit]

Definition

The concept of "recreational drug use" is that a person can use drugs recreationally or otherwise with reduced or eliminated risk of negatively affecting other aspects of one's life or other people's lives. Advocates of this philosophy point to the many well-known artists and intellectuals who have used drugs, experimentally or otherwise, with few detrimental effects on their lives. Responsible drug use becomes drug abuse only when the use of the substance significantly interferes with the user's daily life.

Responsible drug use advocates that users should not take drugs at the same time as activities such as driving, swimming, operating machinery, or other activities that are unsafe without a sober state. Responsible drug use is emphasized as a primary prevention technique in harm-reduction drug policies. Harm-reduction policies were popularized in the late 1980s, although they began in the 1970s counter-culture where users were distributed cartoons explaining responsible drug use and consequences of irresponsible drug use. Another issue is that the illegality of drugs in itself may also cause social and economic consequences for those using them — the drugs may be "cut" with adulturants and the purity varies wildly, making overdoses more likely — and legal regulation of drug production and distribution would alleviate these and other dangers of illegal drug use. Harm reduction seeks to minimize the harm that can occur through the use of various drugs, whether legal (e.g., alcohol and nicotine), or illegal (e.g., heroin and cocaine). For example, people who inject illicit drugs can minimize harm to both themselves and members of the community through proper injecting technique, using new needles and syringes each time, and proper disposal of all injecting equipment.

[edit]

See also

[edit]

Related

addiction - consciousness - medicine - mind - prohibition - psychedelic - The Great Binge
By medium: drugs in literature, drugs in music, drugs in film
[edit]

Further reading


Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Recreational drug use" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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