h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Scrumpy doesn't create alcoholics, apples do!

100 proof is merely 50% alcohol (at least here in Canuckistan, I'm sure like everything else it's different in the UK).
In Alaska, for instance 200 proof or 98% alcohol is freely available to those over 21 years of age. While there is a high instance of alcoholism there I believe that is more due to the environment than the *White Lightning*.

I remember trying some 80% Southern Comfort (brought in from the States) when I was a teenager - almost knocked my head off!

Having lived in a remote northern community in Canada I'd also agree that the 'environment' had more to do with the high instance of alcoholism than the actual types of alcohol available.

az

"IF the drugs were all legal, and above board as it were, then it would be easier wouldn't it, to treat those who are addicted to their favourate tipple...."

I don't think we should take the attitude many (including on the anti-drugs side) take of "drugs is drugs" and that all addictions/usage is somehow equally bad or okay. Heroin addiction is much much worse than nicotine addiction. Someone who's needs to drink coffee regularly to avoid "headaches" (the main symptom of caffeine-withdrawal) is not suffering the same problems as someone who needs crack daily. Drugs should really be judged as completely different substances rather than lumped all together.

"As to weather or not it is a choice, at the end of the day, someone who takes heroin for the first time, and then decides to take it again, and again, is deciding to do that, it might be addictive, but in my experiance at least it ain't so addictive that after one or two injections you can't consciouslyy decide that 'I'm gona stop taking this now'"

Interestingly a lot of people who become heroin addicts originally take this philosophical "I can give up if I want as long as I use irregularly" attitude before it "somehow" overtakes them (ditto a lot of cocaine addicts). It really depends on the person and there are precious few who actually do.

As people are prepared to admit that many of these substances are highly addictive, ask yourself how many sensible teenagers would try it - just to see what its like.

Despite my dislike for smoking, I started because I fancied a girl who smoked - 30 years and a heart attack later I finally quit.

Would I survive 30 years of heroin of cocaine use ?

probably?

'Would I survive 30 years of heroin of cocaine use ?'

I think you'd be far *more* likely to survive if they were both legal. A cousin of mine used to be a heroin addict, and I'm sure that at least part of the reason he's so messed up now is down to the fact that heroin is illegal. Every day he'd wake up, in a state of incipient panic, with some withdrawal symptoms on the side, wondering if/where he'd get his day's supply. The only places to get it were several *extremely* dodgy council estates, where he was threatened with knives and baseball bats, dirty syringes, had money stolen etc on a regular basis.

THEN, after going through all that, he'd finally get the stuff and be in cloud-cuckoo land. I think, in addition to whatever highs and lows addicts face, going through that every day must have increased the highs and lows tenfold. Certainly, when he was on methadone, his life wasn't nearly so 'interesting'. I'm not sure how general a point this would be, but I'm sure it applies to most addicts, at least partly.

Drugs put a cost on society. It seems to me that the overall costs are greater when they're illegal than when they're legal.

"I think you'd be far *more* likely to survive if they were both legal."

Hear hear. A friend's uncle died last month from a heroin overdose, simply because he didn't know how strong it was. Imagine if every drink of alcohol you had could be anywhere between a 2% low alcohol lager and a lethally strong methylated spirit. Your life expectancy would drop considerably I reckon.