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why do humans drink/do drugs?


QuantumEcho

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Is there a reason as we a human society decided to do this? I mean I believe in evolution why did we evolve this way to cope with problems isnt there better ways to deal with our problems. Is it the chemical reaction in our bodies that make us feel good. (btw i am drinking)  

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that really isnt a solid reason but i guess i understand it.

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37 minutes ago, Muledeer said:

because we can

came too late to say that

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48 minutes ago, AstroCookie said:

isnt there better ways to deal with our problems.

There are. There are also better ways to eat. However, you go to just about any western country, and you have morbid obesity reaching alarming rates. Fast food joints, are king and unhealthy foods are the best selling.

 

To deal with your problem, you have to face them head on. This means going through the pain, until it runs its course leading to growth/wisdom. To many, this is far too torturous. Possibly, why many will go for flings, and rebound sex vs riding out the breakup's pain until they've grown from it.

 

Alcohol is no different. Reality sucks, and its easier to numb it or block it out, via artificial escapes. Its liquid courage, or simply makes your life feel better than it is. Its all part of its grip on your mind, but to someone who's drunk--they're not going to care about this.

 

I'm an artist personally, so I have healthier outlets (however have had my share of self-destructive ones). I can understand the allure of the drugs. I'm addicted to food. I've had to make conscious decisions in my life, in order to avoid having this addiction push me to morbid obesity and the health issues that would follow. When I'm over-stressed or down, all I want to do is eat all day. I've had to learn to understand my triggers in order to control them.

 

You're homeless, society sees you as nobody. Garbage, even. You smoke a vial of crack, and you're a super hero in your own mind. Your problems no longer exist. Pain no longer takes place inside your mind. I can understand why its hard to let go of them, when you've hit rock bottom.

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Reality is hard to face. We use drugs to enhance the experiences. We can relay on them as a crutch. We use them to mend.  They can also be used in the context of ceremonial or spiritually awakening. 

 

Coffee is the most accepted “legalized drug” import. Why because we enjoy it. 

 

In the words of Bill Hicks, “If you don’t believe drugs do good for us do me a favor. Go home take all your albums, CD, and tapes and burn them. Because you know all those great musicians who wrote all that great music through the years were really high on drugs." 

 

 

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They're fun

It's a way to cope with the misery of reality when nothing else seems to help

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RoseGoesToYale

The wherefore and why have changed very much throughout history. Some reasons we like them are biological, others social. Way back in the day when the water was none too good, it was safer to drink the mead and wine than whatever was in the river. Then you've got religious/ceremonial drink, e.g. in Christianity wine representing the blood of Jesus. Some use alcohol as a bonding experience or as a bargaining chip for business activity, though in both cases they can wind up in dangerous situations, if people feel they have to drink or to keep down excessive amounts of alcohol to be accepted into a particular society. Also, in the modern era, we have incredibly easy access to a wide array of alcoholic drinks, and the companies who make ads encouraging us to buy more. A lot of those ads pray on common issues and insecurities and frame whatever drink they're selling as a solution to the problem ("can't get a date? That guy drinking Budheinjackwhatever is surrounded by women!"). Messages about how drink should be used get reproduced from person to person and group to group.

 

As for drugs, people have been using these for non-personal-problems endeavors for ages: Native Americans smoking tobacco as a peace offering, the use of peyote for sacred vision quests, European shamans and amanita muscaria, etc. Legislation prohibiting the use of certain drugs is a relatively modern invention, though I'm not sure exactly where most drugs stopped being viewed as spiritual tools and started being nefarious emotional support. I think for many the effects are so powerful, barring just a physical addiction, people believe that power can overcome whatever problems they have.

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It's just for fun for plenty of people. Like me later tonight when I'm chilling out watching some Netflix. I just find things easier to enjoy when my perspective is a little altered, because otherwise I'm a cynical fuck.

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NerotheReaper

People might drink or take drugs out of social pressure, experimenting, it feels good, or to escape a problem. 

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2 hours ago, AstroCookie said:

isnt there better ways to deal with our problems

When I'm having a beer with my friend, I'm just enjoying the company and enjoying a beer. It doesn't need to be that complex.

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Why did we evolve to drink alcohol? Cause it's an easy and simple way to kill bacteria. Turns out getting tipsy was evolutionary the better choice than dying.

 

Or why do we drink it these days? Endorphins.

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When life is metaphorically curb stomping people, tossing them around like a ragdoll, and they're thinking about just how small they are in comparison to all the things around them that seem so purposeful, while they do not feel that way, nothing seems to be going right, and life seems meaningless as they march along to inevitable death, some people do weed/heroin/booze/LSD/etc. to unwind. 

 

Or people just drink/smoke/whatever casually. People drink coffee to wake em up, and it's a drug like any other, right? Just like people hunt in the wild because killing a deer means food which means energy which means continued living. 

 

Edit: Changed a general "you" to "them" for clarity. 

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Arguing on the internet is also not a healthy way of dealing with our complex personal problems.

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As @Dreamer23says, originally, particularly in Europe, people made beer as it killed water borne bacteria.

Or livers were designed to process alcohol originally, in case we ate fruit that had yeast spores on it, and started to ferment in our stomachs. At some point in the dim and distant past we decided that we liked the effects of alcohol and learnt to brew it deliberately. 

Drug use, especially hallucinogens have numerous sources, such as voodoo, witchcraft etc. 

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As mentioned, alcoholic beverages were safer than water. Forms of beer (and other alcoholic beverages such as fermented fruit juices) were made starting in the Paleolithic era tens of thousands of years ago. Fruit can ferment on its own, and animals purposely consume it. 

 

Birds, bats, mammals, and insects drink alcohol:

 

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/151121-animals-science-drunk-insects-mammals-drinking/

 

Many fellow primates drink. Our ability to drink dates back millions of years:

 

They showed that the most ancient forms of ADH4—found in primates as far back as 50 million years ago—only broke down small amounts of ethanol very slowly. But about 10 million years ago, the team reports online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas evolved a version of the protein that was 40 times more efficient at ethanol metabolism...

 

Carrigan says the discovery might explain why human brains evolved to link pleasure pathways with alcohol consumption...

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Every year in Appalachia the deer and bear get drunk off of the apples that have lain on the ground and fermented. They're not as funny as the drunken squirrels though.

 

I can only speak for myself but marijuana helps me with anxiety and stress relief. I'm sure I could go to the doctor and get a prescription for anxiety meds but it's much cheaper just to get what I need my way. More private too.

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I was just curious especially last night. I really don't remember posting this O.O.

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Drinking and doing drugs is a temporary solution to many humans grievances. However, the potential negative consequences of those actions far outweigh the positives. I have never done either of those things and I could never forgive myself if I did.

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drugs just take advantage of our natural programing. asking what the evolutionary reason for drug use is like asking what the engineeering reason for programming something with a backdoor that get exploited.

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Because it feels good. Major revelation.

 

Now it is not true that only humans do such things. Animals do it too. 

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2 hours ago, God. said:

Because it feels good. Major revelation.

 

Now it is not true that only humans do such things. Animals do it too. 

I will believe whatever you say to be true god! Lol

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Because it feels good. Makes the rewards center in our brains light up like a church.

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On 1/15/2018 at 9:56 AM, Nevyn said:

Every year in Appalachia the deer and bear get drunk off of the apples that have lain on the ground and fermented. They're not as funny as the drunken squirrels though.

 

I worked at a vet clinic right outside of Appalachia a few years ago when the weather was really bizarre, I guess apples were falling from the tree earlier than usual or something? We had so many dogs coming in drunk. People had no idea what was wrong with them. :lol: Unfortunately some of the signs of drunkness in dogs mimics early antifreeze toxicity so we had to keep 'em in the hospital until the sobered up. Finally someone came in from southwest VA who mentioned the apple thing, and we started asking folks if they had apples nearby... sure enough!

 

On 1/15/2018 at 2:14 PM, nate-1234 said:

Drinking and doing drugs is a temporary solution to many humans grievances. However, the potential negative consequences of those actions far outweigh the positives. I have never done either of those things and I could never forgive myself if I did.

In fairness, I'll go out and grab a beer or two with my friends just to shoot the breeze. It's not really about escaping grievances, it's just that it's fun. And people loosen up after the first round and you get to hear opinions they're usually too tight-lipped to voice, which is always a blast. :lol:

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To my palate beer tastes nice, Cola doesn't 

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