Recreational Drugs - Cousins of the Aspergers Drug Solution?

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Speed is a bad, bad, bad idea. You have ADHD or executive dysfunction, you go to a doctor and get yourself some Ritalin. It doesn't damage your brain and it doesn't get you hooked. There is a safe, legal way to get this effect, and it's just plain stupid to go for the illegal version when you could just go to a doctor and explain your problem and get the medication.

I'm not sure about ecstasy and marijuana. Honestly, I think there hasn't been enough research on either. I'm pretty sure E would be a bad idea to take regularly--it impairs your cognitive functioning too much--and marijuana is probably similar. You could likely find a legal drug that would help.

Benefits of legal drugs: Dependable supply, well-calibrated dosage, pure substance, doctor's supervision, known effects, backing of scientific research. You simply cannot get that by ingesting some random stuff you get from some guy you know, who probably doesn't even have a college degree, let alone an MD.

Self-medicating is just not a good thing, in general. Let alone that being in prison would be a bad thing for anybody, and even worse for an Aspie.

Agreed. Although I think self-medicating with marijuana can be an okay thing if you just can't find any other way to improve your quality of life. Its legal here in California, although, yes—I am aware it negatively affects your cognitive functioning over time. Sometimes you've just gotta weigh the tradeoffs.

Well no offense but ritalin is speed....as is adderall, medical grade speed but still......Also, a lot of legal drugs are extremely dangerous. For instance opiates used for pain relief that are prescribed........well intrestingly enough marijuana which is illegal also has pain relieving qualities and is much safer.........so legal does not always mean safe when it comes to drugs, in fact it hardly means that at all.

Oxycontin has the fastest growing addiction rate in North America, and it's created by pharmaceutical companies.
Marijuana has never killed anyone, and has yet to be legalized.
*shakes head*

Interesting... How about a stimulant like caffeine? What kind of affect does that have on you? I've noticed if I have more than one cup of coffee a day, I react to it very badly.

caffeine helps too. the problem with these things is 1) the come down is horrible (my doc and I are working on a way around this) and 2) it has recently had adverse effects upon a GI problem i've had for a while (IBS). But...for me, the positives outweigh the negatives. No other meds work besides adderral.

Er... no, it's not "medical grade speed". It's a different substance--a related one, but different. Remember that "chemically related" can mean as big a difference as between carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, one atom of difference.

Yes, legal drugs can be quite dangerous. That's why things like opiates (and Ritalin) are controlled substances. But that doesn't change the fact that if you get them legally, you will have a pure substance, a doctor's supervision, and a great deal more safety.

Yeah Oxy's are pretty much legal heroin.
keeping marijuana illegal is actually very dangerous and I'm starting to feel the effects on how pot being illegal is harmful.
Still if they legalized marijuana you would think the world would be a safer place but no becuase the goverment has legalized so many things such as cigarettes, alcohol and fule if these things would be taken away alot of people would get pissed off becuase they are so addictive.

Speed is not a specific substance...and people do refer to things like adderall and ritalin as speed, because that term just really describes the effects......but that's getting super specific, it is true ritilian and adderall are not the same thing as speed you would get on the street.

Also the point was cannabis is safer than opiates, and regardless of the regulations there are a lot more people developing addiction to opiates and related health problems then people developing addiction or major health problems from cannabis.......Yet guess which one is legal more legal?

This thread is just ridiculous... Speed and x are dangerous and weed makes you a useless moron. Yeah, that's what I want for sure. *sarcasm.

Actually weed makes me a more calm, content person.......rather then an extremely anxious stressed out person who can never relax at all.

Actually Nmbr2, Fentanyl is legal heroin. It is the closest prescribed drug to heroin in the USA. Heroin (Diacetylmorphone I *think* is the name it's under) is prescribed in the UK, although rarely and only for terminal, end stage pain. Fentanyl is the closest thing to Heroin in the USA that is legal. In fact, when people talk about "China White" Heroin, that is simply Fentanyl. There is no heroin in it, but it's sold as "China White Heroin"

When I was in my late teens I tried somebody's mother's Dexadrine a few times. It made me focus even more on the games at the arcade. All it did was make me stick with one task much longer than I normally do anyway. Except it made my head tingle. I didn't like that. And because I was always so skinny, I disliked the fact that I had to force myself to eat, because in my quest for eventual curves on my body, I was not going to miss a meal for anything!

I'm fairly social, as in I enjoy talking to people. Although I don't much enjoy listening to them talk to me. But, I've learned to pretend to and monitor the conversation for something I can jump on to talk about. When I was young, I tried quite a few drugs. One, to fit in with the others, and two because I was curious, and three I was looking for something to make me normal and to not be so unhappy. Some worked, some didn't. I never took anything often enough or long enough to become addicted though. I also had to research every single thing in the PDR before I took it. Yes, I was the party buzzkill because I always had one in my car that I would bring out immediately and look up anything anybody took, and then tell them all these obscure facts about pharmacokenetics (did I spell that right?) and bioavailability and peak plasma levels and elemination time. Believe it or not, most were interested. Because a dopeheads biggest interest is drugs, and there I sat with all this information and the ability to explain it to them in the way they could understand it. I really enjoyed drug parties even sober. Because people talked about something interesting to me.

But I digress. I suppose the one drug that made me the closest to "normal" in a social situation was cocaine. I am talking about 1980's cocaine. If it were legal and prescribed, I would have been happy to take it every day, but me being me, even when it was offered every day, I was afraid of long term side effects, so I normally declined.

Actually, where I live now, there is a group of moms who somehow manage to get ADHD meds, and no it's not their kids meds, and they take a theraputic dose to help with energy. I don't think it's a very good idea because most of them are overweight with high blood pressure and possible cardiac problems, but they don't listen to me. I have indulged myself, in a theraputic dose, which would be 10mg XR Adderall in the morning, at times when I was just too tired to be able to do everything that I had to do. It does work and it helps with the focus, and sometimes even I need help focusing. I have tried Ritalin, which is methylphenidate, but it doesn't work as well for energy and focus. I took one once. I have no health problems at all, and read all the literature, and wasn't taking anything for any kind of "high", simply for the benefits that it is prescribed for.

I did however, over the summer, try one illegal drug. I tried the ecstacy that the OP talked about. Now, I am 47 years old. I was at a friends birthday party. This friend was turning 30. Most of my friends are younger than I am. She had pot there, I don't smoke pot. She had tequila shots there, I don't drink much, but I did drink one for her toast, just a shot of it, not a mixed drink. She bought ecstacy for everyone at the party. This was the one time in my life that I put a substance in it that I had not extensively researched, and knew I couldn't because those things are made by people in their homes. I was stone cold sober, except for the one tequila shot, which really isn't enough to effect judgement, and I said to myself "Frances, everybody you know has done this. Look! They are doing it now. Take a chance" I took a chance and took it. I liked it at first. It made me talk too much though. The one thing I did like about it, was that I cannot dance at all. I could after that kicked in. I do not mean I lost my inhibitions and got up there and made a fool of myself. I've seen the video. I actually danced well! The problem with it, besides the fact that people make it in their homes so it's unregulated and you have no idea whats in it, is that it lasts too long. I could not sleep for two nights after that. However, I can say that I had the experience and I came out of it OK.

I have tried other things when I was young, but the one thing that I would never, ever, try is LSD. Even before I knew I was an Aspie, I knew that something like that would push me over the edge so far I'd never get back!

I'm sure I've made myself sound like some sort of dopehead now, but I'm not. Other than the one time at the party, and when I was in my late teens and early 20s, I have never taken anything for a high. Yes, I may have done something slightly illegal by taking one low dose of a stimulant for the benefits that it provides, occasionally. I don't think that's any different than asking my Mother for one of her Lortab for a migraine when any of the OTC meds or my prescription Ultram have not worked. (After waiting the appropriate amount of time between doses of course) The group of moms who do that, that I am talking about are not speed freaks. None of them take more than a normally prescribed amount. Some of them do take it every day, and I have suggested going to a doctor for tests because chronic fatigue can be a sign of something. If they are healthy, and this helps them, they should tell the doctor and ask for a prescription of their own. I see that as reasonable, especially if they explain to the Doctor why they took it and the amount they took and submit to a drug test to prove they aren't taking anything else. But no, I don't know anything. I told them I have the names of two doctors who I have not been to, but others have who I know, who will prescribe you what you ask for if you give a halfway plausable medical reason. Neither of these doctors have hospital privelages so they can't be very good, but they can at least run some tests first to see if the women are healthy enough for this. Also, I think antidepressants may benefit them more. Especially since it's chronic.

Amphetamine provides not only energy and focus, but a slight mood lift. Some of those women could be treating mild depression with it for all I know. I have taken one when I have just been dog tired from doing too much for too long and pushing myself too hard, or occasionally at certain times of the month when perimenopause causes extreme fatigue. In the low dose that I take when I take it, I can say that I have never felt any of the "pleasurable" side effects of it. Nor a mood lift. Then again, my mood is fine anyway, now. Nor have I had any adverse side effect from it either. Just a simple slight increase in energy, or possibly motivation, and more focus on days when I have so much on my mind. I do this maybe 6 times a year, and have never had any desire to take it more than that.

Anyway, can you tell what my special interest is?

Frances

You can like or dislike the sensation and effects of being high on pot, but the calm and good sleep that follow for days after make it worthwhile to me. I don't need to feel it much, and I can easily go without indefinitely when it's not available or if there's some other reason I don't want it. But having been high is a definite plus for me.

My aunt, a hippie who's smoked most of her life, retired not long ago from a career that required plenty of knowledge and intellect. Pot never stopped her from having that. She also pointed out that a Canadian study showed that nobody overdoses from smoking pot. Everybody falls asleep before that can happen.

I prefer to eat it, as this is easier, nicer, and less risky to health than getting it in my lungs.

Honestly, I'm not worried about cannabis. It's all the other crap out there that's problematic. If it were up to me, I'd legalize the stuff, because it's not worth our while to jail people for smoking it. But I still don't think we can use it as a medicinal substance without first researching it properly. It's a plant, and that means the active ingredient is variable. You don't know how much you're getting per dose. This "medical marijuana" stuff is being gone about backward--we should have legal manufacturers grow and purify it, and sell it in the form of vaporizers or pills or something, so that we know how much of a dose the patient's getting. Usually, when we look into a new substance for its medical benefits, we put it through a proper research and development period first, and then do some preliminary human testing, and then if it's approved as safe and effective, manufacture it for prescriptions. With marijuana it's like we're doing it the totally wrong way around--people are using it, and we haven't even gotten the r&d done yet. Where's the logic?

Regarding overdosing on marijuana: Very hard to do, yes, but apparently it's a contributing factor in many cases of alcohol poisoning. Marijuana prevents you from vomiting as easily--which is why it makes sense for people on chemo--and that can be trouble if you're drinking a lot, because normally your body protects itself from alcohol poisoning by just making you puke the stuff back up. If you're also stoned, then you can keep drinking until the alcohol makes you shut down completely and die. So yeah. Don't mix them. Bad idea.

I have absolutely nothing against weed. Over half of the people I know smoke it. It mellows them out, calms them down, and in regular smokers, one or two hits works like one or two drinks does to a drinker. Just a mild relaxation. I have seen plenty of mean and violent drunks in my time, but I have never seen a mean or violent person who was stoned. Also, I've seen many people who were obviously drunk think they could drive, but when somebody is pretty stoned, they know they can't drive and don't want to. I believe it's much safer.

I hate it for myself though. I tried it quite a bit when I was young, trying to like it. I've tried it occasionally every few years since, and it's always the same. It calls my attention to every sensation in my body. Like my heartbeat. Plus, when I'm stoned, I know I'm impaired and I get terrified that something would happen where I would need to act and couldn't because I was stoned. I also have trouble speaking when stoned. Occasionally, things are funny, but rarely. I get a huge ability to empathize with anything. If I see something sad on tv, which normally doesn't bother me, I feel such deep sadness. It makes me really understand how the person I'm talking to feels. I do not like that overload of bodily sensation plus emotions.

I get panic attacks from it too.

Frances

I guess the thing is cannabis is not all that dangerous so there is not that much of a need to know exactly which amount of THC and other active ingredients the person is getting......they already have THC pills and those are reported not to work as well as actual marijuana.

But that is all stuff they could research, but the federal government likes to do everything in their power from preventing relevent research about cannabis, and to prevent those facts from reaching the general public.

Also how would cannabis contribute to alcohol poisoning? that is still alcohol doing the poisoning......sure you feel more f*cked up if you smoke cannabis and drink at the same time but the cannabis does not cause alcohol poisoning. I mix them all the time and i am fine.........however I am careful to make sure I am drinking water and not drinking too much alcohol or smoking too much. Also cannabis reduces nausea I dont think it actually prevents vomiting.