By Doug – the northlondonhippy
The hippy has been giving this a lot of thought, and recreational use of any drug is a myth. You’ll soon agree.
The first drug I ever properly used was alcohol. I started drinking at the age of 13, and I stopped at age 39. Drinking was a social experience, right from the start.
Most people have some level of social anxiety. We don’t like to admit it, but the popularity of alcohol at social events, gives the game away. Alcohol makes it possible for people to be around other people for extended periods of time. It makes us gregarious, maybe even a little giggly too.
Could you imagine a night down the pub, or in a club, or even a dinner party, without social lubrication of some sort?
If booze ain’t your bag, perhaps you like cannabis? Or cocaine? Maybe you’re one of those sober types, who’s just naturally friendly and happy. Lucky you!
For most people, drug use, alcohol, or otherwise, is a social experience. We do it in groups, we do it to be social.
Now, imagine someone who drinks alone. I don’t have to imagine, as after 26 years of regular, social drinking, I hit a rough patch in life, and for 6 months in 2002, I drank alone daily. Snorted coke too, and mixed in the odd MDMA tab as well. I was not having a good time, I was using it all to escape a bad one.
I was abusing booze, and drugs, and to me that makes my use medicinal. I was using it to lift my mood, and briefly escape my troubles. This use was negative; it wasn’t good for me in the long term. My use wasn’t social, and it certainly wasn’t recreational either. It may not have been the most healthy of self medication, but I was definitely self medicating.
I was lucky. I realised the hole I was in, and quickly, and quietly climbed my way out, all on my own. I realised what I was doing wasn’t in my best long term interests, so I gave up booze completely. Cocaine too. One day, I just stopped. I haven’t had either in over 20 years. It’s not some moral victory, it was a health choice for me, and one I was glad I made.
Recreational drug use is a myth, meant to make you feel shameful guilt about indulging.
After thinking about this for a very long time, I’ve reached the conclusion that all drug use (including alcohol) is either social, or medicinal, once you accept that all medicinal use isn’t always beneficial, or positive.
When I first started smoking weed, it was within a social group. We all got high together. And then I bought a bag of weed for myself. I sparked up a joint on my own for the first time, and realised it made me feel better, physically, and mentally. Without it being explained to me, I naturally worked out how to self-medicate with cannabis. I didn’t realise it at the time; it took many years to truly comprehend that I was self-medicating.
I’ve smoked cannabis for over 40 years, and I can’t recall the last time I had some recreationally. I use it to feel better, to reduce my anxiety, and my depression, and have done since I started. I take enough to take the edge off, to allow me to function like a normal person.
I couldn’t have lived my life the way I have, worked all the jobs I’ve done, or even traveled to war zones, without the medicinal benefits of regular, daily cannabis use.
I’m old now, and I take a load of prescribed pharmaceuticals every day. I don’t view cannabis any differently from the 10 prescription tablets I take daily. They all play their part in keeping me alive. Matter of fact, cannabis helps me with the side effects from the other medications I take, and I probably couldn’t tolerate them all without it.
The school of thought on psychedelics has evolved. People are understanding that their use is far more medicinal than it is recreational. You can do a lot of good for your mental health through the smart use of psychedelics.
When I went through my shroom phase, back in the early oughts, I think I had the best mental health of my life. There was a loophole in UK law for a few years, that saw actual fresh magic mushrooms legally available to purchase online, and in Camden Market. It was a sad day, when the government sealed that loophole, and the sales ceased.
Shrooms helped lift my chronic depression, and pulled me out of a different hole in 2003. I was able to get my life back on track, and I kept it there until epilepsy decided to take over 15 years later.
And even with the epilepsy, my cannabis use has helped mitigate it somewhat. I know cannabis could be even more beneficial, if I could get the right balance of cannabinoids into my system consistently. I wish the NHS prescribed it.
If someone goes home every night after work, and downs a bottle or two of wine on their own, or even with their partner, that use is not social, is it? It’s medicinal. Alcohol dependency is real. And it’s a medical issue, not a moral one.
Alcohol withdrawal is also real, and it is just as bad as coming off heroin. Alcohol can be lethal too, and has contributed to the deaths of more people that I’ve known over the years, than every other drug combined. It’s legal status obscures these facts.
Drop an E at a club? Medicinal. You’re doing it to expand your consciousness. Drop it with a group, it’s social too. Sometimes, it can be both. They’re not mutually exclusive.
Shooting smack in a back alley? Does that sound like fun? Does it sound recreational? Of course not! It’s definitely medicinal, and whatever you’re trying to escape from, I hope it helps you. Is it ideal? No, not even close. That’s why many good people want to open supervised injection facilities. Medicinal again. Open them everywhere!
Addiction and dependency are medical issues. Tobacco, heroin, cocaine, and alcohol are all physically addictive.
I’m dependent upon cannabis, the same way I’m dependent upon my epilepsy medication, or blood pressure medication to keep me alive. I couldn’t live without any of them. It’s all medicinal use.
Whatever your drug of choice, if you share the experience with a group, your use is social. If you use it on your own, or with a close partner, your use is medicinal, whether it is beneficial or not.
Recreational drug use is a myth, and it’s used to guilt, shame, and punish us. Don’t fall for it. As if enjoyment of something should lessen it’s significance, or usefulness. Your use is either social, or medicinal. There is no in-between, and there should be no guilt, ever. Just be as healthy as you can, for as long as you can, no matter what you have to take to get by in this life.
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After a 30 year career as a journalist, working for some of the largest news organisations in the world, including Associated Press and Reuters, and 15 years as a duty news editor for BBC News, Doug – the northlondonhippy is now a full time hippy, and writer. And for the last few years, he’s been #EpilepsyHippy. His life was a whole lot more fun before gaining that new title. For real.
Doug is also the author of “Personal Use by the northlondonhippy.”
“Personal Use” chronicles Doug’s years of experience with mind altering substances, while calling for urgent drug law reform. It’s a cracking read, you will laugh, you will cry, and you can bet your ass that you will wish you were a hippy too!
You can also find Doug – the northlondonhippy on Twitter: @nthlondonhippy but only if you look really hard.
And if you want even more, (and who wouldn’t?) you could always check out Hippy Highlights – which is the best of the best stuff on the site, and it’s all free to read. What are you waiting for?