Does anyone not take drugs?

[Liz CA]

A cup of coffee a day. Other than that only supps like Omega 3 etc.

[luuknam]

I thought I would leave out illegal drugs as I just can't see too many homeschooling moms as meth addicts.

 

If you don't ask, you'll never know. Not that I'd imagine that everyone would just tell the truth about illegal behavior. 

 

You would be surprised at how many homeschooling moms are illegal drug addicts. I've known hsing moms who have OD'ed and died from their addictions. It is surprising.

 

 

I wonder if those were mostly people who felt they had to homeschool (like, their church or their husband or w/e told them to), and/or people who legally claimed to be homeschooling just to make it easier to hide child abuse and neglect. Of course, I could be completely wrong... maybe there are hordes of homeschool moms who choose to homeschool and yet also do illegal drugs. Actually, thinking pot might not be that uncommon in certain circles... but yeah, having a hard time imagining a meth head classical homeschooler, or a Charlotte Mason type who shoots up heroin, etc. 

[HS Mom in NC]

I don't like the question. Does anyone not take drugs implies illegal use to me. Not life saving medicine or supplements.

 

Maybe this is a generational thing?  Are you an older Gen X or maybe barely a Baby Boomer? 

 

Not viewing both legal prescriptions and over the counter medications as drugs feeds a general perception in some people that drugs = the illegal stuff.  That's usually a generational thing.   Plenty of people who abuse the legal stuff can get started by not assuming any risk because they're legal and then often don't see themselves as addicts, again, because they're legal.  Then, among the rest who don't abuse it, they take offense at the idea that taking the legal and prescribed stuff is "taking drugs."  It just is.  All legal drugs have their place,and some would argue there are circumstances when some illegal drugs have their place,  but you should get used to the idea that those legal drugs, even caffeine, are drugs.  Take them in ways that benefit rather than damage you, but be at peace with the fact that they're drugs.  So are the ones I take. I'm cool with it.

[HS Mom in NC]

If you don't ask, you'll never know. Not that I'd imagine that everyone would just tell the truth about illegal behavior. 

 

 

 

I wonder if those were mostly people who felt they had to homeschool (like, their church or their husband or w/e told them to), and/or people who legally claimed to be homeschooling just to make it easier to hide child abuse and neglect. Of course, I could be completely wrong... maybe there are hordes of homeschool moms who choose to homeschool and yet also do illegal drugs. Actually, thinking pot might not be that uncommon in certain circles... but yeah, having a hard time imagining a meth head classical homeschooler, or a Charlotte Mason type who shoots up heroin, etc. 

 

My guess is it's prescription drug abuse that's most likely.

[luuknam]

Maybe this is a generational thing?  Are you an older Gen X or maybe barely a Baby Boomer? 

 

 

I was thinking regional. As in, there are countries where they speak English where the meaning of the word "drug" might be more commonly "medication". 

[Guest]

If you don't ask, you'll never know. Not that I'd imagine that everyone would just tell the truth about illegal behavior.

 

 

 

I wonder if those were mostly people who felt they had to homeschool (like, their church or their husband or w/e told them to), and/or people who legally claimed to be homeschooling just to make it easier to hide child abuse and neglect. Of course, I could be completely wrong... maybe there are hordes of homeschool moms who choose to homeschool and yet also do illegal drugs. Actually, thinking pot might not be that uncommon in certain circles... but yeah, having a hard time imagining a meth head classical homeschooler, or a Charlotte Mason type who shoots up heroin, etc.

The ones I knew succumbed to the need for perfectionism. Coupled with the demands of homeschooling, this led to stimulant abuse. One I knew died of PCP overdose.

[maize]

I don't at this time, I've been fortunate to have good health. I look forward to the day when I can take ADHD meds as needed though; they don't mix well with pregnancy and breast feeding and since I can get by without them I do for now.

 

I'm grateful that medication is available when needed.

[eternalsummer]

I think some you are over reacting.  I assume the OP is just wondering how many people in the modern industrialized world are not on anything technically considered a drug.  It's like when pregnant women ask if there are any women out there who had natural childbirths with no interventions and some women get all defensive and want to explain why they needed their interventions. There's no need to get upset by assuming judgement.  Or when people here ask if anyone is homeschooling without any kind of outsourcing. No reason to think the person asking has bad intentions. She's just trying to figure out if au natural is something that happens anymore with anyone.  It can be perfectly neutral and entirely out of curiosity.

 

 

 

dingdingding!

 

And for the record, I vastly prefer a heavily medicated childbirth to a natural one (I've had two without meds because there was no time, and I am still mad about it).  I don't drink currently but that is largely because I am ovulating again, but not regularly, so I never know.  When I had a brief period of antenatal depression I took vitamin D in large quantities (it was also winter), and if it hadn't resolved or had gotten much worse I would probably have looked into drugs for it.  

 

I do think that a cup of tea has an effect on most people, although I know I am much more sensitive to caffeine.  I am not that way with alcohol, nor is it an addictive drug for me.

[Joker]

It's been a few years since I've had any prescription drugs. I get the occasional sinus infection or UTI every few years but that's about it. I do drink tea every morning and have a soda or alcohol here or there. I rarely take any OTC drugs because I hate taking medicine. I will go days with a headache before I will break down and use something. I just really don't like taking anything.

[Farrar]

Alcohol very unevenly - sometimes several times a month, sometimes not at all. Probably about 1-2 times per month on average.

 

Medication for migraines as needed. I take OTC things like ibuprophen as needed as well, though not a ton.

 

I am someone who I think of as taking/doing very few drugs.

 

I don't do any, but it's funny that you don't have other drugs like pot on there. Like, many people I know use marijuana as their drug of choice.

[Word Nerd]

Caffeine and alcohol *are* drugs. That isn't redefining the term. It's a fact.

Edited July 22, 2017 by Word Nerd

[Guest]

Do you mean because it is legal? I didn't mean to suggest that all drugs should be illegal, or that illegal drugs are the same thing as legal drugs (although obviously some quite literally are - marijuana is prescribed, legal medication in some areas, recreationally legal like alcohol in others, and completely illegal in still others).

 

 

I'm really not in the mood to answer a deliberately obtuse question.

[eternalsummer]

We must be operating from a completely different set of assumptions, because I have no idea what you think I'm being obtuse about.

[maize]

We must be operating from a completely different set of assumptions, because I have no idea what you think I'm being obtuse about.

Your use of the word drug makes sense to me; it is clear however that some on this thread associate the term primarily with negative connotations.

 

Here is dictionary.com's definitions:

 

 

Pharmacology.a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being.

(in federal law)

any substance recognized in the official pharmacopoeia or formulary of the nation.

any substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in humans or other animals.

any article, other than food, intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or other animals.

any substance intended for use as a component of such a drug, but not a device or a part of a device.

 

 

 

I said I'm not currently taking any drugs but I do take some supplements, which would seem to fall under some of the above definitions.

[ktgrok]

No, I don't think its remarkable. We have known for decades that our food supply is lacking in nutrition and we know that we have environmental toxins..what's remarkable is the number of people who refuse to treat their body well and prefer to ingest junk food and toxins in lieu of eating nutritious food. I am the fourth for a senior bridge group. Most of the 90+ crowd is not on any medication..they grew up before processed food and.never switched..they will indulge in a cup of coffee and a cookie sized sweet weekly,.but that's it. They see the doctor enough for genetic issues such as cataracts or environ,emtal.such as melanoma and have no desire to give themselves the diseases related to poor diet.

I bet a bunch of them drink alcohol or coffee or both though. Which the OP includes in her "taking drugs" category. 

 

Honestly, people have been imbibing in alcohol for most of the time we've been human. 

[eternalsummer]

I bet a bunch of them drink alcohol or coffee or both though. Which the OP includes in her "taking drugs" category. 

 

Honestly, people have been imbibing in alcohol for most of the time we've been human. 

 

The 90 year old lady I know drinks black tea for breakfast; she used to only drink green, and that very occasionally, but when she got older (80+) they thought it would help her stay awake and alert more.  I read once that the effect of caffeine wears off after 3 weeks, or something, and then you're just drinking it to maintain the level of alertness you would have had without it in the first place, but I'm not 100% certain that that is true (or where I read it, unfortunately).  

 

I don't know that she's had any alcohol in the last two decades.  

[Jean in Newcastle]

I bet a bunch of them drink alcohol or coffee or both though. Which the OP includes in her "taking drugs" category. 

 

Honestly, people have been imbibing in alcohol for most of the time we've been human. 

 

I know, right?  Both of my parents lived through Prohibition.  Guess what - it didn't stop people from drinking alcohol!  Many 50's housewives took valium AKA "mother's little helper"  Betty Ford started the Betty Ford clinic for a reason (that's a drug rehab center for the younger boardies).  Both my parents (my dad died at 92 and my mom is 92 now) drank coffee and tea and soda, though my dad also drank Postum (which was a coffee alternative).  Many of their peers had heart attacks and cancer and other illnesses during their lifetime. 

[ktgrok]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_alcoholic_drinks

 

 "According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, chemical analysis of the residue confirmed that a fermented drink made of grapes, hawthorn berries, honey, and rice was being produced in 7000–6650 BC.^[3][4][5] The results of this analysis were published in December 2004.^[5][6] This is approximately the time when barley beer and grape wine were beginning to be made in the Middle East.

Wine's first appearance is thought to date from 6000 BC in Georgia.^[7] The earliest firm evidence of wine production dates back to 5400 BC in Iran [1][2]."

 

 

not a new thing

Edited July 22, 2017 by ktgrok

[maize]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_alcoholic_drinks

 

"According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, chemical analysis of the residue confirmed that a fermented drink made of grapes, hawthorn berries, honey, and rice was being produced in 7000–6650 BC.^[3][4][5] The results of this analysis were published in December 2004.^[5][6] This is approximately the time when barley beer and grape wine were beginning to be made in the Middle East.

Wine's first appearance is thought to date from 6000 BC in Georgia.^[7] The earliest firm evidence of wine production dates back to 5400 BC in Iran [1][2]."

 

not a new thing

This is interesting but I'm not sure why you are posting it. Did I miss a post where someone claimed that human use of psychoactive drugs is a modern phenomenon?

[Greta]

Yeah, I was with Soror's post right up to the end. I have never run across any Christian teaching that says sickness is God's punishment or that Christians should not use medication.

Really? You've never heard of Christian Scientists of Followers of Christ or Jehovah's Witnesses refusing life-saving medical treatments in the name of their faith? Even less extreme churches, like one that I went to for awhile in the "New Thought" movement, can lean anti-medicine. And in more extreme cases, courts in the US seem to have an unfortunate tendency to rule that the parents' right to teach their children their faith trumps the child's right to live. I don't want to hijack the thread, it's just that I've read so many tragic stories about this that I was surprised you were unaware.

[Bluegoat]

Caffine and alchohol for me, and occasionally advil.

 

I don't consider the former two drugs, though, in the amounts or ways I ingest them - they are food.

[Word Nerd]

Word of Faith/Rhema followers tend to be anti-medicine and tie sickness to a lack of faith and positive confession.

[LarlaB]

Rarely have caffeine- about 2x a month

Benadryl for allergies

Alcohol

Hormones- Birth control pills

[Bluegoat]

I bet a bunch of them drink alcohol or coffee or both though. Which the OP includes in her "taking drugs" category. 

 

Honestly, people have been imbibing in alcohol for most of the time we've been human. 

 

Yeah, but its arguable whether it would normally be appropriate to call it drug use.

 

By definition, food is not a drug.

 

Wine, beer, and even liquor, historically, were agricultural by-products.  If you make  a bunch of fruit juice, and store it, you get wine or cider in short order.  If you have extra barley, you can make beer to get use out of that excess.  If you need to store it longer, or transport it, you can distill it.

 

These are all ways to make sure you make use of the whole harvest and can store it effectively, when you don't have refrigeration or pasteurization. The fact that it had conciousness altering properties, and some potential medical uses, was a useful by-product of the preservation process.  The same is true of caffeine - it happens to be in food products.

 

It's really in the industrial revolution that you first get quantities of alcohol being produced with the main goal being selling for recreation.  Which is, relatedly, when you first see temperance movements, prohibition, and teetotalism becoming a big movement.

 

I think its mainly since the Green Revolution and the total industrialization of food systems that people forget that agriculture is related to alcohol production in a positive way.  People forget that pasteurization is a fairly recent invention that depends on the availability of industrial processes.

Edited July 22, 2017 by Bluegoat

[Bluegoat]

there are lots of groups that have weird ideas about illness.   I don't think it's especially related to Christianity, though some of them are CHristian.  But you also dsee it among people that are very focused on what is "natural" too, for example.

[SKL]

Caffeine daily, and proud of it.  :P

 

OTC painkillers when needed - used to be quite rare, but since they help with a really difficult middle-age problem I'm having (hopefully temporarily), I said yes to that one.

 

Otherwise I really try to avoid drugs.

[SKL]

I'm surprised only 37% said yes to any form of caffeine.  Maybe this thread is not being opened by a representative cross-section of people.  :p

 

ETA I see it's actually much higher than 37%, more like 88%.  That might also be lower than actual.  Wonder if people are reading the small print to include sodas and chocolate.  :)

Edited July 22, 2017 by SKL

[KungFuPanda]

I drink tea daily. I guess my hot leaf water makes me unclean and not as healthy as those with pure systems.

[eternalsummer]

Bluegoat, I get you with alcohol, but I am not sure about caffeine.  what food product is it in as a sort of natural way of preserving the food, or as a side-note?  

 

SKL, I mentioned the same thing but I was reading the results wrong.

[HS Mom in NC]

I was thinking regional. As in, there are countries where they speak English where the meaning of the word "drug" might be more commonly "medication". 

 

Good point.  I hadn't thought of that.

 

[SKL]

I agree. Type 2 is preventable for many, but it takes self discipline and resistance to peer pressure to not go there.

 

FTR I think the drug coffee helps prevent it.  :P

 

[Greta]

there are lots of groups that have weird ideas about illness. I don't think it's especially related to Christianity, though some of them are CHristian. But you also dsee it among people that are very focused on what is "natural" too, for example.

Yeah, the vast majority of anti-medicine people I have known were Christian, but the vast majority of people I have known in my life were Christian, so, not too surprising. I do know one atheist family that leans anti-medicine, but certainly not to the point where they would refuse life-saving treatment. In my years as a Buddhist, I don't remember the topic ever coming up one way or the other.

[Guest]

FTR I think the drug coffee helps prevent it. :P

 

As long as the coffee doesn't come with a free donut..that is an AARP 'benefit' in my area at a certain donut chain.

[marbel]

Yeah, I was with Soror's post right up to the end.   I have never run across any Christian teaching that says sickness is God's punishment or that Christians should not use medication.  

 

 

Really? You've never heard of Christian Scientists of Followers of Christ or Jehovah's Witnesses refusing life-saving medical treatments in the name of their faith? Even less extreme churches, like one that I went to for awhile in the "New Thought" movement, can lean anti-medicine. And in more extreme cases, courts in the US seem to have an unfortunate tendency to rule that the parents' right to teach their children their faith trumps the child's right to live. I don't want to hijack the thread, it's just that I've read so many tragic stories about this that I was surprised you were unaware.

 

OK, I guess I should have said:  In any church I have been to.  never read it in any book, never heard it in a sermon, never come across it in my own life in the church.  As a Roman Catholic, and later in various Protestant denominations, and as a visitor in lots of different churches - the idea that sickness was a punishment from God was never a teaching.  

 

I am aware of a few groups who refuse medical care, it's true. I should have left that part out.  I think I was agreeing with/quoting someone else on that part.  

[Greta]

OK, I guess I should have said: In any church I have been to. never read it in any book, never heard it in a sermon, never come across it in my own life in the church. As a Roman Catholic, and later in various Protestant denominations, and as a visitor in lots of different churches - the idea that sickness was a punishment from God was never a teaching.

 

I am aware of a few groups who refuse medical care, it's true. I should have left that part out. I think I was agreeing with/quoting someone else on that part.

I'm so sorry I misunderstood!

[marbel]

I'm so sorry I misunderstood!

 

Oh now I'm sorry, I sounded harsher than I meant.  I just got home from a hellish hour in Walmart, that's my defense.  :-)   Going to go self-medicate with a glass of wine now.   :lol:  :lol:

[Greta]

Oh now I'm sorry, I sounded harsher than I meant. I just got home from a hellish hour in Walmart, that's my defense. :-) Going to go self-medicate with a glass of wine now. :lol: :lol:

No, not at all! You didn't sound harsh and don't owe me an apology. I'm just feeling kind of dense for misunderstanding you. My hat is off to anyone who can survive an hour in Walmart! :lol:

[TravelingChris]

Caffeine is natural in foods like coffee, tea, and chocolate. It is artificially added to at least some sodas. I don't consider caffeine a drug in the ways I get it.

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[wintermom]

What an oddly worded and bias poll.  :confused1:   I'd never have described drinking tea or coffee and eating chocolate as "taking drugs."   I don't even know how to answer when these are considered "drugs."  What else might this person consider drugs? How about the herbs in my garden? I really have no idea how drugs are defined in this poll, but I'm guessing it's something like, "any substance I think is harmful to health and BAD."  Some drugs are life saving, but in this context it sounds like something nasty.

[Catwoman]

I don't know about the rest of you, but apparently I'm wandering around my house in a drug-addled stupor because I just had a cup of tea and a Snickers bar.

 

I have to go out to the store soon, but I don't know if I should be driving in my impaired condition. ;)

[ktgrok]

This is interesting but I'm not sure why you are posting it. Did I miss a post where someone claimed that human use of psychoactive drugs is a modern phenomenon?

 

The OP seemed to think it was remarkable that people use things like caffeine, alcohol, etc. I was just showing that it's not really the remarkable...it's something humans have been doing all along. 

[eternalsummer]

I thought it was remarkable that everyone I know does it every day.

 

(alcohol, not every day.  But some drug, every day).  I wonder if Europeans used stimulants regularly before coffee/chocolate/tea?  Alcohol I can see because it is not too hard to make from whatever you've got sitting around.

 

eta: although I hadn't really thought about it as a new thing, anyway

Edited July 22, 2017 by eternalsummer

[nevergiveup]

Well, seeing how I just put vodka in my diet soda I guess I get two categories right there.....

 

Personally, I think sugar should have been added as a drug.

What about food colorings?  They have a detrimental effect on a lot of children.  They must be a drug for them.

Edited July 22, 2017 by nevergiveup

[nevergiveup]

And, what about steak?

When I eat steak, it activates the pleasure centers of my brain and I can eat and eat and eat.

I bet I can eat a pound of steak easy.

Sounds like a drug to me.

[eternalsummer]

Well clearly there are things you can do or eat that bring pleasure or cause pain or depression or exhaustion or otherwise affect your mental state, and there are things - not even physical things! - that people can be addicted to, like gambling or video games or shopping.

 

So when I say drug, I'm not really referring to all the different things people do that affects how they feel, or all the different things they can be addicted to, but rather to something that you put in your body, but it's not food or water (although it might be carried in food or water to make it palatable or bioavailable), to affect how your body works - I was thinking particularly of things that affect the way your mind works.

 

Again, I don't mean drug in a pejorative sense (I doubt I even agree with 95% of people on this forum about the relative moral badness of some illegal drugs - so when you think I am saying drug as a judgmental term, not only am I not doing that but I don't even agree with the judgment you are attaching to the word when you refer to things you think definitely *are* drugs, like weed).  

[Catwoman]

I hardly ever rate threads, but I just gave this one five stars because the title drags me in every time I see it. :)

[Audrey]

I don't take any prescription meds at present, but have when needed.  I do drink wine occasionally, but my bigger problem is my addiction to Diet Pepsi.

[SKL]

Isn't the internet a drug????

[SKL]

I'm impressed at the low number for nicotine!  :)

[frogger]

Asthma drugs since I was a toddler and caffeine are my main two. I have taken pain medications before but it's not monthly or anything. When a disc in my back went out I did take some muscle relaxers at night only and for as short of time as I could but they sure came in handy.