Isn't alcohol also a drug?

[paislyabmj]

i am properly out of my place here but I think by uk law it would be a class a drug because it can cause memory loss or something. I don't think it has ever been successfully banned in the west nationally and after the disaster of the prohibition no one cares enough to try again.

 

[ElPatron]

It's a drug. +1

It inhibits your central nervous system. Opposed to Stimulants like Caffeine, or Cocaine, which perk you up and make you more aware, alcohol makes you dopey.

Exactly why mixing alcohol with energy drinks is usually a bad idea. People don't feel dopey and think they are fine.

 

[Realitycrash]

Why do people say drugs and alcohol or something along those lines when alcohol is also a drug? Tobacco also gets somewhat of a similar treatment.

A drug is defined as:

A physical substance:
A: that brings a rush.
B: that is hazardous to your health.
C: that is addictive.

So yes, Alcohol is a drug. A socially acceptable drug, because it's been around for ages.
If cigarettes were "invented" today, they would be banned as an illegal drug, make no mistake, and so would alcohol.

 

[Fearzone]

Semantics. "Drugs" suggest illegal substances, so "and alcohol" is tagged on to remind us of the addictive and life-ruining qualities of that.

Tobacco is a separate animal. While highly addictive and unwise to use given its impact on physical health, one can have a severe tobacco addiction and still be fully functional in work and relationships.

 

[Loop Stricken]

Placebo effect, its the same as a sugar pill, if you think you act happy and more active when drunk then you tend to act out in that way. If you were given a drink that tasted like alcohol but had no alcohol in it, you would actually act more "animated" and sloshed. The only true effects of alcohol is slower reaction time, memory retention (aka black out), and death.

Then explain why, when the very first time I got drunk and I was expecting myself to be quite a depressive and mean drunk, I was not.
Explain to me.
EXPLAIN. TO ME.

 

[Guffe]

Look post 2,3,4,5 etc...
Got nija'd like very many times in this thread, that's the problem with threads that you only needs one answer.

 

[DustyDrB]

Placebo effect, its the same as a sugar pill, if you think you act happy and more active when drunk then you tend to act out in that way. If you were given a drink that tasted like alcohol but had no alcohol in it, you would actually act more "animated" and sloshed. The only true effects of alcohol is slower reaction time, memory retention (aka black out), and death.

Then explain why, when the very first time I got drunk and I was expecting myself to be quite a depressive and mean drunk, I was not.
Explain to me.
EXPLAIN. TO ME.

And explain why when I get drunk, everyone can have all my stuff for free because I think they are the best and totally deserve it because they let me sit on their couch.

In other words...why did I give away my Xbox, all my games, and a case of Red Stripe?

 

[NiPah]

snip

Then explain why, when the very first time I got drunk and I was expecting myself to be quite a depressive and mean drunk, I was not.
Explain to me.
EXPLAIN. TO ME.

Tell me, were you at a party with some friends and enjoying yourself when you first drank alcohol? Instead of attributing the normal excitement and rowdiness that hanging with friends normally elicits you thought this must be caused by the alcohol, an idea already ingrained into your head by social learning.

And the depressive effects of alcohol really aren't like the depressive or moody effects of some people, its used in the most basic sense that it slows or retards mental and physical processes.

 

[Arakasi]

People like to think that just because it's legal that that somehow makes it better.
In fact, it's not.

 

[Arina Love]

i'd say yeah, pretty much legal drug along with cigarettes and that's why i don't drink and smoke.

 

[Henkie36]

Dude, chocolate is a drug. Caffeine is a drug.

If I remember correctly, drugs are just things that change your mental or physical state. Chocolate is actually a poison, you have to eat 14KG to die from it but still.

When people say drugs they are talking about the "fun" kind, weed for example.

Well, you only have to drink 4.5 liters of water in an hour for it to be lethal, so hey, chocolate isn't as poisonous as water.

OT: Well, yes and no. If you start calling those drugs, then you'll never stop. I think what sets the illegal drugs apart is how prone they are to addiction. Cause yeah, like stated above, it's not just toxicity, everything is toxic in the right dose.

 

[Navvan]

Everything can technically be considered "Drug" depending on the doses, even water. and depending on who you ask/definition you use. Generally if it affects normal bodily function it is a drug, although I would add a "and not required for normal bodily function" in order to exclude things like water and salt. When a person talks about "Drugs and alcohol" its usually in the context that implies "Illegal drugs, and alcohol". Alcohol not being illegal, but still having many traits associated with illegal drugs, means its a phrase commonly used. Its also why people generally talk about "Perscription Drugs, Illegal Drugs, and Recreational Drugs" in order to emphasis different context and problems associated with each. They are all drugs and many do similar things to your body. Some drugs even fall into all three categories (varying depending on where you live).

 

[DionysusSnoopy]

Yes it is, also alcohol withdrawal can kill you, where as the majority of illegal narcotics won't kill you due to withdrawal; but can be easier to overdose on due to the biochemical actions on the brain.

Everything you eat/drink contains toxins which can have beneficial effects in the right dose (drugs which can be synthesised or use derivatives there of)but over consuming leads to harmful effects eat too many bananas, faster than your body can process it and you'll die of a potassium overdose; Death by fruit.

 

[Mister Swift]

Because alcohol is legal, and "drugs" in that context really refers to "illegal drugs." Technically aspirin is a drug under the literal meaning of the word, which has lead to problems with crappily worded zero tolerance policies in schools; kids have literally been expelled for having headache medicine.

They let you have aspirin at your school? My high school (in QLD, Australia) didn't let students carry any medicine on them. Even those with medical conditions had to hand it in to admin.

 

[Sougo]

Yes, alcohol was and is a drug. It was also illegal once upon a time in the US. The only reason it isn't now is because the govn couldn't afford to continue enforcement of its intake.

So they legalized it so they could share in its profits, and tax it.

Moral values had no role to play in it. Its all business as usual.

 

[catalyst8]

A drug is defined as:

A physical substance:
A: that brings a rush.
B: that is hazardous to your health.
C: that is addictive.

So yes, Alcohol is a drug. A socially acceptable drug, because it's been around for ages.
If cigarettes were "invented" today, they would be banned as an illegal drug, make no mistake, and so would alcohol.

I have no idea where you got that, but it isn't an English definition. The OED defines the noun 'Drug' as:
'a medicine or other substance which has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body'
and
'a substance taken for its narcotic or stimulant effects, often illegally'.

 

[Kair]

According to the general scientific definition, even sugar is a narcotic.
With some additions to rule out carbohydrates, still coffee, chocolate, alcohol and tobacco all are/contain narcotics.

It still does not matter to most, drug policy is not the work of rational people: