Poll: Thought experiment (related to drugs and alcohol)

[IOwnTheSpire]

This idea has been bouncing around my head for some time, so I thought I'd get people's opinions on it.

Let's say a magical being appeared before you, and it named two groups of things; one of these groups will be disappear forever (and can never be produced/created again), the other group is left untouched, and the choice is yours as to which one is kept and which isn't.

Group A: All alchoholic substances (beer, wine, spirits, rum, mead, vodka, etc.), any of those kind of drinks.

Group B: All recreational drugs (tobacco products, marijuana, LSD, cocaine, etc.), anything else of that nature.

So, the question is: which do you keep, which do you eradicate, and why? I hope to hear some interesting discussion!

 

[Queen Michael]

I remove the drugs. I can't think of any liquor that's worse than the worst drugs.

 

[tippy2k2]

Do you have to choose one or the other or can I say neither?

I suppose I should start off by saying that I don't like alcohol and I don't take any drugs so I don't have a pony in this race.

I suppose if I could laser focus and JUST get rid of the really hardcore shit (like heroin), I'd say drugs but both categories have their uses in moderation. Alcohol helps people to relax and have some fun. Marijuana has some great affects on pain and medical use.

I suppose if this magical being FORCED me to choose one or the other, I suppose I'd go with drugs. While alcohol has it's downsides from misuse, that generally doesn't affect as many people. The drug cartels, the overdosing, the killing, the deaths; drugs like cocaine and heroin seem to have zero benefit and a shit ton of downsides. It would suck for those who need it to lose marijuana but alcohol at least has some positives and less negatives where there are plenty of drugs that have no positives and a ton of negatives.

Sorry xX_Mary_Jane_420_Xx, I didn't want to take your drug out but the magical being left me no choice.

 

[Marter]

I get rid of alcohol. Logic doesn't come into it; I have personal reasons to get rid of alcohol, and I would make a snap decision to remove it from the world.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Group A: All alchoholic substances (beer, wine, spirits, rum, mead, vodka, etc.), any of those kind of drinks.

Group B: All recreational drugs (tobacco products, marijuana, LSD, cocaine, etc.), anything else of that nature.

Ethanol is a recreational drug. I choose group B, get rid of everything, including alcohol, and laugh at the foolish magical being.

Then, presumably, I get beaten and hung by my own entrails for getting rid of the fun stuff.

 

[Bellvedere]

So there's alcohol which is mostly legal and doesn't have anywhere near the level of crime associate with drugs. Ofcorse, if we're talking about all alcoholic substances then you'd also be getting rid of antiseptics, fuels, preservatives and antifreezes that contain alcohol (which is fairly common).

On the other hand, many drugs that are used recreationally also have legitimate medical applications. Like marijuana which is very beneficial to cancer suffers, Morphine and other analgesic drugs which are used for pain relief, even LSD and MDMA (ecstasy) have shown promise as therapeutic aids for treating things like OCD and PTSD.

Both of those options are pretty lousy. I think I would go with getting rid of alcohol (and continue to hope for the decriminalization of drugs to decrease drug related crime) as, many applications of alcohol can be recreated with other substances whereas it's the drugs function to get you high which makes it valuable in medicine.

 

[Niflhel]

Alcohol is a recreational drug, so this question doesn't make sense, or well, basicly boils down to if I want to remove all recreational drugs, or just one specific... Recreational drug. I'll go with the later option.

Recreational drugs are simply drugs which have a pleasant or interresting effect when consumed, it does not mean that the drug is only taken recreationally - so medical drugs are capable of falling under the umbrella of recreational drugs. Banning them all would be a disaster for the healthcare system...
If you instead meant drugs which are only taken recreationally, you're left with a very small list... Where you won't find drugs such as heroin,alcohol, amphetamine, marijuanna, cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms, ketamin, LSD, MDMA and so on.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Errr, getting rid of either one raises many questions. Does getting rid of alcohol stop ethanol from naturally being created? That would really screw with nature. Sterilization swabs, rubbing alcohol among other things would also be lost.

The drug one makes little sense to me either since the arbitrary distinction of what a recreational drug is, is weird. Everything from everyday caffeine to incredibly important medication like morphine would be lost so many many people would die. If you get rid of the entire plant marijuana comes from then you also get rid of perfectly legal hemp products that have a wide variety of legal uses from food to clothing.

 

[Majinash]

Keep the booze! lesser of two evils.

Hard to really comment on my reasons other than I hate dealing with people high on meth more than I hate dealing with drunks.

 

[Madame_Lawliet]

Trick question.

Removing Group A would cause all the alcoholics of the world to become drug addicts as a result.
Removing Group B would cause all the drug addicts of the world to become alcoholics as a result.

People with addictive personalities don't just stop having them if they can't get their substance of choice. If someone who's addicted to something can't fill their psychologically and physically conditioned need with one substance, they'll fill it with another.

No Matter what, absolutely nothing changes.

 

[Rabbitboy]

Group B. I don't drink a lot of alcohol so I woudnt mis group A either but if people found out I made alcohol disapear they would dislike me for it a lot. Whereas if I get rid of all the drugs I would be a hero.

 

[carnex]

Kick the magical creature back to it's never never land?

Seriously I want certain drugs gone. I see to much what they do. I saw great people reduced to nothing. And I saw many more high functioning alcoholics than high functioning heavy drug users. But seriously, kick the fckr back where it came from.

 

[VanQ]

If I had to choose, I'd remove recreational drugs. Only bcause the majority of them are illegal and cause a black market to exist.

Then again, alcohol ruins just as many lives as some of the more hardcore recreational drugs do. The difference is that alcohol as a chemical has a lot of valuable uses from cleaning to being necessary for some pathological testing. So you'd be removing a useful chemical from the world entirely.

Trick question.

Removing Group A would cause all the alcoholics of the world to become drug addicts as a result.
Removing Group B would cause all the drug addicts of the world to become alcoholics as a result.

People with addictive personalities don't just stop having them if they can't get their substance of choice. If someone who's addicted to something can't fill their psychologically and physically conditioned need with one substance, they'll fill it with another.

No Matter what, absolutely nothing changes.

Maybe they'll get addicted to video games in stead? One can hope.

 

[Lilani]

I'd get rid of the drugs, just because as others have stated addictive personalities will grab onto whatever is there, and there's only so much alcohol can do with you. With drugs, people have refined and mixed certain things together to the point where there is basically no chance of a full recovery after the first time you try it (meth, bath salts, etc). With alcohol, on the other hand, about the worst you can get is liver cirrhosis as far as long-term effects. And then there's drinking and driving and such, but people can also be on other substances and drive and be just as dangerous. And if we take away alcohol, they will.

 

[Me55enger]

Only thing I know right now is that there's is not enough of either in my blood stream.

Fuck Saturdays.

Also Group B.

 

[kasperbbs]

I would get rid of drugs, mainly because i'm a smoker so i would have no choice but to quit. If i wasnt then i would get rid of alcohol because in my eyes it does more harm than any drug, it breaks apart families, a lot of accidents and crimes happen because people are intoxicated and can't think straight and it's fucking legal.