Ok, I think this one's bludgeoned Linux Questions Enough..................for now. Thanks for the replies! I've posted links to this site/topic in two other forums, here's one of them:

http://www.modfree.org/index.php?top...sg4533#msg4533

Special thanks to brianL, Crito, ErV, indienick, johngreenwood and masonm.

All the best!

You are very, very welcome, ed-j.

Whoops! Better late than never. Only just noticed your special thanks to me. Thanks.

Have one on me! :-)

Needed to dig this one up for another forum!

YEA but lets ask him that when he/she is OH lets say 30.

I bet he/she will have a tad bit different answer....

could you please explane to me why my drug habits are your problem ?

It's not the drugs themslves that cause the shootings it's the lack of
legal protection for drug dealers that cause the drug related shootings
the same thing happend with alcohol when it was outlawed

were drugs legal there wouldn't be any drug related shootings none of the
outlawed drugs premote volince the way alcohol dose as an effect of the drug

LOL ! That's got to be one of the best yet! Because I am curious to know why you find it so impossible to look at yourself and question why you have been influenced beyond your control.

Apart from that that, I put forward three open questions.........which you have decided not to answer . No problem, it's the answer you felt like giving! :-)

Hello again to the good people of LQ's!!

Dear oh dear...........I left this thread as I thought people had got bored with it. Maybe I might come back and have a look every now and then. Personally, I did find the title rather eerr............ "stimulating" LOL

What has been interesting for me:

I have tried giving up various things at various times = Tea, for example. Someone offers me a cup of tea, and I say no thank you, I don't drink tea...................the inevitable statement always arrives...."ooooh no, I couldn't live without my tea, couldn't get out of bed in the morning etc, etc...." If people had given me a £1 for every time I'd heard that kind of statement, you know the answer: I'd be a bloody millionaire!

I am very new to the Internet ( roughly December 2006 ) and I think this was the first ever thread that really said anything about me personally, and I was worried/afraid of the reaction I was going to get: Or the reaction I might not get!!

What it has taught me is that I'm no worse than anyone out there, and if anybody has the nerve to question my equality....LOL, and ***k em!!

In fact I've found this so enjoyable, I'm going to really push the boat out, and make a brand new thread!! All the best! :-)

Well, maybe it's a bit late , but
I'm really not in the mood for writing really huge articles, so (and the answer could be one of them) IMHO:
Why people drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, and drink coffee? Person never does anything without a reason. So, people that use drugs must be receiving something from doing this. Of course, some using some drug may create an addiction (chemical), but IMHO psychology/the way person thinks is the main reason to use some drug. Let me write down some examples. Maybe a person (a kid, for example) thinks that if he'll smoke a cigarette, he'll look big and adult. It's easy - that kid has a desire/goal/dream (of being adult) that he cannot achieve right now and for him cigarette is a symbol of being an adult person, so by smoking the cigarette, he make himself think (falsely) that he is an adult person. The problem of that cigarette-smoking kid is probably that he thinks that being adult is better than being a kid, and kids are "worse" than adults, etc. Another example (again a cigarette) can be a smoker that use his cigarette to relax. I really don't think that it's a good way to relax by using a cigarette, but since he is using a cigarette, he probably has some relaxing situation, or good memories associated with smoking. But, why he need to relax? Maybe he is too nervous? And why he is too nervous? Again problem with person, not the drug.
Now, about the alcohol. It seems that people starts drinking than they really feels bad. For me it looks like a way to run/hide from problem, not solve it. And running from problems can be a way this person lives all his life. However, people not only drink alcohol to forget something bad that happened. They something drink it to remove psychological blocks they have. I knew a guy that can't start talking to a girl unless he hasn't been drinking before (at least a little). He is just afraid. He probably as some psychological barriers, or bad memories, or he is just too shy, but instead of changing himself he decides to drink. instead of drinking he could try to change his personality, but drinking is easier. Of course, it can develop into a disease... Some people use other drugs because their friend doing so and they are afraid to lose their "friends"; or while they are running from problems; or just of curiosity. The "true" drugs that develop an addiction at very fast pace are harmful for those "curious", other drugs are harmful for those with problems. So using drugs is the result of how person behaves, how he lives his life, how the person thinks, etc.

Was the explanation detailed enough?

LOL! It's not bad for starters!!

I would definitely go along with your kind of reasoning behind beginning to smoke and drink: These are the worst two drugs in the whole situation. These are the drugs that lead to all other drugs!!!

All the best! :-)

I have a tip for you ErV: Paragraphs make large answers much easier to read. Hope that might help. Don't take it to heart. Thanks for the comments!

Yeah, I know, but it was too late and I really wanted to sleep

no problem.

Hey, you might find this one interesting too:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=547915

All the best! :-)

I have cut some of this but I am referring to all of it. I started smoking in college. Well after I knew better. Why did I start? It wasn't to feel older or relax. The cigarette became a conversational tool. It gave us a reason to stand in front of buildings and get to know each other. Often I didn't smoke and even if I was, I didn't inhale except on very rare occasions. The cigarette was a prop. A tool to move the conversation at a comfortable pace and an excuse to stand in front of a building at 2am without looking creepy. When I would leave college, I would leave the cigarettes behind. It wasn't until a couple years later that I started smoking them to stay awake during a night shift because I was not sleeping nearly enough.

Now, with cigarettes I can see where you are coming from. Mostly because smoking is not naturally appealing. But here, I think you stray into the negatives of alcohol too quickly. People don't start drinking to get away from their problems or because they feel bad. People start drinking because being intoxicated feels good. It feels nice to be a little drunk and it does lower inhibitions and make one less self conscious. Drinking is a pleasant thing. Of course, if you have too much you won't feel good and you'll feel worse in the morning... but overall alcohol is pleasant for many people and that is why they start drinking.

People develop a problem with drinking when they start abusing its effects to deal with problems and escape from things. A person who "needs" a drink to talk to someone is self-medicating with alcohol... because alcohol works. A person who drinks because they are upset and want to feel better is self-medicating with alcohol... because alcohol works. These are not good things and can lead to dependency problems. But not everyone drinks because of this... they drink because drinking is enjoyable.

Drinking is a lot like theme parks (sorry, I live in Florida and these form a large part of my world-view). It is fun to go to them. You don't worry about things at home, you have a pleasant experience, and you feel good. And, if my personal observations have merit, inhibitions go way down at theme parks too. A person could try and escape their problems by going to a theme park and riding rides and just trying to forget everything. If they did that everyday, they would be abusing theme parks as much as anything else. I have known people who acted like this. Whenever they were faced with a difficult issue, they went to a park for a day and just ignored the issue and hoped it went away. In a state where many people hold at least one annual pass to a park (and often more -- I habitually hold 2 or 3)... this is not a hard thing to do.

Are theme parks bad? Do people go to theme parks to escape problems and because they have underlying issues that need to be worked out? Is it even worse when I go to Islands of Adventure and get drunk there? I am combining two forms of escape!!!