Oh boy... Let me just begin by saying that this is just my opinion on the two and that in no way, shape or form do I look down on others who enjoy doing the two or have a problem with addiction with the two. Again, just strictly my opinion and experiences with drugs and alcohol.
First of all, I don't drink nor do I take drugs. Regardless of my past, I don't see the need for either one. Drinking, meh... I'm working on my body so I can't really drink anyway, but when I do, I usually have a mixed drink or a beer. Regardless of my age, I'm not really into the club or bar scene anymore. It got boring fast and I just didn't like how much it cost and how I'd feel the next day. (In Canada the legal drinking age is 19, but the next province over it's 18.)
Social drinker? I guess you could call it that even though I haven't drank since Halloween and then six months before that. Occasional drug user? No, not at all. The only drugs I've ever tried were marijuana, ecstasy, MDMA, and cocaine. None of which I still do today.
Marijuana: I didn't really like. I've smoked joints and felt like nothing happened and felt like ti was a waste of money. The only time a joint did something was when I had really bad wisdom teeth pain and one of my friends insisted that I smoke a joint instead of popping a bunch of pain killers. It sort of helped... Bongs usually were the only thing I smoked marijuana out of and I hated the aftermath. I'd feel like I was jumping dimensions, that time was going by really fast when really only a few minutes had passed. I just... meh, not my thing.
MDMA: It was shared between 8 of us and I still feel like it wasn't MDMA because nothing happened. I was young and stupid. Only "tried" it once.
Ecstasy: Tried it once and never again. These stupid different colourful pills with cartoon characters branded on them were literally ruining two of my best friend's lives. (We're not friends anymore as their addictions grew and worsened...)
My friend had a handful of these pills that she'd pay $20 a pill for. I remember one night sitting in her basement listening to her call me stuck-up and chicken and say I was afraid to try anything of the sort. She went on and on about how amazing these stupid pills were and finally I had enough of listening to it all. Especially since I never thought these little pills could be anything that she said they were.
I jumped up, grabbed two "triple stacked" green aliens. (Apparently those were the 'worst'.) Without any hesitation, I threw them back and chased them with water. She was wide eyed and appalled that I actually did what I just had done. To my expectancy, not a fucking thing happened.
Except for the fact that I became insanely cold. It was winter and snowing hard and I had to walk home. It wasn't until I actually got home that it hit me... IT WAS HORRIBLE.
I stared at myself in my downstairs bathroom mirror, thinking that I could "move" my face around. I was seeing things, vibrating and felt like I could feel sound. I couldn't sleep, I stayed up for 18 hours after that. The "come down" was the absolute worse thing I've ever experienced in my life. I had cold sweats, I was throwing up constantly to the point where I threw up blood, I couldn't eat or drink anything and I slept for what felt like days.
How people do this for fun all the time is beyond me. Fentynal deaths in my city alone have increased drastically in the past five months alone, killing young teenagers and young adults. How do you know that these ecstasy pills aren't laced with Fentynal? It's a risk that I hope no teenager tries to take... it really is not fucking worth it. Go out and drink a bunch of beer to the point where you're sick and hungover... not pop a bunch of pills and wonder if you're gonna be alive in the next few hours.
Again... *sigh* just my opinion, not judging anyone...
Last but not least, Cocaine: Ah... Cocaine. Where do I even begin with this one? Well, cocaine was my personal choice of drug. I loved cocaine. I loved the awareness that came with it, I loved the drips in the back of your throat, I loved cutting lines and snorting them, I loved my tongue and inside of my mouth being numb, the jaw twitch and I loved the pouring of the heart conversations I'd have on them.
Yet even though I loved cocaine because I felt like it was "safe" because it literally doesn't make you see shit, feel weird, etc etc... there was a dark side to cocaine.
The anxiety, panic and worrying about issues in my life that weren't really even necessarily issues. I'd think back to my past and all the bad, hurtful things that ever occurred and I'd feel terrible. Not only that, it was expensive. $50 for a half gram that left me begging for more by the last line. $100 for an "eight ball".
Basically... it was a waste of money and only ever occurred if I went out to party, which wasn't frequent. I witnessed first hand how it can turn people against others, open doors to addiction, push people to wanting more of a high which in turn usually leads to heavier drugs...
It's just... not for me and I haven't touched it for over a year and I don't plan to do so ever again. EVER. I don't see the point in getting shit faced wasted all the time or high as a kite all the time. I don't... there's a lot more in life that can make you happy than booze and drugs. I don't see the why people say it's "to have fun"... I find that I can have fun without doing the two. But, each to their own. I'm not judgemental. It's just not my thing and I don't want it to ever be "my thing" again.
SO THERE, that... that is my OWN views and experiences on drugs and alcohol.