But of course you were out to get opinions on drug use. What was the other option? Getting the clinical trials? Interesting reading them clinical trials, but you do need a basic college level of chemistry, biology, 'doctorspeak,' and some anatomy too to really follow them (and even then...)
I have nothing against drugs, though I can see where others do, as they have lost much. I just have nothing awesome to say about them either. I don't see where they are ever more than a very expensive cheap thrill. Some people, many perhaps will tell you that life will get you much higher than drugs will. I suppose that is true, but those moments in life are often few and far between and not sustainable. On the other hand, drugs are often better than the crappy times, or even the dull boring times of life, hence their popularity.
I grew up in a drug capitol at a landmark time for the stuff. I worked for bands that were legendary for their (and their fans) consumption. I've worked in venues that were pretty open to it too. Bob Marley birthday concerts where you couldn't even see the other side of the room for the ganga smoke. "Tribe" events, like sitting up in the desert (years before Burning Man was even thought of) at Pyramid Lake with people walking around with Safeway bags full of 'shrooms telling everyone to 'take all you want, but eat all you take.' (Not a good night for trying to sleep, for sure on that, so you might as well join in.)
And I'm sure I could tell any number of amusing stories ranging from snorting pink coke (coke mixed with mescline) at my wedding, to days spring skiing up in the mountains tripping my brains out that were so beautiful that I thought I would explode with it. Or very strange events deep in the redwood forests near here, or moments out on the beach of supreme bliss, or unusual occurances in the desert (and those are very trippy.) I went to (as a guest, worker, and fan) a lot of Grateful Dead shows, back in the day (early 70s to early 80s) were you could get the good hook up, and what the ->-bleeped-<-, on occasion they could even play. But I was dosing my head off back in '74 when I saw Floyd tour Dark Side - that had its moments too. Or I could tell the story about taking some people out to the coast, and how we were just coming on to this really good psychedelic, and we wanted to hike along the ocean, but we get stopped by of Sheriff's, and they make us get out of the car and help them as about 50 sheep had got through a fence and were scattered along the road - and they needed to be rounded up and moved back. Now the rural folks know that all animals can be very very hard to catch when they don't want to be caught or are scared, and they can be hard to move when they don't want to move. I've got my wife (raised a block from Lake Michigan in the Heart of Chicago), and my buddy Crash and his GF from New York City. They had never seen a sheep outside of a zoo. Oh yeah, this is going to work out real good. You bet'cha. Its the only story I've ever told that someone wet their pants because they were laughing so hard, and yes, it's that funny.
But, at some level, even the ones that are stupid, or that I know look back on and think I was nuts. Spring skiing is one thing, doing it and trying to ski a winter storm up at Sugar Bowl that time, well, very dumb. Lucky to be here and all that.
And, I have been close enough to see the long range effects of it too. Some dead, others destroyed, many others just lost, and I can't discount that either, and since that's part of the risk, I sure don't see advocating or encouraging, or promoting, or glamorizing, or romantizing any of it either. And that's what all the fun stories do. And I don't think there is much of a half-way point between the good and the bad, its a pretty stark contrast. Its one I see everytime I work at Turk and Taylor and see the CSI people out, Crack Scene Investigators, who are down on their hands and knees digging in the sidewalk for any little nug of white that might be crack, and they try to smoke it. On the other side of the door is some pretty boy who's sold a million records last year doing a little blast before he walks out on stage to his fans. Same drug. Huge difference.
