• Question: Have you ever taken any recreational drugs?

    Asked by hocking33 to Jack, Jon, Tom, Yalda on 14 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Tom Branson

      Tom Branson answered on 14 Mar 2013:

      I have had plenty of alcohol, which is quite a strong drug. Even though it is a very common thing for many people to drink, it is still very dangerous. It can become addictive and too much makes you become an idiot (at least it makes me act like an idiot!).

      But I’ve never tried anything worse. I don’t really think it is a good idea to put dangerous chemicals in your body. You never know exactly what the effects might be and many drugs are made illegal because they are dangerous for you and might kill you. The law is there to help you.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 14 Mar 2013:

      I used to smoke cigarettes and I abuse caffeine on a daily basis – as you’ll spot in my first work picture :-/

      Other than that, I’m fairly good. Street drugs can be cut with a whole load of weird stuff (some I’ve heard of are cement powder, rat poison and paracetamol) and I’d be scared that would do me some damage.

    • Photo: Yalda Javadi

      Yalda Javadi answered on 14 Mar 2013:

      Yeah I drink alcohol recreationally.

      Recreational drugs can be both legal, or illegal. So it’s important not to get confused that just because something is legal that it means it’s safe. I, like Tom, drink alcohol recreationally (and have definitely had too much at times) and am aware of the dangers. In fact it’s up there with some Class A’s in terms of how dangerous it can be when used to excess.

      There are some recreational drugs like opiates, cannabis and ecstasy that are however being used in a medicinal sense. Opiates are a very popular medicine in treating pain, and if you’ve ever been to hospital with a broken bone, you’d have had them! There are some countries that prescribe cannabis in treating nausea and loss of appetite that is associated with chemotherapy when treating cancers. There are also studies on whether using the illegal drug ecstacy (or MDMA) can be used to treat certain anxiety disorders, like post-traumatic stress disorders.

      But the important thing to bare in mind is that, noone really knows of the long term damages from recreationally taking drugs. So it’s best to stay away!

    • Photo: Jon Marles-Wright

      Jon Marles-Wright answered on 15 Mar 2013:

      I’d say a fair proportion of scientists have a strong relationship with coffee, which is probably one of the most common recreational drugs. I am partial to a beer, and I quite enjoy brewing my own, which is kind of like bringing my work home.

    • Photo: Jack Heal

      Jack Heal answered on 18 Mar 2013:

      I enjoy alcohol and caffeine. I tried weed once quite a while ago in Amsterdam (legally!) but didn’t particularly enjoy it. I’ve never tried any “harder” drugs. It doesn’t really appeal to me.

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