drugs

[thinkerOFthoughts]

I think I have read somewhere before that drugs where a form of class suppression? I dont know if suppression is a good word but like a thing used to keep the Proletariat more in line? I have no idea, I heard it somewhere before and was wondering what you guys think?

[The Idler]

One of the themes in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is about drugs used to pacify society.

[Ben Chaser]

There's definitely a lot of truth to that, depending on the drug of course as well as the user. I know that when I was working the first thing I did when I got home is get high and crack open a cold one. But I also use drugs (marijuana) because it helps me write music and have good thoughts. Certain psychedelics can also give folks insights into their own minds or the nature of things. But most people are just trying to get fucked up, and certain drugs like meth and crack are used by the ruling elite to keep potentially revolutionary populations in line and inactive. It's also used as an excuse to put a lot of young black men in jail.

[Ben Chaser]

One of the themes in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is about drugs used to pacify society.

Aldous Huxley was also a vocal proponent of mescaline, which is a psychedelic used by Southwester US and Mexican amerindians. His book on his experiences, The Doors of Perception, show how beautiful tripping can be and is where the band the Doors got their name. There's a reason the only Huxley they teach in high school is Brave New World, and the only Orwell they teach is 1984.

[which doctor]

One of the themes in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is about drugs used to pacify society.
In Island, Huxley's conception of the perfect society, drugs are used to gain enlightenment and achieve self-actualization.

The effects of drugs are so varied that they can serve multiple purposes. They can be used to numb and pacify a society, yet they can also be used for enjoyment and recreation, with few ill effects.

[bobroberts]

Wages, dead end jobs, and property laws are a form of class oppression. The drug war is a form of class oppression. Drugs are turned to by the lower classes often as a result of these various forms of oppression, but mostly drugs are just what people have been doing for millennia for various reasons, a means of escape, entertainment, satisfying addiction, introspection, social interaction, etc.

To me, it seems that some drugs, like anti-depressants and alcohol, are used to try and pacify people who increasingly find themselves trapped in a meaningless and fundamentally stupid cycle of long work hours and consumption, and of having society determine their worth in class hierarchy by their ability to engage in this cycle, which is promoted by various corrupt powers far beyond their control and for reasons they are completely unaware of.

[Some Red Guy]

Not neccessarily, the war on drugs is though. Every five minutes a houndred people in the US are arrested for marihuana possession. They are arrested, put in court and then prison etc.. Tax-payers pay for this. I'm by no means against taxes, but why should we pay for that? Marihuana should be legalised, it would save us a lot of trouble. There are other drugs as well, but many get into that trough marihuana, but only because they have to buy it from dealers who sell everything else. But now I'm just rambling. I don't think drugs are a for of oppression in itself, no.

[Robespierre2.0]

The problem is escapism, not drugs. There are people who casually use drugs, and then there are people who rely on them to escape from their miserable reality. Same thing applies to fast food, sports, alcohol, cigarettes... etc.

[mykittyhasaboner]

Funny, all this talk of Huxley while I'm reading Doors of Perception/Heaven & Hell at this very moment.


The effects of drugs are so varied that they can serve multiple purposes. They can be used to numb and pacify a society, yet they can also be used for enjoyment and recreation, with few ill effects.
This is a very important point to remember. There are so many variables to take into consideration like how you are using a substance, what it is being used for, etc. Powerful psychedelics like LSD or psilocybin can be used for intense, recreational use; but when these drugs are in the wrong hands they can cause some serious harm. Take for example all of the experiments that the US government carry out such as the infamous MKULTRA, where soldiers and other citizens were given LSD to determine how suceptable they are to hypnosis or manipultion to their mental states. Some people ended up dead, or mentally ill as a result of the testing. Or "Project ARTICHOKE", this test put subjects through forced morphine addiction and withdrawl in order to study the vulnerablity to amnesia.

[Janine Melnitz]

The problem is escapism, not drugs. There are people who casually use drugs, and then there are people who rely on them to escape from their miserable reality. Same thing applies to fast food, sports, alcohol, cigarettes... etc.
Don't forget the internet


To me, it seems that some drugs, like anti-depressants [...] are used to try and pacify people
I've never understood this line on psychopharmaceuticals. Are the untreated mentally ill a threat to the bourgeoisie? Clinically depressed people who won't leave their bedrooms? Schizophrenics sleeping in storm drains? I'm receptive to the idea that "mental illness" is a product of an unwell society, but that it will or can have a progressive role seems pretty stupid. There's a persistent sentiment among people who don't have much experience with antidepressants that they will make you "mindlessly happy", a "drone" or more prone to "conformism". The only explanation for this idea (because experience surely can't be its source) is a quasi-cartesian notion of the mind, where one's inner life is a source of spontaneity, creativity and rebellion which is tragically extinguished or suppressed as soon as you start treating it neurologically. This same idealism is what leads us to treat "addiction" as somehow more insidious than other varieties of compulsive behavior, as if the latter were easier to break from.

[CommieCat]

I don't think drugs are a form of class suppression.

But I do think the suppression of drugs (and those who take them) ARE.

[CommieCat]

And to expand on that point, because I think plenty of people will disagree:

1. Drug taking certainly has an affect on the productiveness of workers; an unproductive worker is worth zilch to a boss. A pot smoking worker who suddenly sees the inane nature of making his boss richer isn't something capitalists particularly want.

2. Depending on where you live, random, on-site drug testing is quite legal for most trades. Which may be legitimate in some circumstances because of health & safety risks. However, in my view, they're an invasive & humiliating procedure; what you do on the weekends with your body is irrelevant to what you do in your working day. Drug testing, imprisoning drug users which can be used as a source of cheap labor, are simply methods of control & coercion, enforced by the police against the working class.

[bobroberts]

I've never understood this line on psychopharmaceuticals. Are the untreated mentally ill a threat to the bourgeoisie? Clinically depressed people who won't leave their bedrooms? Schizophrenics sleeping in storm drains? I'm receptive to the idea that "mental illness" is a product of an unwell society, but that it will or can have a progressive role seems pretty stupid. There's a persistent sentiment among people who don't have much experience with antidepressants that they will make you "mindlessly happy", a "drone" or more prone to "conformism". The only explanation for this idea (because experience surely can't be its source) is a quasi-cartesian notion of the mind, where one's inner life is a source of spontaneity, creativity and rebellion which is tragically extinguished or suppressed as soon as you start treating it neurologically. This same idealism is what leads us to treat "addiction" as somehow more insidious than other varieties of compulsive behavior, as if the latter were easier to break from.

I was on antidepressants, and I don't mean to say there aren't legitimate uses for them, however they are overused. When the doctor gave them to me all I had to do was tell him about how I was feeling depressed. No futher analysis, no seeing a psychiatrists, nothing. It was just "I feel depressed" "okay, have some of these...". They effect mood and behavior and not necessarily in productive ways, especially without any follow up. After researching about it, I can safely say that my situation wasn't unique and a lot of the supposed benefits of antidepressents are imaginary. A lot of it is basically trying to reassure unhappy people that there is no reason for being that way, everything is fine, and if you just take this medicine you will be cured. The problem of people leading shallow lives doing meaningless bullshit is never addressed.

[ellipsis]

and the only Orwell they teach is 1984.
And animal farm, but of course not homage to cataluna. For heavens sake, the kids might learn about fighting facism or than "commies" are not a singular groups led by the Soviets!

[Janine Melnitz]

I was on antidepressants, and I don't mean to say there aren't legitimate uses for them, however they are overused. When the doctor gave them to me all I had to do was tell him about how I was feeling depressed. No futher analysis, no seeing a psychiatrists, nothing. It was just "I feel depressed" "okay, have some of these...".
Oh yeah, definitely most shrinks are hacks who just want to move pills. Finding a good one is nice, but not always an option; I was stuck, for extended periods, with a couple nightmare-shitty ones (one said "I think your problem is your attitude" when I politely disagreed with him on the existence of God; both wanted to put me on antipsychotics...for depression). Luckily I could do my own damn research on whatever they prescribed me; I'm also, apparently, lucky in that they thought seeing a therapist was important too. I'm amazed your doc didn't; I'd thought the standard was drugs+cognitive behavioral therapy.


A lot of it is basically trying to reassure unhappy people that there is no reason for being that way
Really? As far as I've seen, pretty much all of it is: trying to make money by selling drugs. Anyway, if you're actually debilitated by Brain Problemz (which is the only situation in which I'd recommend trying drug after drug, looking for one that actually helps and doesn't have extremely horrible side effects) there really is "no reason for being that way", regardless of what caused it.


The problem of people leading shallow lives doing meaningless bullshit is never addressed.
Well of course not; that's our job, not the professionals'.

[Qayin]

I used to do a shit load of psychedelics.

Theyre not for class suppression because most people ive known to do them are all very liberal and or communist.

A republican girl I know shroomed and after that she turned very progressive as she say the bullshit without the smokescreen of her belief system.