How much is "too much"?

[bcubed]

I'm not talking from the point of view of the medical community. I'm also not asking what's the minimum use to cause physical addiction.

I'm actually reminded of the George Carlin skit where everyone driving slower than him was an "idiot," and everyone driving faster, a "maniac." Sometimes the same thing seems to happen to drug use.

Nowadays, people are willing to admit that with, say, sex, "too much" is a vague term that has as much to do with one's own personal code as anything. Granted, a promiscious person may take more risks, but as long as one is aware of the risk, there is a fair amount of latitude about personal preference.

Does this apply to drugs? If a person is enjoying him/herself, does this mean use is not excessive, even if the risk of negative consequences is relatively high? Or does this give too much leeway to a user to "justify" her or his use?

[podge]

It really will vary from drug to drug and from person to person. Swim thinks that when one's mind is a little too preoccupied with a certain substance or when someone starts basing their life around their drug use (as opposed to visa versa) that one should stop and review his/her usage.

But it works in strange ways indeed....some people will keep on taking some drugs with no problems, some will have serious problems. But there are also cases where people just get bored of a drug from overuse (MDMA being exibit A here....but im sure its true for others) and cease use or leave it to occasion.

Different people, different desires, different brain chemisrty, different drugs, different scenario's, different lifestyles.......with those few variables it seems impossible to get a "general" consensus for when enough is enough.

[iamwhoiam_butwhoamI?]

Originally Posted by bcubed

Does this apply to drugs? If a person is enjoying him/herself, does this mean use is not excessive, even if the risk of negative consequences is relatively high? Or does this give too much leeway to a user to "justify" her or his use?

EVERY addict enjoyed him or herself at first. Although he or she may be enjoying him/herself now... its sounds like time may drastically change that.

As long as the amount/frequency of use can remain stable enough over time to continue enjoyment, then I see no problem. However this can be rare. From what swim has seen, drug use vs time tends to be linear, with a constant, positive slope (i.e. it increases consistently over time), not exponential (i.e. the RATE of increase in use - for the lack of a better word - increases).

It is due to this linear increase that drug use is allowed to become problematic before you even know it. As the increase in use tends to be constant over time, it just keeps adding up, little by little, and creeps up without notice; kind of like how you never notice that you've gotten taller until your grandma, whom you haven't seen in 6 months, says "Wow, you sure have gotten taller." It is in this very same way that people tend to figure out that their drug use is excessive - the path from recreation to addiction is so rarely noticed - addiction is nearly always found by looking at two points in time, from when they didn't do the drug to when they can't make it through the day without it.

Originally Posted by bcubed

If a person is enjoying him/herself, does this mean use is not excessive, even if the risk of negative consequences is relatively high? Or does this give too much leeway to a user to "justify" her or his use?

Again - EVERY addict enjoyed him or herself at first. Why else would they have continued using to the point that it became problematic? With all drug abuse, the "enjoyment" has to overshadow the fact that the "risk of negative consequences is relatively high" or else no one would do drugs...

Even the best and brightest people can trip over that thin line from enjoyment to excess. Don't let your drug use creep up on you like it did to swim, and many others. Just remind yourself -

EVERY addict enjoyed him or herself at first.