handoflixue comments on The benefits of madness: A positive account of arationality - Less Wrong

101 Post author: Skatche 22 April 2011 07:43PM

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Comment author: handoflixue 25 April 2011 08:41:53AM 2 points [-]

Ahhh, apologies. I am used to parsing "These substances are sometimes abused" as being shorthand for "I disapprove of illegal drugs, because some people abuse them; therefore they should be shunned as being categorically evil."

My own personal stance is that drugs are a useful tool, as long as you're careful with the risk factors they involve. I feel quite a lot of illegal drugs have fairly high utility and low risks, at least compared to our social acceptance of risk in other areas.

Comment author: persephonehazard 08 June 2011 02:24:24AM 1 point [-]

May I ask what you mean by "useful"?

My own feeling - as a user of various illegal drugs - is that fun itself is enough use alone, but I don't know if that's quite what folk are meaning here.

Comment author: handoflixue 08 June 2011 03:49:34AM 0 points [-]

Given the current state of mental health support, at least in the US, I consider them a useful tool for some people to self-medicate. Fun is also a nice perk :)

Comment author: persephonehazard 08 June 2011 02:08:22PM 0 points [-]

Yeah, that's definitely true. And also, of course, cannabis is a marvelous painkiller.