Comment · Tue, April 2, 2013
young children doing drugs
Original post in this thread
Brainsailor · 13 points
The other day I met someone who claimed to start smoking weed at the age of four. I'm sure that was bullshit, but it made me think about the ethics of letting children/making children do drugs. What kind of drug do you think would be the best for a child? What do you think psychedelic use such as acid, shrooms, or DMT would do to a child's simplistic worldview? I've never really had a full on discussion about it, except to know that most people say it's wrong.
What they were answering
BlueCalx1 · 4 points
Nobody is blaming Americans today, and there's no need to "place the blame" anywhere. However those statistics, while sad and revealing, really have little to do with the spiritual use of psychedelics in regards to children.
Have you ever been to an Indian reservation? Go take a trip down to the Navajo reservation in Arizona. It's empty, flat, dry desert. There's nothing to do, nothing to grow, hardly anything to sell. It's nearly impossible to make a living there, especially with the capitalistic system of America. So why don't they just "step up to the plate" and make it better for themselves? Well yeah duh, obviously it makes sense that they should move to places where they could do better by themselves. But they are still trying to maintain their ancestral homes and cultural heritage that the West basically destroyed by forcing them onto tiny crappy reservations and severely depopulating them and demoralizing them. It's kind of hard to make a change when you have lived all your life on a reservation with a dirt poor alcoholic family, what kind of change do you think they are capable of? Obviously that isn't the case for every tribe or every family, but in a lot of cases, as your statistics show, that IS the case. It ISN'T all behind us now, because obviously these people are still suffering from the effects of what the West has done to them, even if it's all in the past.…
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb
Yes, I grew up less than a mile from the Pima reservation in Arizona. I had Native American friends, and saw how they were raised. Each family gets most of their living paid for by monthly checks from the Casinos and government payments. My friend Joe who lived on the reservation had a brand new house, new car, and always had new clothes. On his 18th birthday he got a $10,000 check from the US government. He immediately went to Vegas and spent every last cent on prostitutes, gambling, and alcohol. Last I heard he did not have a job. I have not spoken to him in years. He was a smart and witty guy. He could have gone places in his life. Instead he chose to follow in the footsteps of many Native American youth. It's sad, because I only lived a mile from him. We had a job together at Chuck E Chesse when we were in high school. He had the same opportunities as I did, and chose a different path.
I'm sick and tired of people placing the blame on the past! We all have things we need to overcome. We all have challenges in life that seem too much to handle. However, what makes the difference is choice. Our choices are all we have to rely on in this life. I've been all over the planet, and met many people from all walks of life. People overcome their obstacles all the time. Hell, my life was saved by a man from India named Rama. He grew up in a family that had less than $5 per day. He had no running water or sewage. He somehow struggled and pulled himself out of it. He is now a technician at Avaya in Gurgaon India. He came from far less than what my old friend Joe did, and went far further. I probably wouldn't be here today if it weren't for his actions when I was on business in India. He took me to the hospital and saved my life. His choices are what defined his life, and what saved mine. He did not complain about the hand he was dealt, or shift focus on the past. He kept his eyes on the future, and it paid off.
So no, I am not ignorant to the way life works. I've been fortunate enough to meet thousands of people from all over the world. I've seen the amazing things that humans are capable of. I've also the seen the disappointment and failure that arises from many people's choices. I also see the focus shifted to external factors when that failure occurs. IT'S ALL BULLSHIT! I won't accept the defeatist mindset. Not when I've seen so many people with so much less than Joe or myself make it, and touch the lives of others, while also watching those with so much more waste away due to their choices.