T Nation

Drugs=Experimentation, Steroids=Sacriliege?

Off Topic
#1

I was just thinking, in college level courses before it seems that Professors will laugh and make jokes about pot, coke, Xtc, and even acid. But if someone at least partially endorses steroids, suddenly you are ‘insane,’ or ‘sick.’ I don’t get it.

Our society views those drugs as like ‘experimental,’ ie, if you have a period where you ever used those you are considered to have experimented (I guess on your self) and it’s not directly reflective on your entire character. Yet if you use steroids, it is not considered ‘experimentation,’ it is like you should be some bitch titted gay walrus or psychotic murderer for the rest of your life.

Why would society endorse something such as pot, which makes you fat, slow, slurred and lazy versus steroids, something that makes you more confident, powerful and strong, as morally superior or socially more acceptable?

To me this is baffling. There is no experimentation in weed or any other others, maybe acid, but I guess, what is the end result of this experiment supposed to be? In the case of steroids, that is a true experiment, and an educated user will treat it as such.

#2

I object to your logic behind pot. I am a big fan of pot, and I do not consider my self lazy, slow or fat. I lift every other day and there is nothing better then hitting some mj after a hard work out.

#3

Haha, I knd of agree w/ you… one of my friends’ theory on this is because steroids screw w/ your hormones and drugs don’t. But if that were the case then idk why it’d still as big of a problem for older users.

#4

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#5

Perhaps a substantial cause of the difference is that the Hollywood scriptwriters personally use the drugs that get the acceptance you refer to, but aren’t AAS users.

And as a result, the brain-dead are influenced to have similar underlying attitudes towards each type of drug as Hollywood has.

#6

It does seem that steroids are lumped together in the group with meth, crack, Heroin, etc…

What’s worse is when people see you with a shake and think you’re on steroids.

#7

I’m not sure why this is the way it is, what the op stated and what BBB said is much of what I’ve seen myself, and when I get into discussions with people about steroids I’ll often tell them to go watch Bigger, Faster, Stronger then come back to me with a rebuttal.

A few weeks ago I was quite pleased when my little brother started asking me about steroids on msn, I then told him if he was really interested he should go watch Bigger, Faster, Stronger and he said “we watched it in english class, that’s why I’m asking about this stuff”, I’m assuming the teacher did it to promote writing of an opinion piece or something but either way I’m glad they chose that particular film so who knows, maybe the general view will change in time.

PS I know that was horribly written with massive run on sentences, I just don’t care to fix it right now.

#8

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Basically what I realised is that there is a distinct double standard (not to mention tons of ignorance) regarding AAS Vs rec drugs.

The thing that really gets me is that folks who appreciate that rec drugs don not = death, and laugh at the media portrayal of such, don’t logically reason that the crap you hear about steroids is also just as overhyped/untrue. They just swallow up the general media portrayal of AAS as gospel.
[/quote]

This. Until I started actually reading about AAS in this forum, I felt exactly the same way.

Also, the term “experimentation” is misleading regard to recreational drugs. Most users know exactly what a given drug does, and that’s why they use it. As OP said, the term is much more applicable to intelligent AAS use.

The thing is, that’s not the way the term is meant, though. It’s an ignorant way to think about drug use, because it implies that people who use recreational drugs don’t really know what they’re doing, and if they did, they wouldn’t be using. The fact is, after the first few times, people use drugs because they like/want/need the effect, so it’s hardly “experimentation”.

As for rec drugs not affecting hormones… X and acid decrease insulin sensitivity (I think) and pot screws with all kinds of sex hormones in monkey studies.

#9

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#10

[quote]3IdSpetsnaz wrote:
Why would society endorse something such as pot, which makes you fat, slow, slurred and lazy [/quote]

Smoking weed makes you fat? Heh… So that’s why all the pot heads I see here are about 130 pounds.

#11

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
tom8658 wrote:
As for rec drugs not affecting hormones… X and acid decrease insulin sensitivity (I think) and pot screws with all kinds of sex hormones in monkey studies.

Correct, and they do it by stimulating cortisol release, so that’s two hormones that get affected, straight off the bat. Oh and lets not forget adrenalin, nor-adrenaline and all the other neuro-steroids and neurotransmitters that get affected. However I think it’s the ‘sex’ hormones that worry people more than the other steroids.

Also, ANY drug that causes a stimulant effect will likely affect cortisol and thus insulin sensitivity etc.

BBB[/quote]

Irrelavant, but, BBB, what would be the biggest negating effect of mary???
Regardless if it is related to Bodybuilding or not, simply for health reasons.

I’ve googled this, and, I can only find biased sources.

#12

You see this quite often in our society that preconceptions and prejudgements cloud most people’s minds beforehand when it comes to things such as steroids, things most people know nothing about. And yes of course, there is an obvious double standard: Steroids are considered very bad, whereas recreational drugs have somehow gained a certain degree of acceptance in our society.

However, this kind of double standard is nothing new, I mean why is alcohol legal whereas weed isn’t? In 2000, alcohol was the cause of death of around 85.000 people in the US alone, whereas according to the National Academy Press (1999) “Marijuana alone has not been shown to cause an overdose death.” My point is this, those double standards more often than not seem pretty random and without actual reasoning.

Maybe there is a psychological reason though why people generally dislike steroids. Since we live in a society where pretty much everybody competes with everybody, I guess people think it’s cheating when you ‘enhance’ yourself beyond your ‘god given means’.

#13

never could have made it through GOMAD with out some sweet chiba

#14

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#15

Drugs are bad mmkay.

#16

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#17

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
GETTODECHOPPAAA wrote:
Drugs are bad mmkay.

I note that on EVERY thread relating to rec. drugs, someone always posts this.

BBB[/quote]

lol someone had to do it

#18

BBB, people like what they like and see the need. The other drugs are bad, scary dangerous things. For years I’ve heard all the pot rhetoric. Look, you can make paper and rope from it!

Screw you, you just want to smoke it.

#19

Nobody’s intimidated by a giggling stoner. A huge AAS user on the other hand.

#20

I am an advocate of you should try ALL drugs once in your lifetime. Except Meth and cocaine. One literally destroys life and the other is too expensive for 15 minutes of euphoria.