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Myth #6
Drugs Will Make You Do Bad Things
The popular perception is that illegal drugs cause people to do harmful and evil things. This is false. Drugs do not make one do anything. They can temporarily lower inhibitions, impede decision making, and ruin coordination, however, the drug is never in control.
The same occurs when you are extremely
tired. Your decision making is hampered, however, it would be inane to blame
sleep deprivation for heinous acts such as murder. Yet the government and the
media have been doing this to drugs for the past one hundred years.
No drug has been found to directly cause violence through its pharmacological action. Drugs that have been popularly touted as violence-causing but have come up woefully short when scientists looked past colorful anecdotes and urban myths include crack, PCP, and anabolic steroids.
A myth about hallucinogens is that you will be so delusional that you will accidentally do something deadly, e.g. walk off a roof. An LSD user does not lose sight of the fact that sensual distortions are drug induced.
Although there are verified accounts of people doing dangerous and suicidal things when on powerful hallucinogens this should be given perspective. There are also verified accounts of people doing dangerous and suicidal things when on alcohol ... and even when completely sober. Extremely dangerous behavior on any substance is often preceded by extremely dangerous usage - e.g. downing a bottle of whiskey - which suggests the behavior is inherent in the person, not the drug.
All information taken from You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos, Book I by Robert R. Arthur. Detailed documentation of sources can be found therein.
Page last modified August 29, 2007.