I don't drink or do any illegal drugs (the highest I've ever gotten was on legally prescribed codeine for a specific illness years ago, and I haven't had it since). When I was a teenager, I was pretty religious, and since my parents said not to, I just obeyed them. As I got older and less religious, and saw that addiction problems run in my family, I realized that I really just didn't want to find out the hard way how I would react to it. I've seen so many people totally or almost ruin their lives over substances, and It just doesn't appeal to me on any level. I'm totally happy with my decisions, and don't feel that I'm missing out on anything at all. I believe that drug use should be decriminalized and that addiction should be treated as a public health issue rather than a criminal issue, but I get really irritated with people who go on and on about how awesome getting high is. I prefer being in my right mind, and believe my life is better for it.

I drink occasionally, and only smoked pot a few times years ago. I already have mild anxiety issues, and marijuana tended to make me more paranoid than relaxed. So not much enticement for me. I would be willing to try it again, but I'd have to clear my schedule for a day to be completely unproductive. And that's not terribly enticing either.

I smoked pot when I was younger but now if I smoke it I just feel dizzy and nauseous, so I stopped. I think it's a lot more potent now than it used to be, or else I react to it differently. Either way it's not worth it.

Booze is no good because it's all calories and it gives me a throbbing headache so I have my one beer/wine a day and that's it.

Given up booze entirely on a whim before, three years dry was my longest and in Scotland this is so rare as to mark you out and get constant peer pressure, as the main socialising is always drinking. That was a struggle.

Drank a lot less when I still worked in Whisky sales because I didn't want to be like my co-workers' whose idea of daily post-work entertainment was to be shitfaced constantly.

I drink moderately now, never on my own (good rule is to avoid solitary drinking) and since living in holland, I smoke a bit of high-quality weed every now and then, once every few years I get myself some psilocybin truffles.

If you're considering giving it up, there's usually a good reason why (I never really had any addiction issues or the like) but cold turkey's not for everyone. Moderation works for me just fine, ymmv.

I am a heavy consumer of marijuana -- like, if I'm not buzzed at any given time, my primary agenda item is to fix that. I don't smoke anymore -- pure vapes, oils, and the like, but I can still tell that it takes its toll.

I'm not in any way unproductive, despite being a bit stoned all day every day. I have a skilled technical job and do it well. In fact, marijuana helps spark my interest in different approaches and provides bursts of creativity.

I'm not trying to "go on and on about how awesome getting high is", because honestly, I wish I could stop or do it less. It's kind of juvenile, and I can tell it has a physical cost on my body. I am jealous of everyone here who says they don't get high or do so only occasionally. I've been a daily user for about 17 years or so, only skipping a few periods of a few months because of lack of access.

Statisticians and sociologists that pay attention to these kind of broad trends would probably say I'm getting high to numb the lasting emotional pain of growing up in an abusive home, and if I'm being honest, I can't find too much to really argue with there.

I know someone that at the tail end of his teenage experimentation phase got into the benzos and opiates and damn near killed himself. He never shot it and never used more than once a week but was miserable and suicidal anyhow. If you guys think smoking weed diminished your intellectual capacity try binging on klonopin once a week for a year:/

Been clean for I think 2 years at this point, my master told me that when you lose track of the time you're finally getting somewhere.

Haven't had a drink of alcohol since shortly after midnight on 1/1/00. If alcoholism really is a disease, I don't believe that I was an alcoholic, but I did have some kind of drinking problem. Getting drunk made me feel like shit, but I kept doing it, because I felt like shit. Three months earlier, I started taking antidepressants, and as Y2K arrived, I discovered that the urge to drink had left me utterly. Based on what I'd heard, that doesn't work for real alcoholics.

The first time in 17 years that I had the urge to get drunk was, you guessed it, the night of the election.

I never officially quit smoking weed, but it's been five years. Twice in the past 17 years, I actually found some weed in the street. That's what it usually takes, since I haven't got the cheek to call up one of my old pothead friends who I haven't seen in years to help me score.

I do have some righteous prescriptions. Adderal, lexapro, welbutrin, and most recently, ambien. Also, flomax.

I don't do anything these days. I love beer but I had to stop drinking. Substance abuse runs in the family, as does mental health issues. While I didn't drink heavy, a beer every 3 days or so, it just wrecked my mood and mental state, so I stopped.

Tried weed a few times, just made me bored.

I'd love to do MDMA with the right people or even LSD. But finding clean pure drugs is impossible. Being a diabetic I'm not willing to take that added risk.

Interesting stuff, guys/gals. Kind of confirmed my suspicions that some people don't get blasted all the time.

I was a pretty hard drinker from adolescence through last year. Never physically dependent, but pretty over the top. More than anything I've just been noticing diminishing returns. It's gotten boring and the hangovers are fucking ridiculous. I think I'm finally ready to pump the brakes.

It's kind of sad and exciting. Reminds me of putting my toys away for good when I was a kid.

Didn't help that my social life and so many things seemed to revolve around drinking. I also romanticized it, like a moron. I'm not the most sociable cat in the world and having ZERO inhibitions an amazing feeling, but really reckless.

It did seem to help the creative process when I was working on projects, but it's also a colossal time waster. Balancing the ledger, I don't think it comes out it alcohol's favor.

RIP waking up with my clothes on. 2004-2016

I am a complete teetotaler, don't really care that other folks do drugs and drink (although frankly i don't enjoy being around drunks). honestly the only reason I don't touch it is because I have never thought I was that good of a person and really don't care to lower my inhibitions enough to find out what kind of shitheel I really can be. Might feel differently if I thought I was a better person...hard to say, not willing to find out though.

I started drinking when I was 13, so I might be ahead of you (and a lot of people; I'm 34 now) and quit drinking when I had a Urinary Tract Infection. That was the beginning the end for my old liver, or it should've been..I was still drinking about 16 beers (16oz Tallboys) and going "out" (last call at bars after work mostly for 2 or 3.) I had considered quitting before, but instead just "cut back" for a week or two, etc.

But this was literally "You will die if you continue to drink." So I just quit. Cold turkey. I was really worried about the DT's; as I'm the kind of guy who would start to panic if I only had 4 beers for the next day, and what I've heard about it being worse than heroin withdrawls, etc.. but surprisingly I had zero DTs! The only thing I can attribute that to (unless I just got lucky) was Oxycontin that I was prescribed for the pain.. if you can get some painkillers I'd HIGHLY recommend it.

And when you're on the right meds, end-stage liver disetase is very controllable; besides not driniking everything's the same. I did had a lapse where I fucked up, got fucked up and went to jail for 4 months this summer for Ketamine and molly. Obviously you can't drink in jail (ok it's not that difficult to obtain but if you're passive and a non-alcoholic like I was becoming, the sobriety (and 3 sq. meals a day) really helped. Without the booze I lost about 40 pounds.. this is bad because I was 165 before, and just about to break 130.. but hey food tastes better and I've gotta eat a lot of it.

Anyway at the time I didn't WANT to quit drinking, and do I still miss a good greyhound, but I still go to the bars I used to, play pinball, just order Tonic Water.. but in my case my liver is ACTUALLY healing (they used to think chirrosis was irreversible but more studies say it is) and I'll live a full life into my AARP years unless I get eaten by a Dragon or something..

I smoke a lot of pot and do LSD and K on a special occasion, but after about a week or so out of the bars I wondered why I was doing it for so long in the first place.