Recently, I was offered the distasteful opportunity to participate in a druggie gathering of sorts. Now I know plenty of people that smoke marijuana, but the stuff these people were talking about was really out there.

Needless to say I was disinclined to oblige these random folks, but they told me I would be kept in their hearts and they would think of me later that day. A little bit more than kind of creepy right?

Now, why anyone would actually partake in the use of powerful drugs is totally beneath me, meaning I cannot comprehend such absentmindedness. The really heavy stuff that corrupts the very being of an individual and renders them slaves to an outside influence is a part of society that needs to be avoided wherever possible. Anything that puts a man on his knees should be regarded with disdain; free will is the absolute highest necessity for a happy life.

Moreover, the very institution of drug use has become so embedded in our society that we tend to ignore the evils it perpetuates. Sadly some children are raised from the moment they are born to live in a world where this kind of faux remedy is employed by their parents to fix and explain away all of life’s problems.

Unfortunately, because children are raised in this tradition of partaking in a life of miserable disillusionment, they scarcely will ever see the truth of a better world that exists out there without being constantly inebriated.

Users seemingly believe they have found the one truth in their inebriated states and follow that course without much doubt or awareness for reality. Furthermore, they always flock together, herded perhaps by some head shepherd that is apparently even more consistently intoxicated than the rest. This man is even more invested into the drug system and tells everyone else how to find salvation in the sweet release of responsibility and the separation from reality.

The most frustrating thing about drug users is their personal apathy. It seems to be a consistent quality among the deluded that as soon as they have accepted the drug into their regular life style they are somehow absolved of all pain and worry. The problem here is not only that these people are now complacent with whatever cards they draw from the deck of life so long as they search for the Ace, they believe that they can go around doing whatever because they will always have the high of the drug to come back to.

Perhaps more distasteful than any of the other qualities that druggies have is their insistence on waging Drug Wars against one another; not content with the people who come to the drugs out of their own twisted need, these wars seek to spread the use of one drug or another to an even larger and unreceptive market. Killing in the name of drugs is an everyday occurrence, and yet it doesn’t even seem to bother most people, as long as the ones who are dying are users of a different drug.

Undoubtedly drugs can do some pretty seemingly miraculous things to the uneducated, rendering someone hopped out in an LSD type of state, letting them slay a Goliath of a problem. But the effect is a placebo, the result of the mind supplying itself with what it wants to see and do. After all, most drugs are extremely bad for people, even pharmaceuticals in large doses. Thus a small amount is best if one is absolutely convinced they need it, but realize the supposed benefits are only a false manifestation of the mind to justify the expense of partaking in a cerebrally paralyzing activity.

They are some positive aspects to these people in the world though. They take care of each other; so long as you are with them they treat you as family. They are always seeking to bring more people into their family, and are pretty receptive if you just want to try the high once. There is nothing inherently wrong with drug users, so long as they do so in small doses, and realize they are still a person with free will if they want to be.

Thus, through personal will they can slip the surly bonds of Earth, and stretch forth their hand to touch the face of…

Richard Stecker is a senior international studies and history double major, and is happy to write witty whimsical words of wisdom for all. Questions and comments can be sent to letters@collegian.com