I know it might not be a comfortable topic with some of you, though there are many instances where I wonder how drugs, medicinal or otherwise, would be perceived in a world that lacks the ability to police itself. Naturally, the means of producing drugs will be significantly more difficult than before. But the market will not disappear.
Sound off, what do you all think? I am not asking whether or not you currently use, or if you would. You can go ahead and insert personal opinion, but let's try and keep this apolitical.
As many others have said above me, and especially in California and Western Mexico, Hemp, Marijuana, and Hashish will be very popular drugs because their growing conditions will be light and availability will be high compared to other, harder drugs. That's not to say Opium or Heroin will be gone, considering you can grow that as well. (If you didn't know, Opiates are usually derived from the poppy plant and made into drugs like Heroin and Opium.[Injectable/smokable, and inhalable.]) I know what the production of the typical street drugs require and I know there will still be people trying to sell them. To my knowledge, without being able to import red phosphorous or the chemical they put in cold medicine, it will be VERY difficult to make. But for the first few decades, while shopping malls and walmarts are still standing, it'd be quite easy to produce small quantities.
I feel there would be an obvious NEED for alcohol, as it can and is used as a disinfectant, so people will be making a lot of it. Luckily that is something you can make quite easily with very minimal ingredients. (Just fruit and water.) I've never actually tried my hand at micro brewing, since I don't really like beer or spirits, but I do try to understand everything I can whilst I still have the internet to help me.
I don't know if any of you realize, but tobacco is a drug too. It's just a legal drug. I feel tobacco will be an enormous commodity if you have the know-how to grow and dry it. All along the southern tip of America and the northern tip of mexico will have acres and acres of Tobacco fields that produce a percentage of our tobacco, and I'll bet you anything they will still be there when the bombs drop. I do not personally have the knowledge to dry (or even grow) tobacco that most people smoke, but I am, currently growing Indian tobacco and coyote tobacco in my garden to see if there's a similarity. Both of the plants have Nicotine in them, I'm just seeing if they can be substituted as a Cigarette replacement plant. (So I can trade it with people, or use it to wean others off the drug.)
There's no greater feeling in the world than to watch as your creations grow and become mature. Anything from art, to vegetables, to children, it's the greatest feeling in the world to just stand back and have confidence when you say; "I made that."
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 255 Karma: 4
Re: Use and abuse in the wasteland « Reply #16 on Jun 11, 2012, 4:38am »
That's one positive aspect of the apocalypse. Hemp will make a huge comeback as a leading material for clothing, paper, industrial and building resource, food, medicine, and so many other things.
That's one positive aspect of the apocalypse. Hemp will make a huge comeback as a leading material for clothing, paper, industrial and building resource, food, medicine, and so many other things.
Well, I don't really know anyone who'll sacrifice time and energy to grow hemp in a PA scenario, unless it's been a long time and they're stable... But I could see myself investing in tutoring sessions on how to grow it.
There's no greater feeling in the world than to watch as your creations grow and become mature. Anything from art, to vegetables, to children, it's the greatest feeling in the world to just stand back and have confidence when you say; "I made that."
Re: Use and abuse in the wasteland « Reply #18 on Jun 12, 2012, 3:27pm »
You can look at poor communities all around the world to get an idea of the horrible DIY drugs that would emerge in a PA situation and it isn't pretty, we'd be very lucky if weed was the drug of choice - drugs like wunga, krokodil and jenkem and who knows what else would be likely to become increasingly popular. I mean, why spend time tending crops when you can use faeces? A lot of drugs people in the West take are quite up-market when you consider what other cultures use but I think standards would slip once TSHTF.
Also, some of these drugs are nothing short of a way of killing yourself slowly when you are in a horrible situation with no way of escape. Just do an image search for 'krokodil drug' with the safe search off if you want to lose your dinner. People will smoke, snort or inject ANYTHING whether it gives them a good experience or not, just because they won't feel like that can do anything else.
Joined: May 2012 Gender: Female Posts: 93 Location: California, USA Karma: 5
Re: Use and abuse in the wasteland « Reply #19 on Jun 12, 2012, 7:22pm »
I'm pretty sure there will be easier access to refined drugs in America than anywhere else save for maybe the golden triangle and north Africa. When I served with the peace corps in Namibia and South Africa, I got to see some pretty gnarly shit. A lot of people showed me different ways I could become addicted to certain, easily obtainable drugs that cost (compared to the designer drugs here) almost nothing. Most of them had little effect other than making me cough like crazy, but the others that I saw smoking/snorting/eating the drugs on a daily basis were pretty drug-out and a few were even schizophrenic. It's not just the modern times that these were used, throughout most of human history there has always been some drug readily available and abused for human amusement. I have to disagree with Pupnik though, I think there are other reasons people use drugs; a man came into the med tent one day with a major bone break, it didn't break the skin but the bone had pretty much shattered inside his leg, the doctor was able to save the mans life, but he was using a local drug to numb the pain and he would've probably died without it. I think drugs are given a darker spin than they merit, but that's just me.
There's no greater feeling in the world than to watch as your creations grow and become mature. Anything from art, to vegetables, to children, it's the greatest feeling in the world to just stand back and have confidence when you say; "I made that."
Joined: Sept 2011 Gender: Male Posts: 255 Karma: 4
Re: Use and abuse in the wasteland « Reply #20 on Jun 13, 2012, 12:31am »
There is no drug that doesn't have a positive use. It's rarely the abuse that actually leads to the outlawing, too. In fact, one of the few reasons the drug war is still perpetrated is because of pharmaceutical monies that keep politicians voting in favor of restriction. Most of them understand fully that with deregulation so many people would drop their health insurance, quit taking expensive synthetics, and probably live generally higher quality lives. It is the exact opposite that has created a culture of destruction as Pupnik has alluded to. I tend to agree more with QuietGrave's argument, however. I made a few port calls in rather dangerous cities in South America and witnessed the use of local drugs as a means of clinging to life rather than solely to 'get high'. As a matter of fact, the peoples of the Andes have chewed Coca leaves for generations as a way to keep their airways open and minds alert in high altitude. No evil intent there, although some would definitely disagree.
There is no drug that doesn't have a positive use. It's rarely the abuse that actually leads to the outlawing, too. In fact, one of the few reasons the drug war is still perpetrated is because of pharmaceutical monies that keep politicians voting in favor of restriction. Most of them understand fully that with deregulation so many people would drop their health insurance, quit taking expensive synthetics, and probably live generally higher quality lives. It is the exact opposite that has created a culture of destruction as Pupnik has alluded to. I tend to agree more with QuietGrave's argument, however. I made a few port calls in rather dangerous cities in South America and witnessed the use of local drugs as a means of clinging to life rather than solely to 'get high'. As a matter of fact, the peoples of the Andes have chewed Coca leaves for generations as a way to keep their airways open and minds alert in high altitude. No evil intent there, although some would definitely disagree.
In almost every tribal area of the central Americas, from north Mexico to South Bolivia, there are plants indigenous to the area that provide some kind of natural high, or alter your personal state of awareness by simply chewing on the fruit. That's how tobacco works, it's just a very mild high compared to some harder stuff. I worked in Nicaragua for a while back in 2006, there was this weird, nutty plant (who's name escapes me) that gave you a high similar to a very harsh acid trip when you simply kept the bulb in your mouth. Aside from the pounding headache it gave me the next morning, the locals all used it in small doses to keep infected teeth from causing them to pass out due to the pain.
Now I could go on and on about my time in the Peace Corps, but bottom line, I agree with most of the people in here when I say drugs will always be present in human existence, but they may not always be a hindrance. Go ahead, break a leg or an arm, or even just fracture something, you'll take that Vicodin with no problem, but the second someone picks up a 16th of an ounce of opium, you all start calling the DEA. Not that that's ever happened to me...
There's no greater feeling in the world than to watch as your creations grow and become mature. Anything from art, to vegetables, to children, it's the greatest feeling in the world to just stand back and have confidence when you say; "I made that."
Re: Use and abuse in the wasteland « Reply #22 on Jun 13, 2012, 12:57pm »
Well I was specifically talking about recreational drug abuse, I think it goes without saying that medical use is entirely different and I assumed that went without saying.
Joined: Jul 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 393 Location: London Karma: 18
Re: Use and abuse in the wasteland « Reply #23 on Jun 13, 2012, 4:39pm »
Whilst you lot are fighting to take control of the drug markets, illicit or otherwise, I will be setting myself up as the 'soft toilet roll' Kingpin. Thats where the real demand is going to be because lets be honest here, none of us really want to use leaves and stuff for to long.
Whilst you lot are fighting to take control of the drug markets, illicit or otherwise, I will be setting myself up as the 'soft toilet roll' Kingpin. Thats where the real demand is going to be because lets be honest here, none of us really want to use leaves and stuff for to long.
What about wash cloths? I'm pretty sure tissue paper is a relatively new invention... I was without it for a long time, in Africa. And I'm a woman.
There's no greater feeling in the world than to watch as your creations grow and become mature. Anything from art, to vegetables, to children, it's the greatest feeling in the world to just stand back and have confidence when you say; "I made that."
I definitely agree that pot and booze will be huge, but I think any antibiotics will be the most coveted drugs. the world will be far less sanitary and even small injuries can lead to life threatening infection without the proper care, not to mention the respiratory infections everyone will get from the air quality after everything melts down.
I think booze will reign supreme.
In addition to being used recreational it can be used as fuel, to sterilize instruments and wounds, and to deaden the pain before surgery.
If I have to have my leg cut off at the knee because I have gang-green, I think getting totally wasted on booze is going to be better than totally high on pot.
as far as value...pot is pretty easy to grow (as long as you don't have to hide it from law enforcement) Seeds beget more seeds. A still, on the other hand, that requires effort. Actually a bigger factor for pot probably is justifying the use of land and labor to cultivate it vs growing food-crops. Pot may well be more valuable being used to make rope and cloth than for smoking.
Re: Use and abuse in the wasteland « Reply #26 on Mar 15, 2013, 5:33pm »
Booze will be the biggest need but the smart leaders in groups will prohibit drinking booze to save it for medical needs unless they have a huge supply in that case the group can trade booze for other things like food and water.
Pot will be the second most wanted for the pleasure and medical uses Less face it after o I don't know I month or so depending on your location Meds will be gone in stockpiles or used up. So pot will be used (at the start of TSHTF) will be used for getting high mainly but once they get killed off the survivors will use it for medical uses
Other drugs like crack meth and Meds will be high in value but rare and may eventually be non existent
I know there are other drugs that are easily gotten but this is just a basic outline of what I think
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