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[G-Flex]

"Being unhappy sometimes" and clinical depression are very different things.

[Hanslanda]

"Being unhappy sometimes" and clinical depression are very different things.

Indeed. But for a doctor, it's easier to say, "Here, have some pills!" Than actually tell someone they're not clinically depressed apparently.

[Frumple]

Poor doctor. Not just "a doctor." Specifically a shitty one

Or a bought one, I guess, but it equates to the same thing. Pharmaceuticals have their place, but that place is specific and not all encompassing. A bit of therapy can often do more for a person than any drug regimen, for a lot of mental issues. E: To be more specific, if you're showing signs of depression and the doc's first recommendation is drug treatment, they've done fucked up and you need to find someone actually competent, because that person isn't.

S'a lot of pressure on a lot of doctors to shove drugs down everyone's throat, though. Big pharma's th'best and biggest drug dealers in the states, really. When a lot of people literally can't afford to get proper (time consuming) treatment because they'd lose their job for it, quick fix carries a lot of weight...

[scriver]

And that is why the health business should be run by the state. Death Boards for everyone!

[Hanslanda]

And that is why the health business should be run by the state. Death Boards for everyone!

YESSSSS! "We've found that you are ineligible for medical treatment."
'But... But my intestines are literally hanging out right now.'
"Eh, you'll be fine. Here's some duct tape and super glue. Good luck."

[kaijyuu]

If your intestines are literally hanging out, I'm not sure they could save you. So yeah, ineligible.

[Hanslanda]

I guess he couldn't...
 
Pull himself together.


Anyways, I wouldn't mind gov't health care, because I don't really go to the doctor anymore. I should, but I've lived with a broken hand now for over a year. Any other medical problems I may have are hidden or nonexistent, and I'm not particularly scared of dying. I feel bad that people will be upset I died, but that's really all the feeling I have about it.

[lemon10]

@ iamroy: http://www.cracked.com/article_18708_5-reasons-immortality-would-be-worse-than-death_p2.html 
I find these to be some pretty compelling reasons.

Spoiler: Immortality (click to show/hide)

The types of immortality discussed in that article don't really effect transhumanism, or even more mundane people living thousands of years through technology, they only effect people who have been made immortal through magic basically, and badly at that (#3 and #2 wouldn't matter unless it your immortality was done terribly).
#5 Wouldn't matter since you could probably change your body through surgery or brain transplants or something similar (once you live for 10 thousand years and technology gets good enough to do it).
#4 Wouldn't matter since everyone else would be able to be immortal too.
#3 Wouldn't matter since I think that the author doesn't understand how memory works (admittedly, I don't either, but I do know it doesn't work like that).
#2 Same as #3, yes things would matter less, but if you were physically and mentally the same, you wouldn't really have a very distorted view of time (yes, 50 years might matter as much as a week to me, but I don't think it would).
#1 Relies on your being perfectly immortal and never dying, which isn't how technology would work (it might happen if you are stuck in a simulation however).

Anywho, back on the topic of drugs for me.
I agree with any drugs that aren't physically very bad/addictive being legalized, since it will do a whole lot of good things (eg. make them have less bad side effects, stop giving money to illegal organizations), but I don't know about the ones that are super terrible for you and super addictive.

[G-Flex]

And that is why the health business should be run by the state. Death Boards for everyone!

You mean those things that don't exist? Right.

[Leafsnail]

I'm pretty sure there are health insurance companies who decide if you die on the basis of whether you can pay.

[Levi]

I've only really tried alcohol, weed and magic mushrooms.  Alchohol is great and I like it, weed never seems to do much to me and I mostly toke out of politeness. 

Mushrooms I've only done once when I was camping and I didn't really get any hallucinations, but I did notice my ability to focus on a task was completely shot.  I was going to watch Dr. Who on my tablet in my tent, but I couldn't figure out which actions I should take to complete that goal.  Find my flashlight?  Get my Tablet?  Drink some water?  Close my tent flap?  Took me like 5 mins to get myself focused enough to accomplish those few tasks.  Kind of an interesting experience.


Addiction should be treated as a healthcare issue, not a crime issue.  There is tons of evidence that this is a better route to take, and if you decriminalize a drug then drugdealers and organized crime can't make much money off of it.  For things like Heroin, there are lots of pretty functional people who are addicted to it and remain productive members of society.  Its when its too expensive and dangerous to get is when things start to go downhill. 

The only drug I know of that I'd rather see stay criminalized is Crystal Meth.  Its not only addictive but it destroys who you are and your brain.  And frankly its easy enough to make that I don't think drug dealers are getting very rich off of it.

[penguinofhonor]

Mushrooms I've only done once when I was camping and I didn't really get any hallucinations, but I did notice my ability to focus on a task was completely shot.  I was going to watch Dr. Who on my tablet in my tent, but I couldn't figure out which actions I should take to complete that goal.  Find my flashlight?  Get my Tablet?  Drink some water?  Close my tent flap?  Took me like 5 mins to get myself focused enough to accomplish those few tasks.  Kind of an interesting experience.

Huh. I definitely hallucinated a bit. Not visually, but I felt like there was a needle in my left arm for a while. I guess that's a tactile hallucination? It still wasn't anything like a pop culture trip.

The biggest effect I noticed when I did them is that I sorta blacked out for like three hours. I don't remember anything that happened around me but I remember everything I was thinking the entire time. It wasn't like an alcohol black out where you just don't remember anything.

Also whenever mushrooms are mentioned I like to bring up this study. I doubt anyone needs to be convinced that some illegal drugs have positive health effects, but I don't think this gets mentioned as often as things like medical marijuana do.

[G-Flex]

The only drug I know of that I'd rather see stay criminalized is Crystal Meth.  Its not only addictive but it destroys who you are and your brain.  And frankly its easy enough to make that I don't think drug dealers are getting very rich off of it.

There are other drugs that are also pretty damn addictive and/or destructive with very little legitimate benefit: See heroin and PCP, for example.

[scriver]

And that is why the health business should be run by the state. Death Boards for everyone!

You mean those things that don't exist? Right.

Hey G-Flex, remember me? The Swedish hardcore socialist?

[Eagle_eye]

Why does being swedish make you more socialist? If anything, you would think that having some socialist policies would make people less extreme, not more.