Don’t do drugs.
It is the only way to avoid an addiction.
I think the moral of this story is,... Humans self medicate and they always have. Good luck with future drug wars.
Since knee replacement surgery, I’ve gone on and off and on again with pain med’s. My other knee is the problem now, with which I used to favor what is now my good knee. On average, I’m taking much less than the prescribed amount. It’s a synthetic opiate I’m using for moderate osteoarthritis. The maximum recommended daily amount is 2.7x more than what I use.
The surgery I had was almost 4 years ago. I don’t need these med’s every day or even every three or four days and through all of this, my alcohol intake has dropped 20-fold. I have NEVER mixed alcohol with any pain medication.
I’ll admit to experiencing mild withdrawal symptoms following my physical rehab but that is typical of patients who’ve undergone complete arthroplasty as I had. I live alone and don’t need anyone to keep an eye on my use of these pain med’s because I’m not struggling to avoid addiction. I don’t lie to my PCP because I don’t have to.
No, it is not a foregone conclusion that if you use “drugs”, you WILL become addicted. In my case, the worst of the side-effects is occasional constipation and I can mitigate it with a mild laxative and/or dietary choices. My weight fluctuates by +/- 3 to 4 pounds and that’s not too bad for somebody like me (pushing 70 now).
Because of the stigma associated with pain med’s like this, I feel I have to keep it all under my hat so that people don’t take it upon themselves to assume too much.
Felt like I was being lied to about 1 drug (that I did stop using anyways - felt pressured by peers and chronic fatigue)
So I asked GROK:
No — there are no known ancient civilizations that went out of existence due to marijuana (cannabis) use alone.
Quick Context
Cannabis has been used by humans for thousands of years (evidence from China ~8,000+ years ago, India, Middle East, Africa, etc.).
It was typically used for fiber (hemp), medicine, rituals, or mild recreation.
No historical record shows any society collapsing primarily because of marijuana.
Why This Is Unlikely
Marijuana is not physically addictive like opioids or alcohol, and it doesn’t cause the kind of societal breakdown (violence, economic collapse, mass health crises) associated with harder substances.
Ancient civilizations that declined or fell did so due to combinations of: War / invasion
Environmental changes (drought, soil exhaustion)
Economic collapse
Disease / plague
Internal political corruption
Bottom line: No civilization has ever collapsed “due to marijuana only.” Claims like that are usually modern myths or exaggerations.
Or, OOORRRR, grow a spine.