drug use in medical school

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ssj27krillin

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i'm a premed student and i'm curious how common recreational drug/prescription drug abuse is among medical students or residents.

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Rule #1 of the trade:

Never get high on your own supply...
 
Rule #1 of the trade:

Never get high on your own supply...

:laugh:

Hoping this doesn't get locked because it isn't about rainbows and butterflies, but I don't imagine that drug use among MDs-to-be is all that uncommon, much less practicing docs that put reason behind the popularly-floated fact about how physicians are so likely to take drugs themselves.

$.02 based on stories told to me / personal observation / things read here. Obviously, I'm not quite a med student yet.
 
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I know of one stoner in my class. I'm sure there are more.
 
I know of one stoner in my class. I'm sure there are more.
This is just sad, this guy is supposed to be a role model for society, and hes gonna have ppls lifes in his hands, just sad
 
This is just sad, this guy is supposed to be a role model for society, and hes gonna have ppls lifes in his hands, just sad

yeah and when half of our class is black out drunk in public that reflects poorly on our 'role model' status in society.

get over yourself.
 
Clearly you can't be a good doctor or a role model if you have ever smoked pot. Pot makes you evil...
 
Moving to Pre-Allo. Allopathic medical students can follow and reply there if desired.
 
Hehe. This thread reminds me of a great tv show...anyone watch Weeds?? :D :thumbup:
 
1) Don't make it public info.
2) Don't use it before a case.
3) No-no right while on call (unless you want to be sued for malpractice).
4) Don't use to solve your problems.

And most people might question your morals/ethics and call you a hypocrite, but that's your call.
 
There is nothing wrong with smoking a lil pot. I usually light up throughout my studies to just chill and often prepare a victory doobster to toast up after hard exams. I plan to do continue these smoking rituals during med school and in practice. God made weed for a reason, and that reason is for you to get high as f*ck! :cool:
 
There is nothing wrong with smoking a lil pot. I usually light up throughout my studies to just chill and often prepare a victory doobster to toast up after hard exams. I plan to do continue these smoking rituals during med school and in practice. God made weed for a reason, and that reason is for you to get high as f*ck! :cool:

But would you use it when your in your clinical years and after is the real question. No one cares if you smoke it during pre-clinical years. You're not hurting anyone and that's the key.
 
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i see nothing wrong for using a little pot during the pre-clinical years.
as for clinical, doctor's drink don't they? so, i don't really see too much of a problem getting high ONCE IN A WHILE while you're practicing, never anytime even close to work, though.
 
Use in Med school seems to be about as common as use amoung premeds in college. Since that's a pretty nerdish subsection of college, I would say that unless you're looking for it you're not going to run into it.
 
i see nothing wrong for using a little pot during the pre-clinical years.
as for clinical, doctor's drink don't they? so, i don't really see too much of a problem getting high ONCE IN A WHILE while you're practicing, never anytime even close to work, though.

The key difference between illegal drug use and drinking is that if you get caught drinking you generally aren't going to have a problem getting licensed. It's a pretty foolish way to tank your career for a once in a while high.
 
true, im sure there are m.d.'s who toke it up, though. not that i'll be one of them.
 
I don't like these threads. The tokers get pissed at the non tokers and the non tokers get pissed at those who smoke. Then alcohol factors into the play and all hell breaks loose. You can legally imbibe in alcohol whereas you can't marijuana. Follow the law, its the easiest route. And yes, I admit, young people break the law all the time by drinking, but we're talking about medical school here. Whenever someone has a position of power over someone illicit drugs should be the furthest thought at that time. It doesn't matter if its your pre-clin or clinical years, you're jeopardizing your licensure at the very least.
 
One MD I used to play rugby with gave me and my buddy some grade A pot. Apparantly he grew the stuff. Obviously a private practice type.
 
The key difference between illegal drug use and drinking is that if you get caught drinking you generally aren't going to have a problem getting licensed. It's a pretty foolish way to tank your career for a once in a while high.
True true true. Of course, it's rather ridiculous that alcohol is legal but marijuana is not.
 
I don't like these threads. The tokers get pissed at the non tokers and the non tokers get pissed at those who smoke. Then alcohol factors into the play and all hell breaks loose.

hahaha...i read that and laughed to myself...my room mate thinks i'm nuts.
 
I don't like these threads. The tokers get pissed at the non tokers and the non tokers get pissed at those who smoke. Then alcohol factors into the play and all hell breaks loose. You can legally imbibe in alcohol whereas you can't marijuana. Follow the law, its the easiest route. And yes, I admit, young people break the law all the time by drinking, but we're talking about medical school here. Whenever someone has a position of power over someone illicit drugs should be the furthest thought at that time. It doesn't matter if its your pre-clin or clinical years, you're jeopardizing your licensure at the very least.

because of course everyone here followed the law with alcohol before turning 21 :rolleyes:

/find pot smokers annoying
//but had to call out a bad argument when I see it.
 
for medicinal purposes. relaxing after a long day isn't a medicinal purpose.

In theory. In reality, this is not the case. A lot of my California friends certainly don't need it for medical purposes and would not hesitate to tell you that, but somehow have the "215" card protecting their usage nonetheless. It depends where in cali you are, Humboldt County essentially hands them out. San Bernardino County gives out virtually none.

By the way, I have never tried weed.
 
lobby for it, Cheech
lol, i see what u did there



sorry, I've never smoked, but it's completely arbitrary that alcohol is illegal and marijuana is not, when I could easily make a case for alcohol being a lot more harmful than marijuana.
 
I blame Reagan for the war on drugs.
 
lobby for it, Cheech

Agreed. The law doesn't have to make sense -- if it is the law, you have to abide by it or accept the consequences. And if you are a professional who has to get through background checks to get licensed, and be empowered by the DEA to prescribe meds, you are going to need to have as clean a record as possible. So yes, that means you can be stinking drunk every weekend and have an unobstructed career path, but get nailed for MJ once and you potentially might not. So you need to decide if a high is worth the risk of not practicing medicine. If you don't think that law is fair, all you really can do is campaign to change the law. If you break it you are accepting the consequences.
 
lol, i see what u did there



sorry, I've never smoked, but it's completely arbitrary that alcohol is illegal and marijuana is not, when I could easily make a case for alcohol being a lot more harmful than marijuana.

Yeah, pretty unreasoned stereotyping there. Lots of non-smokers think marijuana should be legal. I don't have a rosy, happy picture of marijuana and even have an inlaw who's pretty clearly addicted, but I've never seen anything indicating it's any worse than booze.

As mentioned above, though, getting caught when you want to be a doctor can be a big career problem. Personally I don't think the risk is big enough, and it's really unwise to be the obvious smoker at a school. I know it seems like such a non-issue in undergrad, so it's hard to imagine getting caught could have serious consequences, but it can.
 
Agreed. The law doesn't have to make sense -- if it is the law, you have to abide by it or accept the consequences. And if you are a professional who has to get through background checks to get licensed, and be empowered by the DEA to prescribe meds, you are going to need to have as clean a record as possible. So yes, that means you can be stinking drunk every weekend and have an unobstructed career path, but get nailed for MJ once and you potentially might not. So you need to decide if a high is worth the risk of not practicing medicine. If you don't think that law is fair, all you really can do is campaign to change the law. If you break it you are accepting the consequences.

mods should just sticky this post and ban everyone that brings up the discussion again
 
Personally I don't think the risk is big enough, and it's really unwise to be the obvious smoker at a school. I know it seems like such a non-issue in undergrad, so it's hard to imagine getting caught could have serious consequences, but it can.
Dang, guess I'd better tell a friend or two to take off the big NORML stickers...
 
Agreed. The law doesn't have to make sense -- if it is the law, you have to abide by it or accept the consequences. [...]

I'm shocked, who would of thought that SDN would comprise of so many yes-men? :p Just because something is "illegal" doesn't make its use immoral or unethical. Maybe the law is unethical? Who are we protecting, and from what? Why is everyone trying to keep the potman down? I'd hate to hang around you guys in the roaring-twenties ;)

I know this much is true: if everyone in this country were entitled their right to a joint, we'd live in a happier society than the one we live in today. No? Surely you cannot argue that society is just moving along swimmingly with its current laws against pot, can you? Just look at Michigan's economy for crying out loud, they almost shutdown state services the other day because they couldn't agree on what else to tax and their budget-spending has spun out of control.

Ding! ding! ding! Hello, hahvad grads in East Lansing and elsewhere, if you legalized pot and taxed the hell out of it, and stopped overcrowding jails involving petty drug crimes, you'd be able to take the revenue to support the plethora of social programs that the state can't afford. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have my taxes go toward an educational program over helping to flip the bill for some bunco rehabilitation program that charges 60$ a day over an eight month period to "rehabilitate" a dirt-poor adult from his "addiction" to marijuana. :rolleyes:

If you want to continue to believe the same fire and brimstone speech given to you as a child, that pot's the devil and anyone who uses it is a mindless, driveling idiot whose life is spiraling out of control, that's fine, I won't try to change your mind. Just know that pot isn't the bogeyman, and there's no tooth-fairy either.
 
I'm shocked, who would of thought that SDN would comprise of so many yes-men? :p Just because something is "illegal" doesn't make its use immoral or unethical.

You miss the point. It doesn't matter if it is immoral or unethical. Those issues are irrelevant. That it is illegal, right or wrong, means it can screw up your career. That is all that matters. No point worrying about right or wrong. Just about consequences.
 
You miss the point. It doesn't matter if it is immoral or unethical. Those issues are irrelevant. That it is illegal, right or wrong, means it can screw up your career. That is all that matters. No point worrying about right or wrong. Just about consequences.

I didn't miss the point, I made one. Granted, I quoted you to do it and my rant had little to do with your quoted text, but I quoted it as evidence that SDN comprises of do-good yes-men.
 
I didn't miss the point, I made one. Granted, I quoted you to do it and my rant had little to nothing to do with your text, but I quoted it as evidence that SDN comprises of do-good yes-men.

I think most on this board aren't do good yes men, and really don't have a moral issue here, but are simply cognizant of the legal repurcussions of our actions, and so don't do things that will land us in hot water. It doesn't really matter if the law makes sense or not, or if alcohol is a worse culprit etc -- one's options are always to follow the law or accept the consequences. If you aren't willing to jeaopardize your career over this, you simply shouldn't go down that road. Morals, do-gooding etc are irrelevant. You can disagree with a law and yet abide by it. Most people do, every time they stay within the speed limit.
 
I think most on this board aren't do good yes men, and really don't have a moral issue here, but are simply cognizant of the legal repurcussions of our actions, and so don't do things that will land us in hot water. It doesn't really matter if the law makes sense or not, or if alcohol is a worse culprit etc -- one's options are always to follow the law or accept the consequences. If you aren't willing to jeaopardize your career over this, you simply shouldn't go down that road. Morals, do-gooding etc are irrelevant. You can disagree with a law and yet abide by it. Most people do, every time they stay within the speed limit.
Trust the lawyer to make good legal sense.
 
I didn't miss the point, I made one. Granted, I quoted you to do it and my rant had little to do with your quoted text, but I quoted it as evidence that SDN comprises of do-good yes-men.

srsly?

I'll agree that theres a lot of uptight, loserish pre-meds on SDN, but don't attack a dude making a good point.

You gotta look beyond the morality of the law and at the reality of it. You get caught, its your responsibility. Should stuff like weed, shrooms, acid, coke, etc. be illegal, i don't think so. They're all fun in moderation. But the way the system is set up, you're taking a big risk messing around w/ em. I'd love it to change just as much as you would, but its gonna be quite some time.

Save yourself the worry and accept it.
 
What about the good, clean wholesome fun of yesteryear? ;) I have no desire to smoke up, whether illegal or legal. Its my mindset. But simply putting yourself in the position of using illegal drugs is like shooting yourself in the foot. Make that shooting yourself in the chest, just because its a bit messier to get yourself a license or plead for one once usage is on your record.
 
Sooo back to the original topic....I would think med students should be more inclined to snorting little white lines (coke or speed), to give them energy when they are sleep deprived, etc. Weed just makes people lazy, and who needs that in medical school?!
 
snorting white line???? you're nuts with that....the come down is too great.:(
 
Seems like too many a people know about more than just marijuana and like to broadcast it. Call me Mr. Obvious but that doesn't seem like a good thing.

call me ms. obvious, but the op's question wasn't just about pot..
 
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