Wow, I've been watching this thread for a couple of days and I cannot beleive how sheltered and out of touch some of our future physicians are. We need to take a step back and look at this empirically.
A segment of any population does drugs. This will include future physicians, some of whom will eventually develope a dependancy and even an issue with their drug use, some of whom will not. Furthermore, these future doctors will be in a position to grant access to drugs, many of which are chemically similar or the same to the drugs we are discussing in this forum. We must remember this. As physicians we must have compassion for people, but we cannot Big Brother their choices. Who ever made the statement about turning in the pot smoking student hosts is, in fact, an "asshat", as our friend said. I'd like to turn in alot of people who I see drinking. I also want to pull into the take-out lane at McDonalds and scream at them that they are moving towards obesity, cardiovascular disease, and an increased incidence of Type-II diabetes. This is not my place to do so, nor should anyone consider it theirs concerning drugs. The only exception to this is if they feel the ability to participate in their own lives is compromised. Some people can both smoke pot and eat McDonalds, and some can't. As physicians, we need to be able to make compassionate decisions concerning this, not moralistic decisions.
The law of the land determines which drugs are legal, and which are not. In Muslim society, alcohol is forbidden but the use of THC-containing hashish is common and accepted. In the Netherlands, they seem to have a lower incidence of drug abuse (and for that matter, STD's), despite having legalized both pot and prostitution. This shows that we must not be too America-centric. There are many views on this issue, and as ussual, we are being a bunch of redneck USA'ers.
I've smoked a ton of pot and I don't like it, I don't like where it takes me. I've also tried coke once. But I'm aware enough of myself to know why I don't smoke pot or do coke anymore, and I don't feel this calls my ability or judgement into question. I consider alcohol to be a far greater evil in our society, but that is neither here nor there. I'd rather have a physician who is the way they are because they have really looked inside of themselves and understand their motivations, and even their prejudices, not someone who has been closed off their entire life. I'm not saying try drugs, but know why you don;t, rather than because Nancy Reagan told you to just say know as a kid.
Long post, sorry. I tend to get myself going and can't stop.
