Alcohol

I think the biggest drug of all is sugar

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/25/is-sugar-really-as-addictive-as-cocaine-scientists-row-over-effect-on-body-and-brain

I think part of the discussion, should be about how we define drugs or say that something is harmful or bad. We accept a lot of things as so society and we accept the consequences. In many cases, the addition is so powerful that it is better to legalize the substance because people are going to get it anyway and making it illegal creates a black market and other criminal behavior that fills prisons and leads to abandoned children and many other issues.

Alcohol is widely accepted now. And the biggest thing it seems is that you shouldn't drink and drive. Providing people with a drug and setting the boundaries in which they can use it, doesn't make it safe... but it does make it safer. A bartender can take your key, pace your drinks, or keep offering you water.

But when it comes to sugar...

sugar though...

You could fill your entire shopping cart with endless amounts of sugar, enough to kill you 10 times over, and easily walk out. We don't think of sugar content like we do alcohol content. We give sugar to kids knowing they might get a "sugar high". And many people are suffering from Diabetes which is a direct effect of sugar in the blood. America is 17th on the global BMI scale but I wonder what it would be if it wasn't for California and its more health conscious culture?

And unlike alcohol our bodies basically store excess sugar as fat just in case. And people often eat (sugar) for the same reasons they drink alcohol but its a whole lot cheaper. So as much as I hate to play whataboutism we have to think of drugs in different terms. What makes something a drug?

ZealotX wrote: What makes something a drug?

It's non-nutritious and alters the organism's current functionality. Generally, they're also incredibly potent and aren't created by the body itself.

Sugar isn't a drug, it can be addictive but really anything can.

Rex wrote:

ZealotX wrote: What makes something a drug?

It's non-nutritious and alters the organism's current functionality. Generally, they're also incredibly potent and aren't created by the body itself.

Sugar isn't a drug, it can be addictive but really anything can.

it wouldn't be easy but it is possible to overdose on sugar. also it has very potent cumulative effects. Does that count? Also, the white refined sugar is what I'm talking about and it is not like the natural sugar in fruit or the glucose created by the body. Sugar can produce effects like speed or what about drugs that make people feel good?

Beyond immediate gratification, very few health effects of sugar are positive. Eating too much sugar can affect the brain and body, including increased risk for cavities, weight gain, cognitive decline, and increased risk for a disease.

https://maxliving.com/healthy-articles/how-sugar-affects-your-immune-system

couldn't this possibly qualify?

No, you can literally OD on anything eventually.
It's not healthy for you, but neither is cardboard and no one thinks cardboard is a drug

I'm not defending sugar. I cut soda and a lot of junk food out of my diet. It's just that sugar is ultimately made of a basic carbohydrate: a nutritional building block for energy.

Rex wrote:

ZealotX wrote: What makes something a drug?

It's non-nutritious and alters the organism's current functionality. Generally, they're also incredibly potent and aren't created by the body itself..

What if it's nutritious for the mind

Not all sugars are the same obviously. Refined sugar seems more potent then raw in regards to its impact in the body.

Better to think of things by their function in the body firstly, other then the impact on the senses IMO. The poor liver has a hard life constantly repairing itself, so regular alcohol consumption seems a bit unfair to it from this perspective.

The way drug is defined seems to vary a bit by different uses of it, locally where I live it refers more to illegal recreational substances, and so the association to drug is often made to legal substances to reinforce the dangers of them. Versus 'medicine' or supplements depending on how specific it's targeting is on action seemingly.