Neither of us support recreational drug use. I have never consumed alcohol or any recreational psychoactive drug and never will. My friend has consumed alcohol maybe twice in his life and does not think he will do so ever again.
We were exposed to the concept of alcohol as a child.
At around the ages of 6–8, my parents would offer many times for me to have a taste of an alcoholic drink such as beer, champagne or wine. I would reluctantly pour a tiny amount onto my tongue and not swallow. Every time, I considered it to taste terrible. Despite this, every time this happened, my parents reckoned to me that I would ‘acquire a taste’ when I got older.
My father also entertained the idea of me consuming non-alcoholic drinks styled in the manner of alcohol, due to the inability to consume alcohol. He offered me these non-alcoholic imitation drinks, and I liked the taste of them. I appropriated the idea of it being cool that I was drinking something close to an alcoholic drink, however I did not have significant desire to start drinking alcohol, and I did not believe that I would ‘acquire a taste’.
My friend recounted that, at similar ages, he ‘used to be on edge’ and ‘used to get anxiety’ when his father was drunk. He stated, ‘I thought alcohol was pointless … and didn’t know what it was all about. … I didn’t like it. It tasted like urine. I only cared about having a drink that tasted nice.’
I was not significantly exposed to other drugs until after around age 11 (other than tobacco, which I already resented due to second-hand smoke). I consequently never had a period of being able to support consumption of any of these other drugs.
I started to gain the knowledge of what alcohol does to a person at around the ages of 12–14, and I resented it by the time I was 14.
At age 14, in an answer to an online Q&A question, I stated, ‘I hate tobacco, and I hate people who do it.’ In response to another online Q&A question at the same age asking why people smoke, I stated, ‘Because they’re idiots? I don’t know.’
At around ages 15–16, a school peer who had befriended me repeatedly encouraged me to try cannabis over a period of at least a year. I never accepted.
At age 16, I derided alcohol on multiple occasions and wished it were ‘restricted’. At age 17, I stated, ‘There’s just no need to. It’s the same as another drink, except this one contains a poison.’ I later stated, ‘I hate the word “drunk”.’
At age 16, my friend stated, ‘[Someone my age] mentioned drinking vodka and said, “Someone get drunk with me. … I want my blood to turn to alcohol.” I feel sick now, the thought of staining, horrible, acidic liquor coursing through my veins, collecting in my heart, in my aorta.’
At age 17, my friend stated, ‘[In my classroom], there was a question of, ”Does anyone not drink alcohol?” Only this Muslim guy and I put our hands up.’
At age 18, I commented on Facebook, ‘I will never understand alcohol nor why people would drink a poison.’ I continued in messages to my friend, ‘I finally understand religion, but I still do not understand alcoholism, nor theism.‘
At age 18, my friend stated, ‘Another reason why I could never drink alcohol – there’s a massive list – this is another: it dumbs you down. I like to be alert at all times.’
At age 19, I stated:
‘Taste is absolutely and totally irrelevant when those other things are considered. I have seen people in YouTube comments reject alcohol with their backup being the taste, which I find ridiculous. That is, like, reason #100 on the list of reasons. I don’t care. It’s irrelevant to me.
How can one care when that’s the most trivial of things surrounding alcohol? It’s literally like saying poisons taste different, or poisons taste the same. Who the fuck cares? They’re poisons.’
At age 19, I stated:
‘I could never aid a single drunk person, whether it was a family member or girlfriend. It will never happen, as it will be passive condoning of the practice, acknowledgement, recognition. I refuse. I can’t believe I got into a pickle with [my girlfriend at the time] about that. Clearing it up today.’
My friend replied, ‘Gross. Disgusting. I’d never go near one. Unpredictable. Also, why would I aid anyone full stop? I only aid people I have respect for, which is a number in single digits.’
I replied, ‘By aid, I mean any form of help, whether it’s simply reassuring them, helping them to move, giving them affection if it’s a girlfriend, talking to them as if they’re normal, any, any sort of passive acceptance of their state. I sternly refuse. When I read up the origin of tobacco-smoking, it pissed me off about it even more.’
My friend replied, ‘Send her that document on alcohol.’ I replied, ‘I don’t need to. I sent her countless documents and excerpts on New Year’s. It’s all been said and done.’
I continued, ‘What was your idea of aiding?’ My friend replied, ‘Having any interaction with them, including physical, but also advice, like [a boy my friend knew with Asperger syndrome], when he was drunk. Remember that story? Disgrace to Asperger’s, so-called autist.’
I replied, ‘Yes. [A boy I knew with Asperger syndrome] is too. Was disgusted when I saw his messages about drunkenness while clearing out my phone.’
I continued, ‘Autism only tends toward non-alcoholism when it affects [susceptibility] to peer pressure. I’ve ascertained that. It’s absolutely certain at this point. Doesn’t matter what you have. It’s chance that autists are generally less exposed to social groups and influences.’ My friend replied, ‘You’re right. The peer pressure even got you.‘ I replied, ‘Exactly.’
I continued, ‘I have to get my head in gear and in perspective, because I have to realise that this is one big part of why so many normal people follow social trends.
There’s no other way for alcoholism and other such practices to be so common. It’s the hive mind. No wonder I am so pissed off at it, because I can’t understand it.
My view of what should make an alcoholic is incompatible with reality. In reality, all it takes is a regular person with friends who are pressuring them.’ My friend replied, ‘It’s a psychological issue. It’s an inherent problem in humans.‘
I replied, ‘It seems like even if they did [see the negative effects], their direct observation of their friends and fear of rejection was enough, then they get stuck in the cycle of thinking it’s a good thing, because they feel fine while doing it, forgetting about the dangers and how it affects other people.’
My friend replied, ‘They also see others doing it without repercussions, like their parents or friends, etc. I don’t know.’ I replied, ‘Exactly, yes. Good point there, actually. I was scarily willing to get into alcohol when I was very young, purely for that reason, compared to now, anyway.’
I continued, ‘My parents would buy me non-alcoholic wines, and I would like them, but every time I did try real alcohol, I just hated it. Imagine if I didn’t. Imagine if it didn’t taste of piss, and I liked it. Also, my parents weren’t helping by saying, “You’ll like it when you’re older”, “Your taste will change.”‘
I then sent a YouTube video and stated, ‘It’s all quite true. The first one, “You’re gonna drink one day, right?” was basically my parents.’
I continued, ‘I have no interest in testing it, no interest in trying, I don’t care if it doesn’t affect me or if one sip affects me. I want nothing to do with it. I don’t know, and I don’t care. It’s just stupid, a stupid test, liver damage just to prove a point. Smoking’s the same, lung damage just to prove a point. I want none of it, and no one I associate with will have any of it.’
At age 19, I stated:
‘Well, I just learnt something in the last few minutes. I’m watching a YouTube video of a doctor busting myths about energy drinks,[1] and he just busted the myth about taurine that I learnt from [my girlfriend] only a few months ago.
So I learnt the existence of a misconception, then I saw it get busted in a short space of time. [She] was telling me she was taking taurine to stay awake but failing, and then I looked it up, and it was said to be a common component in energy drinks.
Well, this doctor just busted it, said it’s naturally occurring and basically doesn’t do shit to you.’ My friend replied, ‘Wtf? Energy drinks: what a terrible misconception, just like fucking coffee.’ I replied, ‘Yes. You should be glad I’m no longer talking to [her, due to other reasons], don’t plan to respond ever now.’
My friend continued, ‘I hate caffeine and all those substances. I see it as this smelly chemical that is entering my body and staining the walls of my organs.‘ I replied, ‘Yes, exactly. I’ve practically never had an energy drink and likely never will, on similar basis to alcohol.’
I continued, ‘There’s a horrible culture around it, and it’s not necessarily good for you. There’s no point.’ My friend replied, ‘The amount of cups of coffee and energy drinks I’ve had in my life perhaps could be counted on one hand.’
I replied, ‘Yes. I’ve never had coffee, couldn’t stand the taste.’ My friend replied, ‘I think I’ve had it around 3–4 times and an energy drink once.’ I replied, ‘I will have tasted Red Bull, can’t remember how much, but that’s the only energy drink I remember drinking.’
My friend replied, ‘They aren’t nice-tasting, just this taste of tropical fruit that is too strong.’ I replied, ‘Yes. I remember it being fruity. Yes, doesn’t matter. I have no interest in ever having them. I hate all these codswallop foods and drinks. I’ll stick to what I know and like, thank you.’
My friend later stated, ‘Lol, taurine myth. Glad I’ve never had one.’ I replied, ‘I know nothing about energy-drink culture, thankfully. I didn’t know of taurine until [my girlfriend] told me about it, but there’s simply no point in energy drinks.’
I continued, ‘I don’t understand people’s dependence on them, including coffee. It’s lumped into the same thing there almost. All such dependencies are indicative of a weak mind.
I hate weak minds. I’m tired and sick of them, sick to death of minds that cannot function on their own.’ My friend replied, ‘I’ve got a document prepared that includes both, might make them separate documents, but it will bust their myths.’
My friend continued, ‘[A former friend] is another coffee drinker.’ My friend then sent messages from the former friend stating, ‘I went out to get a coffee, and coffee purely because I’ve been up all night.’ My friend remarked, ‘It’s just crap. Crap, crap, crap.’
My friend later stated, ‘I hated [someone] saying she needs coffee, hate people like that.’ I replied, ‘Yes. It’s absolutely awful, as I’ve said, that needing-coffee mentality.’ My friend replied, ‘It’s a horrible mentality.’
At age 20, I stated:
‘I just see no point in testing, even the first time. I mean, seriously, to want to impair your judgement and become disinhibited, to want to become extroverted, to want any of the effects of alcohol.
Yes, I mean, think about it: people under the influence are the total antithesis of who we are. They’re everything we strive not to be, strive to be against: extroverted, disinhibited, stupid, propensity to do harm, propensity to self-harm. They are an extreme of the opposite kind of person to us.
I mean, the anecdotes of things people have done while under the influence that you hear constantly, a constant stream, from the Internet, from local people, from Instagram, from YouTube, from everywhere, from family members even. It’s a constant stream of horrible anecdotes, and I want no part of it, to want that, to want what causes that, to want to be any closer to that behaviour than you are now, than your natural state.
It’s an abhorrent representation, the person under the influence of alcohol. It’s an abhorrent representation to aspire to, to rely on the hearsay about alcohol and think it worthwhile to take and get under the influence, to think you’re not worth it due to others’ opinions and then drink to quell the pain, to not care about becoming any closer to that than you are naturally.
They choose alcohol over anything else for social reasons and social reasons alone. That is why it is chosen. That is what is believed for them to consider taking it.’
At age 20, I stated:
‘It’s become very clear to me over time that the main cause for why I can’t understand alcohol is the social basis behind it. It’s the simple fact that all these people live in this social world, and in the social world, alcohol is pushed as the only way to have a properly good time.
It’s the mere fact that they have friends and go out with those friends that alcohol becomes an issue. It must be increasing the pleasure of those experiences so much for them that it becomes an acceptable thing, despite all the negatives.
I’ve been able to see it all from a 3rd-person perspective. I continue to see alcohol for what it is, and it’s why they can’t and why they get extremely offended when I challenge it. It’s because it’s core to their life.
I can see why alcohol remains a thing after a person has been introduced to it. I still do not understand how they enter the conditions required for it to start becoming a thing.’
At age 20, I stated:
‘It’s the same as how monkeys in urban areas will go after alcohol once they first consume it. The social-mindset aspect is the initiation based on social opinion; what happens after is dopaminergic.
Though, you could say the social-mindset aspect is also the continued valuing of it in social contexts, the feeling the need to drink in social contexts, as in, you could say the social mindset adds to consumption down the line.
I wouldn’t doubt that for a second. People notoriously get drunk at parties, where it is associated. They don’t consider themselves alcoholics, though.
Most people who do consider it expected to get drunk at parties do not consider themselves alcoholics, and in fact, most wouldn’t consider them that, but it’s a situation in which they’re drinking or valuing alcohol that they otherwise wouldn’t if they were another animal. Animals don’t do that or value that in that context.
So yes, it does add to it, but the social-mindset valuation and influence from others is what starts them off. They are trusting others’ word right off the bat, or they are witnessing or hearing about social fun and adventure occurring under the influence of alcohol and then thinking that they need it to reach that level.
I mean, it’s truly grotesque; you hear it before they even turn legal age such that when they do, it’s like a victory chant: “Finally 18 [or any other legal age]; I can drink now.”‘
At age 19, my friend stated:
‘I find it utterly nauseating that someone is waiting eagerly and excitedly for their 18th birthday so they can “drink”, which implies they’ve never drunk before, which makes it even more confusing.
The fact they’d want something so much when they’re unaware of the nature of it, the taste, the repercussions, which shows how the societal customs and pressures have replaced their own views.’
My friend later stated, ‘The fact of the matter is, I did not drink alcohol on my 18th birthday. I can’t even remember the occasion. It was the last thing that I’d ever have in mind. I obviously drank coke if we had a meal.
It is not a cause to drink something different. It doesn’t change anything. It shows how rooted these people are into tradition. They are absolutely rooted and blinded by the adult paradigm.
It’s the fact they think 18 is a significant number like all adults or changes anything at all. I cant imagine what series of events or thoughts must have taken place. They’re seeing a false landscape.
It’s the fact that people angrily uphold traditions and laws, especially ones that have been drafted by drug-takers. I’d like to the see the slow-motion, step-by-step series of events as to how it entered their mind with such conviction and compare it with me and how it didn’t enter mine.
I wish we could make the thoughts tangible and compare side-by-side, and we’d see how different my brain is in those moments, their first time seeing it vs. mine. I wish we could see and feel the thoughts. We would actually get to see visibly how different we are.
It is seeing answers like that that make me hate alcohol even more and see what a pointless custom or trend it is, the fact someone is looking forward to drinking it not because they know the drink and like the taste but because it’s part of a tradition that 18-year-olds do.
It must be getting a kick out of being and appearing “adult” to others. It’s that paradigm again. It’s nothing to do with the drink or the taste of the drink, which is practical, which is all I’ve ever thought about when drinking drinks.
It proves that their drinking of drinks is entirely social, that it’s not about the practicalities of the drink or how it tastes, but it’s being used as a fashion item.
Drinking is an essential function. It goes to show how drinking alcohol was the last thing in my mind on my 18th birthday. It shows how I was totally detached from the tradition, social and adult world, and I only had my interests and practicalities in sight, where coke is a nice-tasting drink, and the others taste like urine.
I couldn’t even perceive the layer that causes someone to select beer in that situation. It wasn’t even that I was purposefully aware of or against alcohol.
But of course, the adult world and the adult drinking world is totally against my interests. Whereas these people are wanting to affiliate with it, I’m wishing it would fuck off as it had attached itself to me now that I’m 18.’
At age 20, I stated:
‘I can’t imagine at all an attraction to alcohol. Any inkling I could ever have felt of that would’ve been social. It would’ve been for appeasement of my family or peers. I know that’s the only way I could ever have been introduced to alcohol, but it was a regurgitated mantra by others. They said it first, not me.
At age 20, I sent a screenshot of a YouTube edutainment video[2] mentioning a study[3] showing those with a 0.05% blood alcohol level have worse performance on memory and learning than someone staying awake for 24 hours and stated, ‘Why would you want that? Once again, all comments are in support of alcohol and joking about it, joking about uses of it that would lead to death.’
At age 20, I sent a YouTube edutainment video titled, ‘Do Wild Animals Intentionally Get High?’[4] and stated:
‘Was pleasantly surprised to see them admit the answer was no, and that ending note made me laugh, the fact he had to admit it was a human practice and intertwined with the social mindset.
[“But so far, scientists haven’t really found any evidence that wild animals seek out chemical highs, and that raises the question of why humans definitely do, but to answer that, we have to dig deeper into how our closest relatives and model organisms interact with mind-altering substances, and that is an episode for another day.”[4]]
And yet, all of the commenters are desperately trying to claim other animals do drugs, all of them, desperately trying to justify their dumb human traditions and social practices.’
At age 19, my friend stated:
‘It’s this whole social landscape that they see. They see something totally different, the energy-drink old wives’ tale as well. They’re drinking it due to the supposed benefit, which they absolutely haven’t researched.
They’re doing something due to this subconscious knowledge of an old wives’ tale. It’s a social old wives’ tale they’re mindlessly regurgitating.’ I replied, ‘Yes. I hate energy-drink culture, hate coffee culture and energy-drink culture, almost as much as alcohol culture.’
My friend later stated, ‘It’s the biggest mystery ever why they are like it and why I’m not, and I’ll never know how they end up defending that societal, moral position, but all I know is millions do and all fall into that same paradigm and can’t see why they do what they do.
They respect people for emotional rather than concrete reasons. I don’t know how they get so convinced that alcohol helps them and is the solution or why they’re so convinced that coffee works like it does, just based on some hearsay.
The fact is, we can’t speak to people, because they are all part of this paradigm, and they can’t see past it. They don’t see the issues and quandaries I have. They can’t see any other or objective viewpoint.
They just take what is societally acceptable as irrefutable law instead of analysing why they’re actually doing it and whether there is actually a point in doing so. There is no point. The majority view is against our emotional wellbeings.’
At age 20, I stated:
‘I’m sick of people talking about dopamine and serotonin in casual speak, giving it colloquial meanings, because they are so wrong. They don’t know a hair’s breadth about the complexity of what dopamine and serotonin do. They both do a multitude of things, not just causing happiness.
They also trigger the vomiting response, for one, so anti-vomiting medications suppress them. Also, antipsychotics decrease them, so having them in excess is a pathology like schizophrenia, but when it’s serotonin, it’s called serotonin syndrome, and it causes tachycardia, sweating, fever and irritability.
How on earth is that good? I’ve heard it enough times, talk about something giving a “hit of dopamine”.’ My friend replied, ‘It’s just a buzzword, an old wives’ tale that they assume is good or real.’
I replied, ‘Yes, but it’s quite literally medically wrong or, at least, medically ignorant. At least be right. Nope, guess they can’t even do that, you’re right.’ My friend replied, ‘It’s like coffee. It is the same logic. They drink it because they have been made to believe it has a certain effect.’
I replied, ‘I hate coffee culture. It’s scary, like a cult. I see all these cultish mentalities everywhere, and it’s scary, like I’m surrounded by a cult, trapped in a cult, no one of sound mind, the only sane one.
But it’s the fervour by which they profess their beliefs, the intense, fiery fervour in the power of coffee, the fact it’s elevated up into a cultural icon, a cultural trope, when it’s absolutely not warranted at all. It’s a fucking drink from the other side of the world.’
My friend replied, ‘The meaning of life has been taken away for me. They are all trapped in this ecstatic, ignorant bubble, with cults and cultures and icons all spinning around, but for me, I just see life for what it is, in historical context, and it loses meaning totally. Humans lose importance.’
I replied, ‘Yes. We see it from the outside perspective, not part of the cultural tropes and icons.’
At age 19, my friend asked:
‘Do you know the difference between cappuccino, coffee and latte is? Because I fucking don’t, and I don’t care, but I don’t actually know. Oh, and espresso. I actually have no idea.’
I replied, ‘No, nor me. You know something’s bad when it’s garnered 10+ names for it; it indicates a human taboo or subculture.’
My friend replied, ‘Exactly. What else has?’ I replied, ‘Genitalia, alcohol, wine.’ My friend replied, ‘There was another prime example. Alcohol, yes.’ I replied, ‘Sex, God.’
At age 21, I relayed my researched on the neurotransmitters affected by recreational drugs to my friend:
‘I knew dopamine had to be involved in nicotine addiction somewhere. The thing was, nicotine’s primary mode of action is by activating nicotinic acetylcholine receptors,[5] and the main thing acetylcholine receptors do is excite the muscles.[6]
They’re the primary method nerve impulses activate muscles, with a lesser role in the central nervous system, but nicotine also induces release of opioids, which in turn induce release of dopamine. It also stimulates dopamine directly through its effects on one of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors [in the ventral tegmental area].[5]
“In accordance, it is theorized and widely believed that the primary mechanism of action [of ethanol] is as a GABAA receptor positive allosteric modulator. However, the diverse actions of ethanol on other ion channels may be and indeed likely are involved in its effects as well.”[7]
That means it binds to the GABAa receptors in a way that allows the body’s gamma-aminobutyric acid to more frequently and more potently bind to it. They then state that a GABA antagonist was able to antidote many of the effects of alcohol.[7]
Hahaha, [ethanol is] a 5-HT3 receptor positive allosteric modulator,[7] albeit a weak one, but it’s rare that I’ve seen a recreational drug be a 5-HT3 receptor agonist. That means it directly increases the vomiting response, or, in technical terms, it makes the body more sensitive to existing vomit stimuli, existing levels of 5-HT (serotonin).
Yes, once again, I’m seeing that glutamate, GABA and adenosine work together. I haven’t yet seen a drug that doesn’t raise or decrease glutamate at the same time as doing the opposite to GABA and adenosine. They’re part of the same pathway, ultimately.
Also explains why alcohol can make you pass out, the same way ketamine would when used as anaesthesia, disabling glutamatergic/cortical activity,[8] so alcohol’s a really abhorrent drug, pharmacologically does make you dumber and more prone to vomiting.
The reduction of glutamate activity in the brain by alcohol causes increased sociability by removing that hamper, that inhibitor, of knowledge and consequences, but I can see why it also increases aggression, the same way anticonvulsants and mood stabilisers do, which work by a similar mechanism in order to fulfil their goal of reducing brain activity.
I also found out today that alcohol’s voltage-gated calcium-channel-blocking activity in the hypothalamus reduces vasopressin,[9] so that’s why they piss themselves.
I absolutely ploughed through that neurotransmitter research, learnt 90% of the pinnacle things I needed to know in a few days. Wasn’t even planning on entering into psychotropics; it just happened.
Hahaha, I just found how it started: it started from me looking up the origins of life and clicking on to mineral to see what compounds could’ve been formed in earth’s crust, then got to asbestos, then got to the cancer caused by asbestos, then what about it physically causes the cancer [fibrils that are small enough to physically jam gene transcription], then on to what about tobacco physically causes cancer [molecules that bind to DNA], and that’s how it started.
THC is a partial agonist of the cannabinoid receptors,[10] but cannabidiol is an antagonist.[11] CB1 is the psychoactive receptor. There are at least 4 others, but only 1 has an established name, CB2. From what I’m reading, the others seem to have similar effects to CB2 rather than CB1 (i.e. few psychoactive effects). The information is so scattered.
CB1’s activity in the brain seems to reduce general cognition but increase dopamine transmission.[12] Starting to see why it reduces anxiety now too; it reduces activity of the neocortex (mostly glutamatergic), basically, so somewhere like the prefrontal cortex that has knowledge of dangerous situations is diminished.
Hahaha, “Eliminating glutamatergic cannabinoid receptors [in mice] led to decreased object exploration, social interactions, and increased aggressive behavior.”[12] Apparently, the mice spent longer fighting introduced intruders, basically increased autism. Now I know why I should never try weed on the molecular level.
When they talk about “medical marijuana“, they’re almost always talking about cannabidiol, which is funny, because it has literally the opposite effects of recreational cannabis, THC, so it’s literally not the same thing. It’s literally a counter-force against what regular cannabis does, and the counter-force is what’s being praised as good. Figure it out.
CB2 also reduces intestinal inflammation. Apparently, CB2 is not expressed in neurons (but is expressed in glia) and therefore does not regulate pain directly (nor have psychotropic effects, of course), but it does reduce pain by reducing inflammation.[13]
That means that CB2 activation would reduce migraines and act as a vasoconstrictor, so it has an opposite effect to CB1 there, though the Wikipedia article says it’s a mild antagonist of both, but it sounds like it doesn’t know what it’s saying, doesn’t have a lot of research to back it.[11]
It’s the fact I can get right down to the personalised medicine of how this would affect you and I or someone with BPD [borderline personality disorder] or schizophrenia. One recent study implied [cannabidiol is] a partial agonist for CB2.[14] Whatever that is, it would explain any beneficial migraine effects.
I finally see why Americans were going crazy over cannabidiol helping childhood seizures, having studied the very elusive receptors it seems to work at. It was specifically 2 childhood epilepsy syndromes, one of which has seizures brought on by high body temperature, and the other has seizures that mostly occur during deep sleep.
So it very quickly clicked for me, since the receptors that [cannabidiol] seems to work at (by reversing their action) seem to both increase inflammation and increase adenosine, so reducing inflammation would reduce the Dravet syndrome seizures, while reducing adenosine, which is highest prior to deep sleep,[15] would reduce the Lennox–Gastaut syndrome seizures.’
References
- ^ Samuel Conway Ph.D (2017-08-31). "Energy drinks: power or poison?" YouTube.
- ^ SciShow Psych (2019-06-27). "Alcohol Can Enhance Creativity—But at a Cost". YouTube.
- ^ Falleti, Marina G.; Maruff, Paul; Collie, Alexander; Darby, David G.; McStephen, Michael (2003). "Qualitative similarities in cognitive impairment associated with 24 h of sustained wakefulness and a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05%". Journal of Sleep Research. Wiley Online Library. 12 (4): 265–274. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2869.2003.00363.x. ISSN 1365-2869.
- ^ a b SciShow (2019-06-30). "Do Wild Animals Intentionally Get High?" YouTube.
- ^ a b "Nicotine". Wikipedia. 2020-10-19.
- ^ "Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor". Wikipedia. 2020-10-19.
- ^ a b c "Alcohol (drug)". Wikipedia. 2019-12-13.
- ^ "Ketamine". Wikipedia. 2020-10-28.
- ^ "Vasopressin". Wikipedia. 2020-10-20.
- ^ "Tetrahydrocannabinol". Wikipedia. 2020-10-27.
- ^ a b "Cannabidiol". Wikipedia. 2020-10-27.
- ^ a b "Cannabinoid receptor type 1". Wikipedia. 2019-11-03.
- ^ "Cannabinoid receptor type 2". Wikipedia. 2020-08-29.
- ^ Tham, Mylyne; Yilmaz, Orhan; Alaverdashvili, Mariam; Kelly, Melanie E. M.; Denovan-Wright, Eileen M.; Laprairie, Robert B (05 2019). "Allosteric and orthosteric pharmacology of cannabidiol and cannabidiol-dimethylheptyl at the type 1 and type 2 cannabinoid receptors". British Journal of Pharmacology. PubMed. 176 (10): 1455–1469. doi:10.1111/bph.14440. ISSN 1476-5381. PMC 6487556. PMID 29981240.
- ^ "Sleep". Wikipedia. 2020-10-14.
- ^ SciShow Psych (2019-06-27). "Alcohol Can Enhance Creativity—But at a Cost". YouTube.