Where do you draw the line at what is considered a drug?

[XAdrenalineX]

For example:

Consider vanilla ice cream...nope, not a drug, just something that tastes good. By most people's standards anyway.

Quote from wikipedia:

but it has been shown that vanilla does increase levels of catecholamines (including epinephrine, more commonly known as adrenaline), and as such can also be considered mildly addictive.[

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla

Should edgers abstain from it, then?

(I'm not actually trying to argue that people should...just provoking debate really...)

[straightXed]

For example:

Consider vanilla ice cream...nope, not a drug, just something that tastes good. By most people's standards anyway.

Quote from wikipedia:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla

Should edgers abstain from it, then?

(I'm not actually trying to argue that people should...just provoking debate really...)

No. Thats the short of it.

So many things trigger chemicals in the body to be released. I mean job interviews can cause adrenalin to be released, i wouldn't consider that something to abstain from. I personally dispute the addictiveness of vanilla, i mean i have eaten a fair amount of vanilla things but its far from a favourite flavour and wouldn't really crave it or choose it over other flavours. I'd have to see some actual evidence of it being addictive first. I get a great feeling from working out, you may consider it addictive because i do it a lot, but don't consider it recreational drug use or somekind of drug abuse, to be honest i see it as a natural body reaction. So many external things that aren't drugs stimulate chemicals to be released or stop them being released, thats just being human and its not adding an additional drug to change things in a recreational way.

If you want to abstain from vanilla then thats fine, i have no problem with that but i think it starts you down a road which would require a lot of abstinance to unworkable levels in order to be consistant with that idea.

[xsecx]

For example:

Consider vanilla ice cream...nope, not a drug, just something that tastes good. By most people's standards anyway.

Quote from wikipedia:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla

Should edgers abstain from it, then?

(I'm not actually trying to argue that people should...just provoking debate really...)

for me it's down to recreational use. if someone is using vanilla to experience the effects mentioned, then it would be a drug, but since you didn't really mention the amount that would be needed it's kind of hard to gauge, even in a hypothetical discussion. When you look at all of the drugs that people abstain from, there's a common thing among them, people using them for reasons other than medically and in amounts that alter the mind and or body.

[XAdrenalineX]

If you want to abstain from vanilla then thats fine, i have no problem with that but i think it starts you down a road which would require a lot of abstinance to unworkable levels in order to be consistant with that idea.

Hence this part of my post

(I'm not actually trying to argue that people should...just provoking debate really...)

:)

for me it's down to recreational use. if someone is using vanilla to experience the effects mentioned, then it would be a drug, but since you didn't really mention the amount that would be needed it's kind of hard to gauge, even in a hypothetical discussion. When you look at all of the drugs that people abstain from, there's a common thing among them, people using them for reasons other than medically and in amounts that alter the mind and or body.

What about the grey areas....If you eat something really sugary for pleasure when you know it will make you hyperactive, and you do become hyperactive, did you just use a drug?

[xsecx]

Hence this part of my post



:)



What about the grey areas....If you eat something really sugary for pleasure when you know it will make you hyperactive, and you do become hyperactive, did you just use a drug?

that's not a grey area for me, since sugar isn't a drug. However if you're eating sugary things for the effect it'll have on your mind and body, then I don't see how that behavior is any different from consuming any other substance for the same reason.

[straightXed]

Hence this part of my post



:)

Yeah, and hence my response to your post being about how you can abstain from it if you want but a reason not to would be high highly inpactical it would be. Just because you say you aren't arguing people should abstain doesn't immediately nullify the reasons one probably shouldn't especially if you wanted to debate the issue completely, i understand you are playing devils advocate here but the point is valid and stands.

What about the grey areas....If you eat something really sugary for pleasure when you know it will make you hyperactive, and you do become hyperactive, did you just use a drug?

No you still didn't use a drug as thats not the criteria that makes it a drug so no grey area. I eat food for pleasure, taste is a wonderful sensation that makes me happy but i remember ages ago chatting to some people that would just eat masses of sugar for sugar highs, it seemed retarded to me and i would be concerned about diabetes to be honest. Its still not a drug but it is a rather idiotic approach to things, i mean why people would want to do that is beyond me and if they are in a mind set of being straight edge it seems a little questionable.

[Just-a-fool]

In my schoolcarreer i come in contact with a very addictive substance almost on daily bases: Chocolate. (i'm studying how to become baker/chocolate maker)
Anyway, i've heard countless girls at my school say how they get a awesome feeling from eating chocolate. In that case it could be considered a drug.
But since i myself dont experience that feeling it doesnt count as a drug personally to me.
I do like the taste, but it doesnt get me high or something