Is this a bad idea? The health effects don't seem to be too bad. How rewarding is it compared to the buzz from a single alcoholic drink of a energy drink?
[DISCLAIMER: This is my personal opinion based upon my personal history of substance use. It is not to be taken as encouragement for anyone to start any substance use]
Imho you're asking for a comparison between apples and hubcaps here...
Energy Drink? I've only ever had one 5 Hour Energy and while it did "perk" me up I don't classify that as a "buzz". And I don't like what they use for sweeteners in it, so that's done and gone.
Alcohol? Hmmmm, I was an alcoholic 26 years ago and the "buzz" from alcohol never compared to an energy drink. It made me more social - yes. And I couldn't dance at that time without two or
three under the belt, but those were self-confidence issues I've since addressed. Rewarding? Naw, I had the kind of physiology where I burned alcohol really fast, so I drank a lot. About the time my liver started to hurt I couldn't get drunk anymore, just a poisoned feeling. So I quit. Took me two weeks, but weaning was fairly easy for me.
I also did drugs back then, never cared for weed, put me to sleep. Thai Stick and hash either temporarily paralyzed me or made me blind - respectively so they were out. My drug of choice then was co-caine (word filter blanks original word) and not that crack stuff either. The buzz from that was a true buzz imho. Up all day, not hungry, not tired - go, go, go. Rewarding yes, but my wallet couldn't sustain it so it had to go. Quit in one day.
Cigarettes aka nicotine. I started mouth smoking at twelve as the public school kids thought I was a narc because I didn't have a vice. Stopped me from getting beat up. Later in senior year someone noticed I mouth smoked and made fun of me, so like an idiot I started smoking. Besides the initial dizzyness and vomiting I never noticed a "buzz". Rewarding? NO, never.
Quitting smoking, never-been-able-to. Period. This is the WORST addiction I have ever had. It made me feel like a complete failure to not be able to quit smoking when I had quit so many other things.
E-cigs are a vehicle for me, an alternative to smoking and hopefully down the road a way to not imbibe in nicotine. Hopefully.
If I had it to do all over again knowing what I know now? I wouldn't do any of it. It wasted too much of my time, too much of my money and wasted several good years of my youth.
And trust me, no matter what you feel about your life now, you will look back with nostalgia as far as your energy levels and endurance. They really do wane later on in life.
Sorry for the book, I'm done now, back to your regular progamming
