The intent of the provider is irrelevant. It’s about how it’s being used.
For black market hormones, that’s HRT and is obviously medical. i’m not sure I would call the performance-enhancing athlete recreational because they’re not doing it to get high. That’s also medical, but shitty medicine. like I said, it’s not about the source, it’s about the usage.
With your caffeine example, that’s clearly medication. Using a hallucinogen in that manner? That sounds recreational to me. although psilocybin is in the experimental and pre-clinical stages for being used to treat epilepsy, which would clearly be medical.
edit: for those who might object to my classification of spiritual pursuits as “recreational”, let’s just call it “recreational (or other)”, but its sure isn’t medical.
exactly. lots of recreational drugs are being tested for medical uses. cannabis is famously being used for a broad range of medical uses.
but my point is that I can take CHEMICAL-X for its intended purpose or for my own purpose, and there’s a difference between the two. one is medication, and one is recreation-- and yes it’s possible to take it for a mix of both reasons.
whether I get it from a pharmacy or someone at a party is irrelevant (for the context of this conversation).
Ok, but a lot of research chemicals’ intended purposes are opening your mind, and them doing anything helpful is a bizarre off label usage that happens to work.
The intent of the provider is irrelevant. It’s about how it’s being used.
For black market hormones, that’s HRT and is obviously medical. i’m not sure I would call the performance-enhancing athlete recreational because they’re not doing it to get high. That’s also medical, but shitty medicine. like I said, it’s not about the source, it’s about the usage.
With your caffeine example, that’s clearly medication. Using a hallucinogen in that manner? That sounds recreational to me. although psilocybin is in the experimental and pre-clinical stages for being used to treat epilepsy, which would clearly be medical.
edit: for those who might object to my classification of spiritual pursuits as “recreational”, let’s just call it “recreational (or other)”, but its sure isn’t medical.
Psilocybin is also being trialed for certain mental conditions like PTSD.
exactly. lots of recreational drugs are being tested for medical uses. cannabis is famously being used for a broad range of medical uses.
but my point is that I can take CHEMICAL-X for its intended purpose or for my own purpose, and there’s a difference between the two. one is medication, and one is recreation-- and yes it’s possible to take it for a mix of both reasons.
whether I get it from a pharmacy or someone at a party is irrelevant (for the context of this conversation).
Ok, but a lot of research chemicals’ intended purposes are opening your mind, and them doing anything helpful is a bizarre off label usage that happens to work.