Rule 4: Do not promote or put drugs/alcohol/tobacco/weed/psychedelics/inhalants in a positive light.
Some comrades mentioned in private channels that weed is not addictive, I'm not going to argue on this point because this is a fundamental divide between China and some western countries.
My view is that whether you're addicted to them or not, you shouldn't promote these substances or put them in a positive light. It's fine if you don't agree with me, but anyone who leaves a comment here arguing the opposite will be banned from the community (30 days for now).
If a lot of people oppose this rule, either by downvotes and/or number of comments, I will willingly step down as moderator of this community.
After input from various comrades, I've decided to improve the rule with some explanation, this is my latest suggestion:
Rule 4: Do not promote drugs/alcohol/tobacco/weed/psychedelics/inhalants or any other substance that may be abused. We do not discuss the personal use of these substances out of consideration for comrades who might be affected by substance abuse or have bad experiences related to them. We understand that some substances may be used [medically|(for treatment)] in different cultures, but we think that this community is not the appropriate channel to receive medical advice.
It's almost 24 hours since I posted this, and the overall feeling I get is that this rule is "ok" only because of China's history, and not because it makes sense.
Let's imagine a scenario where the new rule only mentions "Do not promote or put alcohol in a positive light." What would be the reactions then? Keep in mind that in China, alcohol is legal for adults and can be advertised on national TV, but has the following restrictions: (from the 广告法 Advertising Law)
第二十三条 酒类广告不得含有下列内容：
（一）诱导、怂恿饮酒或者宣传无节制饮酒；
（二）出现饮酒的动作；
（三）表现驾驶车、船、飞机等活动；
（四）明示或者暗示饮酒有消除紧张和焦虑、增加体力等功效。
(DeepL translate) Article 23 Liquor advertisements shall not contain the following:
(1) Inducing or encouraging the consumption of alcohol or publicizing the uncontrolled consumption of alcohol;
(2) Showing actions of drinking;
(3) Exhibiting activities such as driving a car, boat, or airplane;
(4) Explicitly or implicitly suggesting that drinking alcohol has the effect of eliminating tension and anxiety, increasing physical strength, and so forth.
Is it unfair to lump all these substances together as though they have similar levels of influence on a person? Maybe it is, because why didn't I include games that are designed to be addicting, or mention porn, or other forms of escapism?
Speaking of porn, why can there be a Lemmygrad instance-wide rule 4 of "No porn or sexually explicit content (even if marked NSFW)", but I have to be met with a possible majority resistance (hexbear users can't downvote this post due to how their instance works) for anti-promotion (not a ban on mentioning them) of the listed substances in this community?
Anyway, this discussion post will be pinned for some time until enough consensus has been made on this new rule, and I will suspend the enforcement of this rule 4 in the meantime (not that there has been any violation yet).
Clarification: Comments or posts that violate rules in this community will either be deleted or be given a warning, the violating user would not be banned unless there's a need to. The 30-day ban mentioned in the post is for people who come into this post and argue for substance abuse, not for people who simply disagree with anti-promotion.
Suggestions for improvements to this rule are welcome, here's one:
Do not promote the use of drugs/alcohol/tobacco/weed/psychedelics/inhalants (for non-medicinal purposes).
So where exactly is the line between morphine and opium? As a native American, i can say that my people have used many drugs traditionally for the betterment of our people, as have many cultures around the world. Medicine is distinct and separate from abuse in our culture, as even staples can be abused (eg too much food makes one fat). Is there a specific historic reason for these drugs to be specifically banned or are you just following the popular modern sentiments?
Where in the post and my comments have I said to ban these substances? I find it frustrating that people come to me and mention so-and-so substance can have medicinal properties, because I understand this concept, but I'm assuming this type of medicine is prescribed by a certified doctor or therapist, and not by random people on the internet just because they use it in their culture or country.
You made the mistake of assumption. Your post specifically bans discussion around these substances in a positive light, which is why I specifically brought up morphine. Nobody is going to argue that morphine isnt an incredibly valuable medical discovery in the context of modern medicine, but that discovery came from opium, which definitely has some extremely negative implications where China is concerned. For all that tobacco causes cancer, it also reduces stress and provides a mild stimulant. Sometimes, that's important. Further, medicine is constantly evolving. People in Berkeley, CA seem to think that even psychotropic mushrooms have medical value. While that's not my cultures approach to the subject, we still believe some of the same things, even if we got there by very different paths.
Idk overall you seem too emotionally invested in this argument to handle this topic with any kind of impartiality.
Why did you bring up morphine, to prove that we should be able to discuss morphine or related substances outside the context of medical use or research?
Morphine is medicine. Nobody is going to argue that it's a drug with no medical use. Opium is a lot harder to argue for, but it's still a valid argument because that history is important to the medical context of morphine. "Drugs are bad" is a really immature and shortsighted stance to take when the relationship between drugs and medicine is such a complex interplay with all kinds of overlap.
And that's ignoring the extremely important cultural context associated with using drugs OR medicine throughout the history of China, let alone other countries.
I'm not even trying to ratio you here. You're doing it to yourself.
Do not promote or put drugs/alcohol/tobacco/weed/psychedelics/inhalants in a positive light.
Discussing how a psychoactive drug is used regularly and ritualistically would fall into "neutral or positive", no? As the rule is phrased, it doesn't matter how the drug is procured.
See my latest improvement to the rule that attempts resolve this disparity between different cultures, which includes a modification of your last suggestion: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5205977/4756875
On a basic level, I'm fine enough with you choosing to do this for this specific community, but is it really necessary? Have people actually been doing that here in this community specifically? If not, it's a pretty pointless rule honestly, especially if you're only making it because you disagreed with people talking about weed in a separate channel
Like, I don't think the rule's a bad idea considering China's history with drugs, but you should make sure you're doing this for the right reasons rather than out of some grudge or something
It has been brought to my attention in the same private channel that some comrades have mentioned them casually in other communities, and I'm not going to wait for it to happen here before making up this new rule. The last rule I came up with was Rule 0 in reaction to someone who thought Taiwan was a country and not part of the People's Republic of China.
I start by saying Im a nobody here but Im gonna leave my opinion, if there is a scientific undertanding that some of these drugs may have a positive outcome I think some discussion should be allowed, I have succesfully treated my depression with proffessional therapy and psychodelic mushrooms, I would not be alive if it werent for this substance, and as there is scientific claims that show the same results in many people, and it can potentially save lives, a ban on talking about it would be harmfull in my opinion.
I undertand chinese drug history and I get why you are doing this rule too, maybe add a allow a purelly scientific and data driven discussion?
I can concur with that. Ayahuasca, in a ritualistic setting under the supervision of a trained professional, is really the only thing that provided me with long lasting relief from my depression. I tried various medications and therapists before that, with no success.
Some of these substances might indeed have medicinal use, this does not contradict the idea of anti-promotion. The rule can thus be improved by making more clarifications with the input of other comments here, something like:
Do not promote the use of drugs/alcohol/tobacco/weed/psychedelics/inhalants (for non-medicinal purposes).
The phrase "for non-medicinal purposes" might be open for interpretation so I am against it, but it can be added if needed. I'd also like to add that online forums without verified experts are not the best places for medical advice. Any scientific discussion should be held elsewhere, or strictly limited to information from authoritative sources without subjective opinions of those involved.
Note that there can be ads for alcohol in China but not for tobacco, and both substances are legal for adults. This community rule goes further than the current legal situation in China.
I agree to it. Especially for a China community considering it's past struggle with drugs.
Sorry for being platform illiterate, this is only a /China rule, not a general lemmygrad rule, right?
Well, my feelings are so-and-so so I abstain... I don't think this policy affects me
On the other hand, some of the substances are of varying degrees, but who I am to judge, with China's history with drugs...
I see nothing wrong with this given the context of China, so long as it's applied with context in mind. It's hard to think of a specific example and I don't want to be just inventing wild hypotheticals, but if conversation were to organically go to some country's drug policy that has a different historical context (such as the US and how it vilified drug use in order to do mass incarceration), I would hope you'd be understanding of the reaction to that in the US context. The same as others being understanding of the reaction to drug use / culture / policy in the China context. I would not expect you to be ok with others actively promoting drug use with such a context as an excuse to do so. I just wouldn't want someone to get a ban because they come from a different context and don't know the difference, so I'd hope you at least warn them first in such a case. Hope that makes sense.
I'd be warning them and then deleting their comments if necessary, not ban them, unless they double down. The ban is for people who come into this post and argue for substance abuse, I should probably make that clear.
So anything that's psychoactive is banned? How about caffeine? That's got a higher effective dose to lethal dose ratio than substances you'll ban me for mentioning. Will you ban people for mentioning therapeutic applications of these substances? This is an ignorant proposition.
I'd be glad to include caffeine in the list of substances too, this anti-promotion rule is not a ban on mentioning them. As many others have pointed out, certain substances have positive effects, in fact I'd say all of them have positive effects one way or another, whether medically or not. That's why I think having positive effects is not a reason to exclude a substance from the list.
Considering China's history regarding drugs, this is a reasonable rule for this community. Also, I believe there should be a separate community for those who still wish to discuss recreational drugs, so that discussions about said topics may be directed there.
