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NATURE

                                     June 29, 1993 

So, buried in my manifesto 
about why drugs are fundamentally
pointless is the idea that they're
"unnatural".                      

This is the sort of argument that
sets off alarms when I hear it from
other people.  
               
What's natural?  Is it natural for a 
human being to live past 35? 
To write things on computers? 

What's the difference between a
food and a drug?  I used to drink
Decafe coffee a lot, and
congratulate myself on avoiding the
caffiene.  But I've since heard
that all coffee, even decafe
contains a number of opiate like
compounds that may be responsible
for the feeling of "relaxation" and
also for it's addictiveness.  I can
certainly get withdrawl symptoms
from decafe, and I know other people 
who report the same thing. 

Now when I want something non-drug like, 
I may have some Mint tea.  But how do I 
know there may not be something else in 
the "herbal" teas that no one has bothered
to tell me about? 

Something like alcohol has calories associated
with it, so it has some food-like properties,
and many foods have some drug like properites, 
e.g. sugar, chocolate, etc.

I take lecithin capsules these days, on the 
theory that it may improve my short term 
memory.  Does this count as a drug? 
         
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