Fair enough, thanks for the heads up! :) However, (and here I'm assuming that by 'smoked' you mean nicotine) Shakespeare, as an adult, was perfectly within his legal right to drink/smoke. (And he may have not even had to be an adult, my knowledge of 16th century politics is a little shaky.) Teenage authors living in the US -- and a lot of other countries -- are not. My point was just that a lot of great authors have created their works without hallucination-inducing drugs, although historically, a reasonable amount have also struggled with addiction.

More to the point, I don't want any of the writers on this site to read this article, and come away with the impression that if they start doing drugs it will improve their work, because that's simply not true. Although, given the rather vocal response to this article, I don't think that's something I need to worry about an awful lot.

Although I do agree with you, Semi Veggie, that people shouldn't take drugs and the joy of writing is beyond that, I do have something to say about your comment. Shakespeare actually did drink, and he probably smoked, too. He may have been one of the world's greatest writers, but he wasn't really a good role model.

But other than that I do agree with your comment.

I love this piece (idealistic, clever, passionate, all the things I adore). Really, I do. Whether or not I agree is irrelevant, because I truly don't know what I think--

It is all very confusing, substance issues, things of that sort. 

Read this carefully and with an open mind, please. Adults, no matter how old or how experienced, we are all different and have experienced different things. No adult knows everything, or is always right. Adults are nothing but us teens with more baggage and experience, but truly, no one adult knows much more than we do. 

We are living our lives, in our environment, learning things from what our choices, our time period and all else around us have brought us here. Our parents, adults in general are there to teach you the basics, they are there so that when you trip and fall, they will try their best to catch you with the knoledge they have aquired over their years of experience. But to much is different from each others lives to always follow what the adult figure says, as no one knows the answer or the right thing fro everything.

All of that to say, sure many adults say, don't do drugs, why? Because the government says so, why do they say it? Because if it were legalized, they can't make a profit out of it. They are corrupted, and so in my opinion it up to us, to rise and forge our own ways and laws, with the help of adults, but fix their mistakes and try new things. They aren't always right, especially in this case. (I am making reference to Maryjane)   

alright alright alright

this shouldn't be an arguement, but i've lost many friends BECAUSE of drugs. i agree with the article, drugs make emotion and show people a different experience of life, but its not essentail.

but yeah, most of the best rappers like kid cudi, mac miller etc all rap about drugs. fair to say.