Responsible Drug Use

The concept of responsible drug use is that a person can use recreational drugs with reduced or eliminated risk of negatively affecting other parts of one's life or other people’s lives. It has to be noted that, irrespective of how responsible consumers believe they are, the use of illegal drugs, as well as the illegal use of some legal drugs, has effects that could hardly be considered responsible. For example, illegal trade of cocaine has caused tens of thousands of violent deaths in South America, corruption of government officials in producing countries, and social consequences derived from addiction in consumer countries.

The philosophy of responsible drug use, which applies to alcohol, tobacco, and medical products as much as to any other drugs, asserts that to use drugs responsibly one must adhere to the following principles:

• Understanding and educating oneself on the effects and legality of the drug being consumed
• Measuring accurate dosages and taking other precautions to reduce the risk of overdose
• Taking the time to chemically test all drugs being consumed to determine purity and strength
• Not driving, operating heavy machinery, or otherwise being directly or indirectly responsible for the safety or care of another person while intoxicated
• Having a trip sitter when taking a drug with which one is not familiar; or which may radically alter a user's perception of the physical world, such as a strong hallucinogen
• Not attempting to trick or persuade anyone to use a drug they are not willing to use
• Not allowing drug use to overshadow other aspects of one's life
• Being morally conscious of the source of one's drugs

Responsible drug use is emphasized as a primary prevention technique in Harm reduction drug policies. Harm reduction policies were popularized in the late 1980s although they began in the 1970s counterculture where users were distributed cartoons explaining responsible drug use and consequences of irresponsible drug use.