Thank You Lieutenant D.A.R.E.

Don’t we all, Tasha. Don’t we all.

"Why are you asking me, your mom's literally a doctor!"
- True, but Yar has more data to work with...
- You don't talk to your mom about that.
  Or, he's got the hots.
Hey ensign, ever starred in a snuff film with a romulan spy?
- I feel like I'm missing some crucial information
WESLEY!!!!!!!!!

I really liked this episode. Next gen was always my favourite series, it always presented calamities and tragedies as problems to be solved.

It conveyed the analysis in a level headed way that removed (attempted really would be the right word) either blame or bias towards either party involved, something depicted as necessary to consider the right or appropriate tools for the situation.

It always got me through my toughest times, and yes I should read more XD

Given that stance, I can only hope that you've watched The Orville. It stands as the spiritual successor to TNG. Gotta trudge through the 1st season, for the sake of getting FOX Entertainment hooked on the line.
Thereafter, they managed to tell the sort of contemporaneous stories that otherwise qualify for TNG in its time.
- Might have to watch it. FWIW comparing series, Strange New Worlds straddles the fence between ToS and TNG. It’s got the morality battles of TNG and the absurdity of some ToS episodes. Only issue is the Emotional Spock. Don’t know why these writers and directors have to fuck with Spock all the time.
- You really only have to trudge through the first episode, the rest of the series feels different. Every season has a few groaners depending on your preferences, but those are isolated instances.
TNG also taught me the value of objectivity
- Especially when related to Barclay. There was good comparison between Picard's opinion on the Barclay situation vs how modern Trek death with H Jon Benjamin's character in Trek Shorts
I grew up on TNG but I was not old enough to understand it (I was 5 when I saw First Contact). As I rewatch season 1, I notice things that are heartwarming like Deanna having a conversation about confidence with Geordi or Data’s instant infatuation with Sherlock Holmes.
- It was a wholesome show. That's it. That's the whole secret. It's incredibly sad how rare this has become.

I always heard this growing up (though phrased as "but now you get high to feel normal"), and then when I tried weed for the first time I felt normal for once. It shut the constant noise in my mind off, allowing me to think. It melted away my anxiety. I didn't just feel good. I felt like the veil was lifted and I was seeing clearly for the first time in my life.

I do not get high to "feel good" outside of the fact that feeling normal and functional is a good feeling.

Whenever I try to explain people this - that it addresses and remediates an issue that I was BORN with and have suffered from every day of my life since living memory - they simply default to "yeah, you're an addict".
Sure fam, like your diabetic uncle is addicted to insulin. Guess we both just need to man up huh?
- Usually said by the dude who pounds a daily 12er of Nattty light or Bud Light (Busch light now) and half their meals are fast food
- So much þis.
  Hi, I'm Ruairidh, and I'm addicted to anti-depressants.
Have you ever considered an ADHD diagnosis?
- I have one. And autism. And BPD.
  But I was only diagnosed like 5 or 6 years ago. Started smoking weed at 19.
I feel like Tasha was talking more about heroine and less about weed.
- True but opiates are similar. The American opiate crisis began with prescribed painkillers. A lot of people slowly became addicts without realizing it was happening because they just took the pills when it hurt not realizing eventually that some of the pain was withdrawal.
  The schedule 1 definition (high risk of abuse, no medicinal purpose) is the sort of thing that while I get it, I don't know of any drugs that actually belong there. Psychedelics are on it despite having low risk of abuse and medical uses. Cannabis is an analgesic, antiemetic, and appetite enhancer. Ecstasy has a place in ptsd treatment. Heroin, cocaine, and meth are all schedule 2.
- Space Meth. Her background has to be one of the most fucked up in Star Trek, tbh. I can never forget her talking about rape gangs on her home colony.
Yeah, it literally helps me experience and respond to the world around me the way I rationally want to. And that includes caring for my family and pets along with any hobby/work benefits.

Her honest explanation was better than anything I ever learned from D.A.R.E.

I was actually part of the Red Ribbon era. D.A.R.E. was being phased out when I started elementary school.
- I'm either old or dare kept coming back after being phased out. Both are probably true.
  But yeah dare would just lie to kids about drugs and tell them to be annoying little shits who hide their parents cigs and try to get their parents to quit drinking. It turns out that just being honest about drugs to kids rather than sensationalizing them goes really far, and they trust you too. Honestly the biggest thing dare taught me as a kid was that cops lie.

"What's up, doc, is your life, if you don't cut it out!"
- And here's evil Mickey Mouse just to fuck with you

That is the point of drugs, yes.

Exactly. I don't need to feel good, I just need it to work well enough for me to be a functioning adult.
- Aside from making movies and gaming more interesting, I have never slept so well as I do when I use my legal thc vape. But if I don't touch it the day I will be awake all night 🫤

My dumb ass thought she was referring to being pegged by Data at first.

It was the style at the time.

Because shows got a tax break for things like this.

I made an edit that would be a direct response to this, but is lost to time (and me having a mental breakdown a few months ago). Speaking of which, @ummmthatguy@lemmy.world we need to get back in touch for methods for me to recover all of that.

Don’t forget this monumental achievement in post-modern music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS88-n4Ek0s

Wow, that song had more references to drugs than what a upper class person probably thinks is written about in stereotypical hip-hop song.
- I first heard this in an NPR article talking about how ineffective DARE was.