I grew up with a religiously-strict mom and an academically-strict dad. Combined with childhood-shyness, I guess my background is responsible for my tending towards a straight-edge. I also didn't have many friends outside the honors students group in my school district, so I was never exposed to anyone offering me any drugs/alcohol until college.
I still haven't done anything yet. But I'll be open to alcohol once I'm legal.
In general, I have no beliefs as to whether it's good/bad to drink/smoke/do whatever.
But for the sake of my meditation practice, I assume that I personally should avoid alcohol when I can (esp. before I turn 21), and avoid smoking/doing drugs period.
Whether someone else does it isn't my concern. Occasionally I have feelings of "(S)he shouldn't be doing that," but I don't consider those feelings important. So I guess I'd have no objections up to the level of being forced to drink/smoke/do whatever, or breathe second-hand smoke for the long-term. |