Well I'm not much of a drinker. Never have been. I always figured anything you had to acquire a taste for, just wasn't worth the trouble. Rye and Scotch always tasted like gasoline to me --not that I would know from 1st hand experience, but you know what I mean. 8^)

I will confess to a total indulgance of drug use and experimentation from the time I was a teenager until my mid to late 20s, with varying degrees of intensity and binging.

It also didn't help that many of the bands that I played in at that time, also used and encouraged drug use - both recreationally on the road, as well as frequently performing on stage in an altered state of mind and body. Mind you, I was always in the company of excellent musicians and we too, had our arrangements down cold.

Eventually I grew tired and weary of most of it --saw the toll it took on a number of friends--some of whom died, some of whom were forever ''changed'', and some who ''just never made it back'' mentally speaking. I was fortunate that I recognised I had a problem and sought treatment, and managed to completely dry out.

These days (20 years later) the only thing I do partake of is the occassional joint of weed. Usually late at night when all have gone to bed.....but really just to relax as opposed to getting totally zoned out.

I find sometimes that it is helpful when working on recording projects, to smoke half a joint.....not talking about getting blitzed here, just enough of a glow to RELAX and lighten myself up a bit. I tend to get very intense when recording, and sometimes the intensity drives me to try and achieve a level of perfection that I can't quite nail --due to the nervousness of recording -- and the subliminal thought that nothing I do is ever good enough -- In any event when I get into this frame of mind after multiple takes on a given track, I'll take a break, do the doob, settle down for a few minutes, and then return, and nail whatever it was within 2 or 3 takes. I'll check it the next day (totally straight) and make sure it still sounds good and is faithful to what I originally wanted to do.....and it usually is.

Please understand, I am not advocating drug use to anyone here, as a vehicle for creativity or for any other purpose. I am simply commenting on the title of this thread. The method I've mentioned just happens to work for me, and I am quite comfortable with it, and I enjoy a nice glow from it, as opposed to a glass of wine or a couple of beers, whether at the end of a long day of working, or during a private, home recording session.