Thanks for the clarification. I apologize if I came across a little snappy or snarky. It was really late last night, and I know better to not post stuff when I'm that tired.
No worries at all, I didn't feel that at all and I also didn't really word my post as well as I should have.
So to summarize my point: I "personally" think that recreational use of Kava is
But excessive abuse of Kava is
It's the same difference to me as having a few glasses of a good wine for dinner opposed to sitting down and chugging a straight fifth of Southern Everclear. I've done both, and know which one is recreational and which one is outright abuse.
Absolutely. There's no reason that kava can't be enjoyed by people that aren't using it for "medicinal"-like purposes. It should be seen as a substance just like coffee; you could drink a ton of red bulls and get completely jittery or you could have a cup of coffee in the morning to get up and ready for the day.
So maybe we could come up with and promote a better term that is the equivalent of "got a good buzz going on" instead of one the implies "I'm totally ripped and hammered". But I don't think we should shun people for how they use Kava, because no matter what they do with it, it's way better than the alternatives out there. But rather, gently encourage a better way through education and support.
I think that just stating the effects would be a good start. I mean, in our review forms we have: Euphoria, Relaxation/Sedation, Muscle Relaxation, etc. These terms are much more appropriate than "I'm so f***ing krunked I can't walk straight".
Just to further elaborate on my previous point about the origin of the internet accounts they are referring to, I did a search for "kava h*gh" (trying not to get this indexed like what I'm about to describe...)
Anyways, the results for that originate from "druggy" forums.
(Click the image to see what I mean)
I think that while our community continues to grow in both size and online presence, though, that we should keep these things in mind as Tyler said (and we have all agreed on).
I think he summed it up well by this:
"Talk about the chemotypes, the various levels of lactones, talk about relaxing properties, the mood lifting properties, but stay away from direct drug comparisons, or making kava sound like a drug rather than an herb in its effects. There really isn't any need to mention any drug by name on here as it just dirties the reputation of Kava out in public for anyone to read. Lets think about how we can do our part."