Pro woodworking has changed.

News to me that Ritalin is an antidepressant!

Whatever the rest of  the stuff is you've said, I've never seen any of it. At the cabinet shop where I worked in college, we all had to pass a pee test just to get in the door. No trouble finding people who could. the folks in the finish room always looked a little like zombies to me, but I think it's just because they were the ones who could tolerate the repetition of stuff like spraying and wiping stain. 

As far as I know, all militaries used and still use stimulants. 

Still wondering who all of these straw moderators are. if anything, some could use a little something to loosen them up.

Can't say I've seen anything that you mention showing up in real life on the streets. We did have mental health mainstreaming in the US or whatever you'd like to call it, which put a lot of people who would probably otherwise have been housed out on the street, and there have definitely been some consequences of that. I'd be surprised if the cumulative effect of everything you're ranting about is greater than that of alcohol, though. I have seen plenty of people, including some relatives, get deep into alcoholism and then when they are forced to get past it, they don't fare well. it permanently changes them, and neither their state after going dry nor their state before was something they could keep up. The latter often due to running a car into someone or causing an accident at work. Nasty nasty stuff. 

Have seen Ritalin do wonders for two struggling kids of friends. No clue what the long term effect will be, but they went from being disruptive in school and really having trouble focusing to being stellar and involved students. I wouldn't call them "normal", but they certainly have improved to a functional level and even being around them at gatherings is a lot easier. 

Adderall is a buzzword with people it seems. I've never met a kid or an adult who mentioned using it for more than a week as prescribed. In the case of that person, it was something along the lines of super productive for one day and then by the end of a week, the effect didn't seem to be there and they stopped. 

>> My work keeps me sane, happy and fulfilled without all those crutches.<<

I cannot tell us if you're still working to convince you or us. Not sure I've seen anyone on the forums before to go to as great of lengths to convince us (or themselves) how solved their issues were.

It doesn't tell much, but perhaps I'm in the wrong industry to find the people who are taking drugs recreationally, the alcoholics and folks who work based on physical rate and who might abuse something to speed up their rate or cover pain. 

Whatever the plague of raging stimulant users is that you talk about, doesn't sound like a very good match for reality where I live.

But I have no trouble finding people who ruined their lives with alcohol and I can think of one or two with pain pill problems, at least they were temporary. 

People who are content and happy don't usually repeatedly say they are, though. At least not in my experience. Especially not by comparing themselves to straw versions of others. Hopefully happiness doesn't depend on knowing you're "better than the people who took antidepressants".

Added later 2 h 56 min 54 s:

Don't take that all too literally, Maurice. I'm not much for the whole happy thing - not because people shouldn't be happy, but because happy can be shallow when meaningful would be better in life. 

I think it's independent of a lot and sometimes means doing something meaningful to you when society prefers shallow and trivial. 

though it's true I do know a pair of kids who were absolutely saved by stimulants - perhaps not to the point you'd want to take them to a cathedral with royalty, but to the point that they aren't failing in school. I would've probably benefited from them as a kid, too, but obviously I didn't take them or I wouldn't be saying that. Instead, I got bad behavior reports on a regular basis and spent much of my childhood grounded by my embarrassed parents. 

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I've got a ...well, I won't say the relation, but let's just say this person is schizophrenic, paranoid and probably bipolar. Antipsychotics are probably heavy stuff, but she needs them. To her, they make her tired and she's normal without them and often refuses to take them. "normal" includes making false accusations and telling people that her mother is taking advantage of her and abusing her (despite being well over 50 years old with a mother 30 years beyond...who has patience I never would).  We don't hide people these days, but we ought to help them, even if the solution still won't make them "normal".