Why do many people find it thrilling to poison themselves with drugs and alcohol?

They dont care  

Usually to anesthetize emotional pain.

 Such substance will release dopamine in their own mind zx

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People wouldn't do them w/o the pleasure association. "Poison" is subjective on an individual case by case basis. The saying goes, everything in moderation. Society doesn't want to hear about functioning addicts for 20 or more yrs. that quit their demons unscathed. It happened to me (15 yrs. clean) but I don't recommend what I did to anyone else. I even quit tobacco 9 yrs. ago. Mine is a message of hope.  

Because it is. Sometimes a life blurred by alcohol or drugs is better than reality. Addiction is a sickness that is hard to beat.

Anonnymous said "Have literally lost "friends" cause they didn't like that I rarely drank alcohol with them. I say, there's some things I just don't need to partake in."   IMHO, drinking or mild drugs may be OK on rare occasion, but most of us behave badly when drinking AND when we're out of our own control, we're not really getting everything we can out of the moment. When I get old, I don't want to know that there's a lot of my life that I don't remember or that I regret for treating people badly while drunk.  Life is good.  Try to enjoy it. 

I wonder the same thing. I come from an immigrant background, and we started drinking wine as kids. There was never any mystique about alcohol. I did see people get drunk and make fools out of themselves and never had the desire to do the same. In my mind drugs are even worse. I agree with you why poison yourself? I never did pot or even smoked a cigarette, and have no regrets. For some I suppose it is an escape from reality, although temporary at best or a stress relief in either case a very poor choice.

I am in my 60's now, and never used any narcotics or alcohol in my life. O.K., I drank a can of beer once because there was nothing else to drink. On the other hand, my father was a heavy drinker and lived to be 74, but died on the bathroom floor in a pool of puked blood when his liver finally exploded. 

they have no control over it and that is why it's an addiction

Well, first of all, because it is actually a pretty thrilling experience.  Yup, unlike most people, i can admit that.

Self medication.  Some of us don't need a doctor to tell us that we need meds for this or that.  We can govern ourselves, if you can imagine that, lol

And/or, addiction which arose due to self-medicating from trauma or other life issues.  Often times this can start as a script from a doctor that ends up mismanaged or abused.

And/or, religious reasons.

And/or, for the sake of enhancement in doing something, like altering the eyesight for a hunt.

And also, human culture encourages it, even expects it of some of us.  This, I don't understand and take offense to.  Have literally lost "friends" cause they didn't like that I rarely drank alcohol with them.  I say, there's some things I just don't need to partake in.