You say that doing drugs is to escape reality, and is therefore something an on the derech person would never do...
I think we might be getting into semantics her, but doesn't one have to be on the Derech first, in order to go OFF of it?
Plenty of frum ppl have very difficult "realities". It's incorrect to assume they would never tell try to "escape.
Unfortunately, very true. However, there are ways to deal with it that don't involve a
chemical "high".
Please don't get me wrong. I am not judging anyone. I started off by telling a story to refute the claim that OTD has to do with עם הארצות. In telling some facts, drugs were mentioned, which led to the current discussion of whether drugs have anything to do with OTD. I expressed my opinion that drugs are by definition OTD - or maybe we can say that תחילת נפילה - ניסה. Escaping reality is (or could be) the beginning of going OTD.