Drug Negatives
Saturday, 15. November 2008, 23:11:58
I've compiled a little list of the negatives. I'm going to start with the drug crowd. (Hopefully, this isn't the stuff you heard in school).
In the anti-drug courses they have in school, they say things about 'gateway drugs'. I don't believe that crap. I think there's such a thing as a 'gateway friend,' however.
There's a wide variety of people in the drug game. A lot have mental/emotional issues, and take things to feel better (in the long term, it just exacerbates the problem and allows it to grow; I lived this). Some are hippies, looking for elusive higher states of consciousness. Some are just lost souls and pseudo-rebels, doing it because they aren't supposed to and it's fun and cool. Then there's the victims of the hard drugs-crack, heroin, meth, etc.-who live on the streets and live to feed the addiction. They're almost impossible to help, and rarely get helped. The hard drugs-which I didn't play with-almost universally destroy.
The average user is a white, single male, in his thirties. Compare that to your stereotype.
Probably the best point I can make about all of those folks is that, regardless of how many of them you know, they'll all disapear when the drugs run out. And quickly. They'll think something's wrong with you, and encourage you to start up again. When you've become a lost cause, they're gone, forever. My entire social circle was made up of these people; we met out of a single common interest, and when that goes away, so do the 'friends'. Maybe one or two of them will stick by you, but quitting's the only time where you'll find out who you've got for friends. I've got almost nobody left locally, and I used to run with a pretty big crowd of people. (There are a few who use them for religious purposes, but they're the minority).
Usually these people are living in total squalor. And a lot of them are really shallow. When you run out of drug stories to exchange, you've got nothing to talk about to them.
*
Masking problems instead of solving them-A lot of people can't deal with themselves, or their lives, and prefer a narcotic slumber. A few try to lose weight with drugs (stimulants, usually-don't do this. Exercise. You gain the weight back and then some if you do stims.), a lot try to treat their depression or other ills with it (see weight loss. It goes away temporarily, then comes back worse.). I don't know what else to say about this.
*
Going crazy-Almost any substance, used to excess, can trigger a psychosis. People say marijuana won't, but it did it for me. Drug related psychoses may or may not fade with time, but if you're already crazy and don't know it, even marijuana can set you off. The brain is a delicate thing.
*
Legal issues-Possession is illegal. Sales are even more illegal (Instant 30 years). Something to think about are the methods smugglers use; I have an uncle in the Coast Guard who told me about things like fiberglass and lead and paint being found in confiscated shipments. Smugglers have to hide the stuff in places where it won't get found, and these places often have chemicals in them. Another thing is work. Almost every job that the working/lower class/unskilled population has to take will require a drug test (people with degrees, however, never experience this, because we live in a free country). So essentially, you can't work and have anything in your system (even if you're not getting high on the job or on the road). Which brings up DUIs. Excellent way to kill yourself AND innocents riding with you or in the other car or on the street.
*
Finally, i'm going to bring up my own personal motive for not doing it-drugs screw with the artmaking process, and really ruin the final product. Even nicotine and caffeine have subtle effects, from what i've noticed in periods when I was clean of everything. I don't believe the lie stating that they enhance creativity. Creative work enhances creativity; nothing else does.
Gah. I'll add more. I think I need to think about happy things...
In the anti-drug courses they have in school, they say things about 'gateway drugs'. I don't believe that crap. I think there's such a thing as a 'gateway friend,' however.
There's a wide variety of people in the drug game. A lot have mental/emotional issues, and take things to feel better (in the long term, it just exacerbates the problem and allows it to grow; I lived this). Some are hippies, looking for elusive higher states of consciousness. Some are just lost souls and pseudo-rebels, doing it because they aren't supposed to and it's fun and cool. Then there's the victims of the hard drugs-crack, heroin, meth, etc.-who live on the streets and live to feed the addiction. They're almost impossible to help, and rarely get helped. The hard drugs-which I didn't play with-almost universally destroy.
The average user is a white, single male, in his thirties. Compare that to your stereotype.
Probably the best point I can make about all of those folks is that, regardless of how many of them you know, they'll all disapear when the drugs run out. And quickly. They'll think something's wrong with you, and encourage you to start up again. When you've become a lost cause, they're gone, forever. My entire social circle was made up of these people; we met out of a single common interest, and when that goes away, so do the 'friends'. Maybe one or two of them will stick by you, but quitting's the only time where you'll find out who you've got for friends. I've got almost nobody left locally, and I used to run with a pretty big crowd of people. (There are a few who use them for religious purposes, but they're the minority).
Usually these people are living in total squalor. And a lot of them are really shallow. When you run out of drug stories to exchange, you've got nothing to talk about to them.
*
Masking problems instead of solving them-A lot of people can't deal with themselves, or their lives, and prefer a narcotic slumber. A few try to lose weight with drugs (stimulants, usually-don't do this. Exercise. You gain the weight back and then some if you do stims.), a lot try to treat their depression or other ills with it (see weight loss. It goes away temporarily, then comes back worse.). I don't know what else to say about this.
*
Going crazy-Almost any substance, used to excess, can trigger a psychosis. People say marijuana won't, but it did it for me. Drug related psychoses may or may not fade with time, but if you're already crazy and don't know it, even marijuana can set you off. The brain is a delicate thing.
*
Legal issues-Possession is illegal. Sales are even more illegal (Instant 30 years). Something to think about are the methods smugglers use; I have an uncle in the Coast Guard who told me about things like fiberglass and lead and paint being found in confiscated shipments. Smugglers have to hide the stuff in places where it won't get found, and these places often have chemicals in them. Another thing is work. Almost every job that the working/lower class/unskilled population has to take will require a drug test (people with degrees, however, never experience this, because we live in a free country). So essentially, you can't work and have anything in your system (even if you're not getting high on the job or on the road). Which brings up DUIs. Excellent way to kill yourself AND innocents riding with you or in the other car or on the street.
*
Finally, i'm going to bring up my own personal motive for not doing it-drugs screw with the artmaking process, and really ruin the final product. Even nicotine and caffeine have subtle effects, from what i've noticed in periods when I was clean of everything. I don't believe the lie stating that they enhance creativity. Creative work enhances creativity; nothing else does.
Gah. I'll add more. I think I need to think about happy things...
WIDGETIZE