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'The Agony over Ecstasy'

(drugs #2)

So you’re maybe thinking ‘What the hell is
wrong with this guy? Has he no idea of the
devastating effect that drugs have had on modern
society? Is he totally ignorant of the rampant
crime and violence associated with drugs? And,
lastly, has he no concept of how drugs are
destroying our children?

Well, duh.

It is absolutely impossible to live today
without experiencing the effects of drugs on the
average citizen. You no longer have to be the one
getting high to feel the repercussions of drug use.
If you get buzzed on the lower spectrum, you’re
still paying for the dangerous idiocy at the other
end. You see, our scientific ability to extract the
most dangerous part of something and isolate it is
biting our behind right now.

The only reason we have cocaine is, well,
because we CAN. There is no loftier reason than
that. We have innumerable inventions and
practices both good and bad just because someone
thought of it and made one or wrote it down.

LSD was created by a man looking for a blood
thinner. He developed it further because, why
not? Everything more that we know is another
step forward. Scientific curiosity begs an
explanation for every accident, so a mistake or
failure often becomes a new challenge. When the
psychologists got wind of the hallucinogenic
properties of the drug, they immediately began
using it to study dimentia because the behavior
patterns were similar. I'm sure they were all quite
suprised when the CIA and others started saying
’hey, maybe we can use this!’

Most drugs that can kill us were pretty much
invented or refined by us. The only reason we
have a problem with them is the rampant practice
of telling half-truths to promote a personal
agenda. Spreading the idea that a drug will expand
your mind and open your world to new vistas
sounds pretty enough, but what about the sheer
physical science of it? We forget to talk about it
because of the moral turbulence created by the
emotional side. The unspoken truth is, regardless
of the buzz, the physical vehicle for the drug is the
single most important aspect of it.

Heroin, the failed ‘non-addictive’ replacement
for morphine, does to your brain essentially what
morphine does; it stimulates endorphins that can
block, or maybe more accurately (ask a doctor,
I’m kinda busy) drown out the pain by sheer
overproduction. Heroin just does it ten times as
much. This is why the physical addictions happens
so quickly. The brain becomes accustomed to each
new higher level of production, so more is
required to feel stoned. The only available logic
now is that more of the drug will be needed. Only
the most direct vehicle will do. This is how an
overdose occurs. So much of the drug is now in
the bloodstream that it might as well be milk for
all it’s worth. The brain is going to suffocate.

As a scientific point of fact, all of these
realities about ingesting things or injecting things
into the bloodstream can be efficiently taught to
junior high kids when they first begin to study the
human body. Believe me, they can understand it at
that age and they can avoid many problems if they
have a physical fear they can relate to. Like
walking in traffic means getting hit by a car,
taking a pill to get high, injecting anything,
snorting things and eating or drinking certain
things can kill you. Someone will invariably tell
them about the buzz, so everyone involved with a
child should watch out to see that they learn the
scientific side first, or as soon as possible. But,
what about us 'adults'?

The wide range horrid and disdainful antics
engaged in by so many people nowadays has
caused a level of stress and emotional damage
unprecedented in history. The way we are all
battered, cajoled, hoodwinked and slammed as we
try to live our lives and grow as people is
constantly pushing us to the brink of sanity. How
do we survive it at all?

Well, the sad truth is, many of us don't.

The key to stopping these merciless killers
lies in a deeper understanding of the substances
themselves, and consistent, truthful information
being spread to all of society.

Needle programs in Europe have been somewhat effective.

As far as the rest of the drug rehabilitation
programs, they don't do as much as our
disastrous anti-heroin measures. Past the needle
exchanges, we're limited to counseling or
punishment. And guess what? The rich and smart
get counseled and the poor and dumb get
punished. Some progress.

Clearly we are in over our heads. But, do we
really need to be treading water here? What's
gotten so bad that we can't get control of the
situation?

I think we have too many hidden agendas
going on at once. Who in the government or
business wants to admit 'we invented heroin' or
cocaine??? Older soft drink companies only
sheepishly admit to their old 'magic tonic' days.
And who in the psychiatric profession wants to cop
to the release of acid to rich and celebrity circles
in the fifties? No, no one wants to admit it, but
our dangerous drugs all come from some kind of
project or research gone terribly awry, well after
the fact.

What's puzzling here, is that the people that
discovered these things either didn't see the
danger at all, or saw it and said nothing. It's like
all these hidden terrors were only found after
drugs became such a big deal in the sixties.

Yeah, and I personally own the Lincoln
Memorial. (I'm turning it into condos.)

These things are way too powerful for anyone
to miss. All pharmeceuticals are concentrated
drugs, and a great many of them can kill. Heroin
and cocaine share this drugstore strength
brotherhood with many amphetamines (speed) and
barbiturates (downers). And let's not forget that
heroin is the final refinement of the opium poppy,
which also gives us morphine and codeine. All
potentially fatal under the right circumstances.

Why do we put up with it?

It's like we're being brainwashed. Well, we
are. But who's wielding the mental soap?

Everyone.

We have become swamped with jerks
spinning facts or information for everything from
national security to money to revenge to just plain
old peer popularity. What they have in common,
good or bad, is that they're not telling us the
whole story because we probably wouldn't do what
they want us to if we knew. This goes from political
candidates all the way down to drug dealers.

Since the goverment did not officially add the
reality of heroin to the public dialog, there was
room for those selling it to spread the idea that
there was nothing wrong with it. Too many of us
were brainwashed before the truth was common
knowledge. Now, the long established propaganda
about heroin being the ultimate high actually
panders to someone's rebellious tendencies.

This is how brainwashing really works. By
capitolizing on a person's stresses and fears,
offering the 'magic, forbidden solution'. This is most
especially dangerous for teens because the vast
majority of them are at the most rebellious,
independant and skeptical point of their lives. And
therefore, the most vulnerable.

Anyone with a good enough line of crap is
going to sell your kid on anything if they can find
the right buttons to push. The big red shiny button
is authority. Parents, teachers, cops, even the
popular kids who rule through teasing. Any of
these things can be a vehicle to pander to the
unhappiness of a child.

All kids will be at least a little curious
about smoking and drinking and some will always
try it. There will always be some who'll do it later
and some who won't. There will always, sadly, be
the occasional child that develops a problem. I
don't know how to stop that forever.

I can, however, offer an opinion on how to
stop the hard stuff. You see, a kid that's curious
about smoking cigarrettes is most likely curious
about pot, too. Now, if a kid's afraid of the
illegal aspect, he won't cross that line. If he isn't,
he'll cross it at will. But if he is unsure because he
doesn't understand, he can be swayed by someone
that says the law is just political crap, like making
you study all that stuff in school that you'll never
use. Voiced as unfair restriction, the law means
nothing, so from cigarrette to joint to acid is no
big deal the way things are set up now. At this
age, two things saved me.

First, a deathly fear of needles. YEEEEEH!!!

Second, my older brother told me early on
what the deal was with anything past pot. He said
"it's like this. Pure mescaline and THC will melt at
room temperature, so nobody's going to carry 100
hits of the real thing in their pocket all day. A guy
makes a batch of acid, and if it comes out good, he
waters it down a bit and sells it as acid. If it
comes out so-so, he adds some speed and sells it
as mescaline. If it comes out bad, he puts in
whatever he can find and calls it THC. And 'reds'
and stuff, don't touch 'em. Drugs the doctor gives
you are to make you well. If you take them to get
high, they won't work when you need them".

I never took a pill to get high because of
those words.

I learned at a young age that pot had not
always been illegal, but I only knew what they told
us in school about the rest. When my brother told
me his little tale, it made the stuff I learned in
class really mean something. I was better off than
lot's of guys around me. My brother was right.

So if I could be so scared by a little truth that
I would resist all that peer-jerk brainwashing,
imagine what telling all kids the real truth will
do!!!

So we're back to that physical danger issue.
It really is the first most important factor.

Every kid knows that a chain saw can kill
them, and they, ironically, will respect a chain
saw's threat more than a drug like ecstacy. Why?
Well, when we explain the chain saw, we say ' it's
sharp, it's moving fast and it could cut off your
arm.' When we warn them about potentially fatal
drugs, they become lost in our endless string of
buzzwords. 'Emotional repercussions','social
dysfunction' lasting effect on your well-being' etc.
We pour out all these social and psychological
reasons and they are basically, overwhelming.
They can't get all that. They need a direct reason
that they understand. It can't have anything to do
with what you want or anything intangible. It has
to be simple and in your face.

It kills you by poisoning your blood and your
brain suffocates (heroin)or your heart explodes (cocaine).

If your kid learns this after the scary movie
age and before the first joint, you probably won't
see more than that. Hard drugs will always be out
of the question.

As to the non-fatal illegal drugs, the law
should forbid as it does now for a child to ingest or
the parent to expose them to. Like it already does
for alcohol and tobacco.

As for us adults, well, it wouldn't hurt us to
think of a chainsaw when someone says 'heroin'
or 'cocaine' either.

We may not soon resolve our differences
about alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, but with a
little wide publicity of the right awful truths, we
can make the really dangerous crap go away.

And when people who fall into the cracks of
life without these lessons, we need to do the
hardest thing of all.

We need to care.

copyright 2000 Pegwood Arts all rights reserved

 

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