Illegal drugs, addictive drugs & drug issues

[Seshat]

From a thread about meth in Customers Suck (Sightings):


Think about the serious mental illnesses. Think about people who hallucinate vividly all the time. People whose brains are physically or chemically screwed up, and can't 'just cheer up'. People who can't stop thinking long enough to sleep. People who are constantly jittery-active. Constantly paranoid. Constantly - well, whatever.

Now suppose you've found that when you take something - beer, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, meth, whatever - you can actually sort of think straight. Or the visions stop. Or the paranoia stops. Or you can sleep.

It's the best you've ever found.

Or maybe it's more affordable than the prescription drugs.

Or maybe you can't get psychiatric treatment because you can't work because you're sick and without work you can't get health insurance and without insurance you can't get treatment. And because you can't get treatment, street drugs are all that's available.


Sure, a percentage (an unknown-to-me percentage) of drug addicts are addicts for recreational reasons.

But a percentage of them (another unknown-to-me percentage) are on street drugs to try to silence the voices or otherwise treat a physically or chemically disordered brain.

And another percentage are on drugs because of an intolerable life, or because of earlier trauma, or some other functional (not physical or chemical) psychiatric illness.


I have little sympathy for those who got addicted purely recreationally. But those for whom it's a grasping-at-straws attempt to cope with the impossible, I do have sympathy for. And my solution is predictable: affordable medical treatment for all. In this case, the medical treatment needs to be backed up by social workers.

Psychiatric screening through the teenage years, and affordable treatment for psychiatric illness, would (IMO) reduce drug addiction by almost the entire percentage of addicts who are addicts because of psychiatric illness. Well, it would by the time the current addicts died off, anyway. A more expensive program would redirect current addicts to the psychiatric sphere for detoxing, diagnosis and treatment.

But think of the savings in crime-related costs alone! Not to mention the savings in locating, demolishing and rebuilding meth lab houses.

[ArenaBoy]

Have been against drugs for a variety of reasons:

1. My best friend was drinking a little too much at 16. Yes alcohol is a drug believe it or not and just the constant fear of her getting in trouble made me worry (I've known her since I was 3 or 4. I consider her my best friend)

2. Another girl I'm friends with is a pothead. I haven't talked to her in a while mainly because we're busy but I just don't associate with druggies. Which is a shame because this friend is smart and was into the same things I was.

3. People treat drugs as a license to be dumb.

[AFPheonix]

Some people do. Others can use recreationally just fine and not really be affected. Others just have a predilection for them and can't get off until they think they're gonna die.

I will most definitely agree that the war on drugs is a lost cause. Until we can sort the basic issues for why drug use occurs, we will not stop it. Definitely better psychiatric care and availability, better medications at affordable costs, better education about what they are and how they affect you.

[Seshat]

Don't get the idea that I'm for street drugs! It's more that I'm against a simple blanket ban without addressing the root causes of drug use.

My honourary nephew, his mother, my best friend and I had a drugs talk a couple of weeks ago, and we pretty much went over the illegal drugs; taking this line:
* he's almost certain to need some sort of psych med for the rest of his life.
* with street drugs, you can never be sure of the quality of the product
* with street drugs, you can never be sure of the dosage
* with street drugs, you can never be sure what the carrier material is
* with street drugs, you can never be sure how it will affect you, nor what interactions it will have with what you're already taking
* most street drugs are addictive and you develop a tolerance.
* prescribed drugs delivered through a pharmacist are of known quality, dosage, and carrier. Patient and doctor discuss effects and side-effects, and doctor and pharmacist check for interactions and contra-indications.
* therefore, street drugs bad. Pharmacy drugs good. Or at least, pharmacy drugs solve a problem we wish he didn't have.

He agreed with us. In fact, he raised some of those points himself. We're so proud.

But I just got sick of people in the thread being so down on all drug users, as if there were never circumstances in which someone might be desperate enough to turn to street drugs.

I guess I just wanted to say that I see street drugs as usually being a symptom of a deeper problem.

[XCashier]

Psychiatric screening through the teenage years, and affordable treatment for psychiatric illness, would (IMO) reduce drug addiction by almost the entire percentage of addicts who are addicts because of psychiatric illness. Well, it would by the time the current addicts died off, anyway. A more expensive program would redirect current addicts to the psychiatric sphere for detoxing, diagnosis and treatment.

As I said in the CS thread, I completely agree with this. I would love to see quality mental health care become more readily available to those who need it and don't have $$$ to burn. Yes, it will be expensive to the government, but prevention is far better than cure or cleanup. It'll head off a lot of problems, including but not limited to school shootings, bullying, unemployablility, the list goes on.

Besides, I trust a medically trained psychiatrist and FDA-sanctioned pharmaceutical lab far more than some modern-day witch doctor brewing up poison for street sale. For all of the reasons you listed.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I cannot tell you how many people I have known in my life who self-medicated. I use to self-medicate before I got into therapy. Now I take the very occasional toke to deal with stress and tension, but I don't medicate myself with it on a regular basis like I used to.

[Dreamstalker]

Which is a shame because this friend is smart and was into the same things I was.

That's what happened to the ex. Guy was a pothead; no idea how much money he blew. Dropped out of college (his parents were PISSED and rightly so) after ignoring any and all entreaties to get tutoring which was freely available.

I'm for pot legalization...if used properly it does have benefits (medical and otherwise...one fairly memorable programming-class-from-hell, the code "clicked" one night when I was mildly stoned). Yeah, I've tried it, figured while it was interesting, I have better things to spend money on. Also, in addition to the X-factor of "was this stuff cut and with what" there exists a gene that when combined with taking pot, significantly increases the chance of a schizophrenic break...like smoking and my family history of related deaths, I don't know for sure if I'm particularly at-risk so choose to stay away.

I'm against the hard drugs though.

I will most definitely agree that the war on drugs is a lost cause. Until we can sort the basic issues for why drug use occurs, we will not stop it. Definitely better psychiatric care and availability, better medications at affordable costs, better education about what they are and how they affect you.

Exactly, While I can understand what draws some people to the hard stuff, I also believe that were better standard care available, the number of cases could drop significantly.

[Norton]

Hi, my name is Norton... and I'm a pothead.

I dislike the stigmatism that comes with being a pothead. Yeah, I'm lazy, but I've always been lazy. I don't steal to support my habit. I work an honest 8am - 5pm job. I pay my taxes. I have a good relationship with my family. I don't roast babies. I don't feel like a criminal, but unfortunately, I am one.

I began smoking pot recreationally in high school. I smoked a bit in freshman year, then maybe only once or twice a year for the next few years, until I got to college.

I began developing a sleep disorder in my senior year of high school. I kept going to sleep later and later even though I always woke up early for school. After graduating, I began not to sleep at night at all. I would sleep all day instead. Sometimes, I would force myself to stay awake all day in hopes of sleeping at night. Nighttime would come, and I still couldn't sleep until the next dawn. After a year of that, I got a job on the overnight shift. Working at night seemed practical, but then I would go home in the mornings and still not be able to sleep until mid-afternoon!

It drove me crazy. I can't even recall how many times I would lie awake in bed, hitting my head against the pillow and crying because I just. Couldn't. Sleep. My mind was tired and needed rest. I went through a really horrible depression during that time. Ugh, crying all the time and wanting to hurt myself...

I started smoking pot on a regular basis with some friends at college. I realized when I smoked at night, I felt sleepy. I started sneaking tokes at home before bed, and found I fell asleep and stayed asleep with a natural feeling - not like with Nyquil which makes you all groggy.

Within months I was a different person. I was finally rested, and I felt happier. My job moved me to the day-shift, and I haven't kept a vampire's schedule since. For the most part, I can now fall asleep without smoking beforehand, but it's developed into a comforting ritual for me.

I also credit smoking pot (and a few mushroom trips) for helping me get in touch with myself. After years of being what everyone else wanted me to be, I now feel confident in who I am, and what my beliefs are.

When I'm feeling hysterically sad or angry, I can smoke up and review my problem and my feelings in a calm rational manner. Then of course there are the recreational side effects - TV is funnier, food tastes better, etc.

there exists a gene that when combined with taking pot, significantly increases the chance of a schizophrenic break...

Very true. Marijuana may be right for me, but it's not right for everyone - rather like any drug. Looking at the myriad of side effects of most prescription drugs though, I would rather stick with good ol' natural cannabis.

[Seshat]

I started smoking pot on a regular basis with some friends at college. I realized when I smoked at night, I felt sleepy. I started sneaking tokes at home before bed, and found I fell asleep and stayed asleep with a natural feeling - not like with Nyquil which makes you all groggy.

Within months I was a different person. I was finally rested, and I felt happier. My job moved me to the day-shift, and I haven't kept a vampire's schedule since. For the most part, I can now fall asleep without smoking beforehand, but it's developed into a comforting ritual for me.

If you can find a doctor who is willing to work with you, rather than automatically condemning you, I'd suggest seeing a doctor about it and discussing alternatives.

Very true. Marijuana may be right for me, but it's not right for everyone - rather like any drug. Looking at the myriad of side effects of most prescription drugs though, I would rather stick with good ol' natural cannabis.

Actually, many prescription drugs are just purified forms of natural stuff. Asprin is willowsalic - willow bark. Digitalis is Foxglove extract. Penicillin is a bread mold. Our pharmacopia started out as extracting the active ingredients from the plants and animals around us.

Cannabis has as many side effects as any other drug. Don't just take my word for it, follow up on the references cited in the links below.

See a reference for cannabis:
http://www.drugs.com/npp/marijuana.html

And a reference for THC (one of the primary active ingredients in cannabis):
http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/botany/thc.html

THC itself is actually available as a prescription drug, with all those same side-effects you want to avoid by using "good ol' natural cannabis".

http://www.drugs.com/search.php?sear..._main_search=1

[AFPheonix]

The other thing to think about is that just because something is natural doesn't mean that it doesn't have potentially harmful effects. There are many extremely potent poisons out there formulated from very natural plants.

Also, although I'd probably put pot as a class III or IV opiate, it still has an abuse potential and has very well documented effects on brains, especially those of teenagers and people in their early 20's.

It can be very useful for several things but as it is now, it can vary widely in quality, purity, and strength and is frankly still a chemical that you're putting in your body. It has no governing body to ensure consistency and safety.
I would like to see this one legalized and sold perhaps in liquor stores where it can be regulated better. Other, harder drugs I'm not sure about yet. Cocaine has in the past been used in hospital for various reasons, so perhaps making that one a control II prescription med would not be a bad option.

[Seshat]

It's probable that THC is not the only component of cannabis that's being studied and/or has been studied and tested and is available in a purified form with neutral carriers and in known dosage and quality.

I personally have doubts about any 'new' psychoactive chemical (whether natural or artificial) being made legal for recreational use in the current US/Australian/UK/etc culture. We're too conscious of side-effects and too concerned about their effects when driving and such for anything psychoactive to be permitted, IMO. (I might be wrong. I might be surprised.)

However, something as clearly useful as cannabis is definitely going to be studied and prepared in a prescribable way for therapeutic use.