Pubdate: Sat, 19 Sep 2015
Source: Observer, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015, Sarnia Observer
Contact: http://www.theobserver.ca/letters
Website: http://www.theobserver.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1676
Author: Greg Scharf
Page: 7

THERE'S NEVER AN UPSIDE TO DRUG ABUSE

You're in some strange company if you use meth

When drug use began to go rampant in the United States, former Harvard
psychiatrist Baba Ram Dass countered that former colleague Tim Leary's
"Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out" with the idea that mankind has an innate
drive to "get high" or experience altered states of consciousness. He
noted there is some psychoactive product in virtually every culture on
the planet except the Inuit, be it alcohol, peyote or others. He went
on to state that while drugs can indeed give us a taste of a spiritual
experience, they don't provide a map to get there. His answer was to
find it through spiritual means.

I am so sorry to see that drug use seems to be growing in Lambton
County, as well as drug-related crime. I have seen some horrid crimes
committed under the influence...m Meth is called "the Devil's Drug" in
Southern California, referring to the despicable crimes people will do
under the influence, and how far down the scale people will go to get
it. It steals your soul.

Often parents are told that a new bunch of friends can be an indicator
of a child exploring drug use, and sometimes that can be true.
However, a local judge told me that quite often a youngster's first
high comes from raiding the family medicine cabinet, particularly with
narcotics such as Oxycontin or Fentanyl, but then things get tougher
as those drugs are really expensive on the street down here.

Generally the move is to heroin. And right now heroin is rampant
throughout the American Midwest, so it's probably already making its
way across the Bluewater Bridge. Very dangerous stuff.

Street drugs vary in purity; you get one "hot load" and it's over. One
dirty needle, and your life is badly compromised.

You're in some strange company if you use meth. Load some Breaking Bad
on the DVD when you're on a run and you'll likely see your Christmas
Future. Meth leaches calcium out of human teeth, leading to "meth
mouth", and "speed bumps" which come from picking at imaginary
creatures under one's skin (particularly on the face) are lovely.

I always wondered why Hitler made such bonehead moves such as turning
on his ally Stalin, which ultimately destroyed him. Apparently his
physician gave him daily injections of a meth/ vitamin cocktail. Now
it certainly makes sense that Hitler's keepers refused to wake him on
D-Day to order troops to counter the invasion. I get it; people who
are crashed after a three or four-day run are pretty cranky,
particularly if they're hallucinating.

Ever wonder why Nazi troops could do such horrendous things such as
load hundreds of Jews into a building and then set it afire?
Apparently the troops were also issued meth, and when in the Russian
winter, an opioid like Percoset to take the pain from the cold.

An extreme? I had to help keep a friend from killing his daughter's
meth-head boyfriend a few years ago. Not a bad guy when normal, but on
a run, he took my friend's baby granddaughter and broke her femur, and
when they gave her an exam, turned out he'd broken her upper arm as
well a month or so earlier... Although, with addicts, the most
extensive form of child abuse is neglect. In fact, a young man I know
tells the story that as a baby, his dad tried to sell him for drugs.

If you're using, please get help. And if you're thinking about
starting, don't. There will just be an initial feeling of euphoria
that you'll never get again, and you'll spend everything you've got
and hurt everyone you love trying to get it back.
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MAP posted-by: Matt