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Talk to your kids about drugs, they'll thank you later
by anna at 07:44 PM on February 09, 2005
Much later. There's nothing more tiresome than being a parent and seeing some B-list celeb urging you to talk to your kids about drugs. Except maybe being a non-parent and seeing it.
Although without any urging from us my son is adamantly, almost prudishly, opposed to drinking, smoking, drugs and sexual dalliance. He did not inherit this from me.
I do talk to him about it though. He's 14, a little older than I was when I got sucked down into the roiling vortex that has left me and almost all my associates emotionally stunted. Don't get me wrong. We're all successful adults with good jobs and loving families but still that legacy remains. We are like pretend adults, for our misspent youths were misspent because we were addicts who didn't know where to draw the line. That is the lesson I've tried to impart to my son.
Don't get involved but if you do, use some common sense and moderation.
There's drugs and then there's drugs. Dave got pushed overboard on the shrimping boat while high on mushrooms. Frank shot himself on meth. Diane got run over in a redlight district of New Orleans, trying to turn tricks for crack. The last time I saw her she was offering a handjob to anyone who'd give her one hit or what white drug snobs like to call freebase i.e. high-class crack.
Lore took a hit of that and had a grand mal seizure. She nearly died, and since has. I was there. When she awoke, she calmly went about preparing more. I saw Brian take what looked like a bottle of Visine and put a drop of pure LSD-25 in each eye. A demonic sneer immediately came over his face. Someone was stumbling across a McDonald's and fell, spilling their food all over a family. He had taken a caterpillar-sized pill known as Plastidyl, which has no known medical use. Drug companies used to crank out a lot of this stuff, like Quaaludes. Oh wait, that one was me at age 13.
I saw a roommate crawling around on a dust-warren-laden floor, picking little pieces of cocaine out of the dirt after some guys weighed some of it and divided it up into portions. He then took a rusty syrine, one of those huger fuckers that used to terrify me at the doctor's office, and plunge the mixture of dust, coke and whatever else was on that nasty floor into his veins. He's dead too.
In high school classes we'd smoke very potent hash out of these supposedly smokeless pipes. In retrospect everyone must of known what we were doing. So the biology teacher places this rodent skull on the table and we're all supposed to draw it. Billy stares at it for a while and then smashes it with his fist. Blood is spurting profusely from his hand. The teacher is like, "Mr. Haney, what happened here? After a long pause he's like, "I... don't... know. I was...just looking at it...and then it broke."
The chem lab never could keep its supply of triple beam scales.
comments (21)
When it comes down to it, and i can; say i will have this view when I have children, but i really believe alcohol should be outlawed. Why do we accept a drug that alters our perceptions enough to make us do things that are way off base and out of character. Seemingly controlled people having violent fits. Yet socially we all shrug it off as "being wasted" so its okay.
Now this is not to say I don't drink. I do but not as often as i did in high school. Now I prefer marijuana to get my fix from time to time. I look back at all the stupid things I did over the years, and think to myself now, what if I had just got high and passed out that night? Seems to me I would rather have my kids smoking weed and not having the energy to leave the house (so that I can watch them) rather than all teh parents that consistantly look the other way as their child walks out the door with a 40 ouncer.
I also hear about alcohol poisoning all the time... especially with younger, smaller kids. Who has ever got weed poisoning? I've seen people get green and puke, but usually they pass out or get overwhelming amounts of paranoia first.
The drug that scares me the most today is extasy. I watch my peers wolf it down on a daily basis. I've done the drug and it does make you feel great but still to put that many chemicals in your system 100 times in a year? It can't be good. At least most of them wash it down with a pack of smokes.
The battle seems fruitless, no parent will ever keep their child from doing something they want to do. Instead i say talk to them and help them use the right drugs, not the wrong ones.
by dominathan at February 9, 2005 8:38 PM
Ludes man, fucking luuuuuuuuuuudes. Fantastic post! Heh heh.
Back on the ol' rave scene I lost two friends to the ever calling abyss, well, one lost his life and the other his mind. There's a whole new level of hell created just for those who go too far, or who are just purely ill fated. I remember there was a track at the time that repeated, "Have you seen Martians?" Boom, boom, boom, and then it'd go, "Everywhere!" My friend Ben on a couple of Purple Om's adopted that as his entire vocabulary. He lost his Swede big time, institutionalised, and when released, he would still only say, "Everywhere!" It was fun for about five minutes having him back. "Hey, Ben, you seen any Martians mate?"
"EVERYWHERE!"
After the sixth or seventh time I, and others were just scared of the guy. Had a friend go missing in Doncaster at a club called Warehouse. Last anyone saw of him he was off his tits reciting to strangers exactly what he'd taken, and what he still had to neck. Every drug he’d mentioned was taken into account at the inquiry, - the older folk failed to realise that when on shit, that’s all people talk, he hadn’t taken half of what he’d boasted in my view - when the police were investigating his death. He was found at the bottom of Donny canal, nineteen years old, he was older than me by one year, now I'm older than him, odd. We had to watch a video of him leaving the club with a couple of big ass guys to see if we could identify them, I'd never seenem before, but it looked tome like he wanted to go with them, no doubt he had something they wanted and a quiet place to hand it over. The inquiry was particularly bad, descriptions of his body, which after a week and a half under water you can imagine, wasn’t a pretty narrative, friends being questioned and accused, if his younger brother hadn't have cleaned out his bedroom maybe his parents would have been less likely to blame us, his friends, and instead just accept that their son was and had been taking and dealing for a fairly long time.
Wendy Comboy... Seeing her go off track was pretty painful because I'd had a crush on her from being fifteen or something, the last time I saw her I was waiting for a bus and she stumbled over slurring, holding a dirty piece of paper. From what I could make out she wanted to know the location of a particular address, but the paper didn't have anything intelligible on it, save the dirt from her hands it was blank as far as I could see. I was having a one way conversation, talking to her as if she was a three year old, and basically telling her to go home. She was a mess, she smelled awful, her hands were all gnawed and grafted in dirt, her hair was a messy tangle of shit and god knows what, her clothes were… Ach, you get it.
She'd stopped hanging about with us long before I saw her there at the bus stop, and had dropped into a dodgy crowd, and had fallen for a dodgy smackhead bloke. She's dead now too, don't know much about the hows and whys... And didn't go to the funeral. I heard very few people did... Sad. Feel weird about that night at the bus stop though, I have a feeling that if I’d have been more willing to help her out, maybe take her home, get her cleaned up a bit, fed her maybe… Bah I dunno, had a girlfriend at the time and I was just repulsed by Wendy. Chances are she’d have nicked my video and done one out the door anyway.
But, anyhoo, good for your son, just keep him off the video games and the interest in sex will peak and then get out of control, that's what we want for him, right? I'm alive, kicking, and cuh-lean... Doncaster was an eye opener. Aaah. *inhales* I consider myself a lucky fuck, but I’ve nearly convinced myself I’m still here because I was smarter than those that died. Nearly. *straaain*
by Ex Crimson Guard NCO at February 9, 2005 11:14 PM
Kudos to your son, and kudos to you for being so open with him.
All thoughout high school, I never had the desire to drink or do drugs until about halfway through my senior year. I decided that it was good to wait until after graduation to experiment, and now I've tried close to 10 different drugs including nicotine and alcohol. I think I've turned out to be a level-headed and good person, despite my occasional indulgences in drugs.
I hear about people who were tripping on acid while in high school, and while I kinda wish I would've known about those kids or maybe even been one of them, I'm quite happy that I decided to do too many drugs during college. Probably didn't too TOO many, seeing that I ended up with a very impressive GPA (only had one B my entire college career. That was my lowest grade. Fucking Java. Only computer programming class I took.).
by Leaffin at February 9, 2005 11:20 PM
Drugs and doing good on tests aren't mutually exclusive. Brian and I partied at the SAT's. I got the highest score ever in my state (since topped.) Brian was right up there. I think he's now one of those wigged-out bond or stock traders who're supplied by bike messengers. Somehow "who're" doesn't look right in print but I'm sure it's a word.
by Anna at February 10, 2005 7:46 AM
Lockheed used to be a bond trader that was supplied by a bond trader who was supplied by a commodities trader who was supplied by an equity trader who was supplied by a forex trader who was supplied by a bike messenger.
by Lockheed at February 11, 2005 3:12 AM
And the bike messenger was probably the richest of them all.
by Anna at February 11, 2005 7:37 AM
Like Ian, I'm almost prudishly anti-drugs. And there was a stretch through college that I was prudishly anti-drinking, too. I don't think it was that my mom talked to me about them, in fact, she almost encouraged me to take drugs and drink. Which sorta took the cool out of it. Those teenage years are all about rebelling against things, I didn't really have anything to rebel against.
by mg at February 11, 2005 9:37 AM
in high school, I felt weird when all the other D.A.R.E. kids went out drinking and I didn't.
by MrBlank at February 11, 2005 10:15 AM
When I say cuh-lean, I mean T-Total, I didn't take anything addictive, only Class-A was Ecstasy, which back then was something you could talk about loudly without people knowing what the hell you were on about. Had crap dance tunes come out by the abysmal 'The Shaman', "E's are good, E's are good, he's Ebeneezer Good." Could take banners to football matches that read: "Ecstasy it’s really got me going!" And nobody bothered to learn to what it referred.
I think my friend's death, among others, was among the first to bring the drug to the fore of government attention and to force them into creating awareness schemes and to publish the effects of and warnings against the drug. All night raves took a dive and are now so commercial it’s boring. Now, as far as I am aware, it is nigh on impossible to get a decent ecstasy tab... S'all mixed up shit, even good speed is hard to come by. I have a couple of friends who still do speed on nights out, I can't see the point, for a night out dancing, all night, perfect drug, for a night out drinking, to possibly pull and have some sex... Can't think of a worse drug. Lord Billy I'm Whizzing's tongue is doing ten the dozen... His penis isn't up to much, and he has only the ability to scare women into light areas of the dance floor where he won't follow because he knows his sweat will reflect the lights and blind everybody in the club.
Much prefer booze, and if I think sex is on the cards, I slow up and start sipping. A bottle can last an hour when the goal is in sight.
by Ex Crimson Guard NCO at February 11, 2005 3:15 PM
WILLY LOMAN IS DEAD at 89....
...I always feel like crying when I read Death of a Salesman...
...NOW, wouldn't it be great if they revive DOAS with an entirely CHINESE cast?
...fucking hilarity.
by LOCKHEED at February 11, 2005 5:33 PM
Well, the drinking is the bugaboo. I can't recall whether I put the incident involving driving Ian, a pipe, a window, my nosy stepdaughters and all in the body of the post. But after that nighmarish humiliation, ten years ago, all I've had is wine. Except for the occasional Paint Bucket Incident (I know you're out there Ezy, that's for you,) that is.
by Anna at February 11, 2005 6:58 PM
Great post and comments. I didn't know that Ecstasy could be so bad for people. Lockheed, that was a very impressive string of suppliers. And it is sad that Arthur Miller has passed away.
by jean at February 11, 2005 10:43 PM
Hi Jean! Thanks. Please post Monday. Recommended reading on this subject: David Crosby's Long Time Gone. He not only details his descent into addiction and gun-toting madness but also goes to great lengths to distinguish his (white boy) drug of choice, freebase, from the ghetto concoction crack. As if he didn't find himself at the open air drug market where brothers sidle up and say "whatchoo need" in a pinch. Please. Non-recommended reading on this subject: American Psycho. The movie was so much better.
by Anna at February 12, 2005 7:59 AM
Ecstasy isn't that bad, it's the shit that folk sell that passes for it that is. British papers had a field day with it though, and the rave scene became stigmatised, probably rightly so. Always had MC's warning people about bottled water going around that was spiked, which was scary when you were completely off your tits and could barely remember where you'd gotten your water from.
Ben lost his Swede on Purple Om's, acid not ecstasy, there were varied tabs at the time and the most popular were Strawberries. Was like an urban myth that to take a Purple Om was to really throw caution to the wind... Ben had a few, I reckon it was probably that thought that fucked Ben up though, rather than the strength of the acid. I remember very few good trips, but I remember every bad one, laughing at something until my eyes watered and then losing my head because I couldn't tell if I was laughing or crying... Not so bad when I think about it, but at the time I was just fucked, took the calming influence of a gal called Louise to sort me out, filling my head with crap to take my mind off it.
Wendy was a smackhead, no ecstasy there. So, ecstasy, I'm not sure is particularly bad, when it is ecstasy. Just get so hyper you can forget that your body needs wattah, and a little rest. Dancing for eight hours straight ain't a problem, and with the nature of rave music, DJ's blending their sets into one massive, unending dance tune... Just danced like a zombie until it all stopped. Then coming down could take forever, and it was never nice. God knows why we did it, can't see the appeal now.
by Ex Crimson Guard NCO at February 13, 2005 5:27 PM
Somebody gave me some of that shit in 1987, long before anyone had ever heard of it. I have (or had) a picture a GFand me standing there looking, well, ecstatic. I don't recall if we really were though.
by Anna at February 13, 2005 6:39 PM
I still am convinced extasy is one of the worst drugs out theer to get your hands on. Its true that it wont kill you every time, but like speed, and meth it is a drug that can be madeout of numerous substances and you can never be sure just what you are taking. There are worse drugs out there, one comes to mind called "lily". I heard about it a few years ago. The word is the two hits would make you legally insane. Not the insane like LSD where it is just and excuse to get off a murder rap, but absolutely insane. Stapped to the bed and yelling and screaming.
What scares me is that extasy is in such mass rpoduction. You can get it anywhere, sometimes it is easier to find than pot. If that many people are making it and it still can kill peope sometihing has to be seriously wrong with at least one part of it.
by dominathan at February 13, 2005 10:20 PM
Re: ecstasy... Ahh, I see.
Post Monday? I'll try Anna, although I have the flu just now. Be gentle if I'm not fully coherent.
by jean at February 14, 2005 3:46 AM
Sometimes people say things here that just blow my mind: Not the insane like LSD where it is just and excuse to get off a murder rap, but absolutely insane.
by Anna at February 14, 2005 7:42 AM
I'm not sure if you agree or disagree... but i have heard of cases where people who took many hits od acid got away with murder by saying they were insane. I know people who have taken large doses of acid, and weird as they might be they are still together. Actually most of them were pretty weird before they dropped acid 50 times.
by dominathan. at February 14, 2005 10:05 AM
Locally a guy tried to cop the insanity plea by saying he had MPD. One of his myriad personalities was a demonic dog. The dog offed his gal pal. Please. This doesn't work here in the south nearly as well as it does out west.
by Anna at February 14, 2005 7:40 PM
I'd have to side with him. After all thid dog is demonic. You should count your lucky stars to have come so close to the elusive cerberus.
by dominathan at February 14, 2005 11:24 PM