The Drug War
“You have to face the fact that the whole problem is really
the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this all while not appearing to.”
- Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States. Statement recorded in 1969 in the diary of his Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldemann.
While my readers may find this chapter the least useful for their immediate future, it’s probably the most noteworthy for our long-term success with managing the many drug related dangers we face in America and nations under similar law. It was impossible for me to ingratiate myself into education and harm reduction at the level I now find myself without becoming fully engrossed in this industry’s policy reform movement.
I could start by paraphrasing from an article in the magazine, The Economist from early 2009. It discussed how our society’s leaders have not yet admitted defeat. How until the late 1990’s, it seems they actually believed it was possible to achieve a “drug-free world.” Now, they argue more that they have helped to stabilize the drug market, but often with such illegality, accurate statistics are hard to ascertain.
But this is a total farce…
The truth is that this so called “Drug War” has not been a war against drugs at all, but rather a war against people; specifically, a war against certain demographics in society, most often poor minorities. As in my opening quote, the war on drugs is the device the government used to mask its attack on primarily African Americans. The notion that this is the true agenda that initiated and propelled the longest running war in human history, is to me, more horrifying than all the adverse effects of the legal, medical and educational standards on drugs held by the U.S. today.
“If our own government was responsible for the deaths of almost 100,000 people… would you really want to know?” – Stephen Rea playing Inspector Finch in the film, V for Vendetta.
The following is a brief history review: compliments primarily of the Drug Policy Alliance Network, found at www.drugpolicy.org. If you are at all concerned about issues discussed in this chapter, this non-profit network is one to which I recommend you donate time, money or resources.
1870’s to 1920’s, in the United States, the typical Opiate or Cocaine addicts were middle aged, rural, middle-upper class, white women. Despite 250,000 addicts in a population of 76 million, society perceived the situation as simply a health problem.
Late 1800’s, Native American Indians in Mid-western U.S. organized a new religion revolving around the use of the Peyote Cactus. Churches and government agencies were against this psychedelic movement of course, and claimed that while on Peyote, men were killing people and women were ripping their clothes off. Not dissimilar to exaggerated myths today about users of PCP, heroin, LSD, weed, etc.
In 1909 the state of California prohibited the smoking of Opium to discourage Chinese immigration to the West. The Chinese were immigrating and providing competitive, cheap labor. This would make it harder for white people to find work.
“I don't see no Americans. I see trespassers, Irish harps. Do a job for a nickel what a nigger does for a dime and a white man used to get a quarter for.” - Bill the Butcher played by Daniel Day-Lewis in Martin Scorsese’s film, Gangs of New York.
A good example of natives fearing foreign influence and immigration. And a great actor and good movie. Do realize that America as we know it was founded and built by immigrants. Our government instilled fear in its people with stories of white women becoming stoned whores in Opium Dens.
In 1910 the Federal Government wanted to control drugs. They needed to lie to achieve this because very little crime was actually associated with drug users. To convince Southern members of Congress to support the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914, they were told myths about how the use of cocaine was causing African – American males to uncontrollably rape white women.
In the 1920’s and 30’s marijuana grew popular amidst the American Jazz scene, in which black and white people were happily smoking and getting high together. Again, feeding off of racism, the government propaganda suggested that this type of integration was an example of the degradation induced by weed.
The Marijuana Tax Act was passed in 1937 during the Great Depression. This was, in part, accomplished by convincing white people that the Mexicans who were taking their jobs were also violently attacking white people while high on weed.
In the early 1960’s, along with a flood of psychedelics, the popularity of marijuana returned amongst college students who questioned the government. Weed was also popular with urban blacks in this time period that were growing very upset about the slow implementation of the Civil Rights Legislation. Nixon later targeted both of these groups and successfully managed to create the stereotype of the poor youth and minorities as being dangerous drug users.
There are countless rumors regarding the CIA’s supplying the Bloods and Cripps of 1980’s Los Angeles with Cocaine and Guns in order to finance the Contras in Nicaragua. In this case not only is our government buying drugs to finance a war, but also using poor black kids to sell the drugs and kill each other off. But that’s a separate story.
The only way the war on drugs makes any sense is if you look at it with Nixon’s agenda in mind. In that capacity, and in that capacity only, this war has been an enormous success. The primary accomplishment of this endless struggle has been the creation of modern slavery in America. 72% of drug users and dealers in the U.S. are white. 13.5% of drug users and dealers are black. Police officers are assigned to patrol certain areas; typically poor, urban areas. Not rural areas in which odds are people have money and connections, making them more capable of getting police in trouble for illegal searches and methods. 37% of those arrested for drug violations are blacks. 60% of those in state prisons for drug felonies are blacks. 81% of those charged with federal drug violations are blacks. Whites serve an average of 2 years less than blacks for the same drug violations. The FBI reported that a black male born to a young couple in the U.S. today has a one in three chance of spending time in prison. During Apartheid in South Africa in 1993, 851 out of every 100,000 black people were incarcerated. During the War on Drugs in America in 2008, 6,667 out of every 100,000 black people were in prison.
And what has been the cost of this impressive implementation of racism? Vast monetary expense, organized crime, and death tolls greater than any war in human history. The U.S. spends $40 billion each year in an attempt to eliminate the supply of drugs. Our government spends more money on housing prisoners than it does on general education for the youth. It arrests 1.5 million of its citizens each year for drug offenses. One third of them actually spend time in jail. Over six thousand people in Mexico are killed each year as a result of the drug war. The estimation of the dollar value of the illegal drug trade business constantly changes depending on which agency you are asking. It is always in the hundreds of billions.
Prohibition created organized crime and helped it flourish. The only reason the drug trade is such a profitable business, in which the dealers control the market, is that it’s illegal, and thus, unregulated. It’s these profits that make drug lords able to afford to buy anything and anyone: cops, judges, politicians, governments. The Drug War makes criminals out of buyers, sellers, and users of these products, or even people like me, who just want to save lives through honest education. Locking up addicts accomplishes nothing. It only perpetuates the problem for them, their families and society as a whole. The U.S. has more people, per capita, in jail than any other country in the world. Our country’s fastest growing business is building prisons. Many of our kids are unable to get loans for school due to convictions of non-violent possession charges. Many of our citizens lose their right to vote, which of course can help sway elections in a direction that again, will only ensure the continuation of this war.
The lack of regulation, with no legal standards to be met, makes drugs more dangerous. Addicts are being forced to buy unreliable product and use in less than sanitary settings. That is how Heroin kills most of its victims. There are many reasons why users may receive the wrong dose. Can you think of a worse business in which buyers and sellers are to be held to moral standards? Prohibition has caused the purity of drugs to increase and makes them easier to access. A 12-year-old can purchase heroin with no problem whatsoever. All he or she needs is his allowance or something to barter. Yet the kid would have a very hard time buying cigarettes. Drug dealers do not ask kids for I.D. or proof of age. They don’t care, because they don’t have to be accountable. They cannot be held responsible. I’ve never heard of anyone ever suing a drug dealer. They resolve their issues violently, thus contributing to the casualties of this war. We have created a situation in which the ailments of drug addicts are being treated by dealers instead of doctors. Users are afraid to ask for help. One of the scariest notions is that the Drug War perpetuates itself. It feeds off itself, each side growing with every year it continues. There are now so many jobs that exist simply to fight this war. So much money is put into it. These cops, prison guards, DEA officers and others worry about losing their jobs if the war were to end. And drug lords get richer and richer… and terrorists profit off of all of this drug trade… and more and more of our own people die.
And what was the government’s excuse to do all this, to wreak all this havoc? Oh yes, to prevent addiction. Right? Wouldn’t it have been nice if that were actually true, and they were trying to help? If it had been true, this war would have ended years ago due to its obvious failure.
In 1914, drugs were legal and 1.3% of Americans were addicted. By 1970 the illegality of drugs made them far more potent and accessible, and still 1.3% of Americans were addicted to drugs. In 2008, drugs were still illegal and still only 1.3% of Americans were addicted.
Think it’s time we try something new?
I know most people are now warming up to the idea of legalizing marijuana on some level. But people think it sounds ridiculous when someone simply states that all drugs should be legal as well. But this is what does make the most sense if you really think about our goals.
Legalize all drugs so that they can be regulated and taxed. If drugs were legal, there would be no financial motivation for a black market and the Drug War would cease to exist. With no underground trade, “hot” doses made by lazy or deceptive dealers would no longer exist. That alone would prevent most of the deaths that result from overdose. If drugs are not illegal, buyers and sellers are not breaking the law. So right away, we save the tens of billions of dollars that we would have spent on fighting crime and housing criminals. There are many good examples we can look to for how well this strategy would work. For instance, we – the U.S. prior to 1914, the Netherlands and Switzerland in present day are doing very well – drug related death and crime are much lower in these places. Next the U.S. government could decide to produce all the drugs itself. This would ensure the quality of the drugs that the public would receive. Imagine the security of a world in which all your drugs had labels and listed ingredients, like your bottle of Advil or can of soup. When was the last time you bought a bottle of Jack Daniels from a liquor store only to find that the clerk had already opened the bottle and filled half of it with Diet Pepsi? Or to find a Marlboro Red cigarette laced with PCP? This would never happen because sellers of these products have licenses that can get revoked. Imagine how much safer it would be if your dealer didn’t have a gun and his cocaine had its purity levels and contents typed on a sticker placed on the side of the bag. And he’d be accountable if the sticker read the wrong information. McDonald’s makes damn well sure that there are no fingertips in the chicken nuggets because they know it will be a million dollar law suit. The more dangerous the substance, the more secure the transaction should be, not the other way around. And yes, maybe the harder drugs would have to be prescribed by medical doctors, who just have a more exclusive license. With the money saved by ending prohibition, and the surplus in taxes made on the sale of many of the drugs, (like the enormous tax the government puts on cigarettes, which actually has helped to lower the number of cigarette smokers in America), we could open free rehabilitation clinics. At these clinics we could provide addicts with free drugs under the supervision of health counselors, helping to ensure the safest possible use. These counselors could attempt to slowly wean the users off these drugs. This would prevent spread of disease and addicts wouldn’t be forced to perform criminal acts to obtain funds to purchase the drugs. At that same clinic they could offer drug education and general education. And how about having career counselors there as well? Does this sound like a safer environment to do Heroin in than a back alley? Does this sound like a more productive learning environment for a 15-year-old than a prison? We’d then have dealers and users off the streets, out of sight from children who are walking home from school. No more dealers to recruit new users until they get arrested and replaced 10 minutes later.
For the cops and others who are worried about losing their jobs upon repeal of prohibition - let them work on criminal cases in which people are actually harming others and not just themselves. Or how about these workers get trained to work in rehabilitation centers and drug education programs? We need to eliminate the criminal factor so that we can finally treat drug use medically instead of legally. To help deal with all the non-violent offenders who were wrongfully imprisoned and would be released, we could put a portion of the fortune we save by ending prohibition towards health care, housing, jobs with livable wages, and honest drug education programs in schools. What is wrong with politicians today? Is this not happening because they cannot admit that they’ve either been lying or incompetent up to this point? Or are there just too many people in power who are completely devoid of any moral values and reap the monetary benefits of this situation? The irrational drug laws run against most of the ideals this country claims it was founded on. And in the realm of this discussion, I often find myself ashamed to continue living here amidst the injustice. As long as I’m here, all I can do is fight for what I believe is right.
And this issue, along with my initial passion to prevent drug overdose, is what I feel most strongly about. I started writing this book half way through college, before I ever grew real interest in any studies, and this remained my favorite topic. I think it’s what also prevented me from finding contentment in performing arbitrary tasks in the 9 to 5 world of jobs and partying. When life got in the way of my working in this industry, I felt that life had become pointless, that I was wasting my time here. And this is what drives me to continue my work in this field, no matter how unorthodox a form it takes at any given stage. From writing, I gradually turned to lecturing and teaching, the first portion of which I lived on the road for 11 months and essentially went back to college living. Then, I rather quickly turned to music and art, and now film, and back to writing and everything together. I’ll use any medium through which I can reach the youth before they become prisoners of one form or another.
The war on drugs is an attack on our civil liberties. It is immoral to put a human in a cage because he put something in his own body. This is no longer a war.
“Girl, you can’t even call this shit a war… Wars end.” – Carver, in the pilot episode of the HBO television show, The Wire.
The humans lost. It now resembles genocide. We must show the government how many people are pro education and rational policy reform.
For far greater detail on this issue, and the primary source of research for this chapter, read End Prohibition Now!, an award winning essay by Jack Cole, Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). Jack gives an incredibly informative talk as well and he is a terrific guy. He is one of the more interesting people I met at a number of Drug Policy Conventions and Hemp Festivals across the U.S. in 2009.
While there may be more creative ways to help end the war on drugs, if you are looking to learn more and spread the word, you can refer others to sources on this topic in the “suggested works” chapter. And to directly contribute in some way, whether it’s volunteering, a donation, or anything else you can think of, the most impressive organizations I’ve had the honor to grow acquainted with are Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Drug Policy Alliance Network, International Harm Reduction Association, Students For Sensible Drug Policy and Flex Your Rights. I thank you in advance for your time.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Introduction to Drug Stories Chapter
I thought it would be fun to have first hand sources of information here. Especially for some of the drugs that many people might not know so much about. Kind of a different perspective than you’ll find in other chapters. The writers range from a teenager in college to an 80-something-year-old woman who hangs out at a senior center a few days a week. They are just people who wanted to say something about a particular substance or about their experience in general. To read more stories like these that didn’t make it into the book, you can visit the blog connected to www.howtohavefunandnotdie.com.
P.S. A terrific writer was originally lined up to write a piece on Adderall, but he was constantly on and off his medication, completely disorganized and was never able to finish his story. I considered having someone else do it, but realized that the above fact is telling enough. Even more telling is that 37 months later, that same person has now failed to hand in his story for the 2nd Edition, even though we’ve spoken about it at least twice a year and once a week in these last two months. We even lived on the road together for 2 weeks along the west coast of the U.S. in May, 2009, a time frame in which it did not get written. For further details on that time period, refer to the “Escape from Moss Beach – Part 1” story in my future book, most likely titled, Stayin’ Alive: U.S. Drug Tour 2009.
Order of stories (as of now) is as follows…
- ACID
- BEER
- BIRTH CONTROL
- CIGARETTES
- DMT
- METH
- MUSHROOMS
- OXYCONTIN
- PCP / MARIJUANA
P.S. A terrific writer was originally lined up to write a piece on Adderall, but he was constantly on and off his medication, completely disorganized and was never able to finish his story. I considered having someone else do it, but realized that the above fact is telling enough. Even more telling is that 37 months later, that same person has now failed to hand in his story for the 2nd Edition, even though we’ve spoken about it at least twice a year and once a week in these last two months. We even lived on the road together for 2 weeks along the west coast of the U.S. in May, 2009, a time frame in which it did not get written. For further details on that time period, refer to the “Escape from Moss Beach – Part 1” story in my future book, most likely titled, Stayin’ Alive: U.S. Drug Tour 2009.
Order of stories (as of now) is as follows…
- ACID
- BEER
- BIRTH CONTROL
- CIGARETTES
- DMT
- METH
- MUSHROOMS
- OXYCONTIN
- PCP / MARIJUANA
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Safest Practice
Safest Practice
“The health department does have an interest in – if you’re going to do certain things – to get you to do it as healthily as you possibly can.” – New York City Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg addressing controversy over the NYC Health Department’s Safer Heroin Practice Pamphlet on Monday, 4 January 2010.
Initial motivation for this chapter came from three places. The storyline for the documentary I’m filming, the ingenuity of my criminal lawyer Josh Seidman, and notes from Andrew Weil, M.D.’s best selling book, From Chocolate to Morphine, a must-read.
General Points -
• Take drugs in a way that gets you high slower, like eating instead of smoking, or snorting instead of injecting.
• Don’t drink and drive. And this essentially goes for everything. If you are on a drug, don’t do any activity that you wouldn’t want to be doing if you were suddenly to go unconscious. My babysitter from the mid-1980’s drunkenly drowned in her bathtub in the spring of 2009.
• Try to take only one drug at a time. Especially avoid mixing two or more downers.
• Know the drug and the source you are buying it from as well as possible. A lot of unreliable product is sold on the street. Try to have a relationship with your dealer/doctor and other customers. When there is no legal liability in a deal, it’s best if one is considered trustworthy.
• If it’s been a while since your last use or you’ve lost weight or have a cold, take less than you were or are accustomed to. Your tolerance may be lower.
• Use with friends who have more experience with the drug you are taking. If alone, inform someone before you use so they can check on you.
• If you are trying a new drug, do as little as possible to see what happens. It’s easy to take more drugs if you want. It’s much harder to take drugs out of your body. And try to be with experienced user.
ADDERALL: The least amount of amphetamine feasible should be prescribed or dispensed at one time in order to minimize the possibility of overdosage. It should be taken orally. Read about the dangers of snorting something meant to be swallowed in “How To Do Drugs.” Adderall should be used with caution in patients who use other sympathomimetic drugs. It would be good to get to the root of the student’s problem before turning to drugs for a quick solution.
ALCOHOL: Know your tolerance. Drink what you want with a purpose, what you want to achieve from the experience. Don’t drink out of peer pressure. If this is too hard, try to avoid those who would pressure you. Using different forms of discipline, one should try to control the rate of consumption. If you can’t drink slower, drink more dilute forms, such as mixers in your hard liquor. Drink water in between alcoholic beverages to prevent the following day’s hangover, which is caused by fluid loss.
“Did you know that having a hangover is not having enough water in your body to run your Krebs cycles? Which is exactly what happens to you when you’re dying of thirst. So, dying of thirst would probably feel pretty much like the hangover that finally bloody kills you.” – Paul Bettany in the film, A Beautiful Mind.
You can also drink more if you eat food before or during your drinking. If you are too drunk, vomit or go to the hospital. Place a drunken friend on his side so that he won’t choke if he pukes while passed out. If you don’t go to the hospital, try to pass out in a place where people can check on your breathing.
CRACK: “Using a glass or metal stem with a mouthpiece. Wipe mouthpiece with alcohol to prevent getting sick or infections. Use clean choy or copper wire. Pipe screens are best. If using a plastic bottle or pipe, remember to change the foil & use clean ashes. Sleep as much as possible. Let pipe cool down before taking next hit, to prevent cuts and burns. Use straight glass shooters, it will not cause burns as quickly. Wrap end of straight shooter with rubber band, thick rubber, piece of tape or paper (match book cover rolled) & clothespins so you’re less likely to hurt lips. Clean crack shooters often & carefully. File edges of broken glass shooters until it is smooth. Touch flame to shooter quickly instead of leaving it there, move fire along shooter to spread out heat.” - http://sfhiv.org/files/substance/Health%20&%20Safety%20Tips%20for%20Crack%20Smokers.pdf.
During periods of smoking crack, consume a lot of vitamin C and fluids. For more details on health and medical advice refer to the URL given above.
DELIRIANTS: Including but not limited to: Nutmeg, Mace, Amanita Mushrooms, Nightshades. User should be lying still in a safe place. In case user needs help, he should be accompanied by someone who is not on the drug. Nutmeg and Mace cause terrible hangover the next day. The mildest route of administration for Amanita Mushrooms is to smoke the dried colored peels.
DOWNERS: Barbiturates and Sleeping Pills.
Don’t use more than prescribed. Lower doses will often work. Don’t do activites that require normal judgment and coordination. If you take these and stimulants, they can work against each other. It is possible to achieve your goals without taking either. Don’t take downers if you are sick.
HEROIN: It is safer to snort than to inject.
The following is instructions for the safest possible injection process, basically for any drug that can be mixed with water.
1) Clean surface with BZK pad or use a sheet of fresh paper. BZK stands for Benzalkonium antiseptic towelettes. They are alcohol free towelettes so they will not sting.
2) Wash hands with soap or BZK pad.
3) Use new equipment every time you shoot. A new Bottle Cap. A new syringe. A new Bandage.
4) Rinse, using different water. Then mix.
5) Clean injection site with alcohol pad.
6) After injecting press gauze pad on injection site.
7) Use a band aid.
8) Return syringes to a needle exchange site.
9) Throw everything else away.
Equipment referenced above and other necessary items:
- Bleach: to disinfect used syringes when a clean one isn’t available.
- Clean Bottle: for mixing water and bleach.
- Alcohol Swabs: to clean the injection site before insertion.
- Bandages: to help avoid infection after injecting.
- Sterile Water: to mix the drug with.
- Tourniquet: to tie off above the injection site. This helps the veins surface for easier injection.
- Bottle Cap: for mixing water with the drug before it’s drawn up into the syringe. This is commonly called the “cooker.”
- Cotton Balls: to trap dirt and debris as the drug, mixed in water, is pulled into the syringe.
- Syringes: you should always get a clean new one. These are provided at distribution sites, and can be purchased at drugstores.
Always try to use with someone else. You both should be able to recognize symptoms of overdose: little or no breathing, face and lips turning blue. Ideally, you want someone else there who is sober.
INHALANTS and SOLVENTS: Keep away from fire or sparks. Don’t put your head completely in a bag. Breathe fresh air afterward. Don’t use them often. Keep out of eyes.
KETAMINE: The most common way this is administered is through injection, but this is not the safest. The liquid form of Ketamine can be evaporated down to solid crystals. You can crush these into powder, which can then be swallowed, smoked or snorted. Taken orally is, as usual, the safest route of administration. One receives a longer effect, with not as intense a peak.
MARIJUANA: You have the least risk of dependence if you eat it. Though, when taken orally the effects can be unpredictable. If you must smoke it, using a Vaporizer can decrease odds of Lung and Bronchial disease. If you smoke too often it can become more of a habit than a satisfying activity. If satisfaction levels do lower, take a break from smoking and it will be more fun the next time you try it. Especially during early use of marijuana, you should do it in peaceful surroundings. If you have a medical condition and you are smoking marijuana to treat it, get a letter from a doctor.
NARCOTICS: Opium and its derivatives.
Only real healthy use of it is to treat severe physical pain. One should never inject for recreational use. The more you enjoy this process, the more important it is that you not do it again. If you are injecting, do it in as sanitary a setting as possible. See “Heroin” in this chapter.
NITROUS OXIDE (WHIPPETS): Never breathe it directly from a pressurized tank. It’s easiest to breathe out of a balloon. You shouldn’t breathe it for more than a few minutes at a time or regularly over long periods of time.
PCP: The oral route is the safest. Trip will be less dramatic. But it’s more important to know what dose you are taking because it’s not going to hit you right away, and this can lead to taking too much. If on PCP, you should attempt to be in a peaceful setting in which practically no thought or movement is necessary.
PEYOTE: Don’t do it if you are pregnant or breast feeding. Don’t do it if you are scheduled for surgery within two weeks.
PSYCHEDELICS/HALLUCINOGENS: Know your sources. You should take them only if you are already happy in mind and body, and very comfortable with the setting and people. You should have nothing to do for the next 12 hours. (Far less time necessary for DMT, but you don’t want to plan anything too important anyway). Take them when you also do not have much to do the next day. You want to have an empty stomach. This makes nausea less likely. Take them orally. Best if saved for certain, special circumstances. Also, flashbacks are not a myth. They do occur, but very rarely. The truth is that the concern and anxiety about having a flashback are greater problems than the flashbacks themselves. So try not to worry about it.
STIMULANTS: Including but not limited to: Coffee, Tea, Caffeine-containing plants, Cola, Chocolate, Coca, Cocaine, Amphetamines, and Tobacco.
Try your hardest to let your body recharge itself after the high of a stimulant instead of just taking another stimulant to sustain the high. Ideally you want to have much more conservative limits on your frequency of use. Nutrition, rest and exercise are key forms of “recharging.” As always, better to use for a purpose, like a wrestling meet or studying for an exam, and not to rely on use for everyday activities. Take orally to prevent addiction and bodily harm.
“The health department does have an interest in – if you’re going to do certain things – to get you to do it as healthily as you possibly can.” – New York City Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg addressing controversy over the NYC Health Department’s Safer Heroin Practice Pamphlet on Monday, 4 January 2010.
Initial motivation for this chapter came from three places. The storyline for the documentary I’m filming, the ingenuity of my criminal lawyer Josh Seidman, and notes from Andrew Weil, M.D.’s best selling book, From Chocolate to Morphine, a must-read.
General Points -
• Take drugs in a way that gets you high slower, like eating instead of smoking, or snorting instead of injecting.
• Don’t drink and drive. And this essentially goes for everything. If you are on a drug, don’t do any activity that you wouldn’t want to be doing if you were suddenly to go unconscious. My babysitter from the mid-1980’s drunkenly drowned in her bathtub in the spring of 2009.
• Try to take only one drug at a time. Especially avoid mixing two or more downers.
• Know the drug and the source you are buying it from as well as possible. A lot of unreliable product is sold on the street. Try to have a relationship with your dealer/doctor and other customers. When there is no legal liability in a deal, it’s best if one is considered trustworthy.
• If it’s been a while since your last use or you’ve lost weight or have a cold, take less than you were or are accustomed to. Your tolerance may be lower.
• Use with friends who have more experience with the drug you are taking. If alone, inform someone before you use so they can check on you.
• If you are trying a new drug, do as little as possible to see what happens. It’s easy to take more drugs if you want. It’s much harder to take drugs out of your body. And try to be with experienced user.
ADDERALL: The least amount of amphetamine feasible should be prescribed or dispensed at one time in order to minimize the possibility of overdosage. It should be taken orally. Read about the dangers of snorting something meant to be swallowed in “How To Do Drugs.” Adderall should be used with caution in patients who use other sympathomimetic drugs. It would be good to get to the root of the student’s problem before turning to drugs for a quick solution.
ALCOHOL: Know your tolerance. Drink what you want with a purpose, what you want to achieve from the experience. Don’t drink out of peer pressure. If this is too hard, try to avoid those who would pressure you. Using different forms of discipline, one should try to control the rate of consumption. If you can’t drink slower, drink more dilute forms, such as mixers in your hard liquor. Drink water in between alcoholic beverages to prevent the following day’s hangover, which is caused by fluid loss.
“Did you know that having a hangover is not having enough water in your body to run your Krebs cycles? Which is exactly what happens to you when you’re dying of thirst. So, dying of thirst would probably feel pretty much like the hangover that finally bloody kills you.” – Paul Bettany in the film, A Beautiful Mind.
You can also drink more if you eat food before or during your drinking. If you are too drunk, vomit or go to the hospital. Place a drunken friend on his side so that he won’t choke if he pukes while passed out. If you don’t go to the hospital, try to pass out in a place where people can check on your breathing.
CRACK: “Using a glass or metal stem with a mouthpiece. Wipe mouthpiece with alcohol to prevent getting sick or infections. Use clean choy or copper wire. Pipe screens are best. If using a plastic bottle or pipe, remember to change the foil & use clean ashes. Sleep as much as possible. Let pipe cool down before taking next hit, to prevent cuts and burns. Use straight glass shooters, it will not cause burns as quickly. Wrap end of straight shooter with rubber band, thick rubber, piece of tape or paper (match book cover rolled) & clothespins so you’re less likely to hurt lips. Clean crack shooters often & carefully. File edges of broken glass shooters until it is smooth. Touch flame to shooter quickly instead of leaving it there, move fire along shooter to spread out heat.” - http://sfhiv.org/files/substance/Health%20&%20Safety%20Tips%20for%20Crack%20Smokers.pdf.
During periods of smoking crack, consume a lot of vitamin C and fluids. For more details on health and medical advice refer to the URL given above.
DELIRIANTS: Including but not limited to: Nutmeg, Mace, Amanita Mushrooms, Nightshades. User should be lying still in a safe place. In case user needs help, he should be accompanied by someone who is not on the drug. Nutmeg and Mace cause terrible hangover the next day. The mildest route of administration for Amanita Mushrooms is to smoke the dried colored peels.
DOWNERS: Barbiturates and Sleeping Pills.
Don’t use more than prescribed. Lower doses will often work. Don’t do activites that require normal judgment and coordination. If you take these and stimulants, they can work against each other. It is possible to achieve your goals without taking either. Don’t take downers if you are sick.
HEROIN: It is safer to snort than to inject.
The following is instructions for the safest possible injection process, basically for any drug that can be mixed with water.
1) Clean surface with BZK pad or use a sheet of fresh paper. BZK stands for Benzalkonium antiseptic towelettes. They are alcohol free towelettes so they will not sting.
2) Wash hands with soap or BZK pad.
3) Use new equipment every time you shoot. A new Bottle Cap. A new syringe. A new Bandage.
4) Rinse, using different water. Then mix.
5) Clean injection site with alcohol pad.
6) After injecting press gauze pad on injection site.
7) Use a band aid.
8) Return syringes to a needle exchange site.
9) Throw everything else away.
Equipment referenced above and other necessary items:
- Bleach: to disinfect used syringes when a clean one isn’t available.
- Clean Bottle: for mixing water and bleach.
- Alcohol Swabs: to clean the injection site before insertion.
- Bandages: to help avoid infection after injecting.
- Sterile Water: to mix the drug with.
- Tourniquet: to tie off above the injection site. This helps the veins surface for easier injection.
- Bottle Cap: for mixing water with the drug before it’s drawn up into the syringe. This is commonly called the “cooker.”
- Cotton Balls: to trap dirt and debris as the drug, mixed in water, is pulled into the syringe.
- Syringes: you should always get a clean new one. These are provided at distribution sites, and can be purchased at drugstores.
Always try to use with someone else. You both should be able to recognize symptoms of overdose: little or no breathing, face and lips turning blue. Ideally, you want someone else there who is sober.
INHALANTS and SOLVENTS: Keep away from fire or sparks. Don’t put your head completely in a bag. Breathe fresh air afterward. Don’t use them often. Keep out of eyes.
KETAMINE: The most common way this is administered is through injection, but this is not the safest. The liquid form of Ketamine can be evaporated down to solid crystals. You can crush these into powder, which can then be swallowed, smoked or snorted. Taken orally is, as usual, the safest route of administration. One receives a longer effect, with not as intense a peak.
MARIJUANA: You have the least risk of dependence if you eat it. Though, when taken orally the effects can be unpredictable. If you must smoke it, using a Vaporizer can decrease odds of Lung and Bronchial disease. If you smoke too often it can become more of a habit than a satisfying activity. If satisfaction levels do lower, take a break from smoking and it will be more fun the next time you try it. Especially during early use of marijuana, you should do it in peaceful surroundings. If you have a medical condition and you are smoking marijuana to treat it, get a letter from a doctor.
NARCOTICS: Opium and its derivatives.
Only real healthy use of it is to treat severe physical pain. One should never inject for recreational use. The more you enjoy this process, the more important it is that you not do it again. If you are injecting, do it in as sanitary a setting as possible. See “Heroin” in this chapter.
NITROUS OXIDE (WHIPPETS): Never breathe it directly from a pressurized tank. It’s easiest to breathe out of a balloon. You shouldn’t breathe it for more than a few minutes at a time or regularly over long periods of time.
PCP: The oral route is the safest. Trip will be less dramatic. But it’s more important to know what dose you are taking because it’s not going to hit you right away, and this can lead to taking too much. If on PCP, you should attempt to be in a peaceful setting in which practically no thought or movement is necessary.
PEYOTE: Don’t do it if you are pregnant or breast feeding. Don’t do it if you are scheduled for surgery within two weeks.
PSYCHEDELICS/HALLUCINOGENS: Know your sources. You should take them only if you are already happy in mind and body, and very comfortable with the setting and people. You should have nothing to do for the next 12 hours. (Far less time necessary for DMT, but you don’t want to plan anything too important anyway). Take them when you also do not have much to do the next day. You want to have an empty stomach. This makes nausea less likely. Take them orally. Best if saved for certain, special circumstances. Also, flashbacks are not a myth. They do occur, but very rarely. The truth is that the concern and anxiety about having a flashback are greater problems than the flashbacks themselves. So try not to worry about it.
STIMULANTS: Including but not limited to: Coffee, Tea, Caffeine-containing plants, Cola, Chocolate, Coca, Cocaine, Amphetamines, and Tobacco.
Try your hardest to let your body recharge itself after the high of a stimulant instead of just taking another stimulant to sustain the high. Ideally you want to have much more conservative limits on your frequency of use. Nutrition, rest and exercise are key forms of “recharging.” As always, better to use for a purpose, like a wrestling meet or studying for an exam, and not to rely on use for everyday activities. Take orally to prevent addiction and bodily harm.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Introduction: The Doctor's Note
Introduction: The Doctor’s Note
“Education is a man’s going forward from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty.” - Kenneth G. Johnson
Over the course of writing this book I interviewed and spoke extensively with many different people to get every perspective. This gamut of people ranged from leading doctors in New York City to heroin junkies in the streets of South Bethlehem. Many of these people proved to be both informative and supportive of the project, while others held a different point of view.
Dear Eddie,
I understand your motivation and what you are trying to accomplish. Please understand that I cannot, in good conscience, help you with your project. While I do have extensive experience with patients overdosing on a number of different combinations of both illegal and prescription drugs, I am morally unable to share any information with you. I cannot support your message if it is suggesting that doing certain drugs is okay. The fact of the matter is that there are no facts about drugs. The effect that a drug can have on one person can be completely different from the effect that it has on another person. You have to realize that, not only are there different drugs, but there are also different people. There’s no telling what one line of cocaine will do to any given person.
I admire what you are doing, but I strongly suggest that you re-examine the ideas that you are trying to convey to these people. I wish you the best in all of your endeavors.
Sincerely,
Dr. S.
A well-respected psychopharmacologist wrote this particular letter to me from a hospital that I will leave unnamed. My first thought in response was “what a wus!” I stuffed the letter into my desk drawer and went out to get drunk, something I often did when I felt that this book would be too hard a project for me to handle. A few weeks later, after tossing it around in my head, I realized that all he did was articulate a really simple point that I already knew. This book is not about telling people what is going to happen to them. There are no facts. It is imperative that people recognize that we each have a particular chemical makeup which uniquely reacts to outside events. Just as someone’s personality will determine how they react to a bad grade or a rejection, your physical body will determine how you react to a line of coke or a joint. In fact, your reaction to drugs will also depend a great deal on your personality and surroundings as well. How secure you are with yourself and your surroundings can mean the difference between an acid trip ending with feelings of getting through a great adventure or ending with suicide. I know some people who cannot smoke weed simply because they get too nervous when they’re high. It’s most likely their subconscious insecurities creeping up to the surface.
So I’d like to thank Dr. S., and the many others like him, who wanted no involvement in this book whatsoever, for in fact helping me express this simple, yet significant point. DON’T DO DRUGS.
“Umm, Drugs are bad, mmmkay.” - Mr. Macky, South Park.
I suppose that these authority figures would want some sort of liability clause in the beginning, as if this were a financial institution. Well, here is the statement that is typed on the bottom in small print of any prospectus. I’ve replaced the word “investment” with the word “drug.”
“Please be aware that there are risks involved with all drugs and drug strategies. Historical drug performance may not be indicative of future results.”
As I said, we’re not talking about what will definitely occur. Nothing will definitely occur. There is no 100%. On the 13th of September, 1848, an accidental explosion blew a railroad spike through Phineas Gage’s head, severing the connection between his limbic system and his prefrontal cortex. Even though he could no longer control his emotions and impulses, Phineas did continue to live. Dr. S was morally unable to help me accidentally guide people to their potential deaths. So as I stated earlier, we’re not talking about facts. Anything could kill anyone. I’m not a doctor. I’m stating my opinions, which were formed through extensive research, interviews, observation and admittedly, in the beginning, some experimentation. If you choose to listen, all the power to you, but you are responsible for your own life. Nothing is certain, except for eventual death of course, which is I suppose what we are talking about. How and when death will come to each of us. Each decision one makes about drugs could be a life or death decision and that is why we need to be informed.
What we are going to talk about, among other things, is what has happened to people in the past. For that is the best thing we can look to in order to learn about the future. I have a strong belief in odds. If a high percentage of people have died from drinking too much alcohol and taking Percocet, then I’m going to tell you about it. That way it will lower the odds of you choosing that random combination of drugs to use and maybe you won’t die when you might have. Okay? Beautiful.
What that “wus,” Dr. S, was talking about, and I don’t blame him personally, I mean he does have a career to worry about, and you know all medical doctors took an oath to “do no harm.” An argument that people might bring up after reading this book is the classic idea that if you tell people more about something, they’ll just want to try it more. I believe that this is an archaic way of looking at things.
And by archaic, I mean the perspective of most health teachers in high schools today, which of course directly represents that of our community at large. The vague manner in which they cover these topics in class provokes only curiosity. Their injunctions of “don’t do drugs” create temptation. Like a mom telling her kid not to eat a cookie before dinner. How this isn’t obvious is beyond me. While trying to frighten people doesn’t solve the problem either, it probably would have been a better goal to just scare us by showing us so much gory detail that we wouldn’t want to subject ourselves to this horrible world. The point would have been more obvious. Talking about scaring people out of doing things, my top 3 film picks to scare people about drugs and alcohol is as follows, in no particular order. These are all terrific movies.
1. Leaving Las Vegas, Mike Figgis.
2. Requiem for a Dream, Darren Aronofsky.
3. Traffic, Steven Soderbergh.
Throw in one of these movies the next time you’re thinking about doing something dicey. You may realize that you might just be better off going to sleep. And if you happen to like books over movies I suggest you read, James Frey’s, A Million Little Pieces. It is an incredibly gripping story and will really make you think. Yes, it is true that the story was supposed to be based on real events and it ended up that James embellished the truth. True or not, it’s still a solid reading experience. I read it over spring break in Negril, Jamaica my senior year for health psychology and I think it kept my drug mentality in a better place amidst the partying that week. Speaking of James Frye, watch Oprah instead of Jerry Springer. That might sound a little weird, but just trust me. While I’m on the “just trust me” lines, let me also say the following. Do Not snort lines of Jello Shots! I was trashed at “slope day” at Cornell a few months ago and tried doing that with my friend Gooter. It was one of the more painful moments I can remember. It felt as though someone was tearing through my brain with an old pair of scissors. However, you should know the importance of snorting water in case you ever need to, as painful as that also is.
I had a horrible experience some time ago. I won a pool game against my friend J.D. The loser had to buy a shot for the winner. J.D. had told me he was going to get me back for biting his arm earlier in the evening. I had a few drinks since then and thought he might have gotten over it; either way, I should’ve been more cautious. I won the pool game. He came back with two shots that were red. I said, “What the fuck is this?” He responded, “it’s good shit.” I took it down, first thinking it was peppery liquor I had never tried, and then came the pain. I screamed. He laughed and said that his is cranberry juice and that mine is Tabasco sauce. I can’t handle “spicy” stuff to begin with. I ran over to the bartender who was aware of this ruse. He had lined up glasses of ice water. I chugged one of them. Helped the mouth, but my throat and stomach were still burning. Ran down the stairs and vomited immediately. I didn’t have to put my fingers down my throat or anything. Unable to focus on the puking process at all, the hot sauce induced vomit clogged up my nose far worse than usual. I couldn’t blow my nose or breathe out of it. I couldn’t really drink anything because I needed my mouth to breathe and started to get nervous about it in my drunken state. It was very uncomfortable. My friend Cosa then taught me that the best way to unclog one’s nose if one cannot blow out or breathe in is to snort or pour water up it. You inhale the water through your nose and cough it out of your mouth. It hurts but it unclogs the pathway. It was an interesting learning experience. Sitting in bed later that night it dawned on me that it was a good example of how anyone could put anything in my drink at any time. To do much worse things than make me take a shot of Tabasco sauce. This is a much more serious lesson than the snorting water. For the scariest example of why someone would give you a spiked drink, see the film, HOSTEL, but trust me, you really shouldn’t see that movie. It was truly disturbing and there was really no point. Actually, being disturbing might have been the point. And if you want the most horrible real life example I can think of, look up the details of the crimes committed by Jeffrey Dahmer.
As I was saying earlier about the health teachers today, it’s like these conservatives who feel that free condoms in the bathroom will promote sex to those who aren’t even thinking about sex yet. They believe that the cost of that potential problem, in addition to going against their own morals, would outweigh the benefit of upping the odds that those who were already having sex might now be more inclined to practice safe sex. Right, god-forbid we have a whole lot of people having safe, healthy sex. These old timers would rather that kids go into the sex scene not being exposed to anything. And let the ones who have the balls to get laid catch the HIV. And the truth of the matter is that studies now show that teaching abstinence is actually counterproductive. Kids subjected to teachings of abstinence are actually more likely to both have unsafe sex and have it at an earlier age than kids who receive sexual education. On October 29th, 2008 I attended the Random Student Drug Testing Summit in Albany, New York hosted by the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). The people behind this program want to be able to administer drug tests to any student at any time with no cause, thus instilling the fear of getting caught and facing expulsion. Their motivation is that this will make it nearly impossible for students to experiment, which will result in a higher percentage of students who graduate and with better grades. The only goal of the private institution is to raise its own statistics in order to look more impressive compared to other schools in the area. All of the research they presented to us at the summit showed only that there is a direct proportion between students unable to do drugs and students who do well in school. Often when these programs are put in to place, education in these topics goes by the wayside. A room full of Vice Principals sit calmly like sheep, following along this speaker’s presentation. I raise my hand furiously.
“Yes sir?” the lady says in my direction.
“What happens after the students graduate from your school? When they go to college?” I respond with a steady, but loud voice.
“What happens?” she asks.
“Well, have your people performed a longitudinal study that follows students who are subjected to this random drug testing and students who are not, to identify any clear differences in where they end up ten years down the line?”
“Our concern is how the children perform while attending our school.”
“But not as individuals performing in the world? Isn’t that what high school is preparing us for?” She’s seeing my point and getting annoyed with me now. “I think your concern is the performance of your school. Not the well being of the students in it. You say you are protecting these kids from drugs. In my experience, it’s the kids who don’t learn to make choices early on and are constrained by rules, who have the biggest problems with drugs and behavior as soon as those rules are gone.” Some of the sheep in the crowd have picked up their heads and are smiling now.
“I’m sorry sir. But this is not what we’re here to discuss.”
“Oh, sorry. I just wanted to make that point.” I sit back down.
She continues her discussion about different levels of punishments for offenses, such as losing rights to participate in extracurricular activities for first time offenders. Can you imagine their thinking? They want to take away the active, creative part of a child’s day, which I must say, would only lend itself to further drug use.
The best part of this story in Albany is that the speaker I’d spoken with found me in the hallway during a break. I reflexively flinched as she cornered me, but then she began to speak in a conspicuous whisper. “Mr. Einbinder, is it, Eddie? I’d like to share something with you.”
“Yes?” I ask, not knowing what to expect.
“I know now that my two sons tried pot when they were in high school, and I’m very happy they experimented with that and alcohol so they could learn to handle themselves before they went to college.”
“It’s necessary,” I concur.
“Well, between us, I needed you to know that of course I get where you’re coming from and I’m glad you are here.” She continues to gab with me like we’re old girlfriends for a minute before she heads back in.
I shake my head thinking sadly, so she’s just one of the countless adults who get paid to preach ideas that they don’t believe in. At least I got my point across to the crowd. The most important issue in all this is the lack of education offered once it’s deemed unnecessary.
Well I say screw this. If there’s a chance that a 13-year-old is going to run into marijuana, then that kid should be offered the correct education about marijuana. Otherwise he has no choice but to listen to the drug dealer who’s offering it to him, or of course, the constant bombardment of Ipod, T.V. and internet that we are subjected to today. And what do parents say? Go do your homework!
We have to recognize that we don’t know everything. We can’t know everything and neither can the grownups. Don’t ask how to draw the line between the two. If we realized that we didn’t know everything, we might start to think more about the risk involved in trying foreign substances. We would then get the opportunity to at least decide for ourselves whether we want to take that risk.
My only goal is to have as much fun as I can throughout my entire life. A key part of that statement is “my entire life.” Sure, I want to have fun, but if it were getting head for ten minutes and then dying right after, it wouldn’t exactly be worth it. The point is that you should want to be having a good time, but also be concerned with the fact that you will also want to be having fun later on in life; be it forty years from now or tomorrow morning. We’ve all been told about looking out for our future; trying to obtain that perfect equilibrium between work and play so that we can more steadily move along life’s path, consistently filled with underlying feelings of fulfillment and purpose. However, I’m speaking more about your day-to-day actions rather than your work ethic, which we can leave up to your parents to bother you about. Since it has practically no relationship to whether or not you’re going to get bombed tonight. Which, I’d like to add, will screw you up a lot quicker than having a bad study schedule. And frankly, that isn’t going to matter that much anyway because odds are you’re a bright kid in a so-so school in which case you’ll most likely cruise without a problem. I may have run off on a tangent just then but you should get used to it because that’s going to happen from time to time. Ironically, a simple example of what happens when you may have smoked a little too much weed in the past. Then again, it could be my slight Attention Deficit Disorder, the diagnosis of which I did not receive until after the publication of the 1st edition.
It’s been made perfectly clear that the problem I subtly referred to moments ago is not going to be your current study habits. The real problem for you is going to be drugs! All right, relax. I realize that last statement was a bit harsh. I’m not trying to scare you. I’m actually trying to help you. In order for you to enjoy this book, or maybe just for me to feel more comfortable writing it, I have to share a few thoughts.
I’m not some anti-drug activist who’s going to make you feel bad about yourself. I’ve done my fair share and possibly a bit more, depending on your perspective.
You could do anything and everything. Or you could be as sober as a 10-year-old kid who still actually appreciates the natural fun of videogames without the need for a bong being passed between him and his friends as they play. It really doesn’t concern me all that much. The thing that truly does concern me is the fact that you need to know what you’re getting into and what exactly it could do to you.
We all have free will. You could overdose or read a physics textbook. What worries me is that it might not be your decision. What if you make a mistake? Once you’ve tried drugs, you are no longer making the decisions that night. “You on drugs” is making the decisions. And who wants to trust “you on drugs?” Once you’re there, you don’t even get to choose whether you want to trust “you on drugs.” What if you just don’t realize the state of mind you are about to enter? What if you never wake up again? What if it were only up to your family and friends to wonder endlessly about your seemingly extreme actions and whether they were accidental or intentional?
Well nothing then! You’re dead and there’s nothing you can do about it. So what do you say we sit down and do something about it right now? Or maybe after you hit that bowl, if that’s what you were planning on doing before you started reading this. I had to throw that in, things were getting too serious. If you refer back to my title, “How To Have Fun And Not Die,” you can see that it sharply captures the gist of this book. I’m writing this to try to ensure that you get the opportunity to consciously choose whether to have fun, die, or to take part in one of the million different experiences that can also occur. Bottom line, we don’t want one of these things happening by accident.
“Education is a man’s going forward from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty.” - Kenneth G. Johnson
Over the course of writing this book I interviewed and spoke extensively with many different people to get every perspective. This gamut of people ranged from leading doctors in New York City to heroin junkies in the streets of South Bethlehem. Many of these people proved to be both informative and supportive of the project, while others held a different point of view.
Dear Eddie,
I understand your motivation and what you are trying to accomplish. Please understand that I cannot, in good conscience, help you with your project. While I do have extensive experience with patients overdosing on a number of different combinations of both illegal and prescription drugs, I am morally unable to share any information with you. I cannot support your message if it is suggesting that doing certain drugs is okay. The fact of the matter is that there are no facts about drugs. The effect that a drug can have on one person can be completely different from the effect that it has on another person. You have to realize that, not only are there different drugs, but there are also different people. There’s no telling what one line of cocaine will do to any given person.
I admire what you are doing, but I strongly suggest that you re-examine the ideas that you are trying to convey to these people. I wish you the best in all of your endeavors.
Sincerely,
Dr. S.
A well-respected psychopharmacologist wrote this particular letter to me from a hospital that I will leave unnamed. My first thought in response was “what a wus!” I stuffed the letter into my desk drawer and went out to get drunk, something I often did when I felt that this book would be too hard a project for me to handle. A few weeks later, after tossing it around in my head, I realized that all he did was articulate a really simple point that I already knew. This book is not about telling people what is going to happen to them. There are no facts. It is imperative that people recognize that we each have a particular chemical makeup which uniquely reacts to outside events. Just as someone’s personality will determine how they react to a bad grade or a rejection, your physical body will determine how you react to a line of coke or a joint. In fact, your reaction to drugs will also depend a great deal on your personality and surroundings as well. How secure you are with yourself and your surroundings can mean the difference between an acid trip ending with feelings of getting through a great adventure or ending with suicide. I know some people who cannot smoke weed simply because they get too nervous when they’re high. It’s most likely their subconscious insecurities creeping up to the surface.
So I’d like to thank Dr. S., and the many others like him, who wanted no involvement in this book whatsoever, for in fact helping me express this simple, yet significant point. DON’T DO DRUGS.
“Umm, Drugs are bad, mmmkay.” - Mr. Macky, South Park.
I suppose that these authority figures would want some sort of liability clause in the beginning, as if this were a financial institution. Well, here is the statement that is typed on the bottom in small print of any prospectus. I’ve replaced the word “investment” with the word “drug.”
“Please be aware that there are risks involved with all drugs and drug strategies. Historical drug performance may not be indicative of future results.”
As I said, we’re not talking about what will definitely occur. Nothing will definitely occur. There is no 100%. On the 13th of September, 1848, an accidental explosion blew a railroad spike through Phineas Gage’s head, severing the connection between his limbic system and his prefrontal cortex. Even though he could no longer control his emotions and impulses, Phineas did continue to live. Dr. S was morally unable to help me accidentally guide people to their potential deaths. So as I stated earlier, we’re not talking about facts. Anything could kill anyone. I’m not a doctor. I’m stating my opinions, which were formed through extensive research, interviews, observation and admittedly, in the beginning, some experimentation. If you choose to listen, all the power to you, but you are responsible for your own life. Nothing is certain, except for eventual death of course, which is I suppose what we are talking about. How and when death will come to each of us. Each decision one makes about drugs could be a life or death decision and that is why we need to be informed.
What we are going to talk about, among other things, is what has happened to people in the past. For that is the best thing we can look to in order to learn about the future. I have a strong belief in odds. If a high percentage of people have died from drinking too much alcohol and taking Percocet, then I’m going to tell you about it. That way it will lower the odds of you choosing that random combination of drugs to use and maybe you won’t die when you might have. Okay? Beautiful.
What that “wus,” Dr. S, was talking about, and I don’t blame him personally, I mean he does have a career to worry about, and you know all medical doctors took an oath to “do no harm.” An argument that people might bring up after reading this book is the classic idea that if you tell people more about something, they’ll just want to try it more. I believe that this is an archaic way of looking at things.
And by archaic, I mean the perspective of most health teachers in high schools today, which of course directly represents that of our community at large. The vague manner in which they cover these topics in class provokes only curiosity. Their injunctions of “don’t do drugs” create temptation. Like a mom telling her kid not to eat a cookie before dinner. How this isn’t obvious is beyond me. While trying to frighten people doesn’t solve the problem either, it probably would have been a better goal to just scare us by showing us so much gory detail that we wouldn’t want to subject ourselves to this horrible world. The point would have been more obvious. Talking about scaring people out of doing things, my top 3 film picks to scare people about drugs and alcohol is as follows, in no particular order. These are all terrific movies.
1. Leaving Las Vegas, Mike Figgis.
2. Requiem for a Dream, Darren Aronofsky.
3. Traffic, Steven Soderbergh.
Throw in one of these movies the next time you’re thinking about doing something dicey. You may realize that you might just be better off going to sleep. And if you happen to like books over movies I suggest you read, James Frey’s, A Million Little Pieces. It is an incredibly gripping story and will really make you think. Yes, it is true that the story was supposed to be based on real events and it ended up that James embellished the truth. True or not, it’s still a solid reading experience. I read it over spring break in Negril, Jamaica my senior year for health psychology and I think it kept my drug mentality in a better place amidst the partying that week. Speaking of James Frye, watch Oprah instead of Jerry Springer. That might sound a little weird, but just trust me. While I’m on the “just trust me” lines, let me also say the following. Do Not snort lines of Jello Shots! I was trashed at “slope day” at Cornell a few months ago and tried doing that with my friend Gooter. It was one of the more painful moments I can remember. It felt as though someone was tearing through my brain with an old pair of scissors. However, you should know the importance of snorting water in case you ever need to, as painful as that also is.
I had a horrible experience some time ago. I won a pool game against my friend J.D. The loser had to buy a shot for the winner. J.D. had told me he was going to get me back for biting his arm earlier in the evening. I had a few drinks since then and thought he might have gotten over it; either way, I should’ve been more cautious. I won the pool game. He came back with two shots that were red. I said, “What the fuck is this?” He responded, “it’s good shit.” I took it down, first thinking it was peppery liquor I had never tried, and then came the pain. I screamed. He laughed and said that his is cranberry juice and that mine is Tabasco sauce. I can’t handle “spicy” stuff to begin with. I ran over to the bartender who was aware of this ruse. He had lined up glasses of ice water. I chugged one of them. Helped the mouth, but my throat and stomach were still burning. Ran down the stairs and vomited immediately. I didn’t have to put my fingers down my throat or anything. Unable to focus on the puking process at all, the hot sauce induced vomit clogged up my nose far worse than usual. I couldn’t blow my nose or breathe out of it. I couldn’t really drink anything because I needed my mouth to breathe and started to get nervous about it in my drunken state. It was very uncomfortable. My friend Cosa then taught me that the best way to unclog one’s nose if one cannot blow out or breathe in is to snort or pour water up it. You inhale the water through your nose and cough it out of your mouth. It hurts but it unclogs the pathway. It was an interesting learning experience. Sitting in bed later that night it dawned on me that it was a good example of how anyone could put anything in my drink at any time. To do much worse things than make me take a shot of Tabasco sauce. This is a much more serious lesson than the snorting water. For the scariest example of why someone would give you a spiked drink, see the film, HOSTEL, but trust me, you really shouldn’t see that movie. It was truly disturbing and there was really no point. Actually, being disturbing might have been the point. And if you want the most horrible real life example I can think of, look up the details of the crimes committed by Jeffrey Dahmer.
As I was saying earlier about the health teachers today, it’s like these conservatives who feel that free condoms in the bathroom will promote sex to those who aren’t even thinking about sex yet. They believe that the cost of that potential problem, in addition to going against their own morals, would outweigh the benefit of upping the odds that those who were already having sex might now be more inclined to practice safe sex. Right, god-forbid we have a whole lot of people having safe, healthy sex. These old timers would rather that kids go into the sex scene not being exposed to anything. And let the ones who have the balls to get laid catch the HIV. And the truth of the matter is that studies now show that teaching abstinence is actually counterproductive. Kids subjected to teachings of abstinence are actually more likely to both have unsafe sex and have it at an earlier age than kids who receive sexual education. On October 29th, 2008 I attended the Random Student Drug Testing Summit in Albany, New York hosted by the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). The people behind this program want to be able to administer drug tests to any student at any time with no cause, thus instilling the fear of getting caught and facing expulsion. Their motivation is that this will make it nearly impossible for students to experiment, which will result in a higher percentage of students who graduate and with better grades. The only goal of the private institution is to raise its own statistics in order to look more impressive compared to other schools in the area. All of the research they presented to us at the summit showed only that there is a direct proportion between students unable to do drugs and students who do well in school. Often when these programs are put in to place, education in these topics goes by the wayside. A room full of Vice Principals sit calmly like sheep, following along this speaker’s presentation. I raise my hand furiously.
“Yes sir?” the lady says in my direction.
“What happens after the students graduate from your school? When they go to college?” I respond with a steady, but loud voice.
“What happens?” she asks.
“Well, have your people performed a longitudinal study that follows students who are subjected to this random drug testing and students who are not, to identify any clear differences in where they end up ten years down the line?”
“Our concern is how the children perform while attending our school.”
“But not as individuals performing in the world? Isn’t that what high school is preparing us for?” She’s seeing my point and getting annoyed with me now. “I think your concern is the performance of your school. Not the well being of the students in it. You say you are protecting these kids from drugs. In my experience, it’s the kids who don’t learn to make choices early on and are constrained by rules, who have the biggest problems with drugs and behavior as soon as those rules are gone.” Some of the sheep in the crowd have picked up their heads and are smiling now.
“I’m sorry sir. But this is not what we’re here to discuss.”
“Oh, sorry. I just wanted to make that point.” I sit back down.
She continues her discussion about different levels of punishments for offenses, such as losing rights to participate in extracurricular activities for first time offenders. Can you imagine their thinking? They want to take away the active, creative part of a child’s day, which I must say, would only lend itself to further drug use.
The best part of this story in Albany is that the speaker I’d spoken with found me in the hallway during a break. I reflexively flinched as she cornered me, but then she began to speak in a conspicuous whisper. “Mr. Einbinder, is it, Eddie? I’d like to share something with you.”
“Yes?” I ask, not knowing what to expect.
“I know now that my two sons tried pot when they were in high school, and I’m very happy they experimented with that and alcohol so they could learn to handle themselves before they went to college.”
“It’s necessary,” I concur.
“Well, between us, I needed you to know that of course I get where you’re coming from and I’m glad you are here.” She continues to gab with me like we’re old girlfriends for a minute before she heads back in.
I shake my head thinking sadly, so she’s just one of the countless adults who get paid to preach ideas that they don’t believe in. At least I got my point across to the crowd. The most important issue in all this is the lack of education offered once it’s deemed unnecessary.
Well I say screw this. If there’s a chance that a 13-year-old is going to run into marijuana, then that kid should be offered the correct education about marijuana. Otherwise he has no choice but to listen to the drug dealer who’s offering it to him, or of course, the constant bombardment of Ipod, T.V. and internet that we are subjected to today. And what do parents say? Go do your homework!
We have to recognize that we don’t know everything. We can’t know everything and neither can the grownups. Don’t ask how to draw the line between the two. If we realized that we didn’t know everything, we might start to think more about the risk involved in trying foreign substances. We would then get the opportunity to at least decide for ourselves whether we want to take that risk.
My only goal is to have as much fun as I can throughout my entire life. A key part of that statement is “my entire life.” Sure, I want to have fun, but if it were getting head for ten minutes and then dying right after, it wouldn’t exactly be worth it. The point is that you should want to be having a good time, but also be concerned with the fact that you will also want to be having fun later on in life; be it forty years from now or tomorrow morning. We’ve all been told about looking out for our future; trying to obtain that perfect equilibrium between work and play so that we can more steadily move along life’s path, consistently filled with underlying feelings of fulfillment and purpose. However, I’m speaking more about your day-to-day actions rather than your work ethic, which we can leave up to your parents to bother you about. Since it has practically no relationship to whether or not you’re going to get bombed tonight. Which, I’d like to add, will screw you up a lot quicker than having a bad study schedule. And frankly, that isn’t going to matter that much anyway because odds are you’re a bright kid in a so-so school in which case you’ll most likely cruise without a problem. I may have run off on a tangent just then but you should get used to it because that’s going to happen from time to time. Ironically, a simple example of what happens when you may have smoked a little too much weed in the past. Then again, it could be my slight Attention Deficit Disorder, the diagnosis of which I did not receive until after the publication of the 1st edition.
It’s been made perfectly clear that the problem I subtly referred to moments ago is not going to be your current study habits. The real problem for you is going to be drugs! All right, relax. I realize that last statement was a bit harsh. I’m not trying to scare you. I’m actually trying to help you. In order for you to enjoy this book, or maybe just for me to feel more comfortable writing it, I have to share a few thoughts.
I’m not some anti-drug activist who’s going to make you feel bad about yourself. I’ve done my fair share and possibly a bit more, depending on your perspective.
You could do anything and everything. Or you could be as sober as a 10-year-old kid who still actually appreciates the natural fun of videogames without the need for a bong being passed between him and his friends as they play. It really doesn’t concern me all that much. The thing that truly does concern me is the fact that you need to know what you’re getting into and what exactly it could do to you.
We all have free will. You could overdose or read a physics textbook. What worries me is that it might not be your decision. What if you make a mistake? Once you’ve tried drugs, you are no longer making the decisions that night. “You on drugs” is making the decisions. And who wants to trust “you on drugs?” Once you’re there, you don’t even get to choose whether you want to trust “you on drugs.” What if you just don’t realize the state of mind you are about to enter? What if you never wake up again? What if it were only up to your family and friends to wonder endlessly about your seemingly extreme actions and whether they were accidental or intentional?
Well nothing then! You’re dead and there’s nothing you can do about it. So what do you say we sit down and do something about it right now? Or maybe after you hit that bowl, if that’s what you were planning on doing before you started reading this. I had to throw that in, things were getting too serious. If you refer back to my title, “How To Have Fun And Not Die,” you can see that it sharply captures the gist of this book. I’m writing this to try to ensure that you get the opportunity to consciously choose whether to have fun, die, or to take part in one of the million different experiences that can also occur. Bottom line, we don’t want one of these things happening by accident.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Kids Spinning - end of spring break 2010 in NYC.
Notes from my last day of 12 day writing break, in which I drank too much alcohol, smoked the right amount of Hash (which i hadn't smoked in years) and developed allergies... Ups and Downs.
At 11 am i make my familiar walk west, first on East 2nd street, then on bleecker after a brief detour on bowery. I get my free cup of tea at the Yippie Cafe and speak to Dana Beal, who tells me the cops say they are actually going to arrest us at this year's marijuana march on May 1. I tell him we should video tape it in effort to stop them, and even if it doesn't, it would be entertaining to have the entire episode on tape.
The scene in Washington Square Park extends my vacation. I thought for just a few hours, but it turned into 48.
Half naked NYU students are strewn over every patch of grass. I realize it's 80 degrees and sunny. I pickup an Italian Special Sub from Faicco's deli (a must try) and lay out all day, playing frisbee with kids and reading on and off, instead of going to the hudson library in the west village, one of my favorites. Right around the time I think i've had enough, some high school friends email that we're meeting up at Frying Pan right after "work." I go into a house on Cornelia street to which i have the keys, take a shower, and air-dry on the roof. the Frying Pan is a bar that is literally on a barge in the Hudson River on 26th street off of 12th avenue. The place is huge: sun deck, ping pong, foos ball, a stage, a hundred tables. They serve seafood, buckets of beer, and lots more... one of the best summer time hangouts in the city.
After making a scene in the river and the west village Citeralla, we BBQ on the roof deck back at Cornelia, this turns into late night beirut and I don't know what...
More drinks from there at a late night meeting with my graffiti artist, whose work you've seen on the this website. He's been working on a new logo for t-shirts, but is more likely to give up than accomplish this task. He has a slightly drug-induced attention problems.
Just a few blocks up from there is my good friend and writer who has great bed and DVD collection.
Men who stare at Goats - 2 stars
Law Abiding Citizen - 3 stars
It's now light out again... and I'm mailing books from Post Office on 52nd street and 8th avenue in Manhattan. As i wait in line, I watch as a kid spends minutes in a row spinning in circles. He spins, starts to laugh, falls down, and repeats. His mother yells at him every time he hits the ground. I smile. It's more entertaining than either of the aformentioned films that i watched the night before with the writer of the "Ecstasy" story in the "Drug Stories" chapter of HTHFAND. "Natural Highs" are referenced in many drug books that I read. Spinning is one of the easiest to perform. Far safer than the same seven-year-olds who are choking each other to feel a rush. That activity too often results in death.
An hour later, in the subway station on Fulton and Nassau streets, two teenagers makeout from either side of a turnstile. The crowd passing by them is half nauseated, half adoring...
Andaz Hotel on Water Street and Wall Street: concept of this hotel is that it feels like home. in the lobby bar, everyone leans on what look like personal kitchen counters. and the waitress serves you drinks and appetizers at your counter. I try a Sazerac whiskey drink for first time. It's good, but hard.
A girl i've known for 2 and half years and I take out first bus ride together uptown... I almost annoyingly point out when i'm experiencing a "first." Girls sometimes find this romantic. We make out on the bus amidst the bag-ladies. Doyers street in Chinatown catches my eye - a street with one low-key bar this girl had promised to take me to. We jump off bus inbetween stops and run into the alley.
You know those awesome bars you here about that are so cool they don't even need a sign? Not even a label on the door. Yet they're classy enough that they don't turn into a speakeasy of sorts... this is one of them. People refer to it as "Apotheke." Doyers is one of the smallest and dirtiest streets in the city... inside is an incredibly chill lounge scene with live music that goes back to the 1920's... and in early evenings when bartenders are available, they make those mixed drinks you've never heard of that remind you that alcoholic mixes can actually taste good. I had the "Hemingway Special" a rum based drink with mint-delicious, etc... well, maybe i had three of them...
We drunkenly ate Dimsum at Joe's Shanghai on Pell street around the corner... while i had a phone mtg with my lawyer in charge of criminal research projects. We discuss film and upcoming business.
On east broadway at 11:22 pm people poor out of the OTB. we take cab home and i sleep wonderfully... wake up to continue writing the sequel of HTHFAND, tentatively titled, "Stayin' Alive: U.S. Drug Tour 2009."
At 11 am i make my familiar walk west, first on East 2nd street, then on bleecker after a brief detour on bowery. I get my free cup of tea at the Yippie Cafe and speak to Dana Beal, who tells me the cops say they are actually going to arrest us at this year's marijuana march on May 1. I tell him we should video tape it in effort to stop them, and even if it doesn't, it would be entertaining to have the entire episode on tape.
The scene in Washington Square Park extends my vacation. I thought for just a few hours, but it turned into 48.
Half naked NYU students are strewn over every patch of grass. I realize it's 80 degrees and sunny. I pickup an Italian Special Sub from Faicco's deli (a must try) and lay out all day, playing frisbee with kids and reading on and off, instead of going to the hudson library in the west village, one of my favorites. Right around the time I think i've had enough, some high school friends email that we're meeting up at Frying Pan right after "work." I go into a house on Cornelia street to which i have the keys, take a shower, and air-dry on the roof. the Frying Pan is a bar that is literally on a barge in the Hudson River on 26th street off of 12th avenue. The place is huge: sun deck, ping pong, foos ball, a stage, a hundred tables. They serve seafood, buckets of beer, and lots more... one of the best summer time hangouts in the city.
After making a scene in the river and the west village Citeralla, we BBQ on the roof deck back at Cornelia, this turns into late night beirut and I don't know what...
More drinks from there at a late night meeting with my graffiti artist, whose work you've seen on the this website. He's been working on a new logo for t-shirts, but is more likely to give up than accomplish this task. He has a slightly drug-induced attention problems.
Just a few blocks up from there is my good friend and writer who has great bed and DVD collection.
Men who stare at Goats - 2 stars
Law Abiding Citizen - 3 stars
It's now light out again... and I'm mailing books from Post Office on 52nd street and 8th avenue in Manhattan. As i wait in line, I watch as a kid spends minutes in a row spinning in circles. He spins, starts to laugh, falls down, and repeats. His mother yells at him every time he hits the ground. I smile. It's more entertaining than either of the aformentioned films that i watched the night before with the writer of the "Ecstasy" story in the "Drug Stories" chapter of HTHFAND. "Natural Highs" are referenced in many drug books that I read. Spinning is one of the easiest to perform. Far safer than the same seven-year-olds who are choking each other to feel a rush. That activity too often results in death.
An hour later, in the subway station on Fulton and Nassau streets, two teenagers makeout from either side of a turnstile. The crowd passing by them is half nauseated, half adoring...
Andaz Hotel on Water Street and Wall Street: concept of this hotel is that it feels like home. in the lobby bar, everyone leans on what look like personal kitchen counters. and the waitress serves you drinks and appetizers at your counter. I try a Sazerac whiskey drink for first time. It's good, but hard.
A girl i've known for 2 and half years and I take out first bus ride together uptown... I almost annoyingly point out when i'm experiencing a "first." Girls sometimes find this romantic. We make out on the bus amidst the bag-ladies. Doyers street in Chinatown catches my eye - a street with one low-key bar this girl had promised to take me to. We jump off bus inbetween stops and run into the alley.
You know those awesome bars you here about that are so cool they don't even need a sign? Not even a label on the door. Yet they're classy enough that they don't turn into a speakeasy of sorts... this is one of them. People refer to it as "Apotheke." Doyers is one of the smallest and dirtiest streets in the city... inside is an incredibly chill lounge scene with live music that goes back to the 1920's... and in early evenings when bartenders are available, they make those mixed drinks you've never heard of that remind you that alcoholic mixes can actually taste good. I had the "Hemingway Special" a rum based drink with mint-delicious, etc... well, maybe i had three of them...
We drunkenly ate Dimsum at Joe's Shanghai on Pell street around the corner... while i had a phone mtg with my lawyer in charge of criminal research projects. We discuss film and upcoming business.
On east broadway at 11:22 pm people poor out of the OTB. we take cab home and i sleep wonderfully... wake up to continue writing the sequel of HTHFAND, tentatively titled, "Stayin' Alive: U.S. Drug Tour 2009."
Saturday, September 26, 2009
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