Junkie's Flophouse

This is a diary about drugs. You may or may not find it interesting. I take no offense to the latter. But I promised the heroin diary, so here it is (I don't discriminate though, all psychoactive substance discussion welcome)

I don't know anything whatsoever about drugs. I was raised by a dirty stinkin' hippie commie pinko pot-smoking acid-dropping DeadHead to the nth degree. I've been on the road with the Dead. I've seen Nirvana live. I've been in practically every situation where one might expect to be "peer pressured" into trying a drug, but have never received an offer. So I have no expertise on the subject.

But if the smokers can have a coffeehouse, I want a flophouse. I have about 30 days in the military, but after that, all bets are off. Tell me your stories, all ye experimentalists of past and present. Regale me with accounts of your acid trips. Discuss cultivation and harvesting of marijuana. Give pointers on how to obtain marijuana in a strange town.

Or talk about political issues - tell me where you stand on the GWoD, on the "legalize and tax" approach, on amnesty for political prisoners of the War, about ending draconian enforcement, about finding real solutions to the criminal black market and its cutthroat violence.

Come as you are, as you were, as you want me to be...come flop with us insomniacs.

•  communal jar

  give one, pass it on.

  by kyril on Sun Jul 22, 2007 at 04:19:06 AM PDT

  •  ohhhh, save me please

    After reading the roll your own diary and now this, I'm just about ready to throw myself off a bridge or at least take up smoking again or begin a virginal experimentation with heroin or maybe even meth.

    Oh no, I've mentioned meth - the mere whisper of it is certainly enough to encourage meth use according to some.

    by tvb on Sun Jul 22, 2007 at 04:34:29 AM PDT

    •  You Better Believe

      This is a political issue as drug prohibition has first and foremost been all about repression and protecting favored industries. With the advent of Nixxon and his inauguration of the WOD, the repression turned it's attention from minorities and shifted to middle class white kids- you know the one's who were fucking up Nixxon's little war and scaring the bejeebus out of the Plutocracy.

      Drug prohibition has been used as an excuse to strip us of our rights, little by little- after no-knock searches, "reasonable cause" re-defined so as to be meaningless, trashed property rights, etc- abominations like the Patriot act become a second nature progression of tyranny.

      I won't even get into the huge profit motive whole sectors of the economy have in keeping even the most innocuous drugs illegal, nor the fact that the global heroin trade finances a lot of nasty stuff that goes on behind the scenes with the full involvement of official government intelligence services.

      Drug addiction is a fact of life. Some people can get addicted to nose spray for chrissakes. The criminalization approach doesn't work as advertised, never has and never will but then that's only for the rubes anyway. The big money and the big power know why its that way and its not for anyone's protection or benefit but their own.

      I won't argue the merits or dangers of drugs, that's superfluous anyway. Drug abuse and addiction are medical problems and should be treated as such. Beyond that, as in all things, personal choice within moderation is key.

      by Dave925 on Sun Jul 22, 2007 at 05:30:34 AM PDT

      •  Some people can get addicted to nose spray!

        Darn right they can. That's why our medical office (in the 80s) gave out free samples just long enough for you to get the rebound headache and drips and come back to buy it on a regular basis. Good stuff too. One spritz on each side and you could feel the energy! We did stop giving out the cute little samples of codeine cough syrup when they put it behind the counter in stores and started asking us to keep log-books of what we gave out...

        by peaceloveandkucinich on Sun Jul 22, 2007 at 05:45:04 AM PDT

        •  Afrin is one of the worst

          It doesn't give you a buzz but it does cause rebound congestion that can only be alleviated with more Afrin.  Helluva a marketing ploy, don't you think?

          by Spathiphyllum on Sun Jul 22, 2007 at 05:48:12 AM PDT

      •  

        With the advent of Nixxon and his inauguration of the WOD, the repression turned it's attention from minorities and shifted to middle class white kids

        Heh?

        You do realize that the % of the black population imprisoned for drug offenses at any given time is about twice the percentage of the white population?

        Or that possesion of drugs which are more popular in minority communities ( like ,say, crack) is penalized at completely disporportionate levels?

        Or that your risk of incarceration on a low-level second-offense possesion charge is almost seven times greater if you're either black or latino?

        If you think that the Drug War is aimed at

        middle class white kids-

        then you should maybe read the arrest statistics.

        by Remembering Jello on Sun Jul 22, 2007 at 06:10:36 AM PDT

        •  Yes I do know those facts

          But I was referring to that time in specific, 1971- and it wasn't the Panthers they were trying to derail with their new agencies and focus, for them they had stronger remedies. For us white kids- it was all about the weed and the acid.

          Sorry I didn't make that more clear.

          It wasn't until the 80's the focus was returned to it's original targets, people of color more or less.

          by Dave925 on Sun Jul 22, 2007 at 07:13:47 AM PDT

•  Goats.....

  I experimented with drugs quite a bit as a teenager and well into my twenties. If pot was legal, I would be smoking it on the weekends but I could lose my job if drug tested so...

  We used to go to "bush parties" in highschool. You knew somebody with a chunk of property in the country, you made a big ass fire, you possibly knew a few people who played music and ta da... I went one night with a bunch of friends and promptly lost them. I was not much of a beer drinker, so I settled in with some pot chatted with stangers. After a few hours somebody ponked my shoulder and said I think your friends are looking for you. Turns out they all dropped acid, including some intended for me and chased goats. One unlucky girl got bit. I was the "sober" one in the group despite being kinda high. The girl needed stitches so I rounded up somebody who could drive and off we went to the emergency room. My friends were tripping and obnoxious, dancing in the ER and generally annoying the truly injured. I dragged the girl back to get stitches because she couldn't answer any questions, she was laughing the whole time. the MD was overworked and sighed the whole time and asked me if I was also high. I said sure a little but you're dealing with the normal one in the group. He gave instructions about follow up with her regular MD and she was forever named "goat girl."

  by undercovercalico on Sun Jul 22, 2007 at 04:38:04 AM PDT

  •  

    I hate being " Cub Scout Leader".

    by Remembering Jello on Sun Jul 22, 2007 at 05:58:44 AM PDT

•  I had a doctor...

  ...who was about to perform an EGD on me suddenly decide to tell me the history of his medical training, including how he used to get stoned out of his gourd in medical school. As the anesthesiologist was putting me into "twilight sleep" I clearly remember the doctor telling me a story about how right before an exam he and his friends smoked a quarter and went looking for an ice cream truck after midnight. I never figured out if the doctor was pulling my leg or if he really was a stoner through medical school. I do remember his nurse and the anesthesiologist had shocked looks on their faces. Everyone seemed confused as to why he decided to bring the subject up in the first place.

  That's all I remember about that procedure and that day. Everything after being put under is gone. I don't even remember the doctor's name.

  Anyway, telling that story right before doing a procedure was a perfect example of TMI - though he was most likely banking on the fact that I wouldn't remember anything. WRONG! I remembered everything up until I was put under.

  I don't have problems with people doing drugs although medical school is certainly NOT one of those places one should be getting high or even drunk since lives will depend on what you learn and retain.  Despite that experience, I do think all drugs should be legalized since they can be used as reasonably and responsibly as alcohol and caffeine; but I didn't appreciate that doctor telling me about his drugged out exploits right when I was being put under. I would have felt the same way if he told me he used to get shit-faced drunk or over-caffeinated before his exams. That was uncool.

  by Spathiphyllum on Sun Jul 22, 2007 at 05:31:54 AM PDT

  •  He probably thought he was being funny...

    I can definitely see why you did not think so. MDs generally have highly arrested social skills he probably thought he was being "cool".

    by undercovercalico on Sun Jul 22, 2007 at 06:25:19 AM PDT

•  About weed

  So, having grown up in Canada, I've seen first-hand that progressive laws towards possession are more effective than harsh laws.

  In Canada, no one goes to jail for possessing small quantities of weed. Simply stated, cops in many cities don't consider the offense worthy of their time completing the relevant paperwork. In stricter jurisdictions, a fine may be imposed... The result is that people charged with marijuana possession aren't removed from society and made to socialize with other criminals in a violent prison. It means less money spent on prosecutions, less cases on the court dockets and a much smaller percentage of our population in prisons. Most of my friends think that it's an outrage that you can be locked up for years just for having a joint on you in many states.

  There's the billboard that Hunter S. Thompson writes about in his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:

  "DON'T GAMBLE WITH MARIJUANA! IN NEVADA:
  POSSESSION - 20 YEARS
  SALE - LIFE!!"

  But one could walk right by a cop on the street in Montreal smoking a joint... He/she might ask you to throw out the joint, if they're having a bad day.

  In a democracy, one doesn't need a reason to make something legal, but rather one needs a reason to make something illegal. There are no credible studies that suggest that marijuana is physically addictive(though it certainly can be mentally addictive), is not known to have any carcinogens that aren't by-products of its burning, and no one has ever died as an immediate consequence of using or even overusing it.

  by dantyrant on Sun Jul 22, 2007 at 07:39:00 AM PDT

•  Also, about the illegal drug trade

  It's no secret that the illegal drug trade has been useful to our government in the past as a means of acquiring funds that are 'off the books' - that is, the moneys generated by black market drugs have been spent by our government on projects for which Congress has never appropriated funds. It's allowed policies like the Iran-Contra affair to be carried out in secret, outside of the gaze of Congress.

  It's even plausible that the US might be maintaining a War on Drugs in order to generate such funds, now that I think about it. If, say, marijuana was legalized, it would generate *$35.8 billion* for the economy, could potentially be made taxable, and this would remove a major source of revenue for gangs and organized crime.

  Check out this article for more about the links between the CIA and the illegal drug trade:

  The CIA Drug Connection Is As Old As The Agency

  Here's a taste:

  CIA ties to international drug trafficking date to the Korean War. In 1949, two of Chiang Kai-shek's defeated generals, Li Wen Huan and Tuan Shi Wen, marched their Third and Fifth Route armies, with families and livestock, across the mountains to northern Burma. Once installed, the peasant soldiers began cultivating the crop they knew best, the opium poppy.

  by dantyrant on Sun Jul 22, 2007 at 04:11:00 PM PDT