Something To Think About A Poem By James El español las Drogas Y el Desastre
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| Drugs And Disaster DRUGS HAVE AN IMPACT. What you get from the use of drugs is more than a euphoric high, which is associated with having a good time. Drugs have a direct impact on the type of person you become and the way you will perceive how life should be. People who start to do drugs for the first time are not aware of the destructive powers drugs can have; it’s this misunderstanding, which lures them in. |
What I want to discuss with you here is not only the adverse effects drugs have on your mind and body but also what effects and influence it has on your perception of life and the people around you. Drugs will cause you to become an indifferent person, jaded toward life and people robbing you of your innocence and happiness. I want to give you all the facts so you will know what to expect if you decide to use drugs. If you do decide to make the choice to become a user, you can be sure you will experience all that drugs have to offer, the good and the bad. You should also know before you get started, what every one who has gone down that road before you know - there is no good, only the bad. It may seem like a good thing going in, but coming out it will be your worst nightmare. If you will listen to what I have to tell you, it may save your life. This is my own experience with 18 years of living in the drug world, so the information I am going to share with you is from my own personal knowledge and from those around me who shared my affliction. For some of you who will read what I am going to tell you, it will not be enough to satisfy your curiosity, so you will have to find out the hard way the reasons not to use drugs. May God help you? Those of you who will read my experiences and understand this is no place for you, God has already blessed you in your decision, Thank Him.
If you are that person, who will have to see for yourself what drugs are like, keep reading, you will certainly want to know what to expect.
My brothers and I traveled all over the country and even out of the country to do drugs and the only thing we learned besides how hard the world can be is drugs will destroy your life and no one is immune. My faith in Christ is what saved me and you too can be saved from the downward spiral of drug abuse. These are the facts about using drugs and I should know because it was my life for 18 years. I hope you will learn and understand from my own experiences the importance of making the right decision concerning drug abuse. Sometimes it’s hard to make those right choices when you’re a young person and the whole world is at your feet with different paths. If you will watch and follow after people whose lives are evident of the success you would like to achieve in your own life, you can accomplish all the things you want to aspire to in life and be happy...........Read the rest of Drugs And Disaster, you'll find out the truth about drugs and what they will do to you.
Marijuana
Marijuana, also known as cannabis or hemp, is a perennial plant that grows in warm climates and reaches a height of 8 to 10 feet. It’s not an easy task to grow a plant 8 feet tall, not with all the mishaps that can occur during the 9 to 10 month’s it takes to bring a plant to full term. Most commonly referred to as weed, pot, dope, smoke, buds or blunt depending on where you live, it is smoked for its abilities to create a mental high in your mind. Weed when it is smoked gives a euphoric feeling with a perception of peace, tranquility and relaxation along with the giggles for new comers just getting started. The hassles that go with trying to raise a crop to full term is why only a small number of people are willing to forgo the risks and grow the market supply of dope found on the street each year. The penalties for growing illegal marijuana are very stiff and if you are caught growing weed you will do jail time. Street dope also known as swag, which means a lesser quality of weed, is the commercial grade that most people buy off the street and smoke. Some of the higher quality weed is called “kind bud”, which is generally grown in California. Then there is hydroponically grown weed, which is grown indoors year round using special lights. Different hybrids such as Sativa or Indica are the scientific names used to refer to marijuana and its different type of species. Other references to good quality weed are “skunk” of different species such as “skunk” 1, “skunk” 2 and so on. The buds and leaves are picked off the stem to smoke in a paper called a joint or pipe in order to get a euphoric high that last from 2-4 hours. Marijuana is also brewed as a tea or it can be baked in foods to induce the same high as being smoked. The high lasts longer when eaten on an average of 6-8 hours but the quantity is greater in the amount of weed needed to get the same high than when it is smoked. Hemp fibers can also be use to make fabrics, rope, building material, and other manufactured products. However, because of its abuse as a drug, it is illegal to cultivate marijuana and therefore not eligible to be useful as a manufacturing product. The main chemical of the 420 chemicals in marijuana is THC (TETRAHYDROCANNABINOL), which produces the euphoric high sensation that people get from smoking the buds and leaves. 420 is a term used by smokers, which means “ it’s time to smoke a joint”. CBD is the chemical that gives the sedative affect of marijuana that cause the person smoking to relax and feel calm. There are no toxic chemicals in marijuana, however, the smoke, which is inhaled to induce the high is damaging to the esophagus and lungs. The tar of marijuana is 10 times greater then that of cigarette tar but there is no toxic poison in marijuana as nicotine is in cigarettes. When smoked, the THC is introduced into the body through the lungs and is carried to the brain by oxygen through the blood stream giving an instantaneous effect of being high. The THC surrounds the brain cells with a milky substance causing a difficult link up for cells to communicate with one another therefore creating a high sensation. The brain cells are not harmed during the use of smoking weed and after the user suspends use the milky substance of THC fades away leaving the brain cell in tact. Marijuana is smoked to get the high people crave. It gives a feeling of relaxation and stimulates the mind to think creatively, opening the mind to outrageous possibilities. It stirs the mind to accept the unbelievable and quest for answers to the unexplained. Beginners will feel a laughing sensation to anything in their surroundings and everything becomes funny with lots of giggles and laughing. After a period of time the giggles will give place to a more serious side, with an in depth look at life becoming more philosophical. This is a time when a young person may abandon their more traditional beliefs and be receptive to follow after new age ideas. Marijuana in the beginning will seem to be a harmless recreational time with friends but as prolong use continues a dependency for mental stability develops. The user begins to rely on marijuana as a crutch in difficult life circumstances. When you start smoking weed alone is your first clue you are hooked. The physical harm from marijuana is nominal compared to the mental tear that marijuana will have on your mind. It's not easy to recognize when you’ve crossed over the line and become addicted to marijuana. When you do see it, it's too late to stop without repercussions. Though it is never too late, if you can decide to let go of the desire of smoking weed because like anything else, addiction is a choice and until you decide to quit, you won't. No one can make the decision for you or cause you to rehabilitate until you are ready to quit on your own. Unless you make that realization of how drugs are destroying your life and have the desire to stop on your own accord, you will continue to use weed and other drugs, suffering the consequences of it's use over again. It’s only when you become tired of falling on your face again and again, tripping over the same drug day after day, making the same mistakes over and over, only then will you realize it is time to quit. By this time, it’s not going to be easy. Though, sometimes that still isn’t enough and some people will just dwell in the life of misery they’ve created for themselves with no hope or care to escape. After smoking marijuana for a while it will cause you to lose your short-term memory, which will become apparent to the user. Losing keys, money and other items, forgetting appointments and important dates are just part of the times you will waste as a dope smoker, but then wasting time is what a dope smokers life is. I hid over three thousand dollars in a house I owned and never found it. The time I wasted searching for that money I could have made it back three times over. Everyone who smokes weed goes through the same experiences and every weed smoker’s story is always the same. Tales of jail and waking up in strange places are scenes that would create fear and panic in most people with terrifying effects to their lives but are common place among drugs users. Everyone who does drugs understands its just part of the price you have to pay for doing the drugs you do. When you eventually can't control your addiction any longer, you will find yourself in situations where other people will control your actions for you. Other people making decisions for you whether in court, jail, hospitals or even on the other side of the law among other drug users. People will use you and your addiction to get out of you the things they want from you, be it money, sex, or favors that couldn't be anything but illegal. Being out of control and not in control of your own life is a depressing time and feeling, a time when people are prone to making wrong decisions and eventually everyone who does drugs comes to the same cross roads. Loss of life, loss of family whether in death or domestic disputes or criminal behavior, the losses always far out weigh the benefits from using drugs. Once the snowball is out of control, it's hard to stop no matter how hard you beg on your knees to want to stop. People in your drug circles will use you and you will learn to use people. You will learn how to score your drug and how to score when you don’t have money. This is where the life of drugs really gets scary. All the years I did drugs with all the people that I did drugs with, there is no one that got out of the drug life without experiencing the pain and low life that abusing drugs are all about. Everyone travels down the same disgusting road that drugs take you, and I mean everyone. Marijuana does have a medicinal use but for most people who smoke marijuana do so for recreational purposes, which leads to abusing the use of marijuana from its medicinal advantages and in reverse destroys their health. Rotten and yellow teeth, acid reflux and stomach problems including ulcers and erosions of the esophagus are caused by the abuse of marijuana. Heart trouble and difficulty in breathing are very common among dope smokers. Throwing up from smoking I use to think was when you got the best high. It didn't bother me all that much in the beginning but now I have a pain in my chest and my esophagus is closing from erosion. When I throw up or try to gag a piece of food back up to keep from choking on it now, I don't think it's that much of a great high any more. Marijuana travels in the same circles as all the other pleasure giving drugs and most users of marijuana try other drugs such as heroin, cocaine, acid (LSD) but most of all prescription pills such as xanax and valium are popular. Weed is not a physical addicting drug but it is a mind addiction, which can be just as painful to withdraw from its effects. It will distort your ability to make rational judgments concerning life decisions. Most people who smoke marijuana day after day become mentally dependent on its effects to stabilize their mind, mood and reasoning. Being stoned becomes a constant thought and every day is another day to scope, score, smoke dope and get high. For the user there are no goals to achieve except to get high, no worries except when its time to score again. For the stoner, marijuana gives you a feeling nothing else really matters just the feeling in your mind to be content to live in your own dream world. Even to live in filth and not mind if that's what it takes to stay high. Every day functions like getting out of bed, taking a shower or even going to a job become unimportant and even obstacles to achieve. You keep telling yourself you’re going to get your act together tomorrow or maybe next month, as soon as you can make some money or get something going but that day never comes it's just a dope smokers dream. For a dope smoker today is for getting high and tomorrow is for responsibilities. Though tomorrow never comes, there's only today for getting high everything else I’ll do tomorrow. Long-term users of marijuana have trouble doing even the simplest of every day tasks becoming irresponsible to the world, their family and their surroundings. It's not the life you see in the beginning when you first start smoking or take your first hit off a joint but it‘s the reality of life that will eventually catch up to you if you smoke weed. In the beginning it's all about thrills and fun and having a great time especially if you’re with friends but you don't realize you’ve just open Pandora’s box. Not everyone who smokes dope lives in the same life style marijuana like any other drug is common in most occupations. It's the person that marijuana brings you to become in who you are and how you perceive right from wrong which are the same in most people’s lives who smoke weed. Whether it's a yuppie making a hundred thousand dollars a year or a stoner that lives from day to day just to get high, the feeling of acceptance and self-reliance to withdraw to your own mind which is the same. It's the first thing you think about in the morning and the last thing you want before you go to sleep. People who say they smoke dope just on occasions that it doesn't have any control over their lives are only in the early stages of marijuana addiction. The final determination to whether you control it or it controls you will come later. You’ll know when. When the day comes and you do recognize your addiction, find the strength to quit and tell someone who you think will care and help you. Those who are stressed to smoke weed are those who suffer the most when they don’t have it. They become restless, irritable and irritated at every one and anything that crosses them. Panic attacks are common among those who are withdrawing from marijuana which in weed circles, is referred to as "jonsing". This withdrawal period can last from a couple of days to even several weeks depending on the user and how long they’ve been using. When I "jonsed" for weed I was the worst person to be around. Road rage was nothing compared to what I would experience when someone crossed my path with ill tidings, especially bad customer service in a store. I couldn't deal with it if I was "jonsing" for weed, I would simply go off. There were times with marital problems weed would affect my better judgment to handle domestic situations and if I were "jonsing" at the time of conflict, my mind would explode with irrational behavior and wrong decisions. Then I would score some weed and take that first hit and everything would be all right again in my mind. Although, only in my distorted mind would it be all right because the problems were still real and had not gone away, I just didn't care any more. When you get to the point you don't care any more watch out, you’re about to lose everything you love and want in your life and everything that is truly important to you. Every one who smokes marijuana has a decline in moral obligations. Some users will not go to the extremes of immoral behavior but the thoughts of exploring such behavior might not be without consideration. Petty little things like shop lifting to premarital sexual relations is as far as some will go in their immoral behavior but the dangers of exceeding the limits of criminal behavior are not without possibilities. To be using drugs in the first place is a criminal offense and so for some it is an excuse to push the envelope to their criminal behavior. The thinking is, "I am already considered to be a criminal for smoking weed, why not shoplift or grab that case of beer and run". You might not get caught the first time you try something stupid like shoplifting but eventually you will get caught, it’s just a matter of time. Most weed smokers do shoplift at some time during their addiction. The attitude is anything can be accepted as long as no one gets hurt but then if that happens, oh well it was meant to be. Partying is a companion to getting high and the immoral responses that are common with using marijuana, includes premarital sex and living with someone unmarried. Marijuana will eventually cause you to become lazy and not able to hold a steady job. All you want to do is party at night and sleep all day. There are people who work every day and they smoke weed but it is a day-to-day struggle to maintain their work discipline. If they don't have that first joint in the morning to get their day started, it's hard to get motivated and moving. On the average a quarter of an ounce costs forty dollars, depending on the quality of the weed, which is seven grams or eight grams with the baggy. A whole ounce is about a hundred dollars again depending on the quality of the weed. For most people who smoke weed on a regular basis a quarter bag can last from one to three days depending on the addiction. Most users will spend on average one hundred dollars to two hundred and eighty dollars per week. Marijuana is illegal to use and if caught can lead to an arrest, fines and even jail. The majorities of those who smoke weed usually spend some time in jail or have to appear in court for fines, probation and periodic drug testing. If a person has children they are subject to being taken by the state until the user can prove stability and abstinence. The negative aspects of drug abuse are enough to deter most people from using drugs but the pleasure and snares of using drugs are most times to tempting for a lot of young people not to resist. You have a lot to lose if you decide to use drugs and more to gain if you don't. Smoking dope is generally looked down on by the majority of society and those who do drugs have to hide their addiction or suffer employment and even social repercussions resulting in lower paying jobs. The thing about being addicted to marijuana is the mental crutch for stability in life, which can be incredibly intense from mood shift to mood swing. Marijuana varies in potency from plant to plant; therefore, the dosage with each use is not always the same, which can mean different results and different reactions with each time of use. After a while this up and down roller coaster of emotional strain can lead to depression. Even severe cases of depression resulting in a nervous break down especially during times of life crisis, which comes from a result of using the drug. In my own experience with this roller coaster ride of emotions I suffered a nervous break down for the loss of a son due to my erratic behavior and party life that his mother and I were constantly engaged in. The pain and results of my own domestic failures could be pointed directly at my abuse of smoking weed. My addiction was so strong and the hold it had on my life was so overbearing, I let my little boy go without the ability to fight for my right to see him or be with him in his early years. The domestic life style we lived is so common among drug users, one of parties, drugs and friends, which led to cheating and lying and staying out all night, not at all a healthy family life style. Both of us were engaging in multiple sexual partners, but after I found her with another guy for the third time, I had enough. I began the long and exasperating break up process, which lasted for almost a year, back and forth, ending up in court and me doing some time in jail. My son is 10 years old now and I haven't seen him since he was almost 4. I hope my work here to influence kids and teens to stay away from drugs will somehow in a very small way make amends for the time I wasn't there when he needed me the most. I have a little girl now who is 4 years old and she is the joy of my life. The innocence that is in her eyes and in her nature of doing things is something to precious not to struggle to preserve. If you choose to do a life of drugs and you are caught up in that snare, you cannot expect to have a normal domestic family life. There is one thing that is a certain about doing drugs and that is, drugs and family life do not mix. You cannot expect to have a good relationship trying to bring up a family and do drugs. The problems are to real and to devastating. In the end you’ll have to choose between the two and if you have an addiction that is controlling your life chances are you will choose your drug over your family. Addiction will distort your mind to what is important, those who are close to you. Make the right chose now not to do drugs.
CRACK COCAINE
Crack is probably the worst addicting drug that any one could possibly do. It is also the most demanding and most destructive drug as far as losing self-respect and self worth. It will drive a user to do even the unthinkable just to satisfy it's craving and get high. If the user wants to stop or even tries, the alluring effect and the power of craving is so great that it is next to impossible for a crack addict to quit without some type of intervention. Crack cocaine is made from pure cocaine using chemicals to convert the cocaine into a yellowish rock. Girls who fall victim to this high will sometimes become prostitutes just to satisfy their craving of the drug and the majority of those who are prostitutes on the streets are most commonly crack users. Guys and girls alike who are hooked on crack will steal, beg, scheme, sell everything they have just to get that little rock, to satisfy the craving that is so strong and demanding of them. Some have even traded their own children into prostitution to get that little tiny rock of satisfaction. It is the lowest form of addiction, as it will rob a person of their self worth and their way of thinking towards another human being. It creates a feeling of self-destruction that is hard to shake off. A crack addict knows he can't stop and that the drug is destroying him or her but there is nothing he or she can do except surrender to its power of persuasion and give into it's control. The user’s personality becomes warped and distorted and the attitude toward other people is that of paranoia, suspicion, distrust and guilt. Someone using crack has no value of their own life or any one else around them. I have watched my own brother almost beg on his knees to borrow just ten dollars to get a rock, but then 30 minutes later it's another rock and then another rock and another and another. The begging for your last dollar will make you almost hate him, that he is destroying not only his life by submitting to its control but that it’s affecting your life as well. To have to listen to the pleading for cash just to get its temporary satisfaction, will drive you insane. Trading and pawning everything, they have just for a moments time of being high. The high from a ten-dollar rock only lasts about 15 to 30 minutes and then they have to have another and another and another; it never stops. Even when their money is gone, that next rock is all they can think about, how to get it. Crack is smoked in a glass pipe called a shooter although a junkie will use anything that is available to smoke their dope. Every one who becomes addicted to crack will lose everything they own with NO EXCEPTIONS, but most of all they will lose their own self-respect and self worth, if not their life. If you think you can overcome the addiction of crack cocaine without any repercussions on not only your own life as well as those around you, think again. Don't be a deliberate fool. It only takes one hit of crack cocaine to become an addicted addict and every one who takes that first hit will take another and another and another until their life is completely destroyed or they are dead. If you are looking to destroy your life this is the way to go, “Crack Cocaine”. The thing about crack cocaine, not only will it destroy your life and your feelings toward other people but it will also destroy the way people look at you and how they value your life. Crack cocaine is pure low-life true and simple. When you get to this point of addiction, the filth of low-life is what you will feel, on the inside as well as the outside.
COCAINE
Over the past years, cocaine in its pure form has lost its popularity among most common crowds not to say that there isn't a demand for the drug. It still has a following of users that keeps its street value intact. Most commonly used among richer circles, its effects and addiction is similar to that of crack. Cocaine comes from the South American plant coca, also the plant from which we get chocolate. Cocaine causes a quick and alert feeling that awakens the mind to be one step ahead of everything else that is going on around the user. It's a wiry and speedy feeling that makes the heart race as fast as the mind. It's a party drug among the rich crowd to keep the party going and the sex alive. People who do cocaine have a tendency to explore strange and unusual sexual desires, even those who are straight sexually are tempted to explore homosexuality as result of the effects of cocaine. Long periods of use will wear down the mind and exhaust the user’s thinking of rational thoughts, which can be dangerous in decision-making especially concerning life or death situations. People on cocaine can be easily manipulated. For those who snort cocaine, long-term use will cause constant nosebleeds and after a while will begin to eat away at the nose and nostrils. People who use cocaine lose their appetite and desire to eat, after prolong use, therefore losing excessive amounts of weight which can cause an over dose. Addicts who are completely out of control with this drug will eventually start shooting up with a hypodermic needle, which opens a whole New World of addiction. Cocaine in it’s pure form will cause an over dose if shot up with a needle although most street cocaine is rarely pure. Remember this, ONCE A SHOOTER, ALWAYS A SHOOTER. EVEN IF YOU FIND THE COURAGE TO QUIT, THE DESIRE TO SHOOT UP WILL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU. Don't ever start shooting up, your life is just a hair away from being over if you do. Cocaine like all the other drugs including alcohol is a fun experience in the beginning but further down the road there is a heavy price to pay. The best way to keep your life from the abuse of drugs, DON’T START.
PILLS (Prescription Drugs)
Pills come in all shapes and sizes and have different effects for different uses. Some pills lift you up and others take you down. There are pills to keep you active and there are pills to make you sleep. Pills are the easiest way to lose control of your life. The physical and mental addictions are too commonly related, meaning that withdrawal pains from using pills is both mental and physical. Pills are much more readily available and easy to get with a prescription, therefore pills are the most abusive drugs in the drug world. Most pills that have street value are pills such as benzodiazepine which are pills like Valium and Xanax, misused from their medical purposes will cause you trouble. Pain pills such as Morphine, Mepergans and Hydrocodone are popular for their sedative effects. These pills are abused by people who are in no physical pain but just want to experience the high that comes from a drug that kills pain. After a period of using pain pills, the attempt to stop results in a physical withdrawal that creates a sick painful feeling all over the body that is worst then any pain could ever be. Your body aches and hurts all over and the mental withdrawal is just as painful. Pills such as Xanax and Valium, prescribed for anxiety and emotional stability, when abused the mental withdrawal can be equivalent to a nervous break down. Coming off pills as with all drugs, should be monitored by someone who cares. Someone who has the patience and understanding that is needed to stand the rough times that are associated with withdrawing from drugs. The only way to stop abusing pills is to go cold turkey, which means to stop all at once and ride the physical and mental pain out until the effects of the withdrawal period wears off. Pills like Xanax and Valiums are most popular among pill poppers. Other popular pills are Hydrocodone and Oxycontin. The stronger drugs like Mepergans and Morphine are the drugs of choice for users who shoot up with a needle; although if these drugs are not accessible a shooter will shoot anything, he can get. After a while people who shoot up become as addicted to the needle as they do to the drug they are injecting. I have watched my brother shoot water just to be shoving a needle into his arm. The capsule is broken open or the pill is crushed up to make a powder, then it’s mixed with a little bit of water in a spoon. It is then stirred and heated with a flame to allow the drug to become liquid form in order to draw up into the needle and then shot in the arms, hands, legs, feet, anywhere a vein can be found. It is very necessary to use a filter when drawing the dope into the needle to ensure the user doesn’t get the “dirties” a term used to describe the shakes from a dirty shot. The shooter will stick the needle into their vein and draw blood into the syringe, then draw the needle out to mix the dope in the spoon with the blood in the syringe. After the mixture is made by drawing the dope in the spoon into the syringe, the mixture of blood and dope is then shot back into the vein achieving the high and "rush" the shooter wants to feel. If the needle breaks on the second shot, I've watched my brother shoot blood and dope into his mouth as not to waste the dope in the needle. A dirty shot is dangerous and most often results in death. No beginner should shoot alone because the odds of dying is the same as playing Russian roulette with a loaded gun and all the bullets are loaded. NO CHANCE! Let me tell you that again, you will have NO CHANCE OF SURVIVAL! The layout I just described to you is not a step by step directions to shoot up, several steps were left out on purpose. It is those steps, which will kill you if you don’t know what they are and I’m not going to tell them to you. This is not a how to book. I only want to share with you the full aspects of doing drugs to give you a complete picture without giving you the full recipe to getting started. If you can get a mental picture of the pain that drug addicts goes through just because they are enslaved by a drug, maybe you will find a reason not to want to explore or experience their agony. My brother would almost give his right arm to be able to stop shooting dope. He almost did, from a staph infection that not only almost took his arm but also almost claimed his life. It took several days in the hospital being treated with the strongest antibiotic that’s available to get rid of the infection from the dirty needles. The strain was so terrible it was almost untreatable. He is making progress now towards cleaning up his life and is getting back in church, but it has been a difficult road to travel. After a while and because of frequent shooting up with a needle, veins become harder to find on the body and some veins even collapse from excessive shooting. Shooting up can also result in transmitted diseases as well as cause staph infections that may result in the loss of an arm, leg or even your life. Hepatitis and Aids are common among shooters who share needles and most shooters do eventually contract hepatitis A, B or C regardless of whether they have shared a needle or not. Pills are chemical drugs which eventually through excessive use, break down the natural chemical structure of the body’s immune system. Its adverse effects can be harmful or fatal with continued and abusive use. Pill poppers, who just swallow the pill, usually get their pills from a friend or a known person who has obtained a prescription also called a script. If a user can not get their own script from a doctor, they will usually find someone who is disabled or who is on workman's comp. This is not always a sure thing and when a user can’t score the drugs he needs, he begins to “jones” (withdraw) until he can get the dope he needs. Ecstasy is a pill that is popular with lots of young people for the body high that it gives. It has a similar effect as does acid or LSD in that it distorts the thinking and excites the mind and body. It is known as the sex drug because of its supposedly effects to make sexual experiences more exciting. This is not true but only a myth. The adverse effects are detrimental in that it slows down the mind and thinking leaving an eerie feeling after a while that can be associated with feelings of gloom and depression. Ecstasy also leaves the person with no thoughts but with a blank mind that even thinking becomes somewhat painful or uncomfortable. Its effects can be overwhelming, causing distorted thoughts and even losing control over rational decisions and immoral behavior that are regretted later. Ecstasy will raise the body’s temperature to as high as 112 degrees, which will fry your brain and boil your vital organs causing major damage. Users will also sweat a lot. Ecstasy has recently become the drug of choice among young people and more young people are finding out the hard way the destruction that pills can cause. Some teens, if they’re not scoring pills from friends, they get them from their parents or a relative that might have a prescription. You can always tell if your young person is using pills by looking into their eyes. If their eyes are glassy or if they can’t seem to look you directly in the eye, then you have reasons to be suspicious. That goes for any drug. Most addicting pills give the user a slow and sluggish feeling, which is easy to detect if you are a conscience parent or observer.
HUFFING OR SNIFFING
This is a high created by sniffing anything from aerosol paint to gasoline to strong glues. Anything that has a toxic fume can be inhaled to create a high. Most common among young people in the early years like elementary and junior high, sniffing can be dangerous and fatal. Long term huffing destroys the brain turning it to jelly and the out come is always death if it goes that far. Huffing can also cause suffocation and loss of your ability to catch your breath becoming officiated leading to cardiac arrest. Huffing is just a cheap way to get high, but the high that it brings on is not a pleasurable high because users generally experience headaches and nausea. When my family operated a mission for the homeless, there was a guy that came through who would huff paint by breathing the aerosol paint sprayed inside a bread bag. His mind was almost gone and he never was ever quiet there to hold an intelligent conversation. You would know he had been huffing because there would always be paint all over his mouth and face from breathing in the fumes from the paint. Later I heard he died in some woods he had been living in, still huffing paint. We could never get him to quit huffing, he was too addicted to the high it gave him. There are some people who, when they have crossed that line, they will never get back and their whole life will fall to ruin and misery, then they die. You do not know if you are one of those people, do you really want to risk it? I hope you never find out it’s a hard life to live, if you can call it a life. Life is too short to waste on something that doesn’t have any fruit. When you come to the end of your life, do you want to look back and see emptiness? There are many times that I have looked back at the wasted life I have lived and the feeling of emotional pain, has never been more real to me. It was that waste, that almost destroyed me. We should always live for today so that we can make tomorrow better and yesterday worth remembering.
ACID OR LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide)
Acid or LSD other wise known as blotter, paper or dose is a drug that causes the user to experience a super high that supersedes all other highs. Mescaline, peyote and some mushrooms, which induce the same hallucinogenic highs are just as strong in their effects. People who get high on these drugs, which is known as tripping become lost in another world which can cause distortion in judgment and out of control behavior. Tripping on acid causes hallucinations with visuals and bright colors giving in to uncontrollable laughter and a wild imagination. Users on LSD will also grind their teeth and feel a tightness in their jaw with a tingling sensation felt all over the body. The users perception and vision is always blurred with a lack of concentration which can make decision-making abilities dangerous. A trip on acid (LSD) lasts for 12-14 hours and there is no antidote to bring a user down once he has dosed. Once you start on this trip you are in for the whole ride and there is no getting off this ride until it is over 12 hours later. Coming down you may feel wired and exhausted at the same time. As your normal thinking patterns begin to return, you will feel an urgency to sleep, but sleeping may be difficult for hours, and when you do sleep you may sleep 16 hours or only 2 hours. Your mind will feel tired and worn out. LSD is a dangerous drug not only because of its uncontrollable high but also because of its reoccurrence later on in life that are called flash backs. Flashbacks are tremors like a cold chill that runs down your back out of no where or for no reason at all. LSD destroys the immune system and users may become more receptive to a cold while dosing on LSD. The only way to detect if any one has been dropping acid is to do a spinal tap but because of the dangers involved in doing spinal taps, LSD is never tested for among users. There are new methods for testing for LSD, but these tests can be inconclusive. LSD stays with you for the rest of your life if you are a user. Acid or LSD is a liquid form, which can be dropped on a piece of paper or a sugar cube then taken by mouth later. LSD is a very dangerous drug, it is also the drug of choice for a group known as dead heads, who followed the band Grateful Dead. Over 100,000 people would follow the band on tour every year, for not only the hippie folk music the band played, but more so for the drug availability especially the drug LSD (acid). Since the death of the lead singer in the early 90’s the band has stopped performing and so, went out an era that had lasted for almost 30 years. There is a new band on the scene now that has taken over from where the Grateful Dead band left off and the drug world of acid will continue to flourish under the hypocritical eye of entertainment. That’s the way it is in the drug world, when one drug promoter fades away another is always there to take his place. Concerts are a druggy’s paradise. Every rock concert promotes the use of drugs. Not so much on the front side of their billing, but the culture of the music invites it in. How does it go; sex, drugs and rock and roll? It says it all about the combination of immoral behavior. It has been the battle cry of that dead world since it all started in the beginning. This is why we have so many young people whose lives are being compromised because we have compromised our faith and have become conformist to the world and it’s lures. We have turned our heads and made excuses for what we want our entertainment to be, though we know it has a direct negative effect on our young people and society. Every year the domestic violence grows worse and especially among young people committing more crimes that become more serious with each passing year. The problem lies within the culture of our entertainment and politics, and anyone who is passive to ignore this fact is wrong, an instigator of evil and foolish to those of us who know the truth. It is said, if you are not a part of the solution, then you are a part of the problem and it is the responsibility of all of us to care for and build a strong moral society.
NARCOTICS
Heroin, known on the street as smack, horse, H, junk, or scag, is the most commonly abused of narcotics among hard line users. Narcotic drugs (opioids) are derivatives of the opium poppy or there are chemically similar synthetics such as methadone and mesuline. Heroin is a morphine derivative, and morphine is opium's most potent active ingredient. The plant source is the Poppy plant that grows in Asian countries. Pure heroin is a white powder that has a very bitter taste. Heroin varies in color from white to dark brown mostly because of impurities or how it is cut from additives that each person who handles it adds to make their profit margin larger. In dope circles this is known as "walking on it." There is a dark brown or black form of the drug, which looks like roofing tar, known as "black tar." Black tar is more common then the white powder form of heroin. Street heroin is rarely pure because of the number of people handling it or walking on it. Heroin is a strong narcotic that acts on the central nervous and digestive systems. Morphine, another strong narcotic is used mostly to relieve severe pain and is most often abused by medical professionals because of it is easy to obtain. Most addicts who score street morphine do so from people who are suffering severe pain such as cancer patients and people who may be terminally ill. Codeine, like morphine, is a natural ingredient of opium, although less potent and more commonly used for mild pain. It is found in prescription cough medicines and pain relievers and is favored by some abusers because it is much easier to score. Some teenagers will get high on certain cough medicines containing codeine in the ingredients. A dangerous way to get high because of the potential for over dose. Other opium derivatives prescribed for moderate to severe pain include hydromorphone, meperidine, oxycodone, and hydrocodone. Methadone is a synthetic form of heroin used mainly in the treatment of heroin addiction and is most often abused and responsible for a number of overdosed deaths. My brother became a methadone patient to get off opiates but found out the addiction is the same, just clinically controlled. Many methadone users become life time addicted to the methadone that is being used to treat their drug addiction and trying to quit or even taper off would be life threatening. These are hard addicts, which become what is known as a "lifer" to the methadone program. In my opinion, the legal methadone program in this country is a sham and a fraud, and does nothing to deter drug users from abusing drugs but rather holds the door open to other drugs. Though my brother has been a methadone patient for several years, he still is involved with the use of other opiates and prescription drugs and many of his connections come from other methadone patients he has met at the clinic. Methadone causes the user to sleep up to 18 hours a day. Methadone will completely rob you of your life. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic used for severe pain, also used as a surgical anesthetic. If abused it can be very dangerous. Narcotics affect many organs through the nervous system, which control body functions such as circulation, respiration, and digestion. They cause blood vessels to relax and the heartbeat to slow down, which will lower the blood pressure. Narcotics slow and weaken the contraction of muscles that control breathing and constrict intestinal muscles, which will slow digestion. Sedation narcotics may produce drowsiness, grogginess, and mental confusion. Characteristic of heroin use is the half-conscious state called "nodding". I have watched my brother on heroin sitting in a chair holding a cigarette nodding in and out as if he was just about to fall asleep drooling all over himself. Only by a miracle is he still alive. Narcotics induce euphoria, the sense of contentment and physical relaxation, which generally last three to four hours. When heroin is injected or smoked the high is preceded by a short period of intense pleasure known as a "rush." I remember my brother and I was in Chicago and he scored some pure heroin, which is uncommon, but because he didn’t have a needle to shoot it with, he was forced to smoke it and share it with me. The rush I experienced was an incredible feeling of floating and slow motion a real high sensation. It is only by the grace of God that I am here to warn you of what drugs can do. The rush is what users are trying to induce with each hit, it’s that moment of floating and visions that gives way to reality. Tolerance and regular use causes the body to require higher doses to achieve the same results, which eventually can lead to overdose. This is especially dangerous for new shooters. Someone who is new to shooting up and does so with a regular user for the first time, trying to match the dosage shot up by the regular user, the new shooter will indeed over dose and may even die. I know of several occasions that my brother, who has a fascination with needles, has had to revive friends who were shooting with him. It can totally cause you to lose your high and bring on a panic. Fortunately none of his friends, who were stupid enough to shoot up with him in the first place, ever did die but the close calls were enough to almost make you think if it is worth it. The trouble with dope smokers and those who do drugs, they don’t think and the lessons learned are just enough to help them survive the next trip and high. Weight loss over time can cause an over dose resulting in death. Regular users easily become hooked physically and psychologically, craving the pleasure the drug brings, unable to discontinue its use without suffering symptoms of withdrawal, which includes chills, muscle cramps, severe shaking, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Withdrawal will cause your body to hurt all over. Narcotics are most often taken by mouth, heroin however is inhaled, injected or smoked. Heroin can be laced with marijuana and smoked in a pipe or a joint, which is the only way that I have ever tried it, I’m not a shooter. My brother however has chased heroin all over the country even following the band Grateful Dead just to score heroin to shoot in his arm and float on it’s high. Heroin can also be heated and burned on a needle or pin under a glass, releasing fumes that the users inhale, this is called ("chasing the dragon"). By injecting the drug, rather than smoking or inhaling it, the same high can be achieved but with less heroin. Users who choose this route generally inject directly into a major vein, which is called mainlining, although some may start by injecting under the skin called popping. Speedballing is taking cocaine or heroin, with alcohol then using marijuana, or pills to enhance the high and lessen the effects of withdrawal. This is death right around the corner if you try this route and you will die. The negative consequences of heroin use range from distress to life threatening dangers and include dry itchy skin and skin infections. Constricted pupils and reduced night vision along with nausea and vomiting from early use of heroin or high doses which will also cause constipation and loss of appetite. Menstrual irregularity and reduced sex drive are common among heroin users. Scarring or needle tracks along veins with collapsed veins from repeated injections can be seen on a users arms or feet. Other signs of use are irregular blood pressure with a slow and irregular heartbeat, fatigue, breathlessness, and labored noisy breathing is due to excessive fluid in the lungs which is called the rattles. Dependence and addiction are inevitable to any user of hard drugs. Hepatitis, AIDS, and other infections from unsanitary injections and sharing needles with drug buddies are most common among those who shoot up. A user will use vinegar or milk to sterilize his needle but even with these precautions, dirty infections can still occur. A heart attack caused by blood clots resulting from insoluble additives (“the dirties”) while shooting up is a constant danger and is most always fatal. Respiratory paralysis, heart arrest, coma, and death can result from an overdose. Most habitual users are incapable of concentrating, learning, or having a clear and rational thought. Narcotic addicts are unable to hold a job. They are indifferent to consequences, and unable to sustain personal meaningful relationships that are lasting. For most, the inability to earn enough money to meet their drug needs and cravings will lead to crime. For the majority of users, behavior is self-destructive, antisocial, irresponsible, and indifferent to the injury, pain, or loss it causes others who must suffer the day to day agony of living with an addict. Treatment includes detoxification, which is needed to manage the effects of withdrawal, but detox does not cure addiction. Focusing on treatment, helping others and a life with Jesus Christ will help recovering abusers become more self-aware of their abusive problem. It enables them to be more self-reliant to resolve their drug problem, becoming more responsible and able to manage stress without the "crutch" of drugs. Rehabs are only good for detoxing drug abusers but offer no real solutions to the drug abusers problem with addiction. The only true solution that offers results in a complete drug free life is that of Jesus Christ. All others are sinking ground.
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