Meth is A Never-Ending Challenge for the LGBT Community
I do not understand how the meth addicts have to ruin a perfectly good word of “party”. They are also ruining another good word “Play”. It took me a long time to figure out what PNP meant in chat rooms and at the club but now I know it means Party and Play which means to have sex while under the influence of ice or crystal. I am not here to lecture about gays having sex or converting to Buddha but I am sick of everything meth.
Meth is ruining lives in the gay community and we need to focus our efforts on getting rid of it.The main thing we can do is reach out and try to help our friends that are on ice, crystal, or Tina. One problem is that the media sensationalizes most drugs treating Meth as an equal.
Tina and other methamphetamine type drugs could also be hurting the club scene. These people sit at home and never make it out to the clubs. They constantly smoke on the ice pipes and think they are doing something productive when in reality they have accomplished nothing but the start of a deep cycle to ruin their lives.
When I first moved to a major city I meet some of the coolest people in which I developed a close friendship with. A few of these people I watched fall hard by retrying some Tina. They thought they could just try it a few times to give them energy to enjoy late night afterparties that followed long hours of dancing. They soon used the drug to help them make it to work and even gave them more confidence than ever before. They did not want to lose that confidence so they kept buying more and more to help them with work and with the nightlife. One person told me it gave them the confidence to get promoted at work.
In a few days or weeks every one of these people who had ever tried this messy substance were up days and days without any sleep. This lead to hallucinations and their minds turning them into someone they are not. They stole from me and everyone they could, lied, cheated on their boyfriends, and even lost their jobs. They developed an extreme confidence and thought they could not do any wrong. The only thing that could help them was getting into trouble or rehab and most of the time that does not even stop this addiction.
I believe in the legalization of marijuana among the legalization of other drugs that do not show proven harm but meth is the worst and most evil thing I have ever witnessed. Yes, it is the most evil being out there to take the soul of someone and change it into something they cannot get away from.
The comedown is supposed to be days of depression and the worst come down of any hangover or day after ecstasy pill.I have heard it is 30 times worse than those combined.
How do we stop meth in our community? We can look for signs of meth use and reach out or maybe get more groups setup to counsel people struggling with this disease. I have never done this myself but have been around people on it and am just amazed how horrible it is and what it can do to so many lives. I would like to see the word party changed to its original meaning again!
As with any drug meth triggers the release of the pleasure chemical dopamine, resulting in an energized, euphoric feeling. The problem with meth is that it releases 12 times as much dopamine as you get from other pleasurable activities like eating or sex, which means the resulting rush is unlike anything the user has ever experienced. Although, Once the drug wears off the user experiences an equally intense comedown and depression. This leads people to buy more Tina and to feel great again thus beginning a very addictive cycle. As the cycle goes on the drug raises a person’s body temperature to dangerous levels and makes people extremely paranoid with their moods erratic and their behavior unpredictable to the point that they can become a danger to themselves and others. There are companies that are working to come out with treatments such as Meth Treatment and the legalization of medical marijuana is helping users get off meth with combined THC and CBD Oil.
Meth is something I have seen tear up lives worse than anything. The funny thing is if the government were smart they would educate people instead of go after someone holding up a bag of coke. I watched a show on Al Gore’s Current channel that showed diesel gasoline was a ingredient used in cocaine to make it in powder form… if people saw something like that they would stay away from it in most cases. But then again people would be demanding the natural cocoa plant instead of the unnatural form with nasty things mixed in.
I also watched a VH-1 special on the “war on drugs” last night and it was showing the 80s and 90s fight. A really good show everyone should watch. The last part showed the Rave scene where thousands of people go out dancing out in the dessert or huge warehouse buildings. The rave scene is mostly over now and overly commercialized and policed heavily thanks to a bill that was passed to put the DJ and the owner of the party in jail. It is sad that a DJ would get arrested for playing music. Anyone that has ever been to a rave party knows that there are people there that are not on drugs who actually go there for the music and dancing because it is some of the most amazing beats you will ever hear. The VH-1 show was interesting because it showed the cocaine craze which was very flashy and arrogant compared to the rave craze which was more down to earth.
I think pot should be legalized to an extent — i mean its natural.. its a damn plant. Although, I know people that smoke pot way too much. But they could also be drinking or popping prescription drugs in the same amount. Anything in excess is bad for you. Then again I have seen parents feed their kids Ritalin and other “hyper” pills and anti-depressants that can do alot more harm than pot could ever do. Ritalin is basically legalized speed from what I have been told.
Anyone move their feet too much? The pharmacy can make you a “restless foot syndrome” pill you can take. The drug companies will be making pills to take if you think too hard or walk too fast next. I wish they would concentrate on life saving medicines instead of trying to contaminate our bodies with syndromes they think up in the board room.
CNBC did an American Greed show on how identity theft was linked to meth because these people are not making any real money but are having to find any way they can to pay for this HIGHLY expensive drug. Meth is not cheap at all but is so addictive that is why you will most likely have people stealing copper from air conditioners to pay for it. Something does need to be done about meth in this country but we are so focused on pot and steroids that no one can get the meth under control.
Meth will get worse in middle class families because of some of these prescription drugs like Ritalin/Addreall.
The thing is, most of the drugs being offered to “fix most anything” are legal…advertised on TV with all the truthiness of ads for anything else, prescribed even when, especially in conjunction with other drugs, they cause terrible side effects, prescribed even to kids . Americans are the most overmedicated and yet among the least healthy in the industrial world. I don’t think a little legal pot is going to do nearly as much harm as Big Pharma is doing…and to the extent that a lot of people would do pot instead of alcohol (or, say, tranquilizers like Xanax) it may actually turn out to be a net gain. But Big Pharma and the liquor industry would not be happy with such a development…diverting their income flow…and Big Pharma in particular hates it when there’s something out there they can’t patent.
I’m a psychotherapist and writer in New York City and just published an article on gay men relapsing on crystal methamphetamine. Not sure if it is of interest to you, but thought I’d send it along.
Thanks!
Gay City News
Everyday A Challenge
By: CHRISTOPHER MURRAY
06/26/2008
So what happened with gay men and meth? A couple of years ago everyone was in a panic. Eighth Avenue was crowded with bus stop posters decrying the scourge that was crystal methamphetamine, it seemed like everyone knew someone who had just lost their job or soul to Tina, brunch pals were dropping like flies. Health officials and community activists made the direst possible predictions about the perfect storm of meth and HIV, not to mention flesh-eating, drug-resistant bacterial infections. Yikes!
Well, the truth is that meth, like crack cocaine, is still around and still wreaking havoc in the lives of gay men and others; it’s just gone underground. The public panic has waned, as it always does – a point this newspaper’s Duncan Osborne has taken pains to point out – and all the hoopla has subsided into the daily grind of users using and former users struggling to stay clean.
FULL ARTICLE AT:
http://christophermurray.org/WritingBlog.html