The False Glamour of Street Drugs

If I had to guess a ratio of people that will come across the chance to experiment with drugs, I would guess it would be either 9 or 10 out of 10. If I had to guess how many people actually choose to try drugs, my guess would still be a 7 or higher out of 10. I don't think it is possible to prove how common it is because some people will deny it the rest of their lives. What is important would be my guess at how many people, out of 10, become addicted to drugs.

In that case, you really have to get more specific. I might take a general stab at something like 3 out of ten, but I am so unsure of that number that I don't even want to share it. When it comes down to addiction, there are factors that must be taken into account. The user, the drug, and the users expectations of the drug.

In this sense, a drug could be anything. It could something legal, something over the counter. It could be tobacco, alcohol, chewing gum, TV. It doesn't have to be considered a 'drug'. An addiction is just like a hobby. Some are healthy, some are destructive.

If I had to guess at how many people had their lives negatively impacted by illegal drugs, the number would be high again. Not quite a ten, but certainly high. But enough about guessing. Let me share what I do know. Anything I don't know, or have to guess at, I will leave out.

The first illegal drug is marijuana. The legal status of marijuana is highly, highly, highly controversial. Marijuana is also very common. It is considered to be a gateway drug, which is just another controversial opinion. I am sure pot is something that any reader will know enough about that I don't have to get into the tired old arguments.

The false glamour about marijuana is the common opinion that it is not addicting. This opinion seems to leave out the depending on the user part. Marijuana is probably the safest drug out there, and it is by far the safest illegal drug. However, it has to be handled responsibly. Not just because of the legal status, but because it is still a drug.

The truth about marijuana is that it is a drug. No, you can't overdose on it. But you shouldn't drive on it. No, it won't make you hallucinate. It will make you sleepy. You'll space out. You may get really giggly and think everything is funny. Time will seem to be moving really slow. You'll probably end up watching the Wizard of Oz on mute while playing Pink Floyd's The Wall to see if it really fits together. You'll do a lot of dumb things like that.

But some people stay dumb. I don't mean if you smoke it once you'll fry all your brain cells and be a zombie all the time. But if you smoke pot regularly, you might lose motivation. If you smoke too much, you will mumble if you speak at all, you will become a boring person to be around, and you can say you're not addicted all you want... but you are. Pot is the easiest addiction in the world to quit, but if you became addicted to it in the first place you should just stay away from drugs period.

Now I will add that my high guess of how many people have at least tried drugs... is applied to pot. Marijuana is so common, and when you are faced with the decision it is your choice. All textbook reasons not to are no longer applicable. It comes down to do you want to try it or not? It is your decision. I don't think the text book reasons ever fully educate us on what really happens when you try a drug. Marijuana is the easiest to try, if you are curious.

After marijuana, you may never come across another illegal drug in your entire life. However, if you do, it is important to know about them. When you find yourself in a crowd of people that use a drug... it's not so much the peer pressure as the 'false glamour' of the drug that will influence your decision. I'm not here to tell you "Don't!" because that is your choice but I am here to tell you the truth.

The false glamour of cocaine is wealth. This is an unconscious belief, but a "responsible coke head" (somebody who uses cocaine but can still maintain a healthy lifestyle and hold a good job) will have money to waste.

So the truth about this is that unless you have lots of money to throw around yourself, stay away from this drug! The cost is simply outrageous. If you spend $300, you may have enough to last you a day or two, depending on how thin you stretch it out. When you run out, you crash. You want more, and at the same time you are facing the reality of how much money you wasted. I'll tell you what, it's not that big of a deal.

Cocaine shares a false glamour with another drug... crack. Now coke heads will disagree with this, because crack is a filthy, disgusting drug. Only dirt bags use crack. That is the truth about crack, yet so many people fall into it anyways. However, the false glamour shared by these two is the secrecy of it.

Keeping either of these two habits to yourself is a rush in itself. You could be out with friends who have no idea and "excuse yourself to go powder your nose". You feel fully independent when you are keeping something to yourself. The truth is that it does not stay a secret. The truth comes out, and if you are using either of these two drugs it will end up extremely obvious.

Touching again on the truth about crack. Even if you are a good, honest person this drug will change that. Crackheads are just like the stereotype. They are selfish, greedy, and they will do anything for something free. They would steal their best friends car and sell it if there was a ten dollar rock in it for them. Crack is by far one of the worst drugs to get into, and people who use crack are the worst people to be around. You can not even offer them help to get out of it, this is something they must do on their own.

Recently, prescription drugs have become popular. I don't know what to say to this. I don't really think there is any glamour, this must be something that addicts do to try out new highs and risk their life in doing so. It is bad for somebody to be so addicted to their pain pills that they get as many prescriptions as possible for themselves. It is another to buy and sell prescription drugs that weren't prescribed for you. Things like that just shouldn't be messed with, period.

Ecstasy has a false glamour all of it's own. The name itself implies it... the feeling of elation is the best feeling. It is a feeling of happiness. Everybody is your friend on Ecstasy. Now I think that a controlled form of Ecstasy might make for a good anti depressant. I also understand that Ecstasy can easily be used as a date rape drug, and for that reason alone I wish it wasn't available at all.

It is easy for anybody to get addicted to Ecstasy. It does not have the physical addictions of tobacco, but it has the mental addictive. When it comes to drugs, the most important text book phrase we should remember is chasing. The first time you use a drug, is the best. After that, you will risk overdose trying to recapture the same feeling. Ecstasy does give you a really strong feeling of happiness. But the truth is that it isn't worth it either. Ecstasy is too dangerous to chase, and if the combination of heroine (yes, Ecstasy has heroine in it) is too high then you will not feel happy at all. You'll feel quite dopey and miserable actually.

I do not know if there is any glamorous misconceptions about heroine, morphine, or whatever else the trend is. There is one more drug that I will not leave out, and that is the glamorous idea of LSD or mushrooms. The idea of tripping on anything certainly peaks your curiosity.

What would it be like to be walking down the street and out of nowhere Papa Smurf runs over and steals your wallet? (Hence an old friends explanation of why he always wore his wallet on a chain when those wallet chains were in style.)

Here's the thing. Anyone who says things like that are probably lying. This is a false expectation of these drugs. Some people may experience a hallucination somewhere along those lines, but in reality the most you'll probably experience is seeing tracers, or witnessing a patterned wall paper 'crawl'. Another thing to take into consideration that is you mess with anything chemical like LSD, Ecstasy, crack, etc. you are taking a huge chance. The slightest imbalance could kill you or cause permanent damage.

Mushrooms are natural. They are grown on cow poop, and they taste just like it. If you are really that curious about tripping, eat mushrooms.

Now the false glamour of drugs period is the 'rock star' life. Pay attention to how the great bands and artists are destroyed by their wild life style. You don't even have that money or fame, so why would you want to do the same thing to your own life?