Catch-22
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2001
- Messages
- 4,518
On January 12, 2003, Brandon Vedas died of a drug overdose. He had consumed massive quantities of klonopin and methadone, along with restoril, inderal, and cannabis (1). What makes this unusual? Why should we stop and take note?
Because Brandon was sitting in an irc chat room, describing what he was doing, while onlookers watched him in his webcam and cheered him on (2). Several of the participants realized long before his overdose that he was going to end up killing himself. Yet very few tried to get him to stop, and even after he had stopped responding, they refused to try to get him help.
When I first read about this tragedy, I believed it was a horror unique to the internet. My first concern was that the phenomenon might begin to spread. As one person commented, "Unlike the telephone or instant messaging (or DCC chat, I guess) IRC demands detachment…The grainy flickering and jerking of webcams imparts a dreamy sort of unreality."
My fears ranged to things like "live broadcast suicide." Shady internet broadcasts where sadistic voyeurs could anonymously witness someone killing themselves, while even crueler people profited from their curiosity.
But this was not the issue, and never was. The real issue is in the very heart of the drug culture itself. It plays a role every time someone encourages a person to take dangerous dosages, turns an eye when a friend is doing what is obviously too much, or keeps on dancing while a stranger convulses on the floor. "Hey dude, if you snort another line, you'll feel really good." "We can't take him to the hospital, we might get in trouble."
Life is far, far too precious to be thrown away like this. In the wise words of John Donne (3), "any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind." Each of us has a responsibility to watch out for each other, with our words and with our actions. Every human being is morally accountable for the actions they take when another person's life is in jeopardy. The drug culture carries an extra burden, because so many outsiders don't look upon us as worthy of salvation. So it is up to each of us to watch out for and protect each other.
First and foremost, it is your duty to spread accurate information about drugs. You must inform other users of the risks involved in drug use, combating ignorance and myth with facts and research. To do this, you need to learn all you can. There are many resources available, and it is important that you take advantage of them. Do your best to memorize specific dangers, dosage information, and everything you can about harm reduction techniques. If you supply the drugs, either by selling them, or giving them away, this responsibility falls heavily upon your shoulders. By giving drugs to an uninformed person, you have become the cause of anything bad that could happen to them.
Second, know when to say when. A good bartender cuts a person off long before he can drink himself to death. It is up to you to make those in your company quit when they've had "one too many." Talk them out of it, hide the drugs, use physical restraint if necessary. While it might seem like too much trouble at the time, it is up to you to stop them. Some people just aren't going to stop themselves.
Finally, if thing's have gone too far, take action. Call an ambulance, call the police, get them to the emergency room. There may be hell to pay for doing so, but you can reduce the personal risk by calling for help anonymously, making sure to get rid of any drugs or paraphernalia on your person and theirs, or eliciting the help of someone else. Whether they get in trouble, or you do, any negative repercussions are tiny in comparison to the death that will probably result if you do not.
In some situations there is only black and white. This is one of them. You can be a hero or you can be a coward. The people in that IRC channel on January 12 chose to be cowards. People choose cowardice every single day and the world is a poorer place for it. Be the hero. Be the good guy. Put on the white hat and save a life.
1. Article: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/56497p-52905c.html
2. Chat transcript: http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=121313
3. Quote taken from Meditation XVII
Because Brandon was sitting in an irc chat room, describing what he was doing, while onlookers watched him in his webcam and cheered him on (2). Several of the participants realized long before his overdose that he was going to end up killing himself. Yet very few tried to get him to stop, and even after he had stopped responding, they refused to try to get him help.
When I first read about this tragedy, I believed it was a horror unique to the internet. My first concern was that the phenomenon might begin to spread. As one person commented, "Unlike the telephone or instant messaging (or DCC chat, I guess) IRC demands detachment…The grainy flickering and jerking of webcams imparts a dreamy sort of unreality."
My fears ranged to things like "live broadcast suicide." Shady internet broadcasts where sadistic voyeurs could anonymously witness someone killing themselves, while even crueler people profited from their curiosity.
But this was not the issue, and never was. The real issue is in the very heart of the drug culture itself. It plays a role every time someone encourages a person to take dangerous dosages, turns an eye when a friend is doing what is obviously too much, or keeps on dancing while a stranger convulses on the floor. "Hey dude, if you snort another line, you'll feel really good." "We can't take him to the hospital, we might get in trouble."
Life is far, far too precious to be thrown away like this. In the wise words of John Donne (3), "any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind." Each of us has a responsibility to watch out for each other, with our words and with our actions. Every human being is morally accountable for the actions they take when another person's life is in jeopardy. The drug culture carries an extra burden, because so many outsiders don't look upon us as worthy of salvation. So it is up to each of us to watch out for and protect each other.
First and foremost, it is your duty to spread accurate information about drugs. You must inform other users of the risks involved in drug use, combating ignorance and myth with facts and research. To do this, you need to learn all you can. There are many resources available, and it is important that you take advantage of them. Do your best to memorize specific dangers, dosage information, and everything you can about harm reduction techniques. If you supply the drugs, either by selling them, or giving them away, this responsibility falls heavily upon your shoulders. By giving drugs to an uninformed person, you have become the cause of anything bad that could happen to them.
Second, know when to say when. A good bartender cuts a person off long before he can drink himself to death. It is up to you to make those in your company quit when they've had "one too many." Talk them out of it, hide the drugs, use physical restraint if necessary. While it might seem like too much trouble at the time, it is up to you to stop them. Some people just aren't going to stop themselves.
Finally, if thing's have gone too far, take action. Call an ambulance, call the police, get them to the emergency room. There may be hell to pay for doing so, but you can reduce the personal risk by calling for help anonymously, making sure to get rid of any drugs or paraphernalia on your person and theirs, or eliciting the help of someone else. Whether they get in trouble, or you do, any negative repercussions are tiny in comparison to the death that will probably result if you do not.
In some situations there is only black and white. This is one of them. You can be a hero or you can be a coward. The people in that IRC channel on January 12 chose to be cowards. People choose cowardice every single day and the world is a poorer place for it. Be the hero. Be the good guy. Put on the white hat and save a life.
1. Article: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/56497p-52905c.html
2. Chat transcript: http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=121313
3. Quote taken from Meditation XVII
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