MobiusDick
Bluelighter
A Question For madGardener
Here's my question for you mG (and I don't necessarily disagree with your premise): Why are you using these drugs when you use them? Now, it certainly possible, just as most of us use alcohol; for example, in social situations, in limited amounts, and at specific times and days. Is it possible to use drugs like heroin or methamphetamine in this manner? That is, recreationally, or as we put on our pharmacotherapy Rx's we write people say PRN or pro re nata roughly meaning: "take as needed", or ad libitum roughly meaning "as desired", But here is what I am getting at: what type of planning goes into the event? If something better came along -the girl you've had a crush on all your post-pubescent life-has decided she thinks you're awesome and wants to go on a date- how would you react to the missed drug event [doing the drug with her is not
an option let's just say]? Would you {A} Go out with her and forget about the drug indefinitely or completely? {B} Take it in good stride and just do the drug sometime in the non-specific future? {C} Would you go out with her, but do the drug on a very specific date in the future? {D} Go out with her and do the drug the next soonest night you are able to do so (Let's say the night right after the date)? {E} Would you do the drug that night, right after your date? {F} Would you try to make the date for another night after you did the drug?{G} Blow her off entirely because the drug is more important and fuck her if she can't handle you being high on your first date?
I think if your choice were {A} or {B}, there would be no issue about the drug's current place. {C} can also likely fall in this category; with {D} things may go either way, but are starting to clearly lean towards problems. And let's just for space say that choice {E} can also fall there. choices {F} and {G} can stand for {f}or{g}et about recreational drug use, others may be able to do it, but not you!
So mG, the question that comes into my mind is that, if you are asking this question to begin with, you probably already know the answer; and it is likely that while possible for some, it may not be possible for you. In general, people who don't over use alcohol, or heroin or methamphetamine, never have to say to themselves, " I wonder if I can keep this in check?" They just do it. I have been involved in clinical and research settings with drugs for 25 years, and I have never seen anyone addicted to any drug that was not self medicating for depression. So if you have any depression or dysthymia, or tend to feel melancholy sometimes, then I would not play this Russian Roulette and expect to walk away unharmed. And if your thoughts are, "I wish there were a non-addictive opiate that I could do everyday and not get addicted, I also would abstain. You also may want to note how you feel after you do the drug, on the next day. If you are really down and need to recover, fighting off the urge to do the same drug again or another drug, to escape the morning after blahs, then I would also not count yourself among the people that can do what you are asking. This effect and the morning after feelings tend to become more severe the more you take the drug; and if you are thinking about it early on, you may have a hard time if it starts taking 3-4 days to recover when you use. All of these are things you should think about before attempting this type of life style. Because, and here is the main point of this essay: Of all the people who have become addicted eventually to these drugs, there is not even one of them that failed to ask the question you are asking. It's the ones who never got addicted that never asked the question in the first place.
MobiusDick
Here's my question for you mG (and I don't necessarily disagree with your premise): Why are you using these drugs when you use them? Now, it certainly possible, just as most of us use alcohol; for example, in social situations, in limited amounts, and at specific times and days. Is it possible to use drugs like heroin or methamphetamine in this manner? That is, recreationally, or as we put on our pharmacotherapy Rx's we write people say PRN or pro re nata roughly meaning: "take as needed", or ad libitum roughly meaning "as desired", But here is what I am getting at: what type of planning goes into the event? If something better came along -the girl you've had a crush on all your post-pubescent life-has decided she thinks you're awesome and wants to go on a date- how would you react to the missed drug event [doing the drug with her is not
an option let's just say]? Would you {A} Go out with her and forget about the drug indefinitely or completely? {B} Take it in good stride and just do the drug sometime in the non-specific future? {C} Would you go out with her, but do the drug on a very specific date in the future? {D} Go out with her and do the drug the next soonest night you are able to do so (Let's say the night right after the date)? {E} Would you do the drug that night, right after your date? {F} Would you try to make the date for another night after you did the drug?{G} Blow her off entirely because the drug is more important and fuck her if she can't handle you being high on your first date?
I think if your choice were {A} or {B}, there would be no issue about the drug's current place. {C} can also likely fall in this category; with {D} things may go either way, but are starting to clearly lean towards problems. And let's just for space say that choice {E} can also fall there. choices {F} and {G} can stand for {f}or{g}et about recreational drug use, others may be able to do it, but not you!
So mG, the question that comes into my mind is that, if you are asking this question to begin with, you probably already know the answer; and it is likely that while possible for some, it may not be possible for you. In general, people who don't over use alcohol, or heroin or methamphetamine, never have to say to themselves, " I wonder if I can keep this in check?" They just do it. I have been involved in clinical and research settings with drugs for 25 years, and I have never seen anyone addicted to any drug that was not self medicating for depression. So if you have any depression or dysthymia, or tend to feel melancholy sometimes, then I would not play this Russian Roulette and expect to walk away unharmed. And if your thoughts are, "I wish there were a non-addictive opiate that I could do everyday and not get addicted, I also would abstain. You also may want to note how you feel after you do the drug, on the next day. If you are really down and need to recover, fighting off the urge to do the same drug again or another drug, to escape the morning after blahs, then I would also not count yourself among the people that can do what you are asking. This effect and the morning after feelings tend to become more severe the more you take the drug; and if you are thinking about it early on, you may have a hard time if it starts taking 3-4 days to recover when you use. All of these are things you should think about before attempting this type of life style. Because, and here is the main point of this essay: Of all the people who have become addicted eventually to these drugs, there is not even one of them that failed to ask the question you are asking. It's the ones who never got addicted that never asked the question in the first place.
MobiusDick
