Well - I dunno about there being any links to the article as yet, but I'm bored, so in the interests of community service, here it is:
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HOW E TRAPS KIDS
"One man's story of how drug fun at rave dances began a descent into fear"
[preamble from columnist]
Every now and then you are exposed to something so clear, so well explained, you wonder why it has taken so long to make any sense. Use of ecstacy by young people at rave parties is something I have struggled to understand. Time and again people have tried to convince me the odd tablet does no harm. Lighten up they say; at least our young are not getting fall-down drunk. Following is a letter to me by a former fan of the E-culture. Every parent should read it and ask their teenage children to do the same. And it should be read in school classrooms.
[main text]
Dear Sir
I am 28 years old and first used ecstacy in early 1998.
At the time I was a regular nightclub goer who liked to dance, drink and have a great time without any drugs. [Let's all play spot the glaring contradiction - me]
Sure, I had smoked a few joints, but rarely.
A few of my friends had taken some ecstacy and said how fantastic it was. I thought I would try it.
The feeling of extreme excitement, the head rush, happiness, excess energy, the wonderful love you have for everyone around you is undoubtedly euphoric.
Unfortunately, the feeling can't last forever, and at the end of the day it was created by chemicals that, as you are aware, are not the best for the brain cells.
A regular night out for me would consist of this:
Imagine I was planning to go out on a Friday night and today is Monday. My week would entail me constantly calling my friends to call their friends to find out where we could get the best Es (ecstacy) and at the best price.
We would also be trying to score some speed. Eventually I had a contact who sold me pure speed and I was able to cut it down so it saved me money and I could sell it so I had free drugs.
ON THE NIGHT
Friday would come around and we all would be prepared, drugs and all. We would meet at someone's house for pre-club drinks to get in the mood about 9pm.
A few lines of speed, a few drinks and some upbeat music would get people in the mood.
We would pick a club that we knew played the best music and was drug-friendly.
In we would go about midnight, just before they would get really busy.
We would all get a drink from the bar, stand in our little corner and drop our E.
The effect would begin in about 30 minutes to an hour. We would all be saying to each other, "Can you feel anything yet?". The anticipation was enormous.
Eventually we would all be off the planet, dancing like lunatics on the dance floor to extremely fast techno music in a world of our own. Constant hallucinations, strange sensations that would affect the head, loss of hearing and sight, loss of mobility and other feelings I can't describe.
We would go to the toilets, guys or girls with each other, and snort a line of speed or cocaine off the toilet lid or toilet roll holder.
2AM. TIME FOR THE NEXT E
The first E may have worn off so it would be time for another rush.
During the night there would inevitably be someone who had freaked out or simply wasn't coping with the drugs they had used. This would cause chaos among us, as we would be so concerned for the other person.
Usually they would simply sit in the venue, either on the floor or somewhere comfortable.
Often the main problem was paranoia. You would be scared of someone you thought was constantly looking at you; you would think that people were making fun of you; your mind was racing.
I have felt the extreme paranoia of people wanting to get me, making faces as if they wanted to kill me and simply imitating the way I danced.
I am a 6ft 4in male who can certainly handle himself, but under the influences of these drugs I was reduced to absolute fear. Fear for my life and fear for the people I was with. [So why the fuck were you taking them in the first place?]
7AM. HOME, SHOWER, NEXT ROUND OF DRUGS
If we left a club when it closed we would simply go to someone's house, turn up the music (techno, of course) and prepare for the rest of the day. Once again just a few lines of speed each just to keep everyone going.
We would shower, drink vodka, beer and high-energy drinks and generally chill out while we waited for everyone to get ready.
Usually by now we would need more drugs so a couple of us would make the journey to the dealer's place to buy.
10AM SATURDAY
The recovery venues are open. The term recovery could not be further from the truth. It is hard-core dance music, drug consumption and alcohol.
The recovery would go all day until about 5 or 6pm. Similar situations: freak outs, drugs in the toilets.
However, all good things must come to an end [I thought this bozo just explained how _not_ good it was?!] and the club would be closing for the day.
8PM. BACK AT SOMEONE'S HOUSE
Here we go again preparing for the next night out; once again showers, music, drugs and alcohol. We would party all night.
None of us would have eaten since Friday afternoon or evening if we were lucky. While taking these drugs, eating is just not a thought. Sleeping is impossible with the pseudoephedrine pulsing through your veins. [Perhaps that could be something to do with the meth you've been snorting all day?]
THE COMEDOWN
Sunday night. After all the highs, the emotions have run out. You are back to the same old you, only you feel like a bag of s--t.
You know that you have to work the next day. Your jaw is aching beyond belief after all the grinding of the teeth you have been doing and you need water, heaps of it.
Your ears are ringing from the constant thud of the music of the past two days, and your body is ready to shut down.
Off to sleep you go, occasionally waking up to a strange sound or weird hallucination.
It was always best not to come down alone.
The next day is work. You have just spent about $500 over two days and you need to earn more money for the next night out, which will be the very next week, same thing.
After the millenium New Years Eve, my now fiancee and I ceased taking these drugs, but the effects are still around.
During the new year we partied for a few days and eventually it caught up with us.
I began to get paranoid about a group of guys that I imagined thought I was a drug dealer, dealing in their venue, which I was not.
I thought I saw them put something in my drink and decided not to drink it. While I was talking to someone my fiancee came over and drank the drink without me knowing.
Later she went into a schizophrenic state. One moment she could not move, next she thought something was inside her, next she didn't know who I was.
This went on for about two hours. I have never been more scared.
We think ourselves lucky. We called that a wake-up call and stopped taking drugs from that moment. Imagine if something went wrong and she had of died [sic] while out with me.
What would I have told her parents? It is just too dangerous.
I come from a great family, private school education and I have a great job. Not the sort of person you would associate with drugs.
Every kid is a target for these drugs.
We are about to get married, we have saved a deposit for a house and life is fantastic without drugs. I hope that you can take what I have written for what it is worth [extended ROFLing]; I am not glorifying drug use. I just wanted to show you what my experience was and how glad I am not to be using.
Steve, I hope you can stop some kids going through what I went through.
[text ends]
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Well.. there it is - sorry about the length. After going through it again a little more thoroughly, I'm now suss that it smells like an article written by a 'concerned adult' who actually has NFI what they're talking about and is trying really hard to write like a 'young drug user'.. [shrugs]
[This message has been edited by lsd303 (edited 25 July 2001).]
