MEMORIES!

 I’ve been under the weather a bit with health problems recently, most attributable to inactivity and age. Enjoying my sobriety for the last thirty years, I have scrupulously avoided taking any type of medicine to relieve pain other than ibuprofen, Tylenol etc... I have always had a healthy respectful fear that the use of mind-altering chemicals including pain medicine, would lead back to abuse on my part and I wanted no part of that ever again.

 A few days ago I injured by back to a point that the pain was intolerable. After an injection of some type of steroid and a prescription for more steroidal drugs, my doctor prescribed a codeine type of pain medication which I was to take in conjunction with the steroids.  I will tell you that for 24 hours I was not comfortable with the feelings I was experiencing. Due to the excruciating pain, I had no choice but to take them until the steroids could do their job. It was a long 24 hours. With the pain ebbing somewhat, I quickly stopped taking them and switched back to my usual remedies with which I was more comfortable.

 In the process of going through all this, my mind was reliving days of old. When that first codeine pill hit my system, I was thrown back into a period of my life I had completely forgotten. To say I was buzzed is an understatement. It only took one pill to reawaken those long ago lost feelings of indifference to my surroundings and the euphoria induced by this drug. I was truly stoned on one stinking pill. This insidious drug actually had me trying to remember the good old days when this feeling was a daily occurrence.

 The good news is try as I may after 30 years of sobriety all I could come up with for memories, was the bad times. I clearly remembered the sick mornings, the missed opportunities, the social missteps and most of all the pain I caused my family. The mere thought of returning to that period in my life was enough to get me to suffer the pain I was experiencing and to dispose of the balance of my prescription. For some reason the “good old times” were no longer in my memory. Perhaps they never existed.

 Reinforced in my mind was the knowledge that for this addict, one pill, one drink, and one snort is never appropriate or wise. I would not go as far as to say that I will never take another pain pill or narcotic medication should the absolute need arise, but I will always maintain respect for the danger these drugs present. 

Richard Charron
http://www.amazon.com/author/richardcharron

MARIJUANA USE AMONG TEENS AND YOUNG ADOLESCENTS

Just finished reading a pamphlet put out by NIDA (National Institute of Drug Abuse) regarding marijuana use among teens and young adults and the statistics are staggering.

Were you aware that:

9% of people who use marijuana at least once will become addicted.

This risk increases for those who start in their teens to approximately 16%

The risk increases to about 25-50% among daily users.

 

The largest percentage of admissions in drug abuse treatment centers is attributed to marijuana. 61% for those under age 15 and 56% or those 15 – 19

 

School failure:

“Someone who smokes marijuana daily may be functioning with a ‘dimmed down’ brain most or all of the time. Compared with their peers who don’t smoke, students who smoke marijuana tend to get lower grades and are more likely to drop out of high school. Also, longtime marijuana users themselves report being less satisfied with their lives, experiencing memory and relationship problems, poorer mental and physical health, lower salaries and less career success.”

 

How on earth can we justify legalizing a drug that is so detrimental to our young people.

 

Of major concern is the very casual attitude regarding drugs, alcohol and other creative

methods used to achieve the so called “high.” Can a high only be achieved by numbing the

brain? Ask a practicing addict to describe what constitutes a high and you will get amazingly

unique responses. For most it is a temporary escape from whatever reality they are battling. For

others, like me, it allows us to misbehave while avoiding responsibility. The ready excuse was

always, “It was the booze that made me do it; I didn’t know what I was doing.” The flagrant and

more frequent use of marijuana in particular, coupled with its acceptance in society, is extremely

worrisome. I have no doubt that productivity in our country will suffer from the legalization of

this dangerous and highly addictive drug. It is undisputable that a brain under the influence of

any type of drug will make different and more incoherent decisions than it would otherwise.

Society continues to push for the addition of more ways to destroy the intellect, as if we do not

already have enough with which to deal. Life itself can be such a high if only you will let it

happen.

Enabling and alcohol / drug use.

"In most cases alcoholism is entirely dependent on an enabling influence. Usually that
influence is another well-intentioned person. The alcoholic who cannot perform his
responsibilities as a result of being impaired or recovering from a drunken stupor needs
someone to cover for them. The enabler generally has a vested interest whether economic or
familial in the alcoholic and is generally obligated or pressured to perpetuate the situation.
Unfortunately and unwittingly, the enabler merely postpones the inevitable day of reckoning.

It is very difficult for someone to willingly allow someone they love to crash, however, time
and again it has been demonstrated that allowing that crash to occur is the only thing that will work. At some point no amount of cover-up is possible and everything crashes".

 

 

 

Get a glimpse of my new book "Lying on the Ground Looking Up" at

www.createspace.com/Preview/1124471