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

 

 

April 30, 2013

My eBook went live today on most book seller websites. If you are battling with the disease of drug addiction or alcoholism or you know someone who is, I urge you to take a look at my story. I hope I can be an example of what anyone can accomplish with regards to banishing drugs and alcohol from their lives. Amazon as well as Smashwords, currently has it available. It should be available on iBook in the middle of next week.  "Lying on the Ground Looking Up"

Smashwords  http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/311631
Amazon  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CLDU4GE

 

April 26, 2013

 

What on earth are the promoters of legalized Marijuana thinking? How can anyone think that the legalization of a “dangerous” mind bending drug be a good thing for our country? I have to believe that anyone endorsing smoking pot as beneficial to society in any manner must themselves be partaking in this mind-numbing pastime.

 

Any argument about Cannabis being useful for medicinal purposes to say the least is unwarranted. We currently have an array of legal and controlled prescription drugs that can accomplish and exceed the benefits of Pot.  Some are a derivative of THC combined with Cannabidiol and delivered in a mouth spray while avoiding the adverse effects of smoked marijuana. With the passage of the “Affordable Health Act” (Obamacare) and its supposedly all inclusive coverage for everyone, there is no reason for anyone to resort to street drugs for pain control. These drugs are also controlled for a reason and are monitored by a physician for both effectiveness and addictiveness.  If for some reason these drugs are not available to everyone, perhaps we should spend more time, effort and money in curing this problem instead of creating a new one.

 

Who thinks the workplace will be enhanced by these new laws? Loss of productivity, which is a given, can only exacerbate our problems in an already competitive business arena where competition from overseas and other drug free parts of the world is so keen. Make no mistake productivity will be severely impacted.  According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a study done among postal workers found that employees who tested positive for marijuana on a pre-employment urine drug test  had 55 percent more industrial accidents, 85 percent more injuries, and a 75 percent increase in absenteeism compared with those who tested negative for marijuana use.  The question I have with this study is why were these people who tested positive for drug use hired in the first place, but that’s another topic for another blog.

 

Another area to be considered is the ability of someone under the influence of Cannabis to make intelligent decisions. According to the NIH, “marijuana’s negative effect on attention, memory, and learning can last for days or weeks after the acute effects of the drug wear off.  Consequently, someone who smokes marijuana daily may be functioning at a reduced level most or all of the time.” Who would knowingly hire someone who is not up to full speed? Think about this! Would you?

 

I am not aware of anyone who has done a study on the overall negative costs associated with marijuana use but I’m sure the amount would be staggering. Can you imagine how many business decisions alone are made on a daily basis, while under the influence of this supposedly recreational drug? The argument most often put forth by the pro marijuana lobby is that people are going to use this drug anyway so why not make it legal and enjoy tax benefits from it. This a totally absurd argument as the loss in productivity not to mention the social malaise resulting from this mind-bending drug more than offset any potential tax gain. How irrational a thought we would throw the welfare of our country overboard just to collect more in taxes.

 

There are many other arguments to be made with regards to this idiotic rush to legalize stupid behavior, but I will save them for future blogs.  We haven’t touched on the effect of this drug on our youth, health, driving…….. Well you get the point. This is a Pandora’s Box and I hope we come to our senses before it’s too late to close the lid.

 

Richard Charron