WHAT MAKES METH SO BAD

Pioneer Press ^ | February 22, 2004 | Amy Becker

[Vigilantcitizen]

Yeah baby!!!! Legalize it!!! Legalize such poison.

Actually,until the war on drugs in the early 80's, methamphetamine used to be legal, and available through a doctor. Meth was usually prescribed as a diet pill.

Meth was given to truckdrivers, fighter pilots(still is), and I had a WW2 vet tell me they were given doses of meth before being dropped out of planes onto the French countryside.

Legal Meth is one of the drugs thought to have killed Elvis. It still was a lot less dangerous when made in labs legally than it is now, and there were a lot less addicts.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Sorry for the double post.

[FITZ]

It sounds like we are definitely not sparing any expense --- why are we giving them free health care, free dentists, antidepressants and all the rest? Leave Darwin to do it's job.

[FITZ]

Yeah baby!!!! Legalize it!!! Legalize such poison.

For meth and cocaine and other such addicts --- sometimes I think it would be best to put them in a big room and give them access to an unlimited supply of their drugs. Just drugs --- no health care, no free food --- if they want those, they'd have to clean up and work --- their choice.

[Bubba_Leroy]

"One of them was seeing Janet Reno all the time"

Lord, that's horrible. I think I'd have to kill myself.

[Vigilantcitizen]

For meth and cocaine and other such addicts --- sometimes I think it would be best to put them in a big room and give them access to an unlimited supply of their drugs. Just drugs --- no health care, no free food --- if they want those, they'd have to clean up and work --- their choice.

That makes too much sense for the government to do.

[Lazamataz]

Meth is some extremely bad stuff. I heard of a fellow in Georgia who had been up for about a week on meth. He was driving with his girlfriend, with the daughter in the back seat. He reached down for his revolver and blew her brains onto the passenger-side window, in front of the daughter.

He had become paranoid that she was 'out to get him'.

He's up for a death-penalty murder case right now.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Meth is some extremely bad stuff. I heard of a fellow in Georgia who had been up for about a week on meth. He was driving with his girlfriend, with the daughter in the back seat. He reached down for his revolver and blew her brains onto the passenger-side window, in front of the daughter.

I know a guy here that shot up his $350,000+ house, after a weeklong binge. Wasn't a piece of glass left.

Thank the Lord no one was hurt.

[Fresh Wind]

Or try something else?

Like what, for example?

[Swiss]

I thought it was the late 1960's that speed was made illegal after too many housewives got addicted to diet pills.

I think both JFK and Hitler was addicted to the drug thanks to their quack doctors.

[Fresh Wind]

I have a friend of many years who was a heavy meth user. The drug virtually destroyed his brain and nervous system. Eventually, he got involved with a strong willed woman who got him to stop, but the damage was too profound to ever recover from. For as long as he lives (which won't be much longer), the taxpayers will be paying for his upkeep and care. Anyone who would claim that meth is a harmless recreational drug, to be equated with pot, or is OK because "doctors prescribe it", is full of ****.

[Lazamataz]

I have a friend of many years who was a heavy meth user. The drug virtually destroyed his brain and nervous system. Eventually, he got involved with a strong willed woman who got him to stop, but the damage was too profound to ever recover from. For as long as he lives (which won't be much longer), the taxpayers will be paying for his upkeep and care.

Could you please detail the damage and the necessary upkeep?

[ikka]

Sounds harsh and mean, but the answer is: no more govt assistance on health care, jobs, unemployment, whatever. You want to screw up your life, you do it on your dime, not taxpayer funds.

[Vigilantcitizen]

"Anyone who would claim that meth is a harmless recreational drug, to be equated with pot, or is OK because "doctors prescribe it", is full of ****."

I assume this remark is directed at me, because I'm the only one on this thread to bring up the fact that meth used to be legally prescribed by doctors.

Nowhere in my post did I say meth was OK when it was legally prescribed. All I said was the legal version of meth was a lot safer than the homemade poison being made now. And there were a lot less addicts.

[HairOfTheDog]

Meth is different.... I agree. Glad it is not among the things around when I was open to that kind of experimentation. I think it is uniquely destructive. While many may use and a few will fall down from other drugs, I think Meth's track record for destroying people is MUCH more profound.

From a law enforcement perspective, other drugs are hard to control. Anything that can be made from stuff found at any home is impossible to control.

The garbage left over from mobile labs is shutting down access to public forests here.

I don't have any answers.

[FITZ]

I think there is a big difference between uppers and downers. It seems to me the very worst drugs are the ones that allow someone to go with no sleep --- maybe it's the lack of sleep that makes them go crazy. Alcohol, pot, and others that allow the user to sleep it off seem less harmful.

[HairOfTheDog]

I would agree.

[Fresh Wind]

Could you please detail the damage and the necessary upkeep?

The damage first manifested itself by a gradually increasing inability to walk normally, and constant shaking of his body. Doctors that treated him could find nothing other than his drug use to explain this.

Even after he stopped using, his mental state continued to grow progressively worse. He is plagued by panic attacks that have gotten so bad that he basically refuses to do anything other than eat. He will no longer get out of bed. If he has to urinate or defecate, the bed is where he does it. He will not bathe. His weight must be getting close to 500 lbs. He refuses any sort of psychological or physical therapy. Of course he is a diabetic, too, and except for taking insulin (that must remind him of the good old days when he injected speed), he won't do any of the other things that diabetics must do to stay healthy. It now appears that gangrene has begun on his feet, but he refuses to go to the doctor.

He has been on disability for a number of years. He will be going into a nursing home very soon. That will be entirely at the taxpayers expense.

Speed is such a cool drug.

[Lazamataz]

The damage first manifested itself by a gradually increasing inability to walk normally, and constant shaking of his body. Doctors that treated him could find nothing other than his drug use to explain this.

There is a manifest connection between speed abuse and parkinsons.

• Research shows that damage to neurons containing Dopamine and Serotonin occurs to the nerve endings "terminals" which appear to have limited ability to re-grow, thus putting the user at risk for conditions such as Parkinsons & Alzheimers in later years.

I'm very sorry about your friend. But frankly, the only symptom that I would definitely connect with meth would be the Parkinsons-like effects. The rest sounds like massive, untreated depression.

[Fresh Wind]

The doctors say he doesn't have Parkinsons. Go argue with the them.