Exam time ponderings....

[lostblackdog]

So, let's examine the process of exam time at any given highschool or college at this time...

I don't know if any of you caught that media hype from the director for the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, but I certainly was rather snagged on some of his words. This guy is up there telling us that more and more teenagers are turning away from "hard street drugs" and are heading towards their parents' medicine cabinets instead. Apparently a shitload of the surveyed populus (which, as a sociologist, I would LOVE to see the details of!) has, at some point or another, used a prescription drug that was not prescribed specifically for them. I was unable to get an age range or anything like that, but looking at how many 14-18 year olds are on this site asking questions about dxm, vicodin, valium, xanax.... etc, I would assume that this survey may have an air of truth about it... which I guess we can look at from two different angles...

The first conclusion we can draw is that prescription drugs have become more recognizable to more people representing a younger age group than in previous years. This may or may not be due to doctors "handing out" prescriptions to a younger crowd, but nonetheless, the average 15 year old knows that ritalin and adderall will give you a boost and help you study. They also know that opiates like oxycontin and such, will sedate you and "get you fucked up" if you drink alcohol on top of them.

The second conclusion we might arrive at is that our society has culminated in such a way that drugs have become necessary in order for us to meet the standards of ideal performance which dominate our social and economic systems. Basically, this is saying that we need drugs in order to deal with and function in society. I don't have the data in front of me, nor do i know if such data was collected at all, but something tells me that most of the incidents involving teen drug "abuse" are not stemming from recreational use.

At this time, there are tons of people running around looking for ritalin, coke, adderall.... whatever it takes to keep them up and help them focus. Are these people looking to get fucked up and get in trouble? Absolutely not. These people are everyday, mundane, hard-working individuals turned "druggies" and they are now demonized by conservative anti-drug organizations. The media loves this type of press because they know that when Bob and Ethel Jones come back from the tent revival, they're gonna watch the news and see that their money is working to fight drugs, and that's what good people do in order to fight evil. Not only are they fighting evil, but they are also fighting terrorism because they arrested an Afghan drug-lord, and he's got ties with those anti-Christian, anti-American terrorist groups, and terrorism is evil because it kills and frightens people. However, when we decide to go over there and shoot their shit up, we're spreading Freedom and the word of the Lord to all of those Islamic heathens...... And this is where Bob and Ethel put on their white caps and robes, and get-off to a giant statue of their Lord and Saviour..... George W.

It seems that everytime I turn around, there is someone looking for someone else who has whatever pill it is they need. I ran out of lexapro the other week, and I didn't have the money to buy any more, so two of my close friends told me that they had been given samples of lexapro that they don't need and that they could bring them by for me. This drug is an SSRI with no recreational value whatsoever, but the transaction is still illegal.

Right now there are tons of people looking for adderall and ritalin, and they are paying very high prices for these medications. These aren't druggies or junkies, rather these are everyday people... baseball players, religious organization members, people who have a prescription, but have run out... etc. Do these people deserve the reputation that the media has branded them with, or is this simply where society is heading in order for us to function?

[oOflyeyesOo]

Alot of my friends at times were doing adderall and ritalin all the time in school and were loosing weight and working out and gaining muscle and doing alot better in school, but then again they still smoked pot and did other drugs also but not much at that time.

[PhotoGra1]

There are more prescriptions being written now because we can now diagnose illnesses better, and diagnosis that we weren't aware of previously. Subsequently, more treatments are available to treat the increasing disorders and diseases. Obviously, with increased treatment, there is increases abuse. This all seems pretty logical too me, and I think it is being blown way out of proportion in the media. This is very interesting. I will think more on it and write more later.

[lostblackdog]

That never really occured to me before.... We are able to diagnose things better these days... so I guess that makes us unique from past generations. It's interesting to bring up though, in this day and age of new, shiny technological wizardry and wonder. Have we actually outdone ourselves as far as keeping up with the pace of technological advancement goes? Things, to me at least, seem to be changing so rapidly, and it feels like we're allspeedballing into the future with unprecidented fury and desire. ZOOOM!!!

I know that when I was diagnosed with ADD, the doctor told me that I was becoming used to the technology of our time, which functions with such a quick response that it has decreased my patience with things outside of the technological realm. I mean, it kinda sounds like she was right when I think about it. Take typing for instance; how many of us don't have to look down to type (although, maybe some of us should!)? Now, let's take this a level deeper and become aware of the fusion between man and machine, and it's impact on our lives. Our brain sends an electronic signal to our muscles, which are then stimulated in order to place them in the right spot, and then to press down on that key. Then the key being pressed down completes an electrical circuit that is fed into either the computer directly (via carbon, wires, and a multitude of other metals and alloys), and even then, it's not done. The next step is taking the signal and deciphering it in the computer and then sending it up to the monitor where it is converted into light and displayed on a glass screen that we then look at and convert from rays of light back into electrical signals and thus the cycle continues.... especially if you fucked up and you have to hit the backspace button because you hit the wrong key in the first place....

That is a fucking amazing concept to me, but one that we take for granted every single day, no doubt. So, we have created technology that can outrun our minds, keep us connected to anyone in the world we want to, so as long as you have access to the internet and a computer, you essentially have the world at our fingertips. What are the three things that people seem to use this amazing technology for? Keeping connected with our surroundings, buying/selling things, and looking at porn. (This is NOT based on research, rather this is my own speculation which may or may not be true!).

So what the hell do we buy on the internet? Drugs, porn, and non-essential material goods. What the hell is up with that, huh? We have a large portion of the nation going out and buying prescription drugs and porn online, but aren't we supposed to be an American Protestant fundamentalist nation? Hmmmm..... somebody's not telling the truth out there..... ehemmmm..... that's you guys, Christian fundamentalist, weiner whackin' "proud to be an American" rednecks.....

Society may be heading in an ENTIRELY unheard of direction with the technological advances being made today.... In all honesty, we are developing at such a rate that we will most likely see some new type of culture emerge in our life time, but what type of society will come? Will it be for better, or for worse? Do we need popular choice elections, or should we have a "philosopher king," like in Plato's "The Republic?"

I find it funny to see the way that society has gone considering the fact that the fathers of our country were basing their ideals of American Democracy on the same pre-Christian Hellenistic (Roman, pagan), society that Socrates imagined in the Republic. And exactly where in the New Testament does it say that Christians should not do drugs, have sex before marriage, or get tipsy from time to time? This has always puzzled me about Christianity.... perhaps there needs to be another great schism, like when the Protestant Church was formed... I guess that name suits the fundamentalist closed-minded part of the sect, but what about all the other open-minded, explorative and compassionate Christians who are not afraid to show the scars of their past? I feel sorry for them, because they are so readily ridiculed for their association with the hellfire-damnation crew. Okay, now I'm just rambling.... I've gotta work on this paper.... :( Later guys....

[Maggie Sugar]

There are pharmceuticals which have been almost forgotten because they are either off the market (Quaaludes) or just not prescribed much anymore. (Most forms of barbituates.) I knew kids who were "Red Heads" (Seconal, I think.) when I was a kid. Yellow Submarines were Nembutal. (an other barbituate) and you could buy Robotussin for the Codeine, not the DXM. Also, in many states, you could get Paragoric (camphorated tincture of Opium) OTC. And getting a Benzedrine Inhaler for asthma was as common as Albuteral is now. Kids used to take out the cardboard soaked in Benzidrine and soak it in Cola or Tea and drink it.

I think pharms have always been abused, there are just different forms, now.

[PhotoGra1]

There are pharmceuticals which have been almost forgotten because they are either off the market (Quaaludes) or just not prescribed much anymore. (Most forms of barbituates.) I knew kids who were "Red Heads" (Seconal, I think.) when I was a kid. Yellow Submarines were Nembutal. (an other barbituate)

...and black beauties! (Tuinal, another barbituate). Also, before Adderall, Dexedrine was highly abused.

[Maggie Sugar]

There was also something called "Brown and Clears." It was Dexedrine, I think. Everybody did them when I was in High School. I always got sick from speed. Never did it much at all.