Crystal Meth

Natalie Davis of All Facts and Opinions has a post up about the highly popular street drug that has me thinking again about crystal meth. Read hers.

While I have no experience with it (I'm afraid I'm terribly boring in the drug department; coffee is my drug of choice and the others I take all come from the local pharmacy), I had an acquaintance recently surprise the hell out of me by mentioning that she had used and really liked it.

The so-called stereotypic recreation drug user, she is not. She's a soccer mom-slash-freelance marketing wiz, a very moderate Republican, and somebody who, although she was an avid smoker, gave it up cold turkey when they adopted their first child because she didn't want to tell her kids to do one thing while she continued to do another. She's also one of those by-the-books types who honestly doesn't believe (normally) that there are different rules for different people.

This genuinely wonderful woman was chatting with me recently by IM when I cracked a joke about Ecstasy and one of the Bush twins when "Jane Doe" began to tell me how wonderful Ecstasy is and then began to recount her many experiences while taking it. This led to her telling me about discovering crystal meth and how she decided it was wonderful and actually "helping me work better".

I was literally aghast. One of her kids is now in high school and I wondered how Mrs. Junior League (and I really don't want to mock her - she's a very genuine person) managed to rationalize doing Ecstasy and crystal meth herself while telling her 15-year-old daughter that she won't get to go to Bennington if she ever smokes either a cigarette or pot.

But beyond the cognitive dissonance operating there, I know this woman has some medical background. Look at a list of ingredients for crystal meth and tell me that's something you want to put anywhere near your body. And as the piece by Natalie Davis tells us, crystal meth can lead to circumstances that make it much more likely someone may become infected with a particularly virulent strain of HIV/AIDS.

As a former smoker, I know all about the ability to continue self-destructive behavior long past the point where you know it's causing damage. And as a thinking person, I know how ridiculous it is that the government and drug companies have demonized pot to the point where they can make it sound more dangerous than a heroin addict on cocaine. But even pot, when inhaled as smoke, is still going to be an insult (in the physical sense) to the body; that much is true even if you discount the nonsense.

Although I can't profess much experience with drugs, I did a bit, particularly right out of college (in college, I was too grade-oriented to play). I remember how nice the concept - if not the reality - of a nice long toke on a joint on a Saturday night seemed. I don't like alcohol (I'm not abstinent but I almost never drink), so the idea of a toke back then was probably the equivalent (or less) of a beer once a week. In reality, I rarely did it but I sure liked the idea. And yes, I've been through some awful times when you wished for anything that would dull the pain (although I've never found drugs particularly effective for that; instead, they usually end up contributing to and expanding the misery).

Yet there are some drugs I simply cannot understand why anyone would allow to come anywhere near them; among those include crystal meth and cocaine.

How miserable does your life have to be to have those drugs be a "nice escape"?

We can't afford to ignore this one either because - as the world spins out of control - more and more are using something, be it prescription pills, crystal meth, alcohol or whatever, to soothe the pain. With money tight, crystal meth supposedly packs a very powerful punch to those who want something they can afford. If I know a soccer mom using crystal meth, who do you know who may be using? Statistically speaking, probably more than the zero number we think.