Drug Talk

Dial a wrong number and what do you get? An unknown someone and indiscernible of sex on the other end who speaks in slurred English, apparently in a hazy daze from the affects of medications, possibly subscribed for pain management, or just as likely bought on the sly from unscrupulous pill-pushers. Mention the word “oxy” and the tone would have changed to a perky mood at the prospects of making a friend - one more contact to feed the need.

Witness a delivery truck dislodge a mailbox, then discuss the situation with the greasy-haired and rotten-toothed driver, and where does the conversation lead? To avoid an insurance claim the guy pays cash out of hand and, in response to relating a story about a friend who had done the same to multiple mailboxes because he was on too high a dose of mood stabilizers, his interest is apparent when he mentions he might be interested if the meds are of the right mixture. Not what he was hoping for.

Go to an emergency room and what does the doctor tell you? That too many people just like yourself seek medical attention in desperation from the negative affects of being too long on certain prescription drugs. The medical professional also states that 25% of emergency room patients are there for the same reason.

Every age group, from teens to the eighty’s, find their minds and bodies unable to cope with the withdrawal of the opiate ingredients found in oxycodone products manufactured as Percocet, Percodan, OxyContin and Vicodin.

Intended to be time-released, habitual users crush the tablets, dissolve them in water and shoot the mixture directly into the bloodstream for a quick fix. Better yet, “roxies” are made to order without the added step of injection. Since oxycodone is extremely habit-forming, once a person is hooked, the dosage must be progressively increased.

Roxy Music, a 70s rock group fronted by Brian Ferry and a major influence on punk rockers, compared drug use with lovemaking. In fact, a YouTube music video of their first pop hit “Love Is A Drug” displays the lyrics superimposed over the image of two hearts with a syringe taking the place of the traditional arrow – a heart-breaking picture.

How about the words and music of Amy Winehouse, “They tried to make me go to rehab, I said no, no, no”? A very catchy tune but face it, not exactly the type of music a parent wants their kids to admire.

The same goes for Lil Wyte with the chorus “Oxycontin, Xanax bars, Percocets and Lortabs. Valiums, morphine patches, Ecstacy… and it’s all up for grabs”. Second verse same as the first… all together now… It’s a rapper’s paradise of fortunes at the expense of youth.

Drug use has become a national heritage, a war against which was doomed when President Richard Nixon first introduced the term “war on drugs” in 1971. It was primarily about marijuana but over the years it’s encompassed all kinds of nasty concoctions we’ve become familiar with, especially in the past decade: cocaine, heroin, opium and methamphetamines – they’re all a “crack” in our social makeup – a bad complexion.

Take a hard look at where our society is right now. Baby boomers, who were the initial users of hallucinatory drugs, have delivered to our institutions greed and self-interest as never before in history. Too many have shamed our generation as we all pay the price for their deranged guidance. Flower power wasn’t supposed to include poppy seeds.

What does the future hold for this country? Two decades from now, those on drugs now may have finagled through their 20s and founded a degree of success to gain access to influential positions, with executive privileges, and put America through another round of economic and political indiscretions.

Hopefully, my assumptions of the affects of drug use by our leaders are unfounded.

These little story quips come not from personal experiences but as told by friends. But there is a tale of a friendly acquaintance who was legitimately on pain medications, oxy’s, that he quit cold turkey by choice. It took a month to become fully un-hooked but, due to an unemployment situation, the lucrative business of selling (dealing) prescriptions for a profit (a couple grand a month) keeps the doctor with cash in hand and the individual being able to meet living expenses.

It’s a game of successful entrepreneurship. Without drug trade the economy would be further in jeopardy. It keeps money in circulation, flowing freely thanks to supply and demand. The costs in lost wages, government-subsidized health care and jail time costs will widen the cracks in taxpayers’ piggy banks. Oh ya, the affects on people's lives is a major concern too, if anyone really cares.

Bedroom communities, such as Hernando County, Florida, have been ripe for excessive drug abuse because they were planned development areas to attract retirees and not working class children. These poor unfortunate kids are the ones faced with not enough options to keep themselves busy and stay out of trouble with the law, whether by use of drugs or joy riding that result in traffic violations. The combination of both keep them in a vicious cycle of confrontation with law enforcement, a virtual career in offenses that lead to jail if not prison time.

Too many retail jobs and menial manual labor with parents finding themselves also in a bind to find sustainable upward moving employment opportunities should have found parents picking up their families and relocating, possibly out of Florida entirely. The economy is too reliant on low-paying jobs in the family entertainment business - amusement parks - where minimum wage and few, if any, other benefits are poor career choices.

No wonder Florida has a poor educational system and youth and young adults, if not their parents, are reliant on drug-induced personal entertainment. Too much idle, unproductive idle time on their hands and minds.

It’s a lost cause to expect responsible parenting. There are too many outside, easily accessible influences that undermine the otherwise sensible minds of innocent children.