Why do people use drugs?

The question of what motivates drug use is an extremely difficult question to answer. Maybe because there are many different correct answers.
Psychologists distinguish between two types of behavioural reinforcement - 'positive reinforcement' and 'negative reinforcement'. A lot of people think of negative reinforcement as punishment, but they are actually quite different concepts. In positive reinforcement a stimulus is presented when the desired behavior is emitted (or performed) in order to reinforce the behavior by rewarding it. In negative reinforcement the same thing is happening - a behavior is rewarded in order to reinforce that behavior and therefore lead the animal (or human) to be more likely to perform the behavior in response to a given stimulus. However in the case of negative reinforcement an aversive stimuli is removed as a reward for the emitted behavior. So in both cases there is a reward but in negative reinforcement the reward is the removal of something unpleasant. An example of negative reinforcement in humans is the putting up of an umbrella. Doing so is rewarded by stopping the rain falling on your head. This is negative reinforcement.
 In the case of drugs there has been some debate over whether the drug taking is positively or negatively reinforced. Do people take drugs because the are rewarded with a high or because they a rewarded by the removal of depression, anxiety, or other unpleasant emotions? What if it is both? One could argue that the concepts of positive and negative reinforcement are not very useful. In any situation of reward with something there is also something taken away. If I give a dog a biscuit I am also removing hunger. If I open an umbrella the rain stops falling on my head but I also gave myself a dry space under the umbrella. I am sure there are many other examples that you can think up.
 It is not my intention to answer the question of whether these concepts are useful but just to share the idea with you. It is another way of highlighting that to find the answers to the drug problem we must think outside the box and question everything that we assume to be true. The toolbox we have had in the past has not been able to solve much but I believe we now have the tools required - The Internet and and open mind.

Making a Resource for All

Just a quick note to anyone who accidentally finds this site.

I am trying to add more content and hope to bring you some significant changes soon. What I would really appreciate from you guys is some feedback. What do you want to see? What did you like and want to see more of? Is there an aspect of drug use that you are struggling to find info on? The answers to these questions and any thing else you would like to share - maybe a personal story? Please share your thoughts with me on anything. shoutatthesky@hotmail.com

Look forward to hearing from you!

Legalize ALL Drugs?

In 2001 Portugal abolished all criminal penalties for "personal possession of drugs - including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine". So what has the result of this course of action been? Well of course the society has collapsed, all civil order has evaporated, and crowds of bleary eyed, AIDS-infected, psychotic and violent youths roam the streets raping old ladies and torturing animals??? Well that may be the case in the nightmares of the right-wing prohibitionists but the truth is something else entirely.
 The result of Portugal's change of philosophy has been lower rates of drug use, dramatically lower levels of infection of the HIV/AIDS virus and higher numbers of addicts in treatment. Not to mention huge monetary savings from not putting so many people in jail. The money saved has been directed toward funding the higher levels of treatment.
 It would be my prediction that in the long term the effect on the crime rate will be significant as far fewer people are having to engage in criminal activity to fund their habit. There will be fewer unplanned pregnancies and lower rates of venereal diseases. Fewer drug users will need treatment for things such as abscesses, infections and other health problems associated with injecting with poor technique, reused needles, and unhygienic or poorly lit injecting environments. Not to mention less people dying from overdose. The list of benefits is endless.
 Due to my own history I tend to focus on the issues relating to the injection of illicit narcotics. The next logical step in my mind would be to work on getting rid of another common risk to injecting drug users - unclean gear. To achieve this a legal supply network needs to be set up to supply clean, pharmaceutical grade drugs to users. This system would also go a long way to removing funding, and therefore power,  from the hands of criminal organisations.
 An interesting contrast to Portugal is the failed policies of the United States of America. With 5% of the worlds population but 25% of the worlds prisoners they show the rest of the world that having some of the world's harshest sentences for drug crime does not equate to lower use. I like this little factoid from a recent Time Magazine article on Portugal's drugs policy - "Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana". 

 Which ever way you look at the argument it is clear that it is time to look at doing things a little differently than just punish, punish, punish, and hope it goes away.

To check out the Time article click here

Earthquakes in Godzone?

On the 22nd of February, 2011, an earthquake struck the New Zealand city of Christchurch. The quake measured 6.3 on the Richter Scale, yet because it was only a few kilometres deep and right beneath the city it was far more damaging than the 7.1 quake that struck Christchurch in September of last year.

An iconic landmark of Christchurch is the cathedral. The spire of which lies scattered on the ground with an estimated 20 people crushed beneath it. A common sentiment expressed in the wake of the quake is 'let us thank God for saving us' and I have to wonder 'what is wrong with these people'? They really didn't get saved, they just didn't get killed. And if they were saved - from a collapsed building for example - then it wasn't a god who did the saving, it was the combined work of hundreds of highly trained Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) personnel, or in many cases everyday citizens who happened to be in the right place to be able to help. To give credit to some supernatural being who in thousands of years of human civilization has never once given humanity concrete evidence of her existence is just ludicrous. By that rationale God made her own house fall down causing the deaths of 20 of her most ardent admirers not to mention making a hell of a mess on her floor. Oh, and making sure no one will be going to church for the next couple of months!

 I would question why a benevolent god would allow such things to occur. Freewill! God gave us freewill when Eve ate the forbidden fruit - at least that's the story. But if we didn't have freewill before that event then it must have been God's choice for the fruit to be eaten because Eve didn't have the freewill to make those kind of choices. Anyway that is the most common reasoning I have heard from Christians - that God doesn't make these things happen and neither does he stop them because after we gave up our freewill (that we didn't really have) then God no longer intervened in the affairs of the world, he merely oversaw things running on the divine version of auto-pilot. Looks like the plane is headed for a bit of turbulence Jesus H!

I don't think I'll be heading to Christchurch for a while. On top of the privations of a shaken up and seriously damaged city there are all these nutters running around. First the Christians, then the scumbag looters showed up (at the home of a trapped woman whose family were out standing vigil at her collapsed workplace), and now this crazy pederast fuckwit Ken Ring who is scaring a large number of frightened, fragile, albeit not very intelligent people who are living through the trauma that is their life in post-earthquake Christchurch by saying he predicted this quake and he thinks another one will hit on March 20. This guy usually sticks to predicting the weather - something most people would not be surprised to find that the forecast was wrong about - but now he is talking about people's lives. He is saying he can predict earthquakes based on the movements of the planets (particularly the moon) and the corresponding actions of the tide. I would hesitate to call what Ken Ring does pseudoscience because it would be more accurate to call it 'Lucky Sometimes Correlation Identification' or maybe just 'bullshit'. One of the first things every scientist learns is 'correlation does not equal causation'. This means that because two events happen at the same time that fact is no reason to believe that one caused the other or vice versa. For example - every morning at 8:05am when I get in my car to go to work the weather forecast is playing on the radio. If I was Ken Ring (The Moon Man) I would say that my getting in my car caused the weather forecast to play on the radio - but of course that is absolutely absurd. By claiming there will be an earthquake in Christchurch he can't help but be right because there are a lot happening every day beneath NZ (over 4500 just in the Canterbury region in February). Instead there is a far more common force at work - Greed. This sick cunt just wants to drum up some publicity to sell a few more of his books and what better way than playing off peoples fear. I'm off to pray to God for deliverance!

To Chch Residents - I will not pray for you but I am thinking of you and doing what I can to help. The things that make Chch a great place are not the buildings and the roads but the hearts of the people and the natural beauty. Those things can be hurt but they are not destroyed. You guys will get over this. For some it may mean moving to another town or city and if that is the case for you then I will fully support your decision. There is no rush. Take all the time you can to heal and recover. 

Your friend, Lucien

Nietzsche

Here is a couple of quotes from two of my favourite literary stars.

“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

“There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.” - Aldous Huxley

IV Injecting Technique

This video is a brief guide to safe injecting.

IV Injecting Technique

The best thing you can do is to avoid ever injecting illicit drugs, but if you are going to do it you should be aware of the many risks.
 Intravenous (IV) injection within a medical setting, with highly trained professionals operating in a sterile environment with sterile equipment, make IV injecting a safe procedure. However with amateur technique, a dirty environment, and dirty drugs, there are many more risks.
 It goes without saying that you should never share ANY equipment used in preparing and injecting any substance.

Above all - Be respectful of the drugs you are taking and the dangers they pose to your health and liberty. Don't let your actions negatively affect other people.

Peace, Jim

Opiates for Depression, Anxiety, and other Psychological Disorders

I'd rather be dreaming than living
Living's just too hard to do
It's chances not choices
Noises not voices
A day's just a thing to get through
Living's just too hard to do

           - Loudon Wainwright (?)

 In the 14th century the bubonic plague spread through Europe leaving an estimated 75 million people dead from the disease. A more modern deadly plague is depression; said to affect nearly 10% of the American population.
 The first-line treatment for depression is pharmaceutical, usually with a class of drug called Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRI). These drugs have severe side effects including, excess sweating, headache, sexual disfunction, nausea, suicidal ideation, weight gain..... WAIT A FUCKING IRONIC MINUTE - SUICIDAL IDEATION - thoughts of suicide are really not a very convenient or safe side effect of a medication prescribed to treat depression. I mean let me get this straight - I go to the doctor for help with my depression and he gives me a drug that kills my ability to orgasm and makes me want to kill myself AND sends me into withdrawal if a stop taking it. Withdrawal that will involve staying awake for days, uncontrollable yawning, and having the most mind-fucking nightmares when you do fall asleep. Nightmares so terrifying that in spite of your deathly tiredness you are deathly afraid to sleep. And then there is the electric 'zaps' that feel like you have just grabbed hold of an electric fence in each hand that strike without warning throughout the day  - and this is supposed to help you with depression how? You may think that I am exaggerating the severity of things but I haven't told you yet about how I got arrested and spent the night in jail.
 I think it was between about a week and ten days after I had stopped taking the SSRI's when I decided to go into the town centre to see a friend or two and have a few drinks. I hitched a ride the 5 kilometers into town and walked the remaining distance to the supermarket. I bought a 1.25 Litre bottle of cider (about 5% alcohol) and started walking toward my friends house. I drank as I walked and managed to leisurely consume about 1/4 of the bottle in the hour it took me to walk to my destination, stopping to see if I could convince a pair of mormon missionaries to convert to atheism and get my free copy of the book of mormon. I failed at that task but did succeed in getting to my friend's house. I hadn't called or arranged anything and it happened that they were out. I continued on through the suburban streets and decided to try another friend. She wasn't home either so I continued on vaguely in the direction of home, taking my time and drinking my cider. I was walking along in the darkness when dark thoughts of mischief crept into my skull. I started looking for the telltale silhouette of a car's locking knob not properly engaged in the 'lock' position. After a couple of blocks I came across a row of cars neatly parked across the street from their owners' houses.  Conveniently located on the edge of large public park, or, getaway route as I saw it. I spied an unlocked hatchback and quietly got in. I started looking through the car for anything of value and didn't find much more than a few loose coins and an old sports magazine. I suddenly had the brilliant idea of hot-wiring the car and driving home. Of course being quite drunk by this time, combined with the stolen car just wasn't great thinking, but it didn't get that far thankfully. I did manage to start the car and then promptly found the steering column locked and therefore not very much use at all. I grabbed my paltry loot and exited the car, then hightailed it across the park to a dark alley where I could sit and recover.
 I think my brain was in a particularly chaotic chemical state at that time. Not only was I still going through withdrawal from my not very sensible sudden cessation of SSRI medication but I was taking some diazepam periodically and had taken about 10 - 20mg the previous day. Not to mention the cannabis I had earlier in the evening and the cider I had drunk through the evening. The cider was by no means an excessive amount in the context of my drinking of that period, but combined with the other circumstances of my neurochemical condition, it led to a very disordered and confused level of thought.
 In this poor condition I thought that given my paltry score from the car, it would be completely reasonable to go back for more. It was while doing so that I leaned down to see if anything of value was stashed under the driver's seat. Doing so brought my stupid head down onto the horn for what I would later learn was the second time. The first time had been enough to alert the owners, who alerted the police, that some stoned idiot was fooling with their car. When I saw the lights approach I ducked down to hide and when they didn't pass I realised that the game was up. The disgusted looking policeman who opened the car door grabbed me out and proceeded to arrest me and bundle me off to jail where I was to be remanded until the morning court session. I was booked, and the I talked with a representative from the mental health services who explained what would happen, and also took notes of my side of the story. Then it was into a cold, lonely, liberty unfriendly cell.
 I was not very much a fan of authoritarian types like policemen so was rather annoyed when my request for a drink of water was denied. This was incredible to me that such a basic necessity was being denied because of what I thought could only be spite. To bring them around to my way of thinking I proceeded to use the metal tab on my zipper to scrape the skin off the soft underside on each of my lower arms. With some impressive but not dangerous blood running down my arms I was soon brought a drink of water in a styrofoam cup. A small victory in a sea of idiocy.
 I was found guilty but avoided a mark on my record by being accepted for 'diversion', a scheme run in New Zealand by which an offender is diverted away from the punitive type institutions and into the types of activities which educate about the downstream effects of your crime such as the effects of the crime on the victims, and the consequences of a life spent engaging in criminal endeavours. For me this involved attending a meeting with the police, my victims (a young married couple), my brother, and a community representative. I learned about how the incident had affected them and I was able to tell them about some of the circumstances of my struggle at the time. It was quite a reality affirming experience actually because it revealed the true nature of the crime - the extent of my idiocy and intoxication, and their initial fear and annoyance which had turned into increased vigilance and fear in relation to their own security and that of their belongings. It also became clear to me that faced with the information they now had about my troubles, although not changing their opinion of the wrongness of my crime, did at least allow them the freedom from ignorance of the nature of events. With this knowledge came the ability to fully process events and move on without lingering disturbance.
 Given this experience I think it will be clear to you the reasonableness of my opposition to the widespread use of these toxic SSRI type medications. I wouldn't want to see them removed completely from the prescriber's arsenal but they need to be used with extreme caution and only with patients that have not achieved success with psychotherapy or other non-drug treatments.
Given the obvious danger associated with current medications it is only logical to look for alternative pharmacological solutions to the plague of depression and one idea that intrigues me is the use of opioid drugs. It is an idea that is an ultra-powerful electro magnet turned to high and attracting controversy every time it is mentioned in public.
Opioids have been used for thousands of years in the treatment of physical pain, but modern anecdotal evidence suggests that opioids may also be effective in treating psychological pain. The law in most places seems to prohibit the prescribing of opiates as a treatment for depression but that doesn't stop some sympathetic doctors prescribing opioids for pain in some part of the body when in fact the intended target of pain relief is the psyche.
 I have heard of more than one person who on detoxing from a long-term opiate addiction developed symptoms, and were eventually diagnosed as suffering from bi-polar disorder. These same people had for years successfully maintained heroin habits with the high-functioning intellect required of the lifestyle.

So? Tell me what you think please.

A study of opiate use in chronic non-cancer-related pain and the effect its use has on rates of depression.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/729521

P.S. I will continue to look into this subject and will periodically  present my findings on this and other subjects to the world and to those who accidentally find this blog.

Setbacks are just setups for comebacks

This activity is a proven method for treating depression. Whether it is the exercise or the scenery is a question I am still working on fingi

This guy is not depressed - in fact he is quite happy with the way things have been going for him,                     

Methadone and Positivity

I guess my first post wasn't the most positive toned communication. I am generally a positive guy so I have a gift for anybody who accidentally stumbles on to this blog thing. I have been trying to write an article on different treatments for detoxing from opiates so I thought I'd share this rough draft of the section on Methadone.
 Yes, I have been on Methadone. I was on a very small dose of 15mg. This was supposedly to treat my morphine addiction however it didn't work out that way. Being on Methadone brought me in to contact with a new set of people. People who could show me how to cook morphine into homebake heroin and how to inject my drugs. So I went from drinking liquid morphine before treatment to injecting heroin, and injecting methadone when they gave me take home supplies. It wasn't long before everything collapsed and I was off to in-patient detox in the Hilmorton Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand. But that (as they say) is another story.

Methadone

Methadone is the trade name of a synthetic opiate first developed by German scientists in 1937. Their task was to develop a painkiller that would make Germany self-sufficient by eliminating the need for opium imports. Although the Germans succeeded in inventing the compound, it wasn’t until after the war that the formula for Methadone was found amongst files confiscated by the Allied forces and the patent was made available to pharmaceutical companies for the bargain price of one United States Dollar. In the following years the product was released under at least thirty-three brand names – one of which was Methadone

Methadone first became commercially available in 1947 and by the 1950’s it was being used as a treatment for heroin addiction. For the first time doctors had a treatment option that had a viable success rate. During the 1960’s Vincent Dole, M.D. carried out groundbreaking research using a variety of drugs to treat opiate addiction. He noticed methadone had a unique ability to not only treat the symptoms of withdrawal but also to reduce cravings for opiates significantly. It was Dr. Dole who developed the once-daily dosing schedule that is still used today.

 Further research has shown that Methadone, given adequate dosage, also has a blocking effect if any other opiates are used. It is for this reason amongst others such as level of craving present or the presence of any opiate withdrawal effects, that the dosage you receive as a methadone patient is reviewed regularly and adjusted accordingly until you feel comfortable.

Methadone is increasingly seen as a legitimate medication for lifelong treatment of opioid dependence but for those wanting to get clean it can be a valuable aid that can help the addict get back a sense of normality and a level of stability in their personal and professional life. Once a level of stability is achieved a gradual dose reduction program can be implemented. This program should proceed at a speed the user is comfortable with. Greater success rates have been found the longer a methadone patient remains in therapy.

I welcome any comments....

Blogging?

Most people who know me may consider it uncharacteristic behaviour for me to be writing a blog. Well, go fuck yourself! Anyone who really knows me will know that intellectually I don't dwell in a box. Instead I consider all things on their merits and judge them according to their intrinsic value, not the value placed on things by society. Acceptance by society is never an indication that something is meritorious or not. Just look at religion. As Krishnamurti said, "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society". And society is certainly sick. Just look at the war on drugs - still not effective in stopping people using drugs, still causing untold misery through dirty illicit drug supplies, and - very important for keeping the whole charade ticking along - still making a few people a fucking humongous stinking shitload of cash!

 Anyway, enough bitching and moaning! Keep tuned for all sorts of fun stuff, cool pictures, thoughts and what ever else I can find that is extremely interesting.