What Can You Change?

I recently watched Cartel Land on Netflix and thought it was a great movie. How the movie starts in the present, flashes back & then loops back around to right near where it started (showing the full cycle of "change" and the resultant futility of the process) I gained further appreciation for just how hard it is to change human nature or systems of power generally.

Any review I attempt to write would probably be inferior to the one Paul2001sw wrote on IMDB:

Are vigilantes reluctant heroes taking up arms to defend their communities? Or men of violence looking for a cause in which to fight? Can a band of local activists protect the people against a corrupt government? Or is an self-appointed institution always doomed, by its very nature, to be guilty of the same crimes it is founded to eliminate? Where does the greatest threat to a popular movement come from - the personal failings of a charismatic leader who can satisfy, but only for a moment, the people's desire for a saviour, or in the slime-ball sellouts who would replace him?

What I found interesting was not only how quickly the movement fell apart when the charismatic leader was injured, but then how to have the sort of charisma needed to be that strong of a leader he attracted people in such ways that ultimately led to him even hurting the people who (should have?) mattered the most to him.

You know and love the people near you, but the bigger a movement you try to build, the faker it becomes as compromises are made as people who don't believe are casually swept up and active exploiters of the movement sense an opportunity.

They show at one point him flirting with a girl & then later his wife saying he had only to do right by his family and god & that he did neither.

People who want to seriously change the world may attract many people to their cause, but if they are successful they'll likely screw over some of the people who trusted them most and gave them the most.

Glow too bright and you burn the people near you.

Widely known, or a few deep relationships with people who really matter to you.

Everything is a trade off. Everything comes with cost. Our hours are limited & we all eventually die.

About 15 years ago I read Edward Behr's book Prohibition about the 1920s & this film left the same sort of sense of uninspired hopelessness in social engineering attempts.

Like the current war on drugs, those efforts failed & had to be unwound.

So long as there are 2 books of law, the profit margins guaranteed by black markets will mean any progress in the war on drugs would ultimately just create more profit margins. It is a self-stabilizing cycle of societal instability. Much like our financial system.

As bleak as many things are with corruption being at the core of huge parts of the economy, there is hope in knowing you can see more sustainable results by focusing on changing yourself and helping those you care about most.

FDA Issues New Rules for Vitamin Purity

In an attempt to make pharmaceutical drugs seem more effective while making vitamins and over the counter supplements ineffective the FDA did not endorse, approve, or review vitamins or other supplements. The party line, to curb consumer trust and demand, goes something like this

"Many herbal supplements have not been studied well and are not regulated by the FDA," said Tepper. "Therefore, we can not be sure of the safety of these products.”

In spite of that consumer fear, and banning once popular supplements like tryptophan to make space for SSRIs, the drug companies are once again in fear of losing profits to non-prescription non-subscription based drugs.

The FDA can't stop consumer demand or ban the OTC supplements quick enough. They can publish aggressively titled scare-mongering content on a few of them
( www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2004/204_ ), but that model does not scale. The trick only works well if it is rarely done. People can't be afraid of everything.

To help further put the balance of power back into the hands of the pharma corporations, the FDA is now requiring supplement and vitamin manufacturers to meet a purity level.

If the FDA finds that supplements do not contain the ingredients they claim, it will be able to ask the manufacturer to remove an ingredient or revise its label. In more serious cases, it could seize the product, file a lawsuit or seek criminal charges.

Not only can products be seized, but the act also requires the collection of biased data about how the supplements do not work

“In addition, as a result of recent amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, by the end of the year, industry will be required to report all serious dietary supplement related adverse events to FDA,” he said.

Over the years the quality regulations will tighten to drive up costs and destroy weaker companies in the space. And, as evidence is collected, these drugs will quietly be removed from store shelves one by one.

In capitalism the best business model wins, even if it is created through excessive marketing by monopolies that add no real value to the world we live in.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Lies and Cheats, Causes More Deaths to Increase Profits

From MarketWatch:

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. agreed to plead guilty and pay a $1 million criminal fine for lying to the federal government about a patent deal involving its blood thinner Plavix, the Department of Justice said on Wednesday. The department said that illegal actions by Bristol-Myers "threatened to reduce competition for the drug Plavix that could have reduced the cost of blood-thinning drugs sold to heart attack, stroke and other patients." Bristol-Myers agreed to plead guilty to two violations of the federal False Statements Act, the government noted. The deal reached with the antitrust division of the DOJ resolved a previously disclosed criminal investigation regarding the proposed settlement between Bristol-Myers and its product partner, Sanofi-Aventis, Apotex Inc., and Apotex Corp.

Chemical Biggotry

I think I read that phrase in a Disinformation book of some sort. Anyhow, in spite of alchohol being so much worse than most illegal drugs, the bogus war on drugs pushes onward:

Related news:

• Alcohol abuse high in teenagers
  
• Report links alcohol abuse to sports sponsorship
  
• Senate panel OKs amendment allowing sale of higher alcohol beers
  
• Some Energy Drinks Contain Alcohol
  
• Scientists want new drug rankings

Green Tea is Yummie

I recently ordered some sweet green tea from O-Cha.com...it should be coming in in a couple days. I can't wait to taste it. :)

Trust Me, Give Me Unlimited Authority!

Interesting article

The Justice Department has charged a former chief of the Food and Drug Administration with lying about his ownership of stock in companies regulated by the agency, according to media reports on Monday. The government accused Lester Crawford with falsely reporting that he had sold stock in companies while he continued holding shares in firms governed by FDA rules, the Associated Press reported.

When the people given control over regulating what chemicals other citizens can even consume have NO RESPECT for the laws that govern their position why should any other citizen respect the laws?

This is exactly why it is stupid to give any one individual, business model, business, or self-reinforcing social structure too much control over large areas of the government.

If a person gets enough power they may feel arrogant and above the law, which will make the consequences of their errors horrific for society.

Assuming there was no corruption, giving any individual that much authority still makes it easy for their errors to have a substantial effect on society.

It is a shame that our vigilante good vs evil government decided checks and balances did not represent the true desires of God.

Catnip & Ecstasy

catnip and ecstasy
talking between dreams
though I never fell asleep
friends are all you need

This is sorta just mixed up, but I like thinking of weird lines that I might be able to use later in a better way. Something makes me really like the words catnip and ecstasy next to each other even if that is bizarre.

I think both of those drugs have the same net effect of making animals excited and seemingly happy enough to not care so much about some of the day to day concerns of life. But they are both also quite temporary in nature (much more temporary than life). And it is odd to think that if you really found your passions and pushed that you may be able to feel that way most the time without doing drugs.

It is so easy to let chemicals play the roll of friends and then build up a self fulfilling prophecy which makes the world whatever you want it to be. At the same time it is easier to be happy if you have real social activity in your life.

Also it is fascinating how I am so inept at so many things, and yet do well largely because I have cool friends. As good as I feel now it is hard to think of how I spent so many years being so pessimistic and self destructive. Although I still am a bit self destructive...am nowhere near where and what I recently was.

Is Sugar Addictive? What is a Sugar High?

I was recently reading an Under the Influence article titled White Lines: Sugar, How Sweet it Ain't which is a great article about sugar highs

"Sugar evokes a brain chemical called beta endorphin, the same chemical affected by morphine and heroin," explains Kathleen DesMaisons Ph.D., author of The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program. "The sugar creates a wonderful feeling of euphoria and well-being, but when it wears off, you feel edgy, irritable and cranky - this is actual withdrawal. If you use the drug [sugar] again, it relieves the symptoms, so you get caught in a cycle of needing it."

The article later stated:

As might be expected, this powerful and entrenched system of creating false needs. exploiting those false needs, and all the destruction involved on the production and consumption sides does not suffer opposition gladly.

And that is precisely why I find being a marketer so hard...much of the time I feel guilty for creating and/or exploiting false needs (or at the very least removing market friction in marketplaces where others created the false needs). And yet at the core level I struggle with shit as basic as eating reasonably or valuing my physical / social / mental health. You can't value any of those three without valuing all of them, because they are all related. What you consume consumes you.

As a bonus, NutraSweet and other synthetic sweeteners - such as aspartame - also screws people over because they tricks the brain into thinking there will be a bunch of energy coming, so the brain tells the liver not to produce glucose for a while, and then when food doesn't come that makes you really hungry.

Each time I pig out on sugar I am reinforcing the related reward circuitry, while helping myself become more obese, more addicted, malnourished, and having a lower self image. Many of my larger macro-errors / macro-failures revolve around the same reward circuitry related to this sort of need a quick hit of energy type stuff.

The associated low self image (brought on by inactivity, isolation, overeating, eating bad food, being malnourished) makes social interaction harder than it should be. It also makes social interaction seem as though it requires much more effort than the potential rewards of meeting people would bear.

The need a quick hit of energy junky mentality makes me a problem ( drinker / drugger / eater / sleeper )...and some might say a bit of a sociopath. I think I found it easier to identify with people who tended to be a bit abstract or different because they were typically less judgemental and found their own ways to be happy by choosing to control their own actions instead of letting others dictate what they were to do. But if you allow chemicals to have a significant roll in your life to try to find happiness while not even taking care of the day to day basics of living you are only setting yourself up for failure.

Starting from a young age I was quite naive and still remain so on oh so many levels. But I don't think it is important to identify with any group...what matters is identifying with YOURSELF. Have you found yourself? Or are you who others want you to be? How do those people relate?

The being overweight makes it easier to have poor sleep quality. The irregular sleep cycle and limited amounts of sleep make it easy for me to lie to myself and tell myself that when my body is telling me to sleep that I am hungry, and go grab some sugar rich junk food.

The lethargic feelings after consuming a bunch a sugar make it easier to be lazy and further isolate myself from society and activity.

Building up the reward circuitry related to sugar highs is also likely part of why it is so easy for me to drink fast. It is part of the reason that my self image is low enough that I allow myself to act irresponsibly and socially repugnant from time to time.

On a possitive note, I have cut WAY BACK on my sugar consumption and am about 20 pounds lighter than I was a month ago. But even in doing that I may be screwing up by trying to lose weight too quickly.

And the reason that being as flawed as I am and repeating stupid mistakes over and over again makes me feel so guilty is that I have been given too much opportunity and too many other people care about me or rely on me for me to treat myself so poorly and set myself up for failure or misery so often. I should be a stronger and better person than I have been. And that starts with what you eat...because you are what you eat!

The other issue I need to solve is balancing work and play. I go from working 16 hours a day when sad to working 3 hours a day when happy. But if I have to be misserable to be successful does success have any purpose? And am I measuring success on my own terms? Or based on somebody else's?

This is a poem I wrote about 6 years ago. It was about a person struggling through life due to being bipolar, and how some people tend to approach life (through poor consumption habbits, irregular sleep, living in artificial environmental, and letting other's agenda dictate their actions or view of the world) in a way which prevents people from being anything near their full potential, and instead going for false energy sources that have the net effect of making them live as though a bipolar person would.

Title: Ocean Waves...

Taste, touch, smell, sight, sound
sensory impulses lift me off the ground
drowning gravity keeps me bound

dormant in a cocoon, chemicals released soon
these thoughts pass and I understand
these faults belong to one man

life not enough, have I had too much
places I've been, people I've seen
memories I've had, blurred the dream

I come back
down I go
clear the bottom
is it so

And since I wrote that I nearly died probably about a half dozen times and have largely stripped others from controlling my view of the world, I could prettymuch live wherever I want to, have almost no responsibilities or obligations other than those I chose to take on, and yet I still am making some of the same errors that maybe could have / should have / will kill me if I allow my current and future activities to be dictated by the results of poor choices in the past or inhumane things I learned of.

Part of controlling your emotions is ensuring you do your best to ensure you are setting yourself up for happiness each day. You are what you frequently do. Happiness is not the lack of things you hate, but finding and doing what you love. And you can't just fight things all the time if you haven't set yourself up to enjoy life. If you do then what the hell are you fighting for?

Some of my most important life lessons were learned by making huge errors. Hopefully I don't keep making them though, or maybe I actually learn from them and move on to make different ones.

Health Care & the Economy

"The most startling fact about 2002 is that the combined profits for the ten drug companies in the Fortune 500 ($35.9 billion) were more than the profits for all the other 490 businesses put together ($33.7 billion)."
- Marcia Angell

But the very real problems with the health-care system mask a simple fact: Without it the nation's labor market would be in a deep coma. Since 2001, 1.7 million new jobs have been added in the health-care sector, which includes related industries such as pharmaceuticals and health insurance. Meanwhile, the number of private-sector jobs outside of health care is no higher than it was five years ago.

...

If medical spending rises to 25% of gross domestic product by 2030, as many economists expect, health care's share of jobs could grow to 15% or 16% of the labor market from today's 12%, based on historical patterns.

Such a shift in employment would require health care to be the single biggest creator of jobs in the economy for the foreseeable future. And while the U.S. could in theory afford to spend 25% of GDP on health care, it's hard to imagine a world in which our children have to choose between working for the local hospital or the local health insurer.
- BusinessWeek

How long until you can just buy pills based on the desired emotion? How long until their names sound like emotions or are emotions?

If taking care of health could cost 25% of the GDP then why aren't their tax breaks for joining a gym or health club?

And you got companies like Doritos pushing consumers to create Superbowl ads, junk food companies coming up with more and more subversive ad formats, - including advergames, while the government is pushing for studies on how media effects people. The truth is, it is all in the numbers. No study required.

Associated link love:
http://www.commercialexploitation.org/
http://www.allianceforchildhood.net/

Artistic Cause

I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across The Meatrix II tonight.

While not as kick ass as the original, I love the use of art to spread messages about how consumers are only sold part of the story when they buy things.

Low Fat Muffins

No hate directed toward you mom ;) but for some strange reason I bought low fat muffins yesterday. They tasted like cardboard.

No self respecting man should ever eat low fat muffins. Instead just go to the gym to earn the privledge of eating whatever you want.

Personally Recommended News

Is it scary that Google News's top recommended story for me today was Man took 40,000 ecstasy tablets?

I don't know how the hell a person would take 25 a day for 4 yrs (that is like a smoker smoking a cigarette an hour even while they are sleeping)...that just seems out of hand. I have known friends who liked doing psychedelic drugs like acid and the like, who sometimes blacked out from just taking 1 ecstasy pill.

I have debated the effects of search personalization, noting that it may lead us to see our own self imposed biases which are represented by the ideas we look for and the way we search for them. Maybe some recommending engines will offer things that are from other perspectives or things you have not looked at much in a long time? Here is a try (or it was supposed to be but the following code did not work right away...the bastards. hehehe):

Google is also said to be working on a health portal. Those guys are a bit nutty with all the things they do. But there are obvious flaws left in the markets they create. Many of those flaws are related to other people not sharing the same idealisms that Google states they do. It is easy to lose passion for an arbitrary set of guidelines that sometimes a company itself does not follow.

Google has acquired probably more information about humanity than any group ever. How relevant are their ideals to the real world?

If Google falls they will fall hard. It won't be because their competition is better or smarter than Google, but because the competition will be less attached to ideals and more in tune with how the world works.

My First Burger in a Long Time

I swore off McDonalds and am sticking to that.

Being uber tired I recently tried Dairy Queen burger, and I feel gross. Like I ate some dead animal as it was frying on a cactus...with fur and all on it. The flavor in my mouth is so fake and gross. Yuck. So ick.

Think I prettymuch am just a non burger person from here on out.

Food and Framing

I talked to my sister yesterday...when I was so sick it was hard to do anything but lay down. I had the flu...bad.

She asked if I had any chicken soup. I said yes. She was like good. Make sure you sleep, drink water, and eat chicken soup.

After a bit she said that no you shouldn't eat chicken...or turkey or anything bird related. Did you see that cat that died from bird flu?

So here is a situation where something has been ingrained into my sister's brain for 30+ years and now the concept of bird flu has been marketed so hard that she entirely changed her view of chicken, and all poultry.

I guess we can die from eating stuff, but we can also die by not eating anything ;)

I don't think this pending epidemic is as large as some people would like to believe, I just think this is an effort to exploit the general populous. Of course the bigger question is what happens when something goes wrong with the food supply? Will we be able to undo the effects of factory farming?

Nasty Lunchmeat Story...

So I normally get Boar's Head lunch meat. It tastes good. I am uncertain why their site is only a PageRank 5, but that is a story for another day.

Today I went to the grocery store too late and noticed some ready lunchmeat in packs. It is always sorta gross seeing outdated food on the shelves, but it is also rather nasty to see meat that should be good for a long time. What kind of stuff do they put in February luchmeat that makes it good half way through April?

What is grosser:

• 2 day expired lunchmeat; or
  
• lunchmeat that does not expire for a couple months?

Ironically, while writing this I am eating beef jerkey that probably sat on a store shelf for a year. Sigh :(

When Addiction Sets In...

So I rarely have caffeine.

Recently I have cleaned up much of my shitty diet, having ate vegetables 4 days in a row. I also killed most of the usual forms of blatant sugar intake, other than having frappachinos.

In spite of sleeping in until 1PM I feel really tired at 10PM (and have felt so for the past couple hours). Part of that might be because I was a jerk and threw my back out lifting weights yesterday, but an even larger part is that I have been drinking frappachinos in the evening like 4 or 5 times in the last week.

I am saying screw the caffeine. I will probably still be up for another 3 or 4 hours and am just as good without caffeine. It is too easy to get hooked on a cycle with that garbage...and replacing frequent sugar intake with slightly less frequent sugar + caffeine intake is not a legitimate healthy route.

Caffeine causes some blood vessels in your head to restrict a bit. When they go back to their regular size that added pressure of them being a bit larger can set in a headache.

Now I know a week is probably not enough time to set in any sort of an addiction, but doing it for a few weeks means I will have serious headaches when I try to stop.

My Favorite Part of a Salad

I love cheddar cheese...and cherry tomatoes are good. Croutons are decent too.

I have been regularly eating salad (without dressing - I just don't see the point to using salad dressing) and other vegetables for 4 days straight.

The secret bonus to a salad is that if you put some of the tomatoes on the bottom you end up getting croutons, cheese, and tomatoes at the end of the salad...and I can eat that all day long. :)

Quite an amazing achievement for a meatatarian.

Vegetable Juice

I made another vegetable juice today.

I tend to like things that are very pungent...lots of flavor per unit volume. Hence I measure this and describe this using the word flavor density. Examples:

• ultra sharp 8 years aged cheddar = 9.2
  
• dijon mustard = 8.7
  
• mint flavored frapichino = 7.6
  
• peanut butter fudge = 7.4

When I made my vegetable juice today there was way way way too much celery in it. This stuff tastes revitalizing and yet almost makes me want to puke at the same time...and I made a huge cup of it. It no doubt has solid flavor density, but it is a bit of a departure from the typical pastries and candy bars.

Is there any golden ratio to a decent tasting vegetable juice?

The Odds of Me Dying From Diabetes...

Are probably above 75% unless I decide to trade in the candy bar for a celery stick.

I don't drink very often, but I used to drink somewhat frequently in a binge maner. Combine a couple years of living like that with a now sedentary lifestyle, the ability to make a living without leaving the house and a nack for liking ultra low quality sugar rich snacks and you could see that I have little hope of avoiding diabetes unless I change my ways.

I have already changed on that front quite a bit though...more on that later.

Almond Pastries = Yummie

Ever notice that almond pastries taste amazingly good?

Seems to me like they are almost impossible to screw up because I have had tons of them and they are always yummie...although I need to seriously cut back on the pastries front.

Stop Drug Ads

Well their site looks like crap, but the cause is worthwhile. Stop Drug Ads

What a Boring Post!

Ate a salad...and liked it.

The world turns.

Scary stuff.

Bolthouse Farms - yummy

I have not looked into if they do any shady corporate farming activities yet, but the Green Goodness from Bolthouse Farms is just plain yummy.

Who would of thought a drink with broccoli, garlic, artichoke, wheat grass, and spinach would taste good?

Dinner With MSN

Wow...that was cool. I got to eat dinner with some of the people from MSN AdCenter and a couple SEO buddies.

I always love getting to sit next to a search engineer and chat for a hour or two. Just the underlying concepts and the way things are said...it makes you learn and appreciate stuff so much more. Including how my market timing was oh so lucky.

I also feel like I am luckier than I deserve to be, but then again at times I was less lucky than I deserve...I guess it sorta just goes in waves. No point putting to much effort in trying to understand all the little ups and downs...just accept them as they come, and always remember to ask for a link ;)

Breaded Chicken Bones

Apparently breaded chicken bones passed for Chinese at a place my roommate took me in NYC.

Food Per Dollar

When I was young I somehow picked up the idea that you want to get as much for your money as you can.

The as much as you can was not usually defined in terms of quality since quantity is far easier to visualize and explain. I would say up until about the age of 25 I thought volume per dollar when I looked at food. And I generally got away with it. I used to work out so much that I was in way better shape than most people in spite of eating pure shit.

Eventually though I will die of diabetes if I do not change those eating habbits, or that philosophy.

I should realize price is a bit arbitrary and more value per money should mean healthier and better. Not faster or more.

Alchohol vs Illegal Drugs

Having done many different illegal drugs, I would say that I made most of my worst decisions were made while drunk. Why do people who drink heavily talk down about people who sometimes recreationally use other drugs as though their habbit is better?

Scotish Food vs Curry

So I went to a cool conference and we ate out many nights. The first night we had like 50 people at a Scotish restaurant. The second and third nights I ate with a few people at a few different spots. I thought the food was way better at the second and third spots. I am not sure if it was due to:

• the fact that I know curry is amazing beautiful wonderful yummie etc
  
• Scotish food has a bad rap for a reason (according to my roomie)
  
• I like smaller groups because it encourages participation more...whereas in larger groups I tend to just kinda sit quiet

anywho all in all it was fun and I got to eat some curry :) :) :)

Pats VS Genos - the Philly Cheese Steaks Battle

Pat's website looks like rubbish, IMHO (especially since no self respecting website should use a marquee tag and they use like 3 or 4 of them on the home page).

They are down to earth with their marketing though. It is basically "yup we are the best and we don't even really need to market it". They have been doing cheesesteaks since 1930.

Geno's website is not great, but is better than Pat's.

Geno's building is cheesy I am in your face type marketing. Neon lights and all that jazz. I guess they had to do a lot to try to catch up, because they started in 1966, and when I visited Pat's still had a much longer line.

I got to eat at Pat's yesterday, and it was good :)

Long live the cheesesteak, and here is the recipie.

You would not believe how much Cheese Whiz they go through there. If I had to guess it would be measured in hundreds of pounds per day.

Ephedra Once Again Legal, although Hard to Find

Yippie. I just found out that the federal ban on Ephedra was lifted back in April:

U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell sided with a Utah-based company that challenged the Food and Drug Administration's ban in April 2004 on the herbal supplement, which has been linked to 155 deaths and thousands of adverse reactions, including heart attacks and strokes.

It has been used forever and 155 deaths is not that much when compared to most other legal or prescribed drugs that are supposed to make you better. Longterm it is probably not great to have all the time, but if you want to get in shape quick ephedra can help you have greater energy when you exercise by making it easier for some people to breath. Of course I am not a doctor and I do not know your conditions, so I assume no liability for your use or misuse of ephedra.

The problem is now there is a negative stigma around ephedra, so it is hard to find. Even if it is still legal the lack of ability to find it makes it hard for people to buy and consume it.

IMHO the whole reason ephedra became illegal is that it was probably cutting into sales of prescription weight loss drugs. Sometimes when searching on Google or other engines it will be hard to find the older versions of products that had ephedra in them due to the number of search spam resellers of the new versions without it.

so the key to finding ephedra products is to do searches like ["with ephedra" -free -non] on engines like Google. When you do super targeted searches like that some of the results will be what you want. I found a couple people with ephedra weight loss products in probably less than a minute.

The wonderful Erowids also has ephedra information.

George W Bush is a Credible Voice on Drug Usage?

In Juiced Jose Canseco said Rafael Palmeiro used steroids. Jose also testified that Rafael did in front of congress. Recently Rafael failed a drug test, and guess who says he is innocent? The president. Like he has ANY credibility on the issue of staying away from drug usage.

President Bush - who owned the Texas Rangers while Palmeiro played for the team - called Palmeiro a "friend" in a round-table interview with reporters from several Texas newspapers. "He's testified in public, and I believe him," Bush added. source

I am sure there is a way liberals could spin this story to paint George Bush as a person protecting his drug abusing / drug using budies. You know the scumbags in and around the republican party (Frank Luntz, etc.) would be doing the same to someone like Bill Clinton.

Because of how Jose spoke of steroid usage it does not tell a story that people want to believe or spread. Of course looking at the bigger picture it is still a useless soap opera tv type issue when you look at some of the sketchy things going on in the world.

Post about Drugs, Drug Abuse, Balance, & Purpose

Drugs Drugs Drugs
All you need is Drugs
all together now
All you need is Drugs...

that was a hack of a Beatles song (All You Need is Love), replacing the word love with drugs

teen drug usage increases:

"Our nation is in the throes of an epidemic of controlled prescription-drug abuse and addiction," Joseph A. Califano Jr., CASA chairman and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, said in a statement. "While America has been congratulating itself in recent years on curbing increases in alcohol and illicit drug abuse, and in the decline in teen smoking, the abuse of prescription drugs has been stealthily, but sharply, rising."

"The explosion in the prescription of addictive opioids, depressants and stimulants has, for many children, made their parents' medicine cabinet a greater temptation and threat than the illegal street drug dealer," Califano said. "Parents who do not want to become inadvertent drug pushers should consider locking their medicine cabinets."

Girls were found to be more likely to abuse prescription drugs than boys (10.1 percent of girls versus 8.6 percent of boys), and teens who abused controlled prescription drugs were twice as likely to use alcohol, five times likelier to use marijuana, 12 times likelier to use heroin, and 21 times likelier to use cocaine, compared to teens who did not abuse legal drugs.
source

Get Busy Child... Crystal Meth use on the rise

Methamphetamine is a chemical variant of amphetamine with much more powerful effects.

Abuse is particularly bad in rural areas.

It is easy to produce using chemicals found on farms, and the homemade labs which produce it are less easy to detect in the countryside.

The findings are based on figures collated from rural and suburban areas and do not include most of the country's largest cities.

Half of the counties surveyed said 20% of people in their jails were there because of meth-related crimes. source

I suspect the rural area explosion is two fold. I think it is easy to create there and there are less widely promoted forms of entertainment in rural areas than in areas of high population density.

I live by a crazy theory, to which most will not prescribe, but I believe that almost anything in the world that you do, eat, or see is a drug. Our past memories rewrite each time we think of them, including our most recent memories, and that changes how we perceive the world.

Eat lots of junk food and you are getting sugar highs.

Don't see the sunlight, be inactive, have few social bonds? You are taking depressants.

Exercise for hours at a time? Thats just like taking amphetamines.

There are good and bad ways of doing everything. The key is to weigh benefits against the negatives.

I have done a ton of stuff to get high (or low)...

• been isolated with low oxygen levels and poor food quality while not able to exercise (nuclear submarines are big pieces of shit)
  
• had family members get diseases or wrongfully jailed for long periods of time
  
• had many many many sugar highs, although I did not realize the downside to what I was doing most of the time I did it
  
• seen footage of mass murder
  
• been told I was likely going to die fighting for a cause I did not understand or believe in. (I can't emphasize enough how horrible the Navy was for me).
  
• exercised a ton, to the point of causing internal bleeding & not being able to walk
  
• taken a wide variety of illegal drugs (probably most that you can name I have some how at some point in time done it)

What is the solution to the problem of drug abuse? Purpose. I think many people live without much inspiration or purpose. When you don't have those many illogical highly destructive things suddenly seem much more logical.

Sadly it is not something I am good at, but the key is to learn to strike a balance and find purpose in life. I have not really done either of those, but see them as things I must do if I am to truely appreciate and enjoy life.

Another problem is that I think most things which are purposes are also scams. Although my mother would hate to read this I don't much believe in organized religion.

We rewrite our memories each time we think of them, but it is far easier for me to do stupid shit to justify my past decissions than it is to just clean the slate and go after something truely inspiring.

The greatest improvements I can make for humanity are to change my own mind and the way I perceive the world. I am still sorta waiting for that reason or inspiration, and if it doesn't come soon I could end up screwing up my life to where it doesn't matter if and when it finally does come.

Codex, Pharmacies, & Quality Health Care

How shitty is this?

LIFE UNDER CODEX

In the mid-1990s my mother, then in her 80s, had a stroke. She lived in Germany. When she left hospital, I was ready with a nutritional plan that included high-dose vitamins: C, E, and B – especially Inositol, as well as Co-enzyme Q 10. I went to the pharmacy, whose owner was a family friend for some 25 years, and handed him my list.

He handed me a small packet with a price sticker of DM 200 (then about $200) containing vitamin E capsules manufactured by one of Germany's largest pharmaceutical companies. The source was synthetic, not the "mixed" version from living plant sources I wanted which contains the whole E spectrum. The package contained a total of 10,000 international units of E, the equivalent of a mere 25 capsules of 400 IU each that we are used to buying (I take that many in 3 days). Our bottles contain 90 capsules and cost about $20. If Codex rules in Canada, we will likely pay $800 for a bottle of 90 capsules of low-quality vitamin E – if Health Canada lets us buy that many at once, and if you can find a doctor willing to prescribe it.

He then handed me a tube-shaped metal container with vitamin C effervescent tablets. Each tablet, when dissolved in water, would release 10 mg of vitamin C in a refined sugar solution. Thus, this ridiculously low amount, was to be taken in a toxic medium that would neutralize the vitamin without it doing anything at all. The cost: about $10 for 12 tablets.

Then he asked me, "What's Co-enzyme Q 10? Are you allowed to buy all this in Canada in such dangerous dosages?" When I told him what I take daily, his eyes popped. Then I asked, "Why can't I buy these supplements here?" He replied, "Well, Germany is a Codex country." Oddly, Germany has several government-run hospitals where environmental illness is treated with nutrients only, intravenous vitamin C etc. Life is full of paradoxes and few more follow below.

Codex: Picture basement-concocted vitamins sold in dark alleys alongside crack and Ecstasy.

Legalize Drugs

Much of the best art in the world is created under the influence of drugs. Our #1 power might be the military, but only because it is funded. The profits need to come from somewhere and we consume far more than we create. Hence the importance of exporting culture and art.

I used a good bit of drugs for a while. It was not because I wanted drugs so much as that I didn't care if I died so long as it looked accidental. By legalizing drugs you pull that stigma away from it and make drug usage less appealing to many.

Drug prices are somewhat inelastic. The higher you drive costs of illegal drugs by increasing risk at the street level the more layers of protection a kingpen can afford and more profits you give kingpens to bribe people if they ever get caught.

Ignoring the social effects and direct and inderect costs of fighting the war on drugs that whole war on drugs B/S also funds the other side of the B/S war on terrorism.

I am not very eloquent, but the A VC blog pointed me at these links:

The Failure of the War on Drugs
The War on Drugs
Response on Legalizing Drugs
The War on Drugs

Some good quotes from the articles:

The political source of the war on drugs is mysterious if, as I am inclined to believe, there is a legal substitute for every one of the illegal drugs: selective serotonin uptake reinhibitors (e.g., Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft) and other antidepressive drugs for cocaine, liquor and tranquillizers for heroin, cigarettes for marijuana, caffeine and steroids for “uppers.” Obviously these are not perfect substitutes; and some of the illegal drugs may be more potent or addictive or physically or psychologically injurious than the legal ones. But it is apparent that our society has no general policy against the consumption of mind-altering substances, and there seems to be a certain arbitrariness in the choice of the subset to prohibit.

Change is internal unless you are a close minded bully, in which case for some reason you think you can make others do whatever you want them to, but of course that really isn't what freedom is all about is it?

Stereotypes, Republicans, Doctors, Dinasaurs, the Law, & things that don't make sense

This land is your land:
German stereotype of US

Drugs:
Cocaine and OxyContin - the "good" illegal drugs, at least until you die from them, right Mr Stevens? way to go MR republican media advisor.

perhaps you gave yourself to show us that we need a stiff drug policy? or perhaps you were a hypocrite

Denver the last dinasaur:
has blood vessels and a whole lot more.

Small government:
and a new bill for ever purpose. hmm. odd that doctors do not even need to see people to diagnose them, right Mr Frist

13 things that do not make sense

More on Drugs

So recently I was up typing at 3 am. and got hungry. need to type on a clear mind

i went and bought 3 bags of chips...some for now and some for the morning. was not sure if i wanted 1 or 2 now

at the gas station I hear:

damn hungry

reply: yup

I hear: trees

reply: nope

in two words the guy pitched drugs to me in passing. at that point in time I realized how many of my actions parallel those of a person who is high. who goes out and grabs 3 bags of chips at 3 am

Legalize Drugs

We Should Legalize Drugs

Warning: GlaxoSmithKline Making Bad Paxil CR & Avandamet Drugs

according to Boston.com the FDA made a couple large drug seizures from plants ran by the substandard GlaxoSmithKline corporation.

:( things

Drug-resistant strain of HIV worries doctors :(

Writer Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself :(

A strong Europe is good for America ... Bush speaks rubbish propaganda :(

also listen in to his past. if his past means anything today what concerns him most is how to manipulate the vote of the conservative christian.

Seasonal Changes and Medicated Minds

There are so many naturally occuring (and highly predictible) patterns in the world that would be interesting to track.

The US as a country is stupidly overmedicated. Between 1993 and 2003 the cost of prescription drugs in the US (in dollars) has quadrupled. Thats absurd.

What ever happened to those wonderful free market forces that protect the consumer? Apparently if you are sleeping with the government then competitive walls can be built rather high.

There are many beautiful things about psychotropic drugs that cure depression:

• They make drug companies tons of money.
  
• Government pays for a large part of the research and patents protect the profits.
  
• The enhanced serotonin levels create a background noise which sometimes makes it rather hard to think deeply or question things.
  
• Whether or not drug companies admit it, hundreds of people at different IP addresses have stated that the drugs are addictive and they can't get off them easily.
  
• At the end of the day the problem that caused your depression is still there. The drugs do not make it go away.
  
• People with diverted attention find it easy to fall under the poor me category. If the medication does not make them better then they are even more likely to become more apathetic.

At the end of the day you get simple minded apathetic people who make drug companies rich and are easily manipulated. What a wonderful world.

This post seems to be on about a recurring topic on this blog and may have no original content up to this point. Perhaps I am "spamming the search engines" with this rant...or maybe not.

What created the desire behind this post is the fact that it is not even 2am yet and I have already had mutliple comments on my depression blog today. And a bunch of them yesterday. You can tell that the season is changing because more people are searching and commenting about their problems with depression and drugs that are designed to threat it.

Its just another pattern I notice.

Certainly the network is growing (due to additional post and page creation and increasing link popularity) and will naturally spread itself out, but in the winter it seems to spread a bit faster than in the summer.

Being a marketer...and more specifically a "socially active on the web" one who tries to do a bit of reverse engineering of information systems you get to pick up on lots and lots of interesting patterns.

Lots of patterns frustrate me or make me sad, but at least I can recognize a few of them...

Why Ben and Jerry's Sucks

So while in London I noticed that they had Ben and Jerry's. No big deal.

Then I took a closer look...they had a flavor called Carmel Chew Chew...which is extremely similar to Tripple Caramel Chunck.

Tripple Caramel Chunk is my favorite flavor...and it is retired. Over here we have shitty flavors like Vanilla for a change, Coffee for a change, and Chocolate for a change.

That change is destroying my brand experience and the brand in my mind...eventually the corporate profits will dip...then perhaps they will see what they are doing to their brand...for a change.

High Blood Pressure & Blueberries

An increasing # of Americans have high blood pressure (up 30% in the last decade or so)

If you are having problems perhaps you just need to eat more blueberries?

Prozac in the Water Supply

Ha ha. Wake up society, YOUR BEING FUCKED!!!

Prozac found contaminating water in Britain

Signs that the drug companies are perhaps outgrowing the economic development and breeding habits of humans?

Not to worry. The government is there to ensure you that this Prozac finding is no big deal.

Exact amounts of Prozac detected in British waters have not been specified but the government’s Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) said it was likely that the drug has been found in such diluted concentrations that health risks involved will be minimal.

If only people would look at the larger issue at hand.

Did you know...?

That the prescriptions for Prozac went up from 9 million to 24 million from 1991 to 2001? ...

That about 60 million people live in the UK source? ...

The original Prozac patent was set to expire in 2001? ...

They extended out that patent to 2017 by coating the pills in something similar to what asprin is coated in and calling the pills extended release? ...

I would hate to be a share holder in big drug companies. While they are raping and pillaging profits and mental stability from the land this little thing called the internet is giving people like me a voice. There are many people like me.

The entire economic system that works in the US right now is based on me eventually selling out. Me giving in to my corporate sponsor. I will not. As I get better at marketing I will market more and more and more for these big drug companies until the day that their CEOs perhaps commit suicide from emotional numbness due to being prescribed the same shit ass drugs that they pushed on to millions of other people. Then perhaps I could crap on their graves. Stupid, selfish, greedy fucks.

Because You (& the Economy) Still have Blood to Give...

So the big drug companies (and I think they are fucking greed driven scumbag vultures) are getting the green light to eat a bit more of the economy.

I recommend you buy your drugs from overseas or Canada. Do not support these greed driven monsters.

Obesitiy is now going to be covered under medicare. Eat a little less, exercise a little more. That is the secret to not being obese. I am sure some people have problems physically (such as a underactive thyroid) but most people who will be taking these drugs likely do not need them.

The fact that no one asked a basic question — "How much will it cost?" — is particularly disconcerting given Medicare's long history of uncontrollable spending. Just last year Congress approved a Medicare prescription drug benefit whose 10-year price has already been revised upward by 35% to $535 billion — $13,000 per senior. source

I really think it is bullshit how there is a pill for our every need. What the fuck is the point of life then? If it is really just a game of seeing who can use the best drugs then why are they illegal? :)

The most startling fact about 2002 is that the combined profits for the ten drug companies in the Fortune 500 ($35.9 billion) were more than the profits for all the other 490 businesses put together ($33.7 billion). source

Senior Citizens, Drugs & Mental Disorders

The new drug card which can save senior citizens as much as 18% off their prescriptions has been a flop thusfar.

The people at AARP are still surprised. After sending out 26,000 enrollment kits for the new Medicare prescription-drug discount card, only 400 people had signed up as of last Friday. That's right, 400. That's not a typo. ...Two new studies find that drug price inflation over the past year may have already eaten up the much-vaunted discounts. And critics are quick to point out that it will still be cheaper to get prescription drugs from Canada and certain Internet pharmacies. source: CSM

An interesting concept: meager savings, a confusing program, and a shift of burdon toward the old people (who may be mentally or physically ill) to be required to sift through your fucked up shit ass savings program. Good job government. way to suck ass!

Eslewhere... Mental disorders found:

Shanghai had the lowest prevalence of any mental disorder in the prior year (4.3 percent of the population), while the United States seemed to have the highest, with 26.4 percent. source: Forbes

Does it not speak strongly for how fucked up our leadership and culture are that one in four people believe they have a mental disorder? If anyone I know votes for Bush I can no longer claim them as a relative, friend, or fellow human being.

Saltwater Taffy

So I am chewing on saltwater taffy right now. Some people think it is gross, but I know it to be amazing. Each piece brings with it an exciting new flavor unlike the last. Part of the fun is guessing what flavor each color is.

It reminds me of when I was younger and the world was a bit warmer. When my mind was perhaps a little less poisoned. These are not the words of an angry bitter old man, jut the words of a kid who thinks everyone would be happier if they had saltwater taffy at least once a year...

Breakfast Pasta

I eat more food than anyone I know. I also have a crazy metabolism...so it is kinda ok. Not too long ago my roommate cooked up gallons of spagetti sauce. Pasta and me go good together. I coined the phrase breakfast pasta because I was usually done finishing off the pasta noodles I cooked up that morning when my roommate would wake. I would always ask him if he wanted breakfast pasta, but he has yet to say yes.

Yesterday I started a new trend. I have a couple windows near my computer. Many days of the week my own computer junkyness prevents me from seeing daylight. I opened the blinds to see outside. This is a very important move for me to make since this sunlight will aid my mind in its production of serotonin - which I can attest to as being a very good thing.

Seeing outside means I feel more human, a little less binary. Maybe the data I think or my actions show a greater depth when glancing beyond my desktop. Of course, this also means that my neighbors get to watch me eating breakfast pasta...which is probably a scary thing for them...

To: Smokers

I remember when I was in seventh grade and only 1 single damn girl in the entire gym class was slower than I. That was embarassing.

Even cooler was the week afterward where I was hacking up green shit because smokers decided my lungs did not matter or they thought it had little effect on me.

Anyway, here is to smoking and the selfish pleasures it brings.

All Drugs are the Same?

NOT REALLY!!!, but some cause similar effects to a certain part of the brain in lab rats abusing speed PCP & LSD. read about it on the scienceblog.

FDA being investigated on the topic of suicidal Paxil Side Effects (and other SSRI's) YAY!!!!

Search Warrent NOT REQUIRED

Zero Tolerance

Air Force...Zero Tolerance
Prison...Zero Tolerance
Warmonger Honesty...Zero Tolerance
Terrorism...Zero Tolerance
Smoking...Zero Tolerance
Abortion...Zero Tolerance
Spam...Zero Tolerance
Health Care...Zero Tolerance
Depression...Zero Tolerance

One day we can hope that we are Turning the Tide toward a tolerant day!

Kids Bring Drugs to School

Show and Tell:

Kid sprinkles special oregano on friend's lasagna

another kid brings some speedy flour to school

children bring drugs to school

Low Carb Diet Ben and Jerry's

There is a difference between being bought and selling out. This weekend I see that Ben and Jerry's unfortunatenly sold out.

While at a gas station I saw low carb Ben and Jerry's. What the hell are people thinking eating low carb Ben and Jerry's? What in the hell ever happened to my Tripple Caramel Chunk?

10 Tips to loose those pesky winter pounds

Tips to help you add those pesky winter pounds

1. Everything is better deep fat fried.
   
2. When you go to an all you can eat, make your mother proud.
   
3. Never throw away food, one container is one serving (unless its small...then you need many containers)
   
4. Always eat a big meal before working out so you have lots of energy.
   
5. Never sleep on an empty stomach.
   
6. Never eat solid meat, always opt for meat paste.

Questionable amineptine / tianeptine Post?

I was collecting information for my Tianeptine page when I came across
this post.

It seems to me as an advertisement as much as a caution... "Amineptine (Survector) may be ordered from IAS. See their website: www.antiaging-systems.com No prescription required. Be aware of amineptine's serious abuse potential."

One other amazing thing to note: in France they do not advertise their drugs the way that we do over here in the US. If a person is sick they probably do not need an ad to make them better.

Look for the official tianeptine website and it will be hard to find. Google search: tianeptine. If you search for Prozac, Paxil, or Zoloft you can bet your ass they will be listing at #1 for their names.

Depression, Medical School, And Someone is FULL OF SHIT

So a student or doctor of medicine at UIUonline.org saw my 3 page website on 5 HTP located at 5htp.cc. They decided to tell me I am FULL OF SHIT.

There are shitty workers in any field. A shitty accountant can lose your money. A shitty doctor can kill you. Just because your doctor says something, it is not necessarily true. They may be FULL OF SHIT.

"Youre not a doctor, but why you give out all this medical advice and say its
100% cure to depression and all this other statements? That is just wrong. You should be ashamed of yourself " (which essentially amounts to "Aaron you are FULL OF SHIT")

I then sent this doctor (or doctor to be) a reply.
"Hello
http://www.drugs.1emallway.com/feedback.htm
view the link
grow up
aaron"
(which essentially amounts to "Trisin you are FULL OF SHIT")

this doctor (or doctor to be) sent me a reply a reply.
why you tell me to "grow up"?
hmm.
not only youre not a doctor,
but youre pretty immature.

go to med school first before you
start giving out all these medical
advice. that is just unethical
and wrong.

I am just sharing my opinion.
(which essentially amounts to "Aaron you are FULL OF SHIT")

I then sent this doctor (or doctor to be) a reply
you write an article that is CORRECT and I will promote your opinion free of charge...me being an internet marketer and all... I can make you an important doctor worth way more than your degree :)

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=5+htp+5+hydroxytryptophan

how about you try living suicidally depressed for a few years before your degree tells you what medication works
i personally have experienced the effects of prozac, mdma, 5htp and probably know a decent bit more than you would think
bet you did not even read my webpage either
may your degree make you a good person
hope you make the drug companies billions
grow up
aaron
(which essentially amounts to "Mr/MRs Ramon you are FULL OF SHIT")

I then got a conclusive reply stating who was FULL OF SHIT.
wow,
sorry, didnt read your whole web page.
but then I went over it some
more and did see your mentions
on not being a doctor and your
life.
sorry about that.
well, you take care

good webpage btw.very informative

Now that this doctor has came around I feel better about myself. This should teach us all a lesson though. Because this doctor (or future doctor) has (or will have) a degree they felt compelled to tell me I am FULL OF SHIT with only glancing at my page.

Now that they opened their eyes maybe they will stay that way. There are many bad doctors though. I usually consult reality and nature...then a doctor... as frequently they are FULL OF SHIT.

Wasting Money on Weed

"Drug war extremists are trying to ban private marijuana reform advertising on public transportation. Worse still, the same bill spends $145 million in taxpayer money on anti-marijuana government propaganda. Congress wants to run these ads with your tax money, while at the same time banning you from using your own money to run ads in support of reform. Fax your Senators! "
Wasting money on weed

Never Eat 48 Comtrex

A friend of mine told me of a time a few years back when he ate 48 Comtrex. He said it felt like the high of his life for a real short while, and then for the next 48 hours he wanted someone to help him. He sat next to the toilet hugging it. He was wishing someone would come in and bash his skull with a sledge hammer.

While this story has little to do with me and my little world, other teenagers are trying similar things now. ABC news just recently wrote an article about Coricidin.

Generally speaking from self experience I believe that the more our immediate environment is fucked up the more likely we are to try to self destruct. Navy submarine = bad environment (for example).

As far as the war on drugs go, there is another plant at the edge of imagination. Did you know that people can visit their local Home Depot and by the cacti necissary to make mescaline?

If our bogus leaders would quit preaching war then perhaps we would have no need to destroy ourselves. Vote Bush!

More Beef with the Beef

United Press International: USDA refused to release mad cow records

Eat Beef

I remember reading somewhere that mad cow disease can't be killed. They burn the cow and then where it once remained...those ashes...they find their way back into the food chain eventually.

Also today I was reading the Tipping Point (already a great book)...it talks about how small changes have huge effects. It also talks about how things evolve over time.

"Between June of 1955 and July of 1958, 81 infants in the Sweedish barrack came down with PCP and 24 died." He states how professor Goudsmit thought this was an early outbreak of the AIDS epidemic.

"The truly strange thing about this story, of course, is that not all of the children died. Only a third did. The others did what today would seem almost impossible. They defeated HIV, purged it from their bodies, and went on to live healthy lives. In other words, the strains of HIV that were circulating back in the 1950s were a lot different from the strains of HIV that circulate today."

So as greedy Agricorp rages onward...and you desire to eat beef...again I remind you of the Meatrix, and that we should stop refeeding these animals to themselves.

Quit Smoking Water

Is it not apparent how artificial we are trying to live when we craft drug filled water to help people quit smoking. The nicotine-laced water is as powerful as two cigarettes and is completely legal for a child to drink.

Buy Prescription Drugs

Help drug companies further erode our economy...buy prescription drugs!

"Currently, taxpayers fund more than 36% of all medical R&D through the NIH, with much of that R&D given to the pharmaceutical industry. At the same time, drug companies are permitted to sell those products at any price they see fit."

Prescription review by Cong. Bernard Sanders

wetting the whistle

"Blocking the activity of the neurotransmitter neuropeptide Y (NPY) may help reduce alcohol consumption" Dampening the Desire to Drink

Stroke Linked to Alzheimer's

While it may be true that Stroke Is Linked to Alzheimer’s, it is also true that many studies concerning the disease have only taken place because of Regan.

I also believe from my limited knowledge of neurochemistry that enhancing serotonin levels may stop degrigation and help promote brain cell regeneration. I am a big fan of 5 HTP

New Medicare Bill Passed

"But you can have too much of a good thing. Medicare has now become so large and so costly that it is literally destroying the social and economic structure that supports it. " Prescription for AARP goes way beyond pills

DEA posts billboard(S) for the capture of Mexican Drug lord

How ironic is it that we fund the largest drug lords in Columbia (indirectly of course) and then post billboards about how bad some Mexican ones are on our public highways? News from DEA, Domestic Field Divisions, Phoenix News Releases, 10/22/03

Ozzy Screwed Up By Drugs

I have to lick my chops wondering what this reality TV could do to people if they opened their minds to reality...a reality where lab rats often walk on only the hind legs...with shoes on.

Its not what you think...all of the harsh street drugs from the past are not his problem. His current overprescribed state of conscience was.

He is off most of the drugs and no longer slurs his speech. He no longer mindlessly stumbles around.

Yahoo! News - Report: Osbourne Blames Doctor for Drugs

Prohibition Repeal

So this is the 70 year anniversary of the repeal of prohibition and still we have learned little to nothing of our past. I invested hours of my life reading "PROHIBITION: Thirteen Years That Changed America." After reading it I realized there was no real change - perhaps the irony of the title is intentional.

As the war on drugs continues to destroy many lives I summarize the entire book in a few short sentences from page 243: "The American educational system has become highly selective where the teaching of history is concerned. We tend to forget an important lesson: that those who know no history condemn themselves to repeat it, either as tragedy or a farce."

Learn about prohibition:

American Temperance and Prohibition

Alcohol Prohibition Was A Failure

Prohibition: The So-Called War on Drugs, Page One

Using Weed as a Parental Prophylactic

Straight from the Surgeon General's Warning on Marijuana we can see that weed "decreased sperm count and sperm motility."

"In the past 20 years, its' use has increased 30-fold" - a sure sign we are starting to think before we act!

Human Psychopharmacology: Serotonin and the hallucinogens

So I am rather novice at the book aspect of the brain. I am rather experienced through trial and error and environmental factors. I think I would make an excellent lab rat for those interested, though I have not used any illicit substance in a rather long timeframe :)

I do not remember what I searched for to find it, but here is a short article on Serotonin, LSD, and MDMA.
Human Psychopharmacology: Serotonin and the hallucinogens

Panacea

Social anxiety, social phobia, post tramautic stress disorder, depression, pms

thats right Paxil is now a panacea. check for yourself! Google Search: fda approves paxil

Giving a Dog Paxil

I randomly check my server logs only to get more shocked each time. Sure if you love your dog and are a giving person, maybe you want to give the sad dog some Paxil.

Does that not show the reach and power of drug companies that people are looking intog giving psychotropic drugs to their dogs? Anyway pretty soon I will create DepressionBlog.comfor those of you compelled to want to give drugs to your dog. Google Search: giving paxil to dog

Get Up

"Patients with heart, kidney or liver disease should discuss these conditions with their doctors before using Cialis. People with an eye disorder known as retinitis pigmentosa should also be wary of using the drug, the FDA advises.

Most common side effects reported in the clinical trials included headache, indigestion, back pain, muscle aches, runny nose, and abnormal vision."

What is a boner worth?

Yahoo! News - FDA Approves 3rd Impotence Drug

We Should All Learn Someting From This

Russian Wins Drinking Contest, Dies, I can outdrink the Russians

Gravy Turkey Tryptophan & Soda

I am a big fan of turkey, and of other natural means of tryptohan introduction.

The Jones Soda company is trying to accomidate me with Turkey and Gravy flavored sodaTurkey and Gravy Flavour at Jones Soda

The problem is I would have to be really drunk to want Turkey and Gravy Flavour Soda Beer Church

Peanut Butter Porn

So I have been checking my server logs and the words "peanut butter" in my title have combined nicely with some of the other terms. Google has been sending most of my peanut butter traffic. I like the traffic as much as I like peanut butter, though I wish to have more comments.

Some of the queries people used seem like I would not be able to list well for them, such as:
peanut butter companies.

Some of them I like, such as:
peanut butter tryptophan

But who in the hell was the sicko searching for "Peanut Butter Porn" who clicked on my site. Is nothing sacred anymore?

Peanut Butter Porn fan, you are an aweful person. May your mother find out what you do.

The Real Problem

If I smoke weed I am the problem. If Rush uses synthetic heroin the system needs reformed.

Oddly enough, a large part of this reform movement came from A major U.S. pharmacy trade group. Looking for any excuse to pad their wallets just a little more.

Just so that we funnel money into the greediest hands, all is well. Overture cleans up its drug ad policy | CNET News.com

The Meatrix

So where did that food come from? Perhaps are you part of THE MEATRIX

Paxil Side Effects - please read

I am not a big fan of the FDA. Bloggers lets band together and let the truth out about Paxil. Please link to this Paxil side effects page using "Paxil side effects" in the link so we can get this message out. Here is an alarming email about Paxil side effects that I was given today.



I started Paxil about 8 weeks ago. After 1 week I started to experience headaches and zapping. Not knowing that it was Paxil, could cause this situation I went to my medical Dr. and he took blood test, UA, and had a Ct Scan/contrast. Everything came back normal. I decided on 10/7/03 to take myself off Paxil, thinking that nothing could be worse than what I was going through.

Well I was wrong; I started going through withdrawal and that is pure hell. I not only still have the headaches and zapping but I am now feeling anxiety, irritable, fatigue, tremors, vertigo, nausea and numerous other symptoms of withdrawal. The nightmares are terrible and so are the hot flashes that I also experienced while taking the medication.

I am furious and discussed that my Psychiatrist put me on such a drug that is so addicting and causing so many problems. I am an Alcohol/Drug counselor and had never been addicted to any Alcohol or drugs before in my life. To seek out help for a stressful time in my life and to be put on such a dangerous drug such as Paxil.

It appears that I am damned if I stay on it and damned if I go off has me feeling outrageous and angry, not only at the company that put this drug out but also for my Dr. not to tell me the effects or that I would have withdrawal symptoms if I came off. Well I am coming off and I will not be weaned off like so many others it will be cold turkey for me. To me to say that you need to be weaned off is no different than giving someone methadone to get them off heroin. Using one drug to offset another or taking less of a drug at a slower pace, one will never be off and only keep going back to help deter the effects of withdrawal. 4 days now for me and I will fight and get back my sanity.

It is now day eight since I took myself off Paxil. I still have the headaches but they are finally easing up. The zapping is getting worse and the whoosh noise is still there. I have been experiencing the following withdrawal symptoms along with the above. Vertigo, tremors so bad I was beating up myself, nightmares when I finally do fall asleep, irritable, insomnia, nausea, diarrhea, lack of concentration, fearful, anxiety, depression, crying uncontrollably, anger, frustration, heart palpitation, dizziness, flu symptoms, weakness, disoriented and chills. I am wondering what is next.

I talked to the FDA today also. Surprising they returned my call. I only wish that I had taped the conversation. The following is part of the conversation I had with them. The person I talked to stated that they don't feel that Paxil is addictive because it doesn't carry the behavior of a person that is dependent on a drug. A person that will go out and steal to obtain their drug of choice or cause harm to another.

I explained since I am an Alcohol/Drug counselor that any drug that will cause a person to have withdrawal symptoms especially the ones I stated above that the drug is defiantly an addictive drug and any other term is not going to satisfy the public. I also stated that any SSRI is used to enhance the seritonin in ones body and that doctors need to test to find out if ones seritonin level is low in which they need to enhance.

If a person does not have a low seritonin level than these drugs can and do cause more problems for an individual. Doctors aren't given all the facts with prescribing these types of meds and need to do some more studies to make sure others aren't harmed like myself and many of you who are writing in. The one thing all can do is get this advertising stopped that Paxil is not addictive or habit forming.

Lets start flooding the lines and start calling the FDA and the dept that handles complaints about advertising Paxil. Please call and tell them your story. The advertising section of FDA is (301) 827-2828. Also fill out the Medwatch form and also call FDA at 1-800-FDA 1088 press 0 or call (301) 443-1240.

Lets ban together and get Glaxo-Smith Kline to admit the truth about these effects and to get them to stop lying that it is not addictive or habit forming. Also do your own memory recall as to any symptoms you felt while being on the Paxil or any SSRI. Tell the people at the FDA if you experienced any zapping, whooshing noise, headaches (And how severe they were, Hot flashes or anything else that you may have experienced while being on Paxil. The FDA is basically only hearing about the withdrawals and nothing about peoples experience on the Paxil.

Lets speak and fight for our rights and the rights of the future.

please spread the word about Paxil side effects by linking to this page using the following code.

<a href="http://www.aaronwall.com/archives/000028.html">Paxil Side Effects</a>

which will appear on your website as Paxil Side Effects

If you do not yet have a website blogs are really fun. They also are quick and easy to set up and thanks to Google you can start one free. Start your free blog today (and remember to link to this page)

Harvey Wallbanger Cocktail

What is a Harvey Wallbanger? Well actually Harvey Wallbanger was a cartoon that was rather dopy looking who had an extremely small following.

Bob Dorf was asked to create a market for Gilliano in the 70s. The funds they had were inadequate to create demand traditional ways. Unlike most of the poorly targeted ads back in the day, he found a clever way to market Gilliano.

He simply added Gilliano to the screwdriver and called it the Harvey Wallbanger. He then proceeded to make Harvey Wallbanger T shirts and have select people loudly order the Harvey Wallbanger at popular establishments.

In no time the drink caught on and Harvey Wallbanger was a huge success. The drink was such a success that without knowing what it was I achieved the nickname Harvey Wallbanger.

Me and Harvey: on my submarine USS DALLAS (SSN 700) I was quite the lush and my last name was (or still is) Wall. Combining these two made it rather easy to go with the nick Harvey Wallbanger.

Make a Havey Wallbanger:

1 & 1/4 oz of Vodka
Splash of Galliano
Orange juice

Pour vodka & orange juice on ice in a Collins glass. Top with a splash of Galliano

The origins of the Harvey Wallbanger are incorrect at the About network. My weblog is what you really should know about!

Weblogs frequently have better news than the news.

My Lady Problems are Solved

Seth Godin has gone a long way to define what a purple cow is. In fact, that is about all he does anymore. Seth's Blog: It's not a cow if I don't think it's a cow

I recently came across an orange cow. Nelly is not yet too big for his britches.

While I was thinking of all the great costume parties I could be going to right now - and saying this was a costume, I realized I couldn't do that every day. Carpe Diem comes to mind, but I am looking for a long term solution.

Sure I could be like Ron Jeromy if I just spent enough times with a pump. And if I increased my size "naturally" 3 inches at a time.

There is a better route though. Nelly has given us what we need, PIMP JUICE. The solution to every mans broken plans. Get some lovin tonight!

BevNET.com - Hip Hop Superstar Nelly Launches "Pimp Juice" Energy Drink

Rush

Loosing his hearing did not stop his forward progress. Rush is more of a junkie than I could ever be! Though my other than honorable service defines who I am. Rush only had a disease. I am a drugie.

Anyone know where I can get some baby blues?

look at the comparison between Rush and Courtney

view Shock and Awe: Rush Limbaugh Hearing Loss Timeline

Did You Pay Your Drug Taxes?

Some states have found new revenue streams to help them through rough economic days. Have you paid your illegal drug tax today?

Kansas Department of Revenue - Personal Tax Types - Drug Tax Stamp

Why Me?

This blog is going to be a personal public blog about all things me. When I am happy, you will know. When I am pissed, you will know. If nothing else this will give me a place to display my open affection for peanut butter.

some of my other websites

Drugs, Depression, and Antidepressant Drugs
Reform Blog
Search Engine Marketing Info
5 HTP (5 Hydroxytryptophan)
Navy Nuclear Power and Navy Nuclear Submarines