Last night, I took a sleep med. I slept like a baby for 8+ hours and I feel frickin' awesome today. Yesterday afternoon I finally taped a letter to my neighbors' door asking them to STFU after 10:00pm. I'm not sure if it had any effect yet, since I was too busy being blissfully unconscious last night to know if they kept up the usual banging and thumping until 2:00am.
But it gets me to thinking. We're all on drugs, all the time. Happiness is chemical, sleep is chemical, depression is chemical, anger is chemical, hunger is chemical, etc. Thus, I don't see any problem with altering the chemical composition of my blood stream and brain artificially, I just see a potential problem with doing so without due caution. Coffee focuses me and makes me happy. Alcohol calms me down and allows me to enjoy socializing without my natural-chemical prediliction toward panic and awkwardness. Pain killers make me feel warm and fuzzy. Apparently, sleep meds knock me the fuck out and insure that I'm able to concentrate the next day.
I guess what bugs me is the puritanism (and the associated hypocrisy) of American attitudes toward drugs; "drugs" is such a useless blanket-term anyway and the patronizing condescension of everyone from politicians to high school guidance counselors is so lacking in credibility because they don't acknowledge the uses of drugs, including pleasure and enjoyment. Alcohol is kind of miraculous: you can take a group of people with next to nothing in common, get them drunk, and the induced sociability can (I said "can," not "will necessarily") lead to connections that wouldn't have happened otherwise. Likewise, this stupid coffee project has made me realize what a revolutionary impact caffeine had on history and continues to have on our perspectives about work and concentration.
Speaking of the stupid coffee project, maybe I'll take a day off. So...bored...with...it.
Caveat: That all said, my family is as ridden with alcoholism as anyone's, and I respect the decision of my friends who clarify the issue for themselves by just rejecting the whole mess. I also appreciate that no one I've ever been friends with has been the least bit puritanical. I also appreciate how good-looking they all are.
2.21.2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
My hat's off to you, professor. Well spoken. I feel like a hyprocritical doofus telling kids they can't put any cigarette or alcohol ad clippings in their collages, while drinking a cup o' joe and going home to my lovely beer fridge later that night.
Drugs are only 'bad' in the sense that the 'expertise' of modern science is somehow trusted and confirmed by faceless institutions where a bunch of scientists sit around debating over what is 'acceptable' and what is not. A bunch of fools I tell you! (Don't forget that cocaine was once used regularly by dentists.)
Keep taking sleeping meds whenever necessary, but not too often of your system becomes immune and then you have to switch type. Besides, they're legal while pot is not, though I'm still not sure why.
You could always attempt to maintain my delicately balanced combination of Terminal Gravity, Long Islands, and energy drinks. Although I must occasionally fall back on my pain medications when my titanium spine acts up. I have finally assembled a blog site before my impending move to UCLA.
Very well said, sir. While I do believe that drugs (and alcohol) can be profoundly 'bad' for some people, its not fair to lump everyone in to that category. Obviously, there are people who are cautious and (somewhat) responsible, and by no means is their drug use 'bad'. Ultimately, people will do whatever they want no matter what you call them. Hooray for free will!
-C
I think the phrase "with due caution" is reallly the key point. Some stuff, believe it or not, is not regulated by the medical industry just b/c they want to be assholes and make us cranky, but b/c drugs can have some really nasty effects on people if used in excess (i.e., too many, mixed with stuff that can cause dangerous interactions, or too many in too short a time period).
Yes the "tame" tiger loosk cute, and may want to play with your for months or even years, but you do still have to respect that it may one day decide to bite your leg off.
It's all about context, minimizing damage, and having respect for the chemical compounds that we injest.
noncoupable - b/c smoking is stigmitized in our culture in a way ingesting (eating/drinking isn't). Plus the government would want to tax the hell out of it but neither they nor the tobacco industry would really be able to control homegrowth. Way too easy to grow your own.
/puts on tinfoil hat/
Post a Comment