Tonight I was chatting online with a friend. We were catching up as she lives across the country and I haven't really spoken with her in months. She's been through a lot of really rough things these past few years that I've known her, and now has something profoundly beautiful in her life to feel happy about. At the time it didn't feel out of the ordinary for me at all, but looking back on it I realize that I felt almost as happy as if I was her, at a moment in my life when many other people would have felt jealous and/or resentful in the same place. We all know that at times over instant messages, we use phrases like LOL, LMAO, ROFL, and the different emoticons when in reality we are just sitting and staring at our screen, maybe cracking a slight smile. But this time, I was literally laughing out loud at certain things and smiling because I honestly felt like I found money on the street or ran into a celebrity while I was out running errands or something.
And all of a sudden, I thought to myself how glad I am that this is me, that I am the kind of person who can feel these things in response to someone else's happiness at events that have no effect on my life whastoever. For this to come at a time when I have been feeling discouraged and just really low about myself is amazing. It was as if the negative things I was feeling about myself were clouds that were parting to let the sun of who I truly am shine through. I feel as though I've never seen myself in this way before.
I know that was really cheesy, and I don't know what else to say or even where I'm going with this. I guess I just wanted to record the event. It's a pretty big deal to get to this point for me. I'm seeing certain things more clearly and loving myself more as a result of it.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Maybe I'll get shit for this, but who knows...
So I guess back in May a report came about that detailed drug use in each state and in the District of Columbia by means of some sort of survey that was administered. The results have spawned a series of news stories that I've come across in print and on the internet with headlines stating that Rhode Island has the highest rate of drug use in the country, but never really cared enough to read into. But today, while listening to the radio I heard a news segment on this very report that lasted for all of thirty seconds, and I therefore sat through it. This is the statement that provoked me to write this post (and I'm paraphrasing, so deal with it): "Rhode Island has the highest rate of drug problems in the United States according to a survey. It has the highest rates of marijuana use as well as illicit drug use." Three are a couple of problems that I have with statements such as this one, one being the fact that after looking at the actual report, there are just some things about the way that the stats are compiled that doesn't sit right with me. The second is that marijuana use does not equal a drug problem.
Let me elaborate on my problems with the statistics for a minute. They took stats on drug use by reporting on marijuana use, cocaine use, non-medical use of prescription medications, alcohol use in general and binge drinking, and illicit drug use other than marijuana. These include cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, and prescriptions all in one category. However, these are all very different things and I would like to see how the states compare on heroin, hallucinogens, and inhalants separately. If they do it for other drugs, why don't they do it for these? It just strikes me as weird, I guess.
The other issue I have with the statistics is the fact that they had separate tables and figures and discussions for use of all of these drugs, and then they had tables and figures and discussions for the percentage of people in each state ages 12 and up who are dependent on drugs. First of all, how many people are going to honestly report that they are dependent on a drug? And we all know that there are many people who are dependent on drugs and alcohol who don't believe that they are, and thus probably wouldn't report themselves as such on a survey. Second of all, the District of Columbia had the highest percentage of persons aged 12 and up dependent on illicit drugs. The study then listed a bunch of other states that were also near the top of the list in this category. Rhode Island was not among them. So, can we really even say that Rhode Island has the highest occurrence of drug problems? Because to me "having a drug problem" = being dependent on a drug of some kind, and not that you have used it at least once in the past year or month or whatever and sometimes use it once in a while for fun. Drinking once in a while with friends does not make you an alcoholic. And it is this same point that irks me the most when applied to marijuana use.
When someone in the news reports that "Rhode Island has the most drug problems in the United States," does it not make you picture crack heads on the corner, used needles in the gutters, little hungry children crying while their parent is passed out high on the couch? What really pisses me off here is that when citing marijuana use on the radio as the main supporting point for the fact that a state has the most drug problems, it places marijuana use beside the scenes I have just described for you. However, while I know that marijuana can cause problems in some people's lives, I am betting that a good portion of the people who reported that they use marijuana are regular, average upstanding citizens.
I think that more people use this substance than people realize. Your son's high school history teacher and baseball coach who you probably think is an excellent role model, and you're most likely right, might come home once in a while after a long day of working and turn on his vaporizer. Your accountant maybe might watch the football game on the weekend with his buddies while they smoke a bowl. Neither of these people have done anything that is criminally suspect. Both may be very happy and successful individuals. With drug problems? I don't think so. Maybe one day you'll get a brain tumor and need brain surgery and your future neurosurgeon right now at this moment is getting high with other future doctor and scientist friends.
Smoking weed does not make you a drug addict, it doesn't make you a lowlife. Yes there are people who sit around all day with no job in their parents' basement at 35 smoking from a bong and watching porn and cartoons while eating Cap'n Crunch. But there are also intelligent, successful, good people who do it and it never causes a problem. And from what I've seen, the lazy 35 year old pothead is a caricature. It's someone that I've never met or heard of any of my friends (smokers or not) knowing.
Interestingly, I noticed that in her report, the radio announcer cited high use of marijuana presumably just because it is illegal. I would think that alcoholism causes a greater deal of personal problems and ruins a lot more lives than marijuana use does, but she didn't cite alcoholism in her report. Utilizing the occurrence of marijuana use to support the statement that Rhode Island, or any state, has a high rate of drug problems is equating it with drug addiction and demonizing something that is in most cases, at least in those cases that I have seen firsthand, harmless and fun and being enjoyed in responsible ways by your average person. When is this country as a whole going to start admitting to this fact?
Let me elaborate on my problems with the statistics for a minute. They took stats on drug use by reporting on marijuana use, cocaine use, non-medical use of prescription medications, alcohol use in general and binge drinking, and illicit drug use other than marijuana. These include cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, and prescriptions all in one category. However, these are all very different things and I would like to see how the states compare on heroin, hallucinogens, and inhalants separately. If they do it for other drugs, why don't they do it for these? It just strikes me as weird, I guess.
The other issue I have with the statistics is the fact that they had separate tables and figures and discussions for use of all of these drugs, and then they had tables and figures and discussions for the percentage of people in each state ages 12 and up who are dependent on drugs. First of all, how many people are going to honestly report that they are dependent on a drug? And we all know that there are many people who are dependent on drugs and alcohol who don't believe that they are, and thus probably wouldn't report themselves as such on a survey. Second of all, the District of Columbia had the highest percentage of persons aged 12 and up dependent on illicit drugs. The study then listed a bunch of other states that were also near the top of the list in this category. Rhode Island was not among them. So, can we really even say that Rhode Island has the highest occurrence of drug problems? Because to me "having a drug problem" = being dependent on a drug of some kind, and not that you have used it at least once in the past year or month or whatever and sometimes use it once in a while for fun. Drinking once in a while with friends does not make you an alcoholic. And it is this same point that irks me the most when applied to marijuana use.
When someone in the news reports that "Rhode Island has the most drug problems in the United States," does it not make you picture crack heads on the corner, used needles in the gutters, little hungry children crying while their parent is passed out high on the couch? What really pisses me off here is that when citing marijuana use on the radio as the main supporting point for the fact that a state has the most drug problems, it places marijuana use beside the scenes I have just described for you. However, while I know that marijuana can cause problems in some people's lives, I am betting that a good portion of the people who reported that they use marijuana are regular, average upstanding citizens.
I think that more people use this substance than people realize. Your son's high school history teacher and baseball coach who you probably think is an excellent role model, and you're most likely right, might come home once in a while after a long day of working and turn on his vaporizer. Your accountant maybe might watch the football game on the weekend with his buddies while they smoke a bowl. Neither of these people have done anything that is criminally suspect. Both may be very happy and successful individuals. With drug problems? I don't think so. Maybe one day you'll get a brain tumor and need brain surgery and your future neurosurgeon right now at this moment is getting high with other future doctor and scientist friends.
Smoking weed does not make you a drug addict, it doesn't make you a lowlife. Yes there are people who sit around all day with no job in their parents' basement at 35 smoking from a bong and watching porn and cartoons while eating Cap'n Crunch. But there are also intelligent, successful, good people who do it and it never causes a problem. And from what I've seen, the lazy 35 year old pothead is a caricature. It's someone that I've never met or heard of any of my friends (smokers or not) knowing.
Interestingly, I noticed that in her report, the radio announcer cited high use of marijuana presumably just because it is illegal. I would think that alcoholism causes a greater deal of personal problems and ruins a lot more lives than marijuana use does, but she didn't cite alcoholism in her report. Utilizing the occurrence of marijuana use to support the statement that Rhode Island, or any state, has a high rate of drug problems is equating it with drug addiction and demonizing something that is in most cases, at least in those cases that I have seen firsthand, harmless and fun and being enjoyed in responsible ways by your average person. When is this country as a whole going to start admitting to this fact?
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