Journal Pyro226's Journal: Chapter 0: Background 2
It's January 7th, 2004. On August 27, 2003 I was busted for possession of 1/8 of an ounce of Psilocybin containing mushrooms. I say busted because it's not entirely clear whether I was arrested or not; the police took the shrooms and I got a court summons a few weeks later. Since then, I've gotten nothing but absolute shit from the system, (Big surprise, huh?) to the extent that I've decided to chronicle my story.
I'm 17 years old. I'll be 18 in April. I'm about 5' 6''. I'm white, but I have a huge afro. I'm a senior at Minuteman Regional Technical Highschool of Applied Arts and Sciences. (Using the full name is somewhat of an inside joke - the school changes its name every year or so; right now it's going by Minuteman Tech.) It's a vocational Highschool, but they've embraced the new millennium, and along with Plumbing and Carpentry they also offer computer programming and Biotech. I'm in Biotech. Despite my status as a "druggie" I'm very (book) smart. I got 1340 on the SATs on my first try without studying for it. (I'll agree with anyone that says that the SATs aren't a very good measure of intelligence though.) I'm currently ranked second in the Senior class, and I'm going for valedictorian, but I doubt that I'll get it.
As my grades imply, I'm very much a nerd. (Perfect for slashdot.) Most of the other students in Biotech are nerdy as well. Toasted Calamari is the currently ranked first in the Senior class, and would never do an illegal drug. Upaut is just weird, and might do drugs if they were legal. MonkeysKickAss is somewhat out of place in our class. He is slightly nerdy, but he is also borderline psychotic and he is a major druggie... well, that may be a little extreme, as many people don't consider Marijuana to really be a drug. But he is the only one of my friends that actually seems to be addicted to it. Unfortunately for him, he had to quit because of probation, which he is going to be on for two years. (That's another story.)
In case I haven't made it readily apparent already, (or if you're just slow) I have no faith in the legal system, particularly the parts that deal with illegal drugs. As far as literature explaining why the system is corrupt, I am a great fan of unbiased research, and the best book I can recommend that fits that bill is the Consumer's Union report Licit and Illicit Drugs. It came out in 1972, and while this may somewhat throw into question the evidence it uses and the conclusions that it makes, I feel that it more than makes up for this. The reason it is still valid is that it doesn't just examine the drug laws in 1972, it examines the drug laws from ~1900 to 1972, as well as the effects that each of the changes have had. Another thing about it, is that it doesn't mention MDMA/Ecstasy once (I think>, which makes it very interesting to study the spread of Ecstasy with the predictions of how new drugs will spread outlined in the book. Honestly speaking, this is the best non-fiction book I have ever read in my life.
If you think that the system is working well and/or you think that drugs should be illegal I would be happy to engage you in either a polite and well versed discusion or a flame-war on the subject.
I guess that it would be best for me to explain my interests and experiences with drugs in a chronological order. Before I finish Chapter 0, I will discuss my thoughts on drugs up till the end of 5th grade.
For as long as I can remember having opinions on the subjects, (my earliest memory is from age 3) I've had problems with authority and have been fascinated by drugs. My problems with authoritiy can probably be demonstrated by the fact that ever since I was 3, I've called my parents all most exclusively. Thats right, (for anyone who doubts me) since the age of 3 I've been calling my parents Katy and David. I don't think that my fascination with drugs is nearly as old; it probably developed midway through Elementry school. As far as who is the blame for the warping of my fragile little mind, (if a scapegoat is needed, I don't really blame anyone) I blame the media. I don't think that I had any idea that my parents had used drugs in college when I was that young. And I don't think that the media can really be blamed in any sort of reasonable way - looking back on it. Due to the fundamental distrust of authority that I developed all throughout my early school days, the anti-drug propaganda presented by the schools probably peaked my interest in them.
From what I can remember, everything about drugs fascinated me (this is still like 3rd grade), I didn't know shit about them, but the idea of something that could drastically alter my perception of reality seemed so magical...
Being so young, I still believed that the horrific world in which I lived might not be the real reality. Fantasies of wizards and draggons filled my head... at the same time the reality that Santa Clause is nothing more than a drunk man paid $10 an hour by the (Burlington) Mall was all to apparent.
I had no idea at the time, but this is the first example of doublethink that I can remember. George Orwell is a fucking genius, and if you've never read 1984 you really need to. As a very quick explaination, doublethink is the skill of simultaniously believing two contradictory things. If you've never heard of it or thought about it, you probably practice it without realizing it. As George Orwell suggested in 1984, I have come to reallize the doublethink is essential to surviving an oppressive world like the one we live in. A basic example of a low level of doublethink would be the way that A: America is "the land of the free." B: We lose more and more of our freedoms every day thanks to programs like the Patriot Act. Doublethink goes much deeper than that, as I hope to explain in later chapters.
I might as well skip forward to 5th grade and the D.A.R.E. Program. If memory serves, that stands for Drug Awareness Resistance Education (Drug and Alcohol...). Not only did DARE fail in it's goals of making me not want to do drugs, it made me want to do them. Not only did it fail in it's goal of providing accurate information on the dangers of drug use (if you believe that that is one of their goals), but it completely whacked out of proportion my fear of drugs - It gave me none.
You see, one of the big problems with programs like DARE is that they are afraid to make Marijuana seem less bad than other drugs like Cocaine or Heroin. The are afraid that if they do that, then children will be more likely to smoke Marijuana. The SEVERE problem with this, is that by making Marijuana out to be as bad as Coke or Heroin they stop a few children from smoking pot (yay?), but they almost doom the students that do smoke pot, who then assume that the warnings about Coke and Heroin were equally exaggerated.
Aside from hopefully escaping the doom, this is the effect that DARE had on me. Not only did it make me want to smoke pot (which isn't that bad in the great scheme of things), it made me want to do all the drugs I could get my hands on (which is a BAD thing).
So concludes Chapter 0. Please leave comments, good or bad. I would be happy to have a rational conversation with someone who has views that oppose mine, if a flame-ware can be avoided.
Samuel Bearg
USA has a seriously fucked up goverment (Score:1)
Sincerely MonkeysKickAss