Rant about drugs,addicts, & users. (Trust me y’all…. I have a lot more to say on this subject)
I came across this & its so f*cking true. Been saying it for years!!
To start, I TOTALLY understand addiction & how drugs CAN be bad. I watched it firsthand with my family multiple times! But drugs doesn’t always mean bad.
Ppl think It’s ok to do Coke, Molly, Pills, etc., but if U do something like Meth then ur instantly judged & ppl look at u totally different.
Example!!! I take Adderall which is just pure amphetamines (a super strong upper) that’s in pill form. No harm right?!
Well… What if I told u that METHamphetamine is the SAMETHING as my Adderall, except it has ONE extra Methyl group in it?! Still ok?
TONS of ppl use Adderall recreationally but its fine cuz it’s a prescription. But Meth, the street version of Adderall, is just horrible&disgusting.
I’mNOT saying to do drugs either. Meth & other drugs CAN be devastating on u/ur life!!! I’ve witnessed that countless times..
But ppl need to learn it’s NOT the drug doing this. It’s the USER&HOW they use it! Ppl can be 100% functional & normal while they use Meth/something else daily, weekly, etc. & you’d never know. They keep it a secret so they’re not judged/labeled as “lowlife addicts.”
A dhit ton of lawyers,DR’s,nurses,CEOs,celebrities, etc. do drugs (especially uppers like Meth) but they use it as a TOOL to get ahead, be productive, etc. Not using for an “escape” or to “feel good.”
We need to STOP viewing certain drugs, it’s addicts, & it’s users in a bad light. Addicts/users are NOT any less then us. They’re NOTworthless.
It’s not fair to judge someone because they sin differently then you do.
Drugs are DRUGS, so stop stereotyping. A meth user doesn’t always have rotted teeth & bugs crawling under their skin. Im sure u get the picture.
*NOTE*
I’mNOT condoning or supporting drugs, implying drugs are safe, or that ppl can avoid addiction or a shitty life. I just hate how certain ppl view addicts, users, & drugs in general. Addiction CAN happen to anyone. No ones immune. It takes a lot of self control to use substances without addiction & that’s not even guaranteed. Almost everyone in my family had or has a drug problem. Ppl I love have OD’d.
If you choose to use drugs, just know I will NOT judge you or look at you any less.
Justbe safe,be smart, don’t harm others, and dont think ur limitless.
Study: Rise of Psychoactive Substance Use Among Older Adults Poses Risks
Drug and alcohol use among older Americans has increased sharply over the past decade, as Baby Boomers use psychoactive substances at a higher rate than previous generations. This creates a growing public health problem: rising numbers of older adults at risk for harm from drug use, including substance use disorders. Older adults are often more susceptible to the harms of psychoactive drug use due to age-associated physiological changes, social factors such as increased isolation, increases in comorbidity and the use of medications that may interact with a range of drugs.
Benjamin Han, MD, MPH, is a geriatrician, addiction medicine physician and clinician-researcher in the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Care in the Department of Medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Along with UC San Diego medical student Jason Leddy, UC San Diego undergraduate student Francisco Lopez and Joseph J. Palamar, PhD, an associate professor at the New York University Langone Medical Center, he recently published a new study in JAMA Ophthalmology that found an association between severe visual impairment in older adults and a higher prevalence of cannabis use as well as substance use disorder, including alcohol use disorder and nicotine dependence.
In this Q & A, we’ve asked Han to break down some key points of this study:
Question: How prevalent is the issue of older adults using psychoactive substances and how does this compare to substance use in other age groups?
Answer: While psychoactive substance use is lower among older adults compared to younger adults, its use has increased sharply among people age 65 and older. Past-year cannabis use has increased from 0.4% in 2006 to 4.2% in 2018 among people age 65 and older, according to an analysis of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health data that I published with Dr. Palamar in 2020. Additionally, a study I conducted along with Dr. Palamar and Dr. Alison Moore, chief of Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Care here at UC San Diego found sharp increases in unhealthy alcohol use.
Q: What types of health or mental health issues are older adults using drugs for?
A: There are many reasons older adults use psychoactive substances, including to treat undertreated chronic symptoms such as insomnia, chronic pain and anxiety. It is also important to note that increasing isolation can be a risk factor for risky psychoactive substance use, which is relevant to this paper because vision impairment, particularly among older adults, can increase isolation, lead to significant psychological stress and loss of independence.
Q: Has the COVID-19 pandemic caused an increase in use?
A: The pandemic has been particularly difficult for many older adults, often increasing their isolation. Some studies suggest that drug use and drug-related overdose deaths have increased among older individuals during the pandemic, but data on this currently remains limited.
Q: What signs should loved ones and physicians be on the lookout for?
A: Due to physiological changes due to aging, the presence of chronic disease and increased use of prescription medications, older adults — especially those with impairment (such as visual impairments) — are at risk for harm related to use of psychoactive substance use. Intoxication can potentially lead to marked deficits in coordination, leading to an increased risk of injury or worsening of chronic diseases. Unhealthy psychoactive drug use can often be difficult to detect among older adults, so it’s important that clinicians ask all of their older patients about drug and alcohol use.
UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers asked more than 132,000 23andMe research participants of European ancestry “Have you ever in your life used prescription painkillers, such as Vicodin and Oxycontin, not as prescribed?” More than 21 percent said yes. Then, in a genome-wide association study, the team discovered novel genomic regions that influenced using opiate drugs not as prescribed. They also identified strong genetic correlations with other substance use traits, including opioid use disorder.
The study, published November 2, 2021 in Molecular Psychiatry, was led by Sandra Sanchez Roige, PhD, and Abraham Palmer, PhD.
In pharmacology, a drug is a chemical substance, typically of known structure, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect.
There are numerous governmental offices in many countries that deal with the control and oversee of drug manufacture and use, and the implementation of various drug laws. The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is an international treaty brought about in 1961 to prohibit the use of narcotics save for those used in medical research and treatment. In 1971, a second treaty the Convention on Psychotropic Substances had to be introduced to deal with newer recreational psychoactive and psychedelic drugs. $
