I have recently watched a thought provoking documentary on a group of Australian crystal meth addicts. The reason for mentioning it in my blog is that the UK does not have such a major crystal meth problem – yet. By reading this blog I hope that potential addicts will chose another route to get through life.

Crystal meth – or Methamphetamine as it is officially known, claims as addicts over 90% of first time users. And the consequences of the addiction are only partially known because of insufficient long term study results.

What is known is that users receive a ‘high’ that can last for several days. But the lows, as with most drug use, are very low indeed. Sleep deprivation, food deprivation, and psychosis are just some of the known downside effects.

Cheaper than heroin, ‘Ice’, as it’s known on the street is twenty times stronger than speed. It releases huge mounts of dopamine which is commonly associated with the pleasure system of the brain, which in turn has made it popular on the party circuit. It can be smoked as well as injected which has made it the favoured drug of old heroin users. After all, there are only some many places to inject the drug into the human body.

Addicts on ‘Ice’ cut a lonely group. All they live for is the next fix. Their life is about benefit money, a drug fix, long high, long low and benefit money again. The cycle is never broken. What addicts have to look forward to in their continued addiction is weight loss, mental illness, crumbling teeth, and in all eventuality an early death. Human beings on the street with nothing going for them. It is their fault of course and there is nothing we can do for them so let them rot. Or is there another way?

Drug addicts come in many forms nowadays. If you are a smoker or drinker you are an addict like them. You are lucky because your drugs are legal (for now).

One of the most telling remarks made from one of the addicts in the documentary was that he continued taking the drug because he could not fill the ‘time void’ that being clean afforded him. Another word for it is boredom.

I can relate to this as since I have quit smoking (60 a day) I have found time weighing heavily on my hands. As yet I have not turned this extra time into something productive.

I am also wearing patches to stop the cravings. When I have forgotten to put one on I become tetchy and grumpy within an hour. And all I want is a cigarette. I have not given in to the cravings yet, but then again – I am still using a patch fifty days after quitting.

I started smoking at nineteen. I liked the taste and sensation it gave me. All my mates smoked so I connected with them even more. There must be a thousand reasons other than mine why people take drugs for the first time. Like me, that first time could lead to a lifetime of drug use.
Unless we, as human beings, enjoy living our lives in the right way, drugs will always be there to tempt us into mind-altering states. But the battle we all face is with ourselves. Right versus wrong, good versus evil.

Getting on drugs is so easy – getting off them is the hardest test of our souls.

If you need help or advice in coming off drugs, leave me a message and I will try and help you.

Together, we can clean up this mess.