Whether you'd like to admit it or not, everyone enjoys getting high in some shape or form. Drinking an energy drink or a coffee to feel the caffeinated rush or injecting heroin into your blood stream, both are everyday methods of getting high.
Humans aren't the only species that love getting high. Take the jaguar for example. Jaguars eat plants so that they can regurgitate them and it aids in cleansing their digestive systems. One jaguar, a long time ago, realized that this one specific plant known as the Banisteriopsis Caapi made him feel really funny, and really good. This plant that is found in South America contains similar components found in anti-depressants, which makes it a hallucinogen when ingested. Jaguars continue to find and eat this plant to experience the effects all over again whenever they can. (cracked.com)
(Link to watch a jaguar getting high.) http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7ao44_jaguar-eating-ayahausca_animals
 |
| Marijuana leaf |
Our first culprit is probably the most common found and talked about; marijuana. It's as simple as rolling it up in paper or smoking out of a pipe, exactly like smoking tobacco. It even gets as simple as eating it. Once having ingested or inhaled anything containing marijuana, you will be high. In general, according to 420magazine.com, all of your senses can be increased. Letting you see colours more brightly, feel temperatures more rapidly, smell and hear things in different ways, and taste in ways you normally wouldn't. A marijuana high lasts about 2 hours. In relativity to your health, marijuana is rather harmless. It does not contain any of the tar or chemicals in cigarettes and is simply the plant being burnt. It does however have an affect on your judgement and reaction time, making driving very dangerous and illegal. 1 in 6 marijuana smokers will become addicted due to it's effects. (drugabuse.net)
 |
| Heroin |
On the other end of the spectrum we find one of the harshest chemically fabricated drugs out there; heroin. Heroin is the drug that causes the most bodily harm to the user. Addicts will shoot the heroin directly into the blood stream using needles. The high is what's known as a "cloudy high" because while you are high, you feel really numb, painless, and don't recall much of what happened during the high (alcoholism.about.com). It is extremely addictive for it's pain reducing asset, since it is made mostly of morphine. However addicts are known to share needles, leading to infectious diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis. When separated from the drug addicts experience restlessness, nausea, muscular pain and extended user can even experience kidney failure. (Wikipedia.org)
I hope it is evident how addictive these drugs can be, and why they can be so. It all leads back to that "high".
Now what do you think?
What I think, is that none of it is worth it. Marijuana costs about $20 for a few grams (priceofweed.com), and can cost anywhere form $50-$1500 per gram (havocscope.com). So for one, maintaining these addictions are way to costly, and I assume money isn't always available for most users, leading to other methods of payment... Secondly, both are illegal drugs meaning they are sold in the streets. This means you never know how they have been tampered with or if anything harmful has been added to them like glass or crystals, causing you more harm when used. Finally, They can become life controlling, like we've seen with any kind of addiction, except narcotics usually take they cake when it comes to ruining lives. So why would I, or anyone, want their main focus to be getting high, no matter the cost (physically and economically).
Well my fellow addicts, I hope you've learned through this post, and try to keep your addictions simple and manageable. Most importantly, harmless. So keeping biting those nails and eating that cake so that you have no time for smoking!
Until next time.
Sources:
http://www.cracked.com/article_17032_7-species-that-get-high-more-than-we-do_p2.html
http://www.420magazine.com/forums/cannabis-facts-information/81279-understanding-your-high-effects-marijuana-consciousness.html
http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana
http://alcoholism.about.com/od/heroin/a/effects.-LvN.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin
http://www.priceofweed.com/
http://www.havocscope.com/black-market-prices/heroin-prices/
Very informative blog, Ben. I have no need to resort to those addiction, for I have no money to buy any, not that I want any, and I see no point to it. I feel that I get the biggest high through adrenaline. I won't have to smoke it up to get my high and risk anything, but mine is still a little dangerous depending on what I get my high from. Nothing is runner or gives you a better feeling then tackling or being tackled in a game of rugby, or skating as fast as you can down the ice avoiding checks, during a hockey game. Maybe you can talk about adrenaline junkies for your next blog!!
ReplyDeleteI find it quite fascinating that we're not the only species on the planet that is prone to getting addicted to being high. I suppose it proves that addictions are instinctual, and that's why subduing one is difficult because you're going against your own nature. You mention that ingesting marijuana can potentially heighten your senses, which might explain why Sherlock Holmes would always smoke tobacco while brooding over a case. Despite that, you've clearly explained that the consequences far outweigh the benefits.
ReplyDeleteMan do I hate seeing people get addicted to something that can really ruin their lives or even kill them. I don’t understand why people would be abusing drugs and be smoking stuff that can shorten their lives. I’m glad I’ve never tried it and I pray for those who do, to make the smart choice to stop.
ReplyDeleteI love how you compare drinking caffeine and injecting heroin to your everyday methods of getting high. In all, very informative blog Ben I really enjoyed reading it. I think the marijuana debate is going continue for a long time but we can clearly see it is harmless compared to other drugs.
ReplyDelete