While they’re still using?
I’ve known a few users, and no, they were not okay at all. Some kicked, and then were okay. This is the only drug I know that always (in my experience) consumes the user.
I’ve only tasted once, and didn’t like it, but I don’t like speed.
It’s bad shit.
Peace,
mangeorge
Depends on how you define “using” I think. Addicted? Probably not. Occasional use? Lots of people.
I used meth waaaaaaaaaay back in the day (early 1980’s). I was working as a waitress, wasn’t so hard to keep my shit together while being a part-time druggie.
I reckon it depends on the user. Some people, as you mention, are consumed by it. I kind of piddled around with it and lost interest after a couple of years. Haven’t touched it since.
Meth is the type of drug that high school scare videos described for LSD, Crack, and maybe even marijuana. Unfortunately it wasn’t really true for those drugs and people got accustomed to ignoring those statements as hyperbole. However, meth is the real deal and even worse than many of those types of proclamations. I have no doubt that many people in the use it on a strictly recreational basis but the danger potential is extreme.
However, that wouldn’t apply to most people and the ones that you see holding it together just haven’t been thrown into full-blow meth addiction and everything that is associated with it. That stuff is bad news and often decimates rural areas and can even blow up a trailer or a house because the manufacturing process is so volatile and is usually done by high, self-made chemist in a make-shift lab such as a closet or a bathroom. Someone decides to light a cigarette and boom!
For every person that manages to use meth responsibly, there is a housewife that loses her teeth, contorts her face permanently, and loses her family and her life. The tiny town I grew up in Louisiana has a huge meth problem like many other small towns allover but especially in the Midwest and South. I still read the local newspaper and the stories read: meth bust, murder, rape, meth bust, burglary, meth bust, domestic violence, meth bust.
It’s a bit flippant, but I used to tell people to take up cigarettes before experimenting with anything else. If you can get up to a pack a day and then quit with no problem, meth, heroin or whatever probably won’t get you either. YMMV, don’t try this at home, stay off drugs, etc.
Major anecdotes coming your way.
I live in a meth-addled area. There are some that manage - the guy across the street we nicknamed “maintain”, which seems to be his mantra. He works as a laborer for a landscape architect; to that end he’s improved the yard of the other tweaker that used to live at his place, which is some small consolation. My BiL’s ex-gf is another; she’s held down the same job for 10+ years, and mostly manages to give her kids a roof over their heads, even if it is a meager one. We call these sorts “blue-collar tweakers” (as per the Primus song).
Then there are the ones who turn out all wrong, like my BiL. For years, he never had a car (still doesn’t), had no presents for his daughter on her birthday and Christmas (my SiL would buy them for him), and was constantly in trouble with other tweakers, dealer, and causing problems at home. Burglary is a big problem where there is a large population of meth addicts; my neighbor had a rollaway of tools stolen from him, and I’ve chased a few out of my garage (they got the hint when I kicked the bolt back on my AR-10 a few times - just the sound is enough to scare off petty thieves with a bad case of the tree police).
A few years ago my husband and I had to basically tag-team him after he shoved my MiL onto the ground at one of the grandkid’s birthday parties. This is just one of the many things we’ve all had to endure from him, including death threats and obscenities scrawled through my books, things which I dare not repeat. On another occasion, his ex-gf was picking their daughter up from whatever crack shack he was staying in, he got pissed, got onto the roof, then jumped on top of her minivan as she was trying to get away with his daughter in the car. I could name dozens more similar incidents, and pick from any of several similar meth users in my acquaintance.
My MiL finally stopped giving him a place to crash, and when his tweaker buddies fell through he went to the halfway house, where he didn’t fare much better. He got kicked out of there, my MiL refused him a place to live again, and he finally seems to have hit rock bottom, gotten clean, and kept a job. We’re waiting to see if it lasts.
Right now my main problem is my new neighbors, who have gone to great pains to wrap their chain-link fence in opaque plastic and have further piled up tumbleweeds to obstruct anyone’s view into their yard. Nevertheless, at last count I saw about 5 various trailers/campers/sheds that weren’t there before. The police are always reluctant to come out here - we’re off the beaten path, and pleas to the LA Sherriff to post a regular deputy out here have fallen on deaf ears (and my husband works at the damn Superior Court, you’d think someone would come out here).
I did it about a half dozen times - something like that - around three years ago, then never tried it again. So I guess someone can do meth and be okay, but I’d hardly say anyone. And I’m sure if I’d kept at it, I’d have been a hopeless junkie like those in the horror stories you always hear (which is why I didn’t keep at it).
Queen Bruin, what’s a ‘tweaker’? A meth user?
A particular subset of them, yes.
I take your point on LSD and marijuana, but surely crack is also the “real deal”?
Queen Bruin, you’re in my prayers.
For anyone who questions whether meth ruins lives, doesn’t anyone watch A&E’s Intervention series?
Speaking from personal experience, it’s definitely possible to do it on a semi-regular basis and not have it ruin your life, even if you’re the kind of person who does really enjoy it. However, like others have pointed out, the ability to just dabble without it sucking your life away seems pretty rare.
I imagine that people who’ve never used drugs have a hard time relating to addicts.
One problem with the highly addictive drugs (which in my mind are nicotine, heroin, coke and meth) is that the addiction itself is a bit of a time bomb: you can become addicted almost at once, or you can maintain for years, think you are safe, and then have the addiction kick in–I know a guy who used cocaine casually for probably 20 years, and in his fifties it escalated into a full blown addiction–he went nice suburban life to a couple hundred grand in the hole over about three years. I’ve never seen anyone seld-destruct so completely.
As far as meth goes–a good friend of mine who had pretty serious drug problems at one time said to me once that for every drug but meth, she’d at some point reached a place where she’d had enough. With meth she never felt like she just didn’t even want anymore right then. Not saying that’s true for everyone, but that sort of sentiment doesn’t seem to be uncommon.
“bad case of the tree police”
What’s this mean?
Paranoia. The person is paranoid to the point that they believe outlandish scenarios are taking place, like there are police in the trees following them.
To answer the question, I have never seen it in my pretty extensive experience. I suppose some people could pull it off, though most who claim they are okay would be deluding themselves.
I know this has been mentioned before, but the rush you get the first time is unbelievable. You can never get that again (unless you quit for a long time first). Some people tend to keep looking for it in their next dose.
BTW thanks for the answer Queen B.
While I wouldn’t want either one living in my house, I’m told meth is much worse. A coke binge won’t last more than a day or three, I’ve heard of meth binges lasting more that a week and ending in psychotic epsidoes.
A coke binge is not the same as a crack binge, and coke binges can last more than three days, but it starts to get real ugly. With that said, meth binges are far worse than crack binges; however, I have seen far more dangerous characters associated with crack usage. Like you, I wouldn’t let either one live in my house.
You’re welcome.
And yes, that first rush is pretty intense. I did it a few times when I was much younger, and nothing ever touched the first time, not even close. Coming down was the worst feeling ever - wanting to sleep but unable to, because of the twitching. I think part of the reason I never fell into habitual use because you never reach that first high again. Some people get bored with it and move on; others go on chasing the high.
As for Intervention, I find it frustrating to watch, and my husband gets enraged by it. He’s still upset he lost his kid brother, a man that was once a brilliant guitarist but pissed it all away on getting high. As much enmity as I’ve had with my BiL, I really hope his sobriety sticks this time and he and my husband can heal their relationship a little. I’ve seen him hit rehab so many times though that I usually doubt.
phil417: thank you, but save your prayers for people trying to kick their habits, or would-be burglars of my garage!