Blissful Ignorance

"Everything we do is for the purpose of altering consciousness."  Waking Up, by Sam Harris

There is only one good thing about recreational drug use that I can figure and everything else is bad. The good thing  is that, at least for a little while, it must feel damned good.  I don't know this by experience.   I've never used a single recreational drug in any amount for any reason. I can't even say that I've been tempted by them. I'm curious about several of them, but I'm not tempted to use them. I never smoked pot or dropped acid in the 60s, I've never smoked pot or used hallucinogens since then either. I've never taken Ecstasy or snorted coke. I don't know where I'd buy the drugs if I decided to use them. I am blissfully ignorant of the whole process.

Drugs must feel really good. Women give up their newborn babies for drugs. Moms and dads who have taken the necessary steps over long periods of time and are at the cusp of getting their children back from "the system", fail  a drug test. Think of the joy that a baby brings to a mother and a family. Consider the delight and the love that  children bring into our lives. Think of all the goodness of parenthood. And then think of giving all of that up, years of love,  a lifetime of happiness, for the temporary pleasure of a recreational drug.  The high must be something extraordinary. Also consider all the love and joy these children will give the foster families and their friends instead of to their own blood relatives. Think of the lifetime of biological relationships these children will never know. Thank God for the foster homes, but how can  this difference be measured for the parents or for the children?

Consider MDMA. otherwise known as Ecstasy or Molly.  The drug produces a euphoric state of being, enhanced pleasure with touching,  increased levels of sexual arousal, and elevated alertness. And these sensations can last up to five or six hours. All of that sounds pretty appealing, doesn't it? Six hours of pure bliss. Then as the effects begin to wear off, this is what the user has left--nausea, cramping, fever, tremors, hallucinations, blurred vision, higher heart rate and blood pressure, and tension in the mouth, face and jaw.

One popular parenting-ending drug of  choice is methamphetamine -- meth, crystal, ice, crank, or speed.  I've talked to several meth users, but I've never talked with them about their habit. But I've been told that the "rush", the "high", the "flash"  is unlike anything imaginable. The euphoria is incredible. The high happens very quickly and is gone just as quickly.  Some users binge to ride the high and to defer the crash as long as possible. But the crash is inevitable. The resulting crash and long-term effects include, but are not limited to, rotting teeth (meth mouth), skin sores and itching, anxiety, confusion, violent behavior, paranoia,  hallucinations and depression. Another unpleasant side-effect is prison.

Cocaine is also a drug of choice for people willing to give up their kids and everything else. The "good things" from cocaine are: feelings of euphoria, increased energy, grandiosity and elevated mood. So far so good. Followed by tremors, paranoia, vertigo, increased heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature, and decreased sexual desire.

One person I read said of  his experience with heroin,  "The first time was the most incredible feeling I had ever had. Then I've spent everything I own trying to find that experience again".

Besides these popular street drugs, the abuse of prescription drugs make them recreational drugs. One user says, "I take Tramadol every night before bed. It makes me feel relaxed and happy. No worries about anything. A general feeling of euphoria.  I've been taking them for five months, but I'm not addicted. I could stop, but I don't want to. I don't want my doctor to be suspicious so I now buy them from Saudi Arabia." drugs.com

I could go on with specific recreational drugs, their highs and their side effects, but they all have twos things in common--1.They produce a temporary high. And 2. The user stands to lose everything he or she owns and everything that  matters to him or her. They risk addiction,  their jobs, their money, their homes, their families, their health and their freedom. Another risk are unwanted pregnancies and the  HIV virus since unprotected sex is a common experience while high.

There's one other thing these drugs have in  common, and it's an extremely unfortunate irony. The high the user gets from the drug is available without the drug.  The only thing these drugs can do in the first place is speed up the natural processes, the natural neurotransmitters in the brain. Ecstasy, meth, coke and heroine don't make the user high. The chemicals in their brain make the user high. The specific biochemical that is involved with all of them is dopamine. In the normal human brain under normal circumstances, dopamine is available to produce satisfaction and pleasure from thoughts and life events. Other feel-good biochemicals such as oxytocin, serotonin, endorphin's and GABA certainly play a role with the drugs effects, but dopamine is almost always involved. Dopamine is the body's own "pleasure drug." Sitting here typing this and listening to the rain through the screen door, I feel really good.  I didn't take anything to get "high"  but I am experiencing a rush of good feelings. And why is that? Is it because my computer I'm using didn't have a virus, after all?  Is it the good check up at the dentist this morning? Is it the pleasant phone conversation on the way home? Is it thinking about our trip to California in a few weeks? Is it the rain and the fact that we have a new roof? It's all of these things, but it's none of these things. It's dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphines flooding my nervous system as they are triggered by these thoughts and visualizations. How long can I maintain this high?  For as long as I think the way I'm thinking right now. And what happens when these good feelings wear  off?  They don't wear off. There's no physical or emotional downside. There is no crash. There's no risk of addiction. I won't be arrested. This is my point. Sitting here today I'm on mind-altering drugs. These drugs are very powerful and are very real. And they're free. To hack into these chemicals many recommend exercise and others recommend mindfulness meditation. Both of these are useful. But a quicker way to feel good is to simply change your thinking. Unless you have chronic untreated biochemical imbalances, if you don't like the way you feel, think about something good and you'll immediately feel better.

So that's it.  We all want to feel good.  We all enjoy pleasure. We don't like to feel bad and we don't enjoy misery. Well, most of us don't enjoy misery.  Feeling good is not only possible without chemical intervention, it is only possible without chemical intervention. The street drugs people take deplete the dopamine in their brain, their God-given pleasure drug. The user could have enjoyed a lifetime of pleasure and kept their children, their money, their jobs, their homes, their families, their freedom. The final horror  the user experiences is that their drug of choice no longer brings them any pleasure. They are left with literally nothing.  At this point many of them make that reality permanent.

There is no "war on drugs", that can be won. The Vietnam War was a thousand times more winnable. There is a tidal wave of street drugs crossing our borders every day and even more  cooking in our kitchens. Drugs are here to stay. As long as people feel bad and want to feel good, they will be using drugs. As long as a hand can reach a mouth, people will be taking drugs. As long as people fail to understand that they trade everything for nothing and that everything had been within reach the whole time, people will abuse drugs.

I'm listening to some incredibly beautiful music from the Renaissance, the period of awakening. I'm enjoying the company of billions upon billions  of my favorite friends--dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins. Then to prolong the release of oxytocin, the cuddle hormone,  I'm gong to go upstairs, hug my wife and tell her that I love her. And she'll wonder if I'm on drugs.