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Kaili
Member
08-31-2000
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 2:33 pm
Eeyoreslament... I think you can do it using this: \attach in the same way as you would at the start of posting a picture, link, etc. I think. This is what it says in the help section... Upon posting, you are prompted for an attachment to upload. An attachment may be any kind of file (for example, Word document, text file, or WAV audio). Attachments must be saved on your hard disk. Your browser must support form-based file upload (Netscape Navigator 2.0+ and Internet Explorer 4.0+ support this; IE 3.02 will also work provided that you have installed the file upload patch). It's worth a shot anyway I suppose.
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Herckleperckle
Member
11-20-2003
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 2:33 pm
Well, it is reassuring, Tiger, Crzndeb (every parent's fear, honestly--but the despair you must have felt . . .) and Emeraldfire, to hear that some are really pulling themselves up out of that suicidal hell. I hope all of you/them got really good help and guidance while taking steps to reclaim yourself/themselves. I doubt if it is something you/they could have done alone.
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Vacanick
Member
07-12-2004
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 2:39 pm
You know what the sad thing is ... I've given up on my sister. She has done so many horrible things to me and our family. I have no relationship with her at all anymore. It's not that I didn't try before but after getting your face slammed into a wall so many times over the last 20 years eventually you give up. I will always be there for her son but unless a miracle happens and she gets clean, I have no intention of speaking with her. Fortunately, she feels the same about me. So there is no conflict. But it's still very sad!
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Herckleperckle
Member
11-20-2003
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 2:46 pm
What a sad, waste of her life, Nic. It's hard to feel sorry for someone who chooses their self-gratification over their responsibility to a child. Regardless of how sucked in they are. I don't blame you a bit for feeling that way if she refuses to accept help. And you are doing the most honorable thing you can by being a mom to her son. Did you ever arrange an intervention? I had caught a few shows (I think by that name) about interventions and it certainly seems like it is worth a try. How about the rest of you? Was an intervention something you arranged/or experienced as the cornered one? Did it help?
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 3:07 pm
That's why discussion like this, and the honesty of people like Tiger, Maya, Mamie and others is so important. It's easy to intellectualize drug use in an academic setting, but that's not where drugs do their damage.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 3:09 pm
We let my husband's brother live with us when he and his wife split. We believed that she was some horrible person and he was such an angel. (She had always been rather bossy.) But he so disrupted our lives and my husband had to ask him to leave. He went on to live with their other brother and it just got worse. I know that all my husband wants to know is if he's all right. We may never know.
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Tigerfan
Member
11-06-2003
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 3:19 pm
Yes, my parents showed up at the house one day with my brother (more about him in a bit). They never came by uninvited, so I knew something was up... They asked if I was using speed, I denied it, because I was so ashamed (my parents are very old fashioned and proper) My mother had tears in her eyes (she was my best friend growing up) asking me to help her understand what drove me to using, they wanted to know what they could do to help me. I kept denying that I was using, that's when my brother got up and went out to my truck and found my stash and paraphenalia (sp) and set it on the table in front of all of us... I broke down. I made an honest effort to clean up, but it wasn't long before I went back to it.. I made sure to be better about hiding it. The next time was a few years later, I was living in Las Vegas (bad place to be a meth user! Meth and gambling is a doubly lethal combination!) I was coming down from a 4 day binge and my kids were talking on the phone to my parents, they heard me yelling in the background, and were scared for my kids ( for the record, I NEVER abused my children, although looking back on it, the drug use was an abuse to them in and of itself) My dad called the police and had them come over, I smarted off to the police when they showed up, and the next thing I knew I was pepper sprayed and handcuffed. I spent about 30 hours in jail, while I was there my parents had my children flown out to them in California. I started attending Nar-anon meetings, but I thought I was better than the low lifes that were at those meetings, so I stopped going, and convinced everyone I was fine. ( I know now, I WAS one of those "low lifes" and I wasn't any better than anyone else) I got my kids back. It wasn't long after that that I started using again... I work in construction and the meth runs rampant in that industry... I got even better at hiding it. Like I said, it took my mother dying and me leaving Las Vegas and my job to get clean for the final time. I have learned some valuable life lessons from all of this and I have talked to my children at great lengths about everything I'd done to our family. They are wonderful, loving people, I am so lucky to still have them in my life. My brother didn't end up so lucky... He was a meth user as well, still is. He was in prison when my mother past away and didn't get to attend her funeral, I honestly believe THAT ruined his life..He has been in and out of jail since then (1997) and has traded his wife and kids for the drug. I spoke to my father on Sunday and he told me my brother is back in jail for making terrorist threats (he now has mental problems that require medication, but refuses to take it). I pray for him, but I fear he wont be with us much longer..For the record he is 33 yr's old. Thank all of you for letting me share...
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 3:22 pm
Wow Tiger! I'm so glad that you came out the other end and so sorry about your brother.
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Tigerfan
Member
11-06-2003
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 3:29 pm
Thank you Mamie, I have a new found love for life, and I've never been happier. I'm sorry about my brother too, he's not a bad person, he's just lost.
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Vacanick
Member
07-12-2004
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 3:34 pm
Wow Tiger! You are so brave to tell your story but I know how important it is to tell the truth. Because we all know that Meth users are usually living by lies only. I don't think my sister knows the truth anymore. I also believe she should be on medication. I hope your brother is able to find his way out! No, we never tried an intervention. There are family members who are in denial of my sister's usage.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 3:38 pm
Living by lies only is the perfect saying. There were so many lies that it was hard to find the truth at all, after awhile. I don't think he even knew the truth.
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Herckleperckle
Member
11-20-2003
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 4:02 pm
Tiger, I hope you know that your honesty is helping someone here. You may never know who it is, but I just know it is. And if you never do one more thing that 'pays the world back' for the space you take, this was it. Very brave of you to discuss it honestly with your kids. I'm glad you are now there for them. I guess you 'talk' to your mother every day. I understand that it was her being/her soul and then her death that helped you finally make the decision to make a change. I am so glad for you that you did.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 4:04 pm
Wow! This is very eye opening. Thanks so much to everyone who is willing to share these stories.
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Herckleperckle
Member
11-20-2003
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 4:56 pm
I flipped ET on the just now and what was showing but a piece about Tom Cruise. Why am I mentioning this in this thread? Because Narconon is a Scientology program, I learned. Tom is quoted as saying that their heroin program can "step down a heroin user in 3 days." I looked it over and, no surprise, this is a program that uses no alternative meds at all. Though I am skeptical of Scientology, I guess different strokes for different folks. I find it hard to believe, however, that hardcore, depressed Meth users could make it without something to raise them out of the pits. Here's a link to the program: Narconon
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 5:56 pm
Thanks Kaili - it worked, but the second page of the PDF is 86.5 kb, so it was too big I can't exactly post only the first page of the article. LOL. Darn. PS - I'm working on finding out some info from my TA, as well as getting my hands on the Rat Park article.
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 6:01 pm
Our prof gave us these as a way to communicate with children about drugs. I thought they were nice.
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 6:06 pm
Interestingly, the police chief of Seattle is up here giving talks this week to policy makers and academics, on why he thinks ALL drugs should be legalized, INCLUDING meth. He was on the news last night, and was giving a talk at my school. I *think* it was the police chief....the position escapes me.
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Ginger1218
Member
08-31-2001
| Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 4:39 am
I too believe that ALL drugs should be legalized. Let me say why I feel this way. To begin with, if someone wants to take drugs, they will get it whether it is legal or not. If legalized, the government perhaps would have some control over it. It would be safer, it would be decriminalized, so the Drug Lords would not have the power that they do now. We can tax it, take the load off of other things and put a tax on drugs. Government can make a lot of money that way.
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Crzndeb
Member
07-26-2004
| Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 10:09 am
Eeyore...Gil Kerlikowske is the Seattle Police Chief...does that sound familiar. There was nothing on the news here about it, but then again, I don't always pay real close attention to the news. It's usually just on in the backround while I'm doing other stuff.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 10:12 am
Just last month, a 12 year old girl died in our town. The cause of death was heart damage caused by living in the house where her parents manufactured meth. I truly do not believe that legalizing drugs will stop those who make meth in their homes. Nor will it save little girls like this. The gov't can't control this illegal use, and making them legal will not stop it either. Meth is far too destructive to have any beneficial legal use. It would be crazy to send the message that it's somehow safer because it's legal. It would still destroy lives and kill little girls.
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 10:27 am
Meth is less addictive, and less destructive than tobacco. Meth only physically harms the user and not those around them.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 10:33 am
Eeyores, I beg to differ. Tell that little girl that meth only physically harms the user.... The physical damage to a meth user is far greater than the physical damage caused by nicotine.
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Crzndeb
Member
07-26-2004
| Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 10:56 am
The finished product may not harm people around meth, but manufacturing is a totally different ballgame....the chemicals used to make meth are highly toxic. That's why areas are evacuted and haz. mat. people are called in.
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Adven
Member
02-06-2001
| Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 11:36 am
Eeyore, I think I know what you are trying to say but what's coming across from you, at least to me, is that meth, in the over all scheme of things, is not that big a deal. Comparing meth to legal drugs such as nicotine and ritalin reinforces that perception. For many people who try meth- most if they stick with it - they are looking at serious addiction, inevitable physical deterioration and possibly permanent neurological damage. It may not damage those around them in the same physical way second hand smoke does, but it does destroy relationships and families in it's own insidious way.
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Tigerfan
Member
11-06-2003
| Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - 11:39 am
Amen Adven. Thank you, well put.
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