Drugs

[Cal McInvale]

NOTE: If you're not interested in reading this perturbation in the
pynchon-l stream of consciousness, then go ahead and control-n, command-n
or do whatever it is you do to read the next message, because I'm flailing
away in this one & don't want to have to hear your claims to enjoying
"spirited discussions" but this here one is ruffling your feathers a bit
too much. (And before you say, "This doesn't have anything to do with
Pynchon," I will defer to Jan's excellent analysis on GR as a tome of
altered consciousness.)

Jan replies to my comment about irresponsible drug advocacy:

>I shall ignore the personal abuse, but merely wish to state that I think on
>no reading of the relevant correspondence could I be construed as advocating
>use of Heroin.  Indeed, I believe Heroin to be both one of the death drugs,
>and a drug of control.  Cultures where Heroin is the dominant drug are
>almost all notable for having structures of power even more naked than those
>of the mainstream world.

Jan, your original statement regarding this issue read:

>As I've opined before on these pages, GR is one of
>the great books about altered states - whether access to these states is
>facilitated by Zones, chemicals, magic hi and lo, extreme physicality,
>poetry, religion, science, etc etc.

Unless I'm mistaken heroin is a "chemical" and it does produce "altered
states." My reply to your statement was perhaps a bit too vociferous, but
then I've gotten a little weary of dilletantes who say things like, "You
can't really get into Burroughs unless you've done smack, man."

While it is true you did not directly advocate the use of heroin, the
attitude you seem to have toward other drugs (perhaps, to adapt your
terminology, "non-death drugs") could be construed as an attitude covering
ALL drugs. Now that you've clarified things a bit, I see that you are
drawing fine distinctions between the type(s) of drugs you yourself
consdier dangerous (and thus would never use) and those that the ruffians
of society might enjoy. I offer my apologies for any offense you suffered
due to my outburst, and invite you over for a bong-hit. Anytime. (Mushrooms
may require a 7-day advcance notice.)

Now, since it's pick-on-the-junkie day, I'll go to what the incredibly
astute Mr. Greg Jensen has to say on the matter:

>He's the
>kind of reformed junkie, or even casual drug user, I tend to think is
>more dangerous when he/she is sober.  In order to convince themselves
>of their own sobriety, they keep rubbing your nose in their shrill,
>sordid morality tales, only so THEY don't lapse back into their
>failure to use in moderation.  By making it EVERYONE'S problem, he
>washes his hands of the responsibility of governing his own actions
>and keeping himself clean.

To correct your first mistake, I'm not a "reformed junkie." Nor am I
"sober." I do not have any "shrill, sordid morality tales," as I do not
believe the use of drugs is a moral issue. If you're going to make personal
comments about my lifestyle, then maybe you oughta know a little more about
it. My anecdote about vomiting in a dirty toilet was meant to quickly
illustrate how the IRRESPONSIBLE use of drugs can create a danger to one's
health.

Now, since your vision is too weak to see the picture I ineptly drew, let
me paint it a bit more clearly: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A SAFE DRUG. Some
are more dangerous than others, but all are somewhat dangerous. But just
like food, if done responsibly and in moderation, most drugs will not cause
you many problems. There are, however, some substances that EVEN IN
MODERATION will cause you pain and discomfort.

Heroin, in my experience, is one of those substances. I've heard
fantasy-tales about users who "never got hooked" and "didn't get sick the
first time" and "never got sick without it." With my knowledge of
pharmacology, though, I know this ain't true: H makes you sick the first
time you use, and once you use with any frequency at all you can get
hooked. Hell, most addicts get hooked without even knowing it... you don't
find out until you're doubled over on the floor from the cramps and lying
in a pool of sweat and somebody tells you you're strung out. (Speaking of
my own "failure to use in moderation," when I started taking junk it was
with the idea that I would not get hooked. A month later I had forgotten
all about that little idea. Unless you've been there, pal, don't tell me
about using H in moderation.)

Like it or not, Jensen, drug abuse IS EVERYONE'S problem. Since anyone &
everyone can get robbed-mugged-stabbed-killed for a junkie to get dope
money, since everyone pays the taxes that fund the programs to help
junkies, since everyone puts cash into the pockets of drug dealers via the
CIA, DEA and ATF, then the problem is one for the whole society. Sure, if
we all just settled down & took a little responsibilty for our own lives,
the problem might go away. Yeah, and then Santa Claus & the Easter Bunny
would have us over for sandwiches, the Mad Hatter would throw a great big
rave & we'd all be happy abusing Motrin & iced tea instead of H.

I'm not sure what the weather's like in your little Compuserve world,
Jensen, but over here there are people suffering from drugs -- users and
non-users alike. It is a serious problem, and it's not going to be solved
by your little fend-for-yourself morality, any more so than it's going to
be solved by my over-sensitive wariness or the JustSayNo scare tactics of
many others. But part of the problem is the unrealistic advocacy of drug
use by some. Personally, I'm a little tired of it. It's sad & depressing
when I meet a fifteen year old who wants to try smack because he/she thinks
it would be cool because Kurt did it and that's what Naked Lunch is all
about. And the whole time they're thinking, "I won't get hooked, man, I'm
cool with it."

I think we all need a reality check on this.


Cal McInvale       e-mail:  godot at wolfe.net
WWW: http://www.wolfe.com/~godot/index.html
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What is most appealing about young folks, after all, is the changes, not
the still photographs of finished character but the movie, the soul in
flux.  -- Thomas Pynchon