Ozone

Well, in all honesty, mine was "self-inflicted" - I stumbled onto the knowledge that I liked the effects of ritalyn real well. TOO well... For several months, I had a pretty much "all you can eat" supply, and went through 'em about like M&Ms. Then the supply dried up, and the fun began...

Oddly enough, I've never been much for downers. I've played with several of them over the years, but that's all it ever was - "playing". The only one of the group that held any interest at all for me was years ago, and it was "just plain old" opium. All "denial" aside, I didn't like it for the buzz (Basically, I got sleepy... Big deal...) so much as because it smelled and tasted *SO* nice when you crumbled a small pinch into a joint of even the crappiest homegrown weed.

Somewhere around here, I've got *AT LEAST* four 10 day supplies of Vicodin left over from wisdom tooth extractions, separated shoulders, blown-out knees, and sprained ankles, each with one dose actually taken

- I just don't like the way it hits me.

I know they put expiration dates on those things, but I can't help but wonder how long they *REALLY* remain useful when stored properly sealed, in the dark, etc. etc. etc...

Guess I probably won't be turning into a skag-head anytime soon, eh? :)

Yep, I've heard more than once about the DTs being fatal in some cases.

Long, very long, and all you need do is pull a vaccuum on a plastic bag then put them in the freezer. The active ingredients are UV sensitive and they react with each other and the atmosphere. You end up with reacted salts.

Probably not :>) Heroin was legal here until it became apparent that having a significant part of the populace addicted wasn't working. Who knew? If you ever decide to do permanent damage to your brain from one or two uses go with ecstacy. The latest info on Meth seems to indicate something rather frightening and very unique. You didn't like opium because you were not associating it with an existing pleasurable behavior. When you changed that, you found it pleasant and it was the euphoria the drug produced. You associated that with the smell and the taste and the experience changed. At some point you would have dropped the crutch that the weed really was. Meth seems not to be like that. You need no associated behavior and therefore don't need to "learn" to "enjoy" it. You can become addicted the very first time. I know that sounds unlikely and you will probably be reminded of bs statements to keep kids from even trying stuff but it is increasingly being accepted that methamphetamines are unique. Scary.

It's a little more complicated than that but the DT's are a symptom that indicates another condition. Death is frequently not preceeded by those symptoms.

Anyway, if you really want to quit smoking you can. The physiological symptoms can be surpressed to some degree and if you follow a regimen and replace the physical pleasure of holding and playing with a butt you will stop. The big hurdle for you, and me BTW, is really wanting to do it.

Yep! I smoked my pipes for something like 20 years before a bleeding ulcer gave me good reason to back off. To this day, certain activities make it difficult to not grab one and light up. Running my mill, for one. I can't speak for cigarette smokers, but pipe smokers often have an affair of sorts with their pipe(s). They become a warm and faithful companion. Old habits die hard.

Quitting after smoking for years??-----I agree-it's a decision one makes, but you have to be honest with yourself and really want to. If you're the kind that's inclined to cheat at solitaire, you're unlikely to succeed.

My father (now deceased) smoked for something like 30 years. One day, after stopping off at the local pub for a brew on a Saturday afternoon , was on his way home when he reached in his pocket for a smoke. Pulled the pack out, looked at it, then tossed it out the window and never touched smokes again, ever. For what ever reason, that day he made up his mind to quit, and he did. We Greeks have a strong constitution, it would appear!

Harold

Thanks, but no thanks... These days, other than cigarettes, I'm 100% "Mr. Natural" all the way. A little light cannabis use, and every once in a while a beer, maybe two, with the very rare shot of booze. (most often, Jack Daniels, straight up).

Meth is weird in many ways - as I experienced firsthand back about the same era when I was playing with ritalyn. I noticed right off the bat that I liked it a bit too much for comfort, and bailed out of that scene quick.

Ehhh... If you say so... As I said (with no intent to delude myself or anyone else) I liked the smell and flavor. The actual effects didn't do diddly for me in terms of "interest", with or without weed. Whether mixed with grass, or as a smoldering chunk on a pin, the stuff just plain smells WONDERFUL when burning. If it were cheaper and more available, I wouldn't object to simply burning it as incense, without making any effort to actually "use" it. The handful of times I had enough available for "straight" use, I quickly figured out that I didn't care for the buzz (Basically, it felt like the end of a night spent smoking too much pot, just before I'd crawl off to the bedroom to pass out, only without the "fun" part of a pot buzz before the "burn-out" sets in), but that the aroma and flavor were lovely.

Nah, not likely. Opium was a "special treat" type thing. The weed was "meat-n-potatoes".

The whole methoxylated amphetamine series is bizarre in many ways - One of 'em (I keep wanting to call it "Baumer's compound", even though I'm certain that's not right) is functional as an elephant tranquilizer in LSD-like (AKA "Ultra-tiny" - tens of micrograms/kg) doses. Others, like the one in nutmeg, are massively powerful hallucinogens - An ounce or so of nutmeg in applesauce once sent me on a three-day trip through la-la-land that featured visions so clear and real that I was literally bouncing off the walls as I tried to walk into the nonexistant landscapes I was seeing - But then, with nutmeg, there's the downside: SOMETHING about it plays royal hell with muscle control - When I wasn't trying to walk through walls into landscapes that didn't exist, I had a hard time managing to stand up. A sort of chemically-induced St. Vitus Dance crossed with a good working case of lockjaw is the closest description I can come up with.

Then there's the always-interesting possibility, under zero tolerance regulations, of getting yourself arrested for baking a traditional-style pumpkin pie - If you use the usual spices, including nutmeg and allspice (both from the same source, by the way, just different parts of the plant) you're technically guilty of manufacturing at least four specifically forbidden, and possibly as many as 8 "borderline" methamphetamine variants in small quantities...

(Yes, I was, and still am, a knowledgable "doper" - I didn't (and don't) indiscriminately eat, snort, smoke, etc whatever came along without knowing, at least to some extent, what to expect, how it was thought to work, after-effects, in some cases the how-to-make, chemical composition and molecular layout, etc)

Indeed. I look back on those years and wonder how I managed to survive some of my "adventures in recreational pharmaceuticals" without growing a monkey the size of King Kong on my back...

Wrong about that. Nutmeg and mace are different parts of the same fruit. Mace is the lace-like "veins" that surround the nutmeg. Allspice is an entirely different plant; it just has a very similar taste to nutmeg.

Ah, the fun days (what I can remember).

Joe