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Thread 7795

Thread ID: 7795 | Posts: 9 | Started: 2003-07-02

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Ed Toner [OP]

2003-07-02 20:15 | User Profile

[url=http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/features/n_8763/]http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/f...eatures/n_8763/[/url] Feature Pill Culture Pops With the stigma attached to mood-improving (not to mention sex-life-improving) drugs all but gone, New Yorkers are becoming their own Dr. Feelgoods, self-medicating as never before. Inside the new (totally respectable) drug scene.

By Ariel Levy (Photo credit: Chago Akii-Bua & Brian Jones)

Sound the alarm. there’s a new drug epidemic in town. And most of the city wants in on it. “In certain circles of New York, it’s just regular table conversation,” says a 37-year-old publisher. “I was at lunch with clients the other day—it was a totally professional situation—and I mentioned that I have to give a speech at my parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary. I said, ‘I’ve got to get some Klonopin; I’m going to be so uptight.’ Somebody else said, ‘Oh, I always take a Klonopin before a big presentation.’ One thing led to the next, and soon everyone at the table was talking about how they’re on Xanax or Klonopin or Vicodin. No one wants to go through the hassle of seeing a psychiatrist because they don’t necessarily feel there’s anything wrong with them. It’s just the way life is in New York: Everyone’s stressed about something.”

We have entered the golden age of self-medication. Drugs have become like hair products or cosmetics: This is brain styling, not mind altering. The early buzz was that Prozac makes you a different person—changes you fundamentally, if subtly. But, habitual drug users that we are, we know that’s not true. You’re you on meds, only less freaky and more well-rested.

We have been listening to Prozac now for over ten years. In that time, SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, in case you’re not on one) have become as socially acceptable as Sudafed. Not that long ago, the only people who used prescription drugs for their mental health were the deeply and obviously messy. At that time (the crack epidemic still raged), you wouldn’t have talked to your colleagues about what you took for insomnia, you bummed cigarettes off your friends instead of Ativan, and it might not even have occurred to you to take a pill for your garden-variety depression or anxiety. Now the question is not “Should I take something?” It’s “Am I taking enough?” Or “Am I taking the right one[s]?” And any lingering doubts we had about drugging our way to better mental health seem to have been washed ..................

jay

2003-07-02 20:57 | User Profile

I take Xanax to fly. And I don't feel even .00001% guilty about doing so. I feel bad for those that abuse meds, but for me, it's hard to fly when I'm close to hyperventilating.

I suppose I could just take the train instead. Oh well. The only thing I'd say is, no drugs for anyone under 16 years of age. that should be a law.

-Jay

Ragnar

2003-07-02 21:25 | User Profile

*Originally posted by Ed Toner@Jul 2 2003, 20:15 * ** One thing led to the next, and soon everyone at the table was talking about how they’re on Xanax or Klonopin or Vicodin... **

The exact equivalent of saying "Rum or beer or whiskey." The difference is minimal. These drugs all act on the limbic system, like alcohol, and they all metabolize in the liver, like alcohol.

In fact, the original chill-out pill, Valium, was even called "whiskey in a pill." :huh:

Edana

2003-07-02 22:05 | User Profile

What a bunch of druggies. I only take 2 pills a month, during my "special female time".

Drakmal

2003-07-03 01:27 | User Profile

What ever happened to just keeping a flask of whiskey in your coat to calm your nerves?

Ragnar

2003-07-03 06:57 | User Profile

Brandy, not whiskey! Us cheapskapes still do that, yes. No pill will ever compete with the friendly nip. Pills destroy socialization, I think.

Some celebrities combine the two. Johnny Cash liked pain pills with his whiskey and Dean Martin was fond of valium with champaign. Niether was ever a health nut from what I can tell.

na Gaeil is gile

2003-07-03 10:17 | User Profile

And any lingering doubts we had about drugging our way to better mental health seem to have been washed ..................

The [url=http://www.huxley.net/]Brave New World[/url] has arrived, wherein this mode of behaviour was elegantly summarised with one damming word - infantile.

Hugh Lincoln

2003-07-03 18:14 | User Profile

A VNN book review of Wilmot Robertson's "Dispossessed Majority" discusses the pill-popping era and White depression in general. Suggested is that the atomization and disconnectedness of White society is exacerbating mental problems. I think there's something to it. Of course, it's always good to alter your mood with chemical enhancers now and again, but I'm much more comfortable with a few beers than some weird pill prescribed by a Jewish psychiatrist.

Besides, if we all take these mind-numbers, we'll just end up pliant for final Jewish takeover.

Rumblestrip

2003-07-03 22:10 | User Profile

I've heard that this attitude is even making its way into the schools. A kid being on Ritalin or other drugs is sort of a status symbol.

It used to be that being normal and healthy was the "in" thing. Now it seems that the area of one-upmanship is "haha! I'm more screwed up than you!"