EXCESSIVE SPEED

The Los Angeles Journal is looking for articles or art that relates to our theme of SPEED. We are look= ing for articles relevant to Los A= ngeles. So anything related to the drug speed, mph, early ejaculations or anything = else you can think of, please send it our way! If we don’t print your work this time, it might just be better for next month’s theme, “ESCAPE.”

 

Send articles to submissions@losangelesjournal.com with a subject heading of “speed”

 

 

 

EXCESSIVE SPEED…  by DJ Woods  copyright 2006 Library of Congress

 

Back in the 70’s when they had the first oil crisis, their was a big push to lower the speed limit – cause it would save gas. “Speed kills” was their motto… It went up on bill boards, in news paper ads and on TV commercials. I remember how mad my dad was to have to start driving at 55 mph instead of his usual 65 or 70 mph. But, as time has passed… statistics proved that it was true “speed kills” … and 55 mph seems to have been adopted almost nationally (exceptions are those flat states with long, long straight roads) as a good thing for society.

 

Flash forward to the year 2006 and the motto “Speed kills” has a whole different – but just as lethal – meaning. Crystal Meth (also known to some as “speed”) has fast become an easy to obtain drug in trailor parks, gated communities, schools, churches and sporting events. It’s everywhere.  Why. Two reasons: 1) humans need drugs right now (more on this below) and 2) You can make the shit in your kitchen, apparently.

 

If I am going to try and help create an honest conversation about drugs in this articles, I should tell you up front that most of my life has been spent as (what most of you readers would label) a “fundamentalist” Christian. “Drugs are a bad thing” was my motto for almost all of my adult life. Up until the new millennium, I had kept myself completely sheltered from parties, drugs and drug users. I would literally walk away. My moratorium on drugs included the ever popular drugs of alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. This also extended to even taking aspirin when I had a head ache. No drugs passed my lips unless a doctor told me I had to take it. “Mr. Granola” is what one friend often called me. I continued this sort of sheltered, disciplined, pure life until I was in my late 30’s.

 

When I lived in North America in the 1990’s, I had eight years of working full time as a personal trainer / nutrition / fitness expert. During those years I learned a lot about our bodies and what our bodies need. During times of intense personal discipline, I would often weigh out all my food so that I would know exactly how many grams of protein, carbohydrates and fat my body was getting - every time I ate. It was during this time that I started to learn how the human body is like a machine.

 

Since I missed the typical drug experimentation days of college years (my fundamentalist Christian college didn’t have such parties. Furthermore, during this time, I was too busy preaching Jesus on the local city streets to even consider anything but prayer and bible study).  When you are naïve about something (in this instance, drugs), you have no idea what you are missing, you have no reference points, you have no idea what to look for. For example, I once had a close friend that was an insanely habitual speed user and I never knew it. I never even thought it for a second. I just thought he was hyper and sometimes moody. I was completely naïve to all the signs. “Ignorance is bliss”, they say in the movie the “Matrix”. And so it is.

 

But, I actually think Ignorance can also be (and mostly is) a bad thing. Ignorance – like violence – does ugly things. This is why ‘dispelling ignorance’ is considered by most major religions in the world to be a spiritual and holy work.

 

When it comes to drugs, we have to start to think differently. In what you are about to read, I’m certainly not advocating drug use of any kind (street or pharmaceutical) - that is between every person and their doctor. I’m writing on this subject because I want to explore WHY so many humans are already doing massive amounts of drugs on the earth in 2006. If there are 7 billion people on the earth right now, I think at least 5 billion of them either want drugs, do drugs or need drugs. We have to ask ourselves - Why are drugs so popular? Why is Prozac the highest prescribed drug in the world!?  Answer: Because humans want to feel better about life. Why do they feel bad? These are all questions I have taken time to think about while drinking beer and kicking back on a hammock in the jungles of Costa Rica over the last year (I was burned out and needed some time off to get some perspective).

 

In the last five years, I have interviewed over 300 people who have experimented with a variety of drugs (from LSD to mushrooms to MDMA to lithium to Prozac) and there are glaring similarities to many of their stories and experiences. The similarities are mostly spiritual and/or emotional in nature.

 

I find this topic of interest because one of the things I have learned in all my interviews, observations and experiences over the last five years (and one of the things that shocked me the most) was how many people do drugs in this world. People hide their drug use, until they think it is safe to come out. Attorneys, businessmen, soccer moms, high school kids, policemen, professionals, ministers, firemen, nurses, the homeless, doctors, celebrities, athletes, janitors, carpenters, politicians and the list goes on and on and on and on.  No group, family, church, or business is exempt from having to deal with this issue in today’s modern world. Many are seeking comfort through changing the chemistry in their system. We have to ask, “Why?”

 

COLLEGE CAMPUS'

For the most part, college campuses all over the U.S. and Canada are full-on party machines. Pharmaceutical pills (riddlin is ‘synthetic speed’ and mixed with alcohol…) are hugely popular on college campus’ in the new millennium – as well as your routine illegal party drugs that you would expect to find on a college campus (according to drug carriers I have talked to, these party favors - weed, cocaine, mushrooms, ecstasy, etc. - have gotten a harder to transport since the crack down on airport security after 9-11. People used to just carry a full briefcase of things… and no one would ever stop them. The fact that drugs are harder to transport seems to contribute to why Crystal Meth has become so popular in the U.S.  Apparently, you can make Crystal Meth in your own kitchen.).

 

The thing about drug use in North America and Central America is that it definitely is not just limited to the college age group. Lots and lots of people of all ages (tens of millions of them) want to use drugs, need to use drugs or actually are using drugs for recreational fun and for "better health” of mind, body or spirit.

 

While in Costa Rica I had a conversation with one gringo who said to me, “The world would be a better place if everyone regularly blew off some steam dancing on ecstasy." Then he asked, "Have they tried ecstasy in meetings with the Palestinians and Jews yet? That drug heals things. I’m serious. Shrinks have used it in the context of marriage therapy since the early 1970's and it does miracles in relationships.”

 

Whether or not you are in favor of drug decriminalization issues… the truth is, drugs are hugely popular in today’s world. Drug dealers and pharmaceutical companies alike are making billions of dollars. Why? Because people don’t feel good. Something doesn’t feel right to many people, but no one seems to know why. No one seems to know where their angst and anxiety comes from.

 

Before I came to Costa Rica, I was listening to NPR in Los Angeles and they were doing a report on illegal drug use in the U.S. market. They said that Mexico makes 30-40 Billion dollars per year as a middleman for all the drugs that come through Central America from Columbia (cocaine and weed, mostly).  To me, that is a HUGE tip for a middle man. Isn’t that a lot of money to you? That can only mean the demand for cocaine and weed in the United States is enormous.

 

If you go to clubs in the U.S. and get to know some of the people who are present at them… you will come to learn that it is true – there are lots of drugs at clubs all over the country. Those who are not tripping on alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy, speed and/or weed are probably playing with pharmaceuticals and mixing them with alcohol. Almost any club you go to in North America, you can buy drugs from someone. Even in Utah. In North America almost any concierge at any hotel can help, if they trust you are not a police officer.

 

In Costa Rica, one experienced person said that 7 out of 10 taxi drivers can help get drugs, if they trust you are not a cop. In clubs throughout Costa Rica, most security guards at the door of clubs can help you find 'party favors', if they trust you are not a cop. Drugs are everywhere in Central America. Of biggest concern for the Central American people is "crack". It’s everywhere and it’s affecting the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of Costa Ricans. Someone needs to do something different in reaching out to this problem – because what’s going on now is obviously not working. These articles – and the coming documentary – are my attempt at doing something to move things forward in a more honest direction. You can't get anywhere until you look at something honestly.

 

WHY DO SO MANY USE DRUGS?

I’m not the biggest world traveler there has ever been. But I’ve been to a lot places and I have to say - when it comes to drug use - a surprising percentage of people around the world (where I have been) use drugs to cope, to pass bored hours, to get through their day, to get through their week or to get through their life. The rich may use expensive wine... the poor use crack... high school students use beer... middle class Baby Boomers use weed... rich Baby Boomers use prescriptions... college kids pop pills with shots of tequila... It seems that every generation is taking something. Why are so many of us “self-medicating”?

 

Especially among the poor (marijuana seems to be the Prozac of the poor), a huge percentage of those who are “poor” in North America and Central America smoke pot and/or drink alcohol as a way to deal with the boredom of being poor, in my observation. I’m sure the reasons “why” people use drugs are as complicated and multifaceted as the people who are using them.   But, in many of these Central American barrios, crack (also known as ‘speed’) has taken a firm hold on hundreds of thousands of lives – much like crystal meth (also known as ‘speed’) has taken hold of millions of lives in North America.

 

Crack/speed addicts are everywhere in Central America and they will approach a gringo for money, if you are on almost any public street. Some will steal from you, if they find you at an opportune moment. It is impossible to walk down the streets of any major city in Central America without some crack addict coming up to you begging  money or trying to sell you crack (he’ll charge you double - $2 for a rock - and then use the extra $1 dollar to buy some crack for himself).

 

There has to be new, relevant and effective ways to understand and deal with the issue and reality of drugs in today’s modern world… because what’s going on now doesn't seem to be working. I’ve met at least 15 college age Central Americans and they all said they started smoking crack/speed when they were 12 or 13 years old. It seems to be what everyone is doing in these little barrios (and I mean a large percentage of people - this is not a 10% of the population issue. It’s a very large percentage - though I can't offer an intelligent percentage for you at this time.). But, I can say for certain that crack/speed is a serious, serious social problem all over Central America.

 

 Let me explain more in the next article…

 

 

D J Woods is a freelance writer and video editor here in Costa Rica working on a documentary about Costa Rica. He did drink an orange juice and vodka while writing this article. If you have a response to this article, he can be reached at Speakmeister@gmail.com

 

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 (Part Two of Three)

 

George Orwell, in his book “Down and Out in Paris and London” explores poverty and the lives of the poor in Paris and London in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. In his book he has quite a few interesting musings on poverty and those who are “poor”.  In one place he says, “…you discover the great redeeming feature of poverty: the fact that it annihilates the future. Within certain limits, it is actually true that the less money you have, the less you worry.”  

 

When we talk about the poor using speed, you have to realize that to them, there is no future. They only have the present moment and many of them are choosing to fill their present moment with as many toxins in their system as they can afford. (I’ve met many Central Americans that drink like fish while they work – doing manual labor. Having a little buzz while you weed-whack or use your machete to clear brush… helps make the long hours more interesting, somehow. It makes a poor life more tolerable. I think it is clear that there are billions of poor people on the earth who are choosing to party and be high as much as they can – however they can. It seems to be a common decision among the poor in the new millennium… and who can blame them, really? If you have no hope for anything different in the future, it's one of the most rational choices that a human can make.

 

In my experience, the only people that don’t have much experience or knowledge of drugs are the super sheltered and the super, super religious of every religion (Muslim, Christian, New Age, Baptist or Hindu). It would seem however, that even some of these religious folks feel that “moderation in all things” is the way of the spiritual warrior… so you can find even the super religious popping  a pill, drinking a few glasses of wine or “smoking out” now and then, when they feel the need.

 

I don’t think that there is any doubt that many people are using drugs in an attempt to feel better. “Why do we need help feeling better?” is something I have thought a lot about when I was traveling through Central America.  I have also talked to a lot of people about this issue and I would like to share some of the things I have discovered.

 

DRUGS: GOOD AND BAD?

Even in the jungles of Costa Rica, I heard about Tom Cruises' drug comment on Oprah about "drug addicts" taking Prozac everyday and how it's an illness of society, etc. It’s clear to many people that drugs have potential to do a lot of things: good and bad. They can bring comfort, heal disease, relieve pain and enlighten many a dark hour in the soul of men and women. Drugs can be like a truth serum, removing the ego and letting the natural flow of life express itself uninhibited. Drugs can bring consolation to the weary and inspiration to the artist. The bonding that can take place between two open souls has been described as “euphoric” by a large percentage of those I have interviewed about their drug experiences. Once the serotonin starts exploding in the brain chemistry, heaven appears on earth. “Time stands still”, is a common phrase I've heard from those who have had such experiences. 

 

On the other hand, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that drugs can also be a hell on earth. They can be like a prison, entrapping a soul or an entire family in selfish ambition, disrespect and/or senseless pleasure. On drugs, people can waste countless hours being unproductive and numb. They live a life dancing between illusions that life is a certain way. The drugs act as pillars, holding illusions in place. Nothing ever moves forward.

 

When I unsheltered myself from my very sheltered existence, my eyes were opened to many things I had never seen before. I don't really recommend doing what I did, to be honest... unless you can afford the anxiety medication you will need by coming to this new level of awakening. "Ignorance is bliss..."  Truer words were never spoken.

 

It's a bit shocking to see how things really are... when you've been sheltered all your life. If I could take my sheltered existence back, I might be like "Mr. Regan" (in the "Matrix") who sold out Morpheous so that he could return to his sheltered existence within the Matrix. "I don't want to remember anything" is what "Mr. Regan" tells "agent Smith"... and boy, haven't some of us felt like that a time or two??

 

What kept me sheltered for so long? The 'religious right' was a huge factor. It’s true that many religious people delude themselves into thinking that living a sheltered existence is the same as living in a state of grace. I was one of those people. It took me a long time to understand that living a sheltered life and living in a state of Grace are not one and the same and, being sheltered limits the actual impact you can have on the world around you. If you really don’t know how things work in the world or in life, how can you ever make a relevant impact on the masses?

 

One of the things that my eyes were opened to early on was how incredibly pervasive drugs are to the modern day human. We use caffeine to wake us up and we use alcohol to help us sleep... From Viagra to aspirin, from sleeping pills to Vicodin… everyone is popping pills, smoking weed or drinking alcohol to enjoy life or to try and feel better (or in some cases, to try and feel anything or to try and feel nothing).

 

Instead of jumping right to the righteousness of it all we have to just sit back and look… and ask “Why are so many humans popping pills, snorting riddlin, smoking weed, and drinking wine? Why is Prozac the number one prescribed drug in the world?”  Why? Because drugs make people feel better. This, then, could lead us to ask ourselves, “Why do so many people feel so bad?”

 

This is the topic of my next article.

 

 

D J Woods is a freelance writer and video editor here in Costa Rica working on a documentary about drugs in Central America. If you have a response to this article, he can be reached at Speakmeister@gmail.com

 

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 (Part Three of Three)

 

“Why do so many people feel so bad? Why are so many people using drugs to feel better about life?” “Why is Prozac the number one prescribed drug in the world?!” “Why does it seem that everyone needs help feeling better?”

 

These questions (and questions like these) are what need to be pondered and addressed if we really want to move forward on the drug issue in this new millennium. The whole “just say no” approach was the best thing North American culture could devise as a response to the drug abuse of the 80’s. It didn’t work. This campaign was a disastrous failure and an embarrassing sign of the true ignorance that is at the center of naïve souls dealing with an issue they seem to really know nothing about.

 

These deeper questions about drug use in today’s modern world must be pondered by our leaders. Our psychologists, social workers, business leaders, doctors, therapists, politicians, ministers, chaplains, and teachers of all kinds… need help in understanding how to deal with this issue in a more honest and effective way. Anyone who cares about people – anyone who works to make the world a better place must consider the modern day issue of drug use as a huge global and human situation. Why? Because drugs are rampant in almost every part of the free world – regardless of class or economic status.

 

Pharmeutical companies and their executives should hang their heads in shame for making unimaginable amounts of money on this predicament and not doing a god-damn thing to help those affected negatively by drugs. Drug companies should be mandated to give a percentage of their world-wide profits back into the world community for programs that supports (for example) crack addicts -in south and Central America - or crystal meth addicts - in North America. Pharmeutical companies should have their finger in progressive and experimental social programs that are hands on with real people in need of help regaining control of their lives. Shame, shame, shame on you for making so much money off of people’s need for drugs at this time in human history. 

 

It’s true: Drugs live in schools, in our neighborhoods and communities and in the families of those we love. Drugs affect the rich and poor, the intelligent and the ignorant, the religious and the atheist, the School of Harvard educated and the School of Hard knocks educated... No one is exempt from being touched by this issue in one way or another… at one time or another.

 

I am sure that the answer to the question “Why do humans feel bad in today’s modern world?” is a multifaceted and complicated problem with many issues and influences. But, I think it can all be filed under one heading called EXCESSIVE CHANGE - AT EXCESSIVE SPEED - MAKES HUMANS FEEL WEIRD THINGS.

 

EXCESSIVE SPEED

 

According to the Discovery Channel there has been more change in the last 150 years than all the millions of years of the human race COMBINED. With the industrial revolution, the birth of new medical technologies that are routinely extending human lives and computer technology that is taking us to places where we could not go ourselves – we are moving into the future at excessive, excessive speed.

 

Furthermore, it’s clear that the human organism is not made for change (much less change at high speed). We are creatures of habit. We freak out when things change. Simply look at your own life to see that this is true. We get up every morning the same way, we eat breakfast the same way, we drive our car and park it in the same place (or take a bus / subway / walk the same way), sit at our desk with things in the same way, lunch is the same… we get home and do the same things day after day… we get into our routine. This is what humans do. Any change to our routine is called stress. Today’s many problems are proof to me that when things change too much with humans, we really freak out (this is what’s going on in today’s world, it would seem).

 

Pharmeutical companies are guilty of gross self interest and negligence for making so much money off the human need for drugs... during this time of great transition and global time of excessive primal-anxiety. If they continue to do nothing to help the poor in this world, it will be a crime if people don't raise a furry with politicians to pass laws that will make them pay up to support social programs for crack and meth casualties, especially.

 

I feel certain that in 150 years humans will look back on our generation and see the wars, drugs, obesity rate, violence, fundamentalist surges… as symptoms of the ill health of a human race that moved forward too fast for it’s own good. (Like we had a choice?) It seems clear to me that this is what fuels the current neediness many humans seem to have across the globe.

 

Albert Einstein wrote, “This security and the spare time and energy which the individual will have at his command can be made to further his development. In this way the community may regain it’s health, and we will  hope that future historians will explain the morbid symptoms of present-day society as  the childhood ailments of an aspiring humanity, due entirely to the excessive speed at which civilization was advancing.”  (“The World As I See It” by Albert Einstein page 11.)

 

Remember those bill boards from the 70’s?  “Speed kills” Truer words were never spoken.

 

 

D J Woods  is a freelance writer and video editor here in Costa Rica working on a documentary about Central America. He loves Albert Einstein and highly recommends you read the book, “The World As I See It” by Albert Einstein. If you have a response to this article, Don can be reached at Speakmeister@gmail.com

 

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