NO BEETS?

These days, not so good. Other days, better.

Aside: This reminds me of the wisdom once spoken by (the ravishing) Claudia Christian on Babylon 5: "No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There’s always a boom tomorrow. Boom!, sooner or later. BOOM!"

I'm officially off my meds, for the most part, a required difficulty as I switch onto a new med. I've gradually phased out my previous anti-depressant (Cymbalta), and once gone, I've dropped a couple of others cold turkey, as of this morning. The sudden loss of doxepin (AKA Silenor, AKA Aponal) was felt last night: Wiki defines the drug as a psychotropic agent with tricyclic antidepressant and anxiolytic properties, but is also helpful in dealing with insomnia. I slept one or two of my ideally 40 winks, although this did help me remember fragments of dream from those scattered moments. So hey, at least there was some entertainment. I'm also off the currently-trendy Adderall, my legal speed, which I came off of a few days early actually, since I ran out of pills and then lacked the oomph required to visit the pharmacy. My only remaining drugs are lamictal (treating bipolar effects in a less blunt way than lithium) and my testosterone gel (Androgel), which to be honest, often feels useless.

After coming down from Cymbalta for the last two weeks, I now get to spend two weeks dry of those three drugs, so as to remove the remnants of them, as they clash with my new drug of choice, tranylcypromine (brand name version is Parnate). This is an MAIO (monoamine oxidase inhibitor), which carries with it serious restrictions on diet. It's hard to imagine your regular omnivore taking this on, but as a vegan I've got a real head-start.

Anything that is aged or fermented is out. This, and other things, contain Tyramine, which is a no-no amino acid-based compound. Here's a partial list of the forbidden, some of which are extremely serious, and others are to be avoided, or in some cases, allowable in very small amounts:

Anchovies, Avocado, Banana peels, Bean Curd, Beetroot, Booze, Bouillon, Brazil Nuts, Bread w/high yeast, Broad Beans (Fava, Italian Green Beans, Lima, Lentil), Caffeine, Cheese, Chinese pea pods, Chips w/vinegar, Chocolate, Coconut, Coffee, Coke, Corn (sweet), Cucumbers, Eggplant, Figs (canned), Ginseng, Grapes, Meat, Miso, MSG, Mushrooms, Oranges, Peanuts, Pineapple (fresh), Plums, Protein Extracts, Prunes, Raisins, Raspberries, Red plums, Salad Dressing, Sauerkraut, Shrimp Paste, Soy Sauce, Spinach, Teriyaki sauce, Tofu, Tomato juice, Vegemite, Yeast, Yogurt

Aw man - fuck me in the eye! NO BEETS? Kids, for that reason alone, remember: don't do (legal) drugs.

Weeds

Related to my last post... marijuana. It still blows my mind that it's illegal. And again, its benefits to anyone - medicinal, spiritual, recreational, experiencing freedom, etc. - are purely inconsequential. What is of consequence is that there's so much money to be made, that massive corporations are currently not making. The tobacco industry must have been hurt by the increasing restrictions, price hikes, etc. on their products over the years (I say "must have been" just because I don't know for sure, and what I do know is that such a massive industry usually won't let itself be stopped from making profit... so maybe they're raking it in by means unknown to me).

But imagine if weed was legalized. The tobacco industry could release an endless stream of products, using various breeds, endless combos (spliffs, blunts, etc.), and make incredible amounts of money. In terms of legality, it would be as controlled as alcohol, if not moreso, and you'd need a license to sell it (the end result would mean mostly only packies and smoke shops selling it). Fines for breaking the various laws would be even bigger than for alcohol.

Meanwhile, the drug war would actually be winnable. People look to chemicals for their speedy recreation, and to weed for their ambling sensations (I just though of those two words together, and had to use 'em, even is it doesn't make a lot of sense... but you know what I mean). So, people will always be interested in scoring some chemicals, but if weed is legal, most of those people would re-direct their hopeful thrills in that direction. If you can get out of your head legally, why go through the danger of seeking out illegal drugs? There's the potentials for violence, arrest, and all kinds of shit. Let's not forget the fact that you're buying chemicals from some guy on the street (or in the park, as it used to be for me, which was a nicer, greener and therefore more progressive environment... uh... right?).

But who knows what's in that stuff? It could be fake, and harmless, or fake and harmful, or laced with something, or it could be the real thing, and all but the first of those carries serious health risks (obviously, chemical drugs can differ greatly from one another; I'm generalizing). There's no recourse against a dealer of illegal drugs, and he has no liability for producing a quality drug at a reasonable price. Obviously, if someone wants to stay in business, you operate appropriately and ensure customer satisfaction. But there's still no nutritional facts information on the packaging. No warning labels! "WARNING: DIS SHIT WIL FUCK U UP GOOD 4 SHO'!"

Giggles aside, my point is that the market for the chemicals would drop hugely. And using weed would have the same ramifications as alcohol, such as not driving when stoned, not smoking in non-smoking areas, not buying for minors, etc. Except in Texas. And the penalties would probably be more severe, in terms of fines and any sentencing related to crimes in which weed is involved. (I don't personally think that one should be penalized more than the other, but that's simply how it would end up being if it were ever legalized, because of political demand.)

All of these ideas taken into account, in the end it all comes down to money; industry could be making it in astonishing amounts, and they're not. For that sole reason, it's bizarre that it's not legal. It will be legal again, some day, and it would happen one state at a time, not nationally, I'm sure. It is currently legal in Alaska, and the medicinal use is legal in 10+ states, with restrictions, of course. I'm hoping that my home state (Massachusetts) will be one of the early ones to legalize.

Actually, if weed was legalized in Massachusetts, my brothers would be making more money, as they rent out apartments here in Worcester (through me). The housing market would skyrocket, as hordes of stoners decide to relocate and get "freedom fried." I'd love to see some stats on the business impact of Mass's legalization of gay marriage.

Note - on the Wiki page for cannabis, it mentions that "On June 2005, more than 530 distinguished economists, including Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman, called for the legalization of marijuana." This led me to the excellent site www.prohibitioncosts.org - check it out.

Drugs

I take a lot of drugs… legal ones, that is; I used to engage in the illegal sort, in my early 20s, mostly, and I look back on that period of exploration fondly. But now, I take a lot of drugs, via prescription, for my medical/mental condition. The list (as I’m of a list-making mood this morning) these days is:

Cymbalta – antidepressant
Lamictal – balances my (barely-bipolar) mood swings
Androgel – not ingested, lest I want to die – a testosterone-enhancing gel
Doxepin – sleep-regulation
Adderall – legal speed

This also, until recently, included Bromocriptine, a drug usually given to people with Parkinson’s, which impedes the tumor in my pituitary gland’s stifling of natural testosterone production. We (my endocrinologist and I) have taken me off of it recently, to see if my years of taking this (heavy on the nasty side-effects) drug has indefinitely suppressed the tumor. I’m doing my usual schedule of blood tests over the next year, followed by an MRI, to see how this is going.

Anyway: I will address drug #5 this morning, the Adderall. It’s 4:30 AM as I write this, and it is partly to blame. Mind you, it’s a great drug to aid my otherwise zombie-like level of energy, it being a pretty straight-up amphetamine. Speed was never my thing during my drug years, but I need it now. For the past two weeks, however, I was without the stuff. Previous to that was just the first month that I’d started taking this drug, and that period was an elation, it giving me the energy to actually do things. I started cleaning my pig-sty of a room for the first time in eight years. Imagine how bizarre that sounds, and then apply it to eight years of 365 days. It’s been said that the cleanliness of one’s home speaks greatly of one’s emotional and psychological health, and I agree with that: I’ve been living in this state for about 3,000 days.

Like other speedy drugs (Ritalin, for instance, which was my motivating drug in recent months), Adderall is a tightly-controlled substance, requiring a new scrip every month. Unfortunately, my pharmaceutical company doesn’t deal well with our (my psychiatrist’s and my) attempts at dutifully submitting forms for pre-approval for controlled substances, and so I was off my speed for the past two+ weeks. It made a huge difference, but now I’m finally back on the stuff.

As I’ve been painfully short on go these recent days, when I finally got the new scrip filled, I popped one immediately upon getting the pills, though it was about 4PM (two days ago), and they’re supposed to be taken in the morning. Then I went over to my buddy Todd’s house to watch the big game (Pats vs. Giants), but omitted the standard beer/drinky-drinky from my diet, since I’m still dealing with post-cold effects (phlegm, anyone?). So instead I drank something I never drink: Dr. Pepper. Over the course of the night, like, 1.5 liters of the stuff. I finally went to sleep at 4AM that night.

For the rest of that day (yesterday), I was hung over from my binge, though I still managed to be somewhat productive (I installed me a new, digital thermostat… now I have to figure out how to program the fucking thing). But, here I am, writing this at 5AM, and I’m about to take another hit of speed. Still, even feeling hung over, this is miles better than not having the stuff in me.

Which brings me to a happy memory.

During Saturday morning cartoons (the classic 80s era), they used to actually run PSAs, and my favorite one was the following. Everybody sing along!

This is serious (serious)
We could make you delirious (delirious)
You should have a healthy fear of us (fear of us)
Too much of us is dangerous (no, no, no, nooooo!)
Doctors tell the pharmacy (pharmacy)
Types of pills that you will need (you will need)
And he knows the harm that we can be (we can be!)
If we're not taken carefully (no, no, no, nooooo!)
We're not candy (believe us!)
Even though we look so fine and dandy
When you're sick we come in handy
But, we're not candy (ooooh, no!)