not now, i'm dancing.

jayparkinsonmd:

And cocaine claims another:

Whitney Houston drowned, with cocaine fresh in her system, following a possible heart attack, according to her newly-released initial autopsy report.

Cocaine is the most deadly drug in America…more so than heroin. There is no known safe dose of cocaine. Combining it with alcohol puts you at an alarmingly greater risk. It can kill people on their first use or their 10,000th use. If you have anything at all wrong with your heart, even a tiny amount of cocaine can kill you. Please think about this.

Here are other good cocaine-related facts:

• In 74% of cocaine-related fatalities in the United States, another drug, usually alcohol, had been co-ingested. The addition of alcohol to cocaine increases the risk of sudden death 25-fold.
• Of patients with cocaine-induced heart attack, 38% had normal coronary arteries. More than two thirds were moderate-to-heavy cigarette smokers (>1-2 packs daily). The average number of additional coronary risk factors, however, was less than 1.
• Most acute cocaine-related nontraumatic deaths are the result of tachydysrhythmias (abnormally fast heart beat). Other causes of sudden death associated with cocaine use include stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, hyperthermia, and the consequences of agitated delirium.
• In patients with an arrhythmogenic anatomic substrate, even low levels of cocaine can cause tachydysrhythmias. (and this is the reason that if you have anything at all wrong with your heart, a tiny amount of cocaine can kill you).
• The hearts of cocaine users are 10% heavier than those of nonusers.
• Cocaine users have been found to have a 14-fold increase in risk of stroke when compared with matched controls.
• Of cocaine-associated deaths investigated by the Medical Examiner’s Department of Metropolitan Dade County, Florida, between 1979 and 1990, excited delirium was the terminal event in approximately 1 of every 6 fatalities. Patients with excited delirium had an immediate onset of bizarre and violent behavior, which included aggression, combativeness, hyperactivity, hyperthermia, extreme paranoia, unexpected strength, and/or incoherent shouting. All of these were followed by cardiorespiratory arrest.
• Cocaine is the most frequently reported substance associated with drug abuse or misuse deaths. Cocaine is reported in 39% of such drug deaths, ranging from 8-70% in various areas.

It still shocks me how blasé people are about not only using, but MIXING substances.  No matter how many deaths or horror stories they hear, many still believe they are invincible, or that they  ”know their limits.”  Not only did Houston’s toxicology report show cocaine and alcohol, levels of Xanax, Flexeril, and Benadryl were also present. Houston had a widely known history with substance abuse, so it’s no surprise that this was her unfortunate outcome; but what about your average American that pops the occasional Xanax and thinks nothing of washing it down with a glass of wine?

In a rather flip article in this week’s New York Magazine, Lisa Miller discusses our love affair with Xanax.  It was of great disappointment to me how casually Miller treated the use of benzodiazepines to, for lack of a better term, take the edge off.  Yes, Miller does reference a few scholarly sources and slightly warns against mixing medicines, but the overall tone of the article is one of offhanded reverence to the untroubled bliss that Xanax effects on its users.  Have we already forgotten how many overdoses in the last few years have involved Xanax?  Though New York Magazine is a current events/entertainment publication, I say shame on them for printing such fluff and undermining our country’s deadly reliance on prescription medication.

criminalwisdom:

Illustration by Jock.

“The question is frequently asked: Why does a man become a drug addict?

The answer is that he usually does not intend to become an addict. You don’t wake up one morning and decide to be a drug addict. It takes at least three months’ shooting twice a day to get any habit at all. And you don’t really know what junk sickness is until you have had several habits. It took me almost six months to get my first habit, and then the withdrawal symptoms were mild. I think it no exaggeration to say it takes about a year and several hundred injections to make an addict.

The questions, of course, could be asked: Why did you ever try narcotics? Why did you continue using it long enough to become an addict? You become a narcotics addict because you do not have strong motivations in the other direction. Junk wins by default. I tried it as a matter of curiosity. I drifted along taking shots when I could score. I ended up hooked. Most addicts I have talked to report a similar experience. They did not start using drugs for any reason they can remember. They just drifted along until they got hooked. If you have never been addicted, you can have no clear idea what it means to need junk with the addict’s special need. You don’t decide to be an addict. One morning you wake up sick and you’re an addict.”

~ William S. Burroughs | Junky