Over here at Casa La Strega, we interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for a brief Public Service Announcement: Hey, kids, there is a reason that people of my generation used to scrawl "Speed Kills" on every wall and alleyway.
Now, personally, I've never used speed. Other than nicotine and caffeine, I've never gone in for stimulants. Maybe that's because I saw the devastating effect that amphetamines had on my mom. Like many housewives in the sixties, she was routinely prescribed "diet pills" by the family doctor. If you watch Mad Men, this unfortunate period in American medical history is accurately depicted in the Betty Draper storyline.
My mother under the influence of speed was terrifying to me as a child: I truly thought she was possessed. Somewhere I still have a drawing I made of her when I was seven or so, with lightening bolts shooting out of her eyes.
Routine use of amphetamines can render otherwise normal people paranoid, delusional, and grandiose. For someone who already demonstrates these characteristics in a non-medicated state, it is a lousy choice as a recreational drug.
What is an even more baffling choice is soliciting for this, or any other illegal drug, on Twitter. Just saying, man. Just say no!
I've known one or two speed freaks in my time. One was a very pretty girl who briefly wasted into a skeleton on account of always forgetting to eat (she wasn't anorexic, that was just a by-product), thankfully she was off the stuff last time I saw her. Another was a city boy who admitted that during his previous job he'd had to use speed in order to cope with his ever increasing work load.
ReplyDeleteI hear that these days there are suburban moms who take their children's ritalin in order to cope with their lives. Plus ca change.
Ah! Now it makes sense!
ReplyDeleteIt can really make a person impossible to live with. If they're regular users, they'll also be using something to slow them down too.
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