Attitude Adjustment
An attitude adjustment could be as simple as a martini at the end of the day, or a glass of wine, or a hit of a joint. The desire for people to have an attitude adjustment can be traced back to the beginning of time. From what I have read, our forefathers were probably drunk the majority of the day.
Our Government lost at prohibition although the farce of the entire thing just forced everything underground. Why not get the tax dollars? Our Government declared the war on cannabis as a way to put young black men in jail. One-third of all black men will have been in jail in their lifetime.. Think about that stat?
Dismissing weed started a different era of attitude adjusters, opiates. If you talk to any college student, or one that has graduated in the last four years, you will discover that they all take pills. Easy access and essentially legal. Most people in that age group will know at least one person who had been or is addicted to pills. They have also seen people die on pills especially a mixture of pills. The Government created a country to become a pill-popping nation.
Weed is nothing compared to pills. Times are changing with cannabis being a tax paying business creating a new economy with jobs and commerce. The drugs makers, essentially the Sackler family, will find themselves in court for years to come on wrongful deaths and more.
I know the data, I read the stories, but I can’t stop thinking about how the hell did we get here?
Comments (Archived):
Dear Joanne, Hello and thank you for this important information; I feel the issue is two-fold. First, BIG pharma owns the politicians, preventing oversight. Second, sadly U$A capitalism has turned to cannibalism. Although I do try to be “Grandma Grateful” as an American — spending most months in the socialist society of France — however; the U$A was founded on genocide, built on slavery and now it seems the #1 commerce is war. My hope, support and faith remains in the generations to come, especially the one of our granddaughters who at six and 11 years-old are being raised with a more global conscience than previous ones.
I watched the grass is greener doc on Netflix recently. Had no idea about the dirty essentially racist policies behind the war on weed. Really opened by eyes.In regards ‘attitude adjustments’ (great phrase by the way), I remember being at the kids playground with my daughter and my dad and him telling me look at all these young kids, spinning, swinging, sliding. Look how much fun they’re having. Basically their way of getting off their heads. They don’t know about alcohol or drugs etc. But they know if they spin around fast enough it gives them a great buzz. They’re not fools. They do it for a reason. They love getting high. Everyone needs an escape.#LongAttitudeAdjustments
Smart Dad
There’s so much truth to this, there isn’t enough time in the day to cover it all. I’m excited to see Gov. Murphy here in NJ going for legalizing weed. We also need amnesty for everyone ever convicted or jailed on weed-related crimes.The high school where my husband teaches brings in a speaker every year to warn that weed is just a gateway drug to opiates and cocaine — “Just say No” uselessness. The proof of this thesis? His own personal story of going from pot to heroine.I minored in psych. I was lucky to have a great professor who recognized that everyone needs to self-medicate. He ran a really successful rehab program that treated cocaine addicts by getting them into snow-boarding and skydiving. Opiate abusers were treated by getting them into meditating, and other pursuits. I think anything that allows people to get into “flow” (being 100% in the moment and not contemplating the future or the past) is essential to mental health, whether it’s sports or jigsaw puzzles.The point is that everyone is different. For some people, pot can be a problem. For others, it isn’t. Same with alcohol. Certain drugs are dangerous for us *all* (opiates). This is what we need to help kids learn about themselves, instead of coming at them with an unattainable abstinence agenda that engenders self-hatred when they fail.
I was lucky to have a great professor who recognized that everyone needs to self-medicate.I am curious about this what did he mean by ‘everyone’ when he said that ‘everyone needs to self-medicate’?For some people, pot can be a problem. For others, it isn’t. Same with alcohol.The issue is that for society to function rules are often set for the lowest common denominator. Examples could be guns, pot, or even driving fast.Nobody doubts that some people would be responsible users of any type of gun (for recreational purposes and I don’t mean just law enforcement) yet society pushes to not allow anyone to use certain types of weapons (or to allow them in all places). Ditto for pot or alcohol. Same even for driving a car fast. I may have the type of car and the type of skill that does not present a danger to others but just the same I have to recognize that my rights are restricted because not everyone has my skill or my vehicle or motivations. I am restricted by others who also drive that are not ‘me’.Take even prescription or OTC medications (that are non abusive). Some people will pop a pill anytime they have pain and others will not take unless they really really really need the pain relieved (I am talking about advil, not opiate). And that is something that is not recognized as dangerous (but actually is if taken to much).
“I am curious about this what did he mean by ‘everyone’ when he said that ‘everyone needs to self-medicate’?”The answer is in my comment:”…anything that allows people to get into “flow” (being 100% in the moment and not contemplating the future or the past) is essential to mental health…”Humans need to experience being in the moment on a regular basis. It’s not just an emotional need, but a physiological one as well. Drugs, alcohol, sports, meditation, hobbies — they all to some degree put a person in ‘flow.’We can all handle nuance, and in fact it’s something we should install in our kids. I don’t think it’s helpful to apply binary choices to things like pot and sex. It insults the intelligence and creates an unnecessary mystique around something, making it *more* alluring and exciting. Obviously, when something is just plain deadly, then a binary frame makes sense (heroine, playing in traffic, etc.).
Ok understand. One other thing that in my opinion is the most underrated ‘drug’ or potential for abuse (and is abused).Ready?Food. That’s right. Food. Our entire culture that has been built around pleasure that people get (and ‘flow’) by eating tasty delicious food and unfortunately to much of it. Forget the idea that it’s simply a matter of eating healthy. No it’s more than that. It’s the entire principle of people who gain way to much pleasure from food and either have no self control or have circumstances (other stress in life) where they use food to medicate themselves and feel good. Remember growing up where someone told you not to feed the goldfish to much because they would just keep eating? It’s kind of like that, right? At least for some people.I was raised back when Mom cooked dinner and that dinner was not so tasty that you had any need to overeat any of it. Boiled potatoes, green beans (no butter on anything) etc. My mom was not some kind of a health nut either. I guess just the way she was raised? I did not even know the pleasure of food until I had a girlfriend who cooked me a scrambled egg with butter for the first time. My mom did not use butter (probably PAM). I was like ‘wow this tastes good!’. And of course once she added cheese I couldn’t get enough of it.Now we have what I will call ‘the food industrial machine’. And of course dining is now entertainment anyone who is older will remember the days when you generally only got takeout from Chinese or Pizza (almost never) and went out to dinner very rarely only on special occasions. So for sure food is a drug. And it is abused by many and zero question it has (along with other factors) added to our health care costs. And I don’t only mean (once again) junk food sold in poor areas. I mean everything that revolves around taste and pleasure. Even those diet programs that promise you flavor and variety just perpetuate that entire culture. (At least one reason perhaps diets are so hard you know you can’t break an addiction, right?)
There are really interesting studies showing that people who are trying to gain weight often lose it because eating so much becomes a burden and unpleasant. Whereas people who have their food restricted often gain weight because food takes on a mystique and becomes a forbidden pleasure the *must be had.*All things in moderation. Fat-free, sugar-free substitutes aren’t a great solution. In fact, people eat more of them trying to get that same sense of satisfaction.I agree with you about the food industrial machine. I think what people need to do is get back to the genuine, long-lasting satisfaction of *just the right amount* of *really good* food, to relearn that feeling “stuffed” is unpleasant and that fat-free ice cream will never satisfy an ice cream craving, that eating when you’re not hungry is self-abuse.You know when I finally lost 20 pounds? When I stopped dieting and filled my house with my favorite foods. Just three rules: (i) only eat when physically hungry, (ii) stop when no longer hungry (note that it’s not ‘when full’), (iii) only eat what I really want to eat. For a couple of weeks it was all bagels and Nutella. But then, I actually started craving vegetables, salads. I’ve never looked back.People who are super into the measured self really hate that, ha!
Clearly a failed state. Time for a rethink. Time for a revolution?
Based on original principles, maybe.
Milton Friedman told Nixon not to wage the war in drugs. Guaranteed loser. What’s funny to me is that in states where cannibus is legal, it’s so regulated and controlled that a black market continues to exist. Even those states are still waging the war on drugs, they are just doing it with crony capitalism.
Have to ask, are you a martini person or a bourbon person? If martini, Vodka or Gin? If bourbon, Corn or Rye?
Super dry vodka martini, big fan of bourbon on the rocks, tequila on the rocks and wine. Not a cocktail, gin or rum person. I drink my coffee black. 🙂
Bourbon on the rocks (sometimes rye, sometimes not) I like Eagle Rare, but like 1792 as well. If old fashioned or manhattan, always rye. Wine of any kind, and black coffee in bed (The Squeeze) Never got into drinking the clear stuff.