Drug addicts all seem to develop specific physical and habitual characteristics as they spiral down into the hole of addition; Meth addicts seem to show these traits in an especially ugly form! I believe knowledge is power, I may dedicate my life towards my passion but I also try to educate myself about those who dedicate theirs towards self-destruction. Why? If you don’t know how bad things can become, they you cannot fully appreciate the gift of not living that type of life can be!

What is Meth?

Meth is a nervous system stimulant which gives its users an instant rush of energy, they feel like they are 10ft tall and can do anything. It is also goes by the name “ice”, “crystal” and “glass” for its smokable forms while the pill forms go by “billy whizz”, “speed”, “sulphate”, “fast”, “uppers”, “powder” and “crank”. It is made up of mix of commonly available, hazardous chemicals, as such it can be mass produced relatively easily and requires no importation such as other hard drugs.

How is Meth taken?

Meth can be taken in various forms such as powder, pill, injectables and I am sure there are other creative ways addicts have found in order to receive a high from this awful drug.

Why do people take Meth?

When the dangerous mix of peer pressure, low self-esteem and easy availability come together, the perfect storm begins. I can easily say that these are the same pressures that create many other types of addicts from nicotine to alcoholics.

What happens after a user stops use?

Well, the reason they took the drugs was to feel 10ft tall, once off, they receive the opposite effect and feel like they belong 6ft under. With prolonged use, Meth addicts become extremely paranoid and develop a host of traits that would make a schizophrenic appear normal. Like other drugs, there is also an adaptation that the body does to cope, meaning more regular and higher doses are required to achieve the same effect.

What do meth addicts look like?

These aren’t pretty pictures, it shows you what drugs can do to you in their extremes. Note that cigarettes and alcohol have the same effects but they are to a lesser extreme and more internalized.

Governments “War on Drugs” commercials: The Montana Meth Project Ads

I may be wrong, but I believe these commercials where actually produced by a concerned individual who had enough with seeing the government do little in the face of the Meth epidemic that was happening in his city. Hopefully these scare the shit out of you… if they don’t, you have deeper problems.

The ugly physical effects of Meth

Like other hard drugs, Meth has a profound effect on the physical body. As the substance is completely toxic to the body, it tries to excrete these substances through the skin’s pores, which tend to get infected. This specific trait seems to be specific to Meth users. In addition, many Meth users end up with mouths that would make even the local dentist freak-out! The internal organs are also taxed beyond recovery most of the time with prolonged use, which means that you don’t only age much faster, but you are really screwing yourself internally as well. Any type of drug use leads to malnutrition, lack of exercise and the usual culprits that don’t have any positive impact on living a long, healthy life.

The Bottom Line

Drugs, of any kind, produce nothing of any positive value to a life.

Buzvia: Documentary Review -> The Meth Epidemic, Amphetamines/Methamphetamines on myfoodcount.com drug listing

Montel Williams has accomplished a heck of a lot in his life and continues to be a force to be reckoned with in both the entertainment and health care industries. He doesn’t fear going against convention, fights for what he believes is right and is an incredibly intelligent man willing to debate issues that others wouldn’t ever touch. His live can be summed up using his favorite quote by Winston Churchill:

“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”

Montel Williams Early Years

Montel Williams was born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 3rd, 1956. He enlisted into the United States Marine Corps in 1974 and progressed into the United States Naval Academy, graduating with a degree in Engineering and International Security Affairs. He was awarded a number of honors during his 22 years of military service which include the Meritorious Service Medals (2), Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Humanitarian Service Medals (2), Naval Achievement Medal, Navy Expeditionary Medals (2) and the Navy Commendation Medals (2). He had a distinguished career and retired as a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Reserve.

Montel Williams Changes Television

Although he was known for his lack of hair among talk show hosts, he fought incredibly hard to garner the attention and loyal viewers that made him a household name. He began “The Montel Williams Show” in 1992 putting him head-to-head against heavy hitters such as Geraldo, Phil Donahue and the Goddess of talk show hosts, Oprah Winfrey. He successfully mixed the strengths of his competition and thrived. He has also appeared in a number of very popular television shows such as “Jag”, “All My Children”, “Wheel of Fortune”, produced a number of television series, directed and acted through a very broad spectrum of entertainment media. He changed the face of entertainment, as a result, both Montel Williams and “The Montel Williams Show” where nominated for “Outstanding Talk Show Host” by the Daytime Emmy Awards four times, winning them once.

Montel turning challenges into opportunities

Montel has had three wives through his career in an industry known to be extremely difficult on relationships and has four children. By far, the most difficult issue he has had to deal with is his personal bout with Multiple Sclerosis, being diagnosed with MS in 1999. That same year, he was honored with the PRISM Award and Inspiration Award by the Entertainment Industries Council for his incredible leadership and role model status within the entertainment industry. He has, ever since his MS diagnosis, faced this incredibly challenging disease head-on by spreading awareness about this auto-immune disease on country-wide tours, his talk show and creating “The Montel Williams MS Foundation” to help raise funds to fight this horrible disease. His tireless activities garnered “The Montel Williams Show” the “Beacon Award” by the New York State Psychological Association (NYSPA). He was also awarded the AFTRA Disability Awareness Award by News & Broadcasting in 2003. He is also a published author of several books including “Mountain, Get Out Of My Way”, “Life Lessons and Reflections”, A Dozen Ways to Sunday”, “The 21 Day Fitness Program for Changing Your Body and Changing Your Life” and “Climbing Higher” and helps bring influential pieces to life through “Mountain Movers Press”. Montel Williams is also a national spokesman for the “Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA)” which helps those who can least afford to be sick an affordable mechanism to get the drugs they need to remain healthy.

The Bottom Line

The doors of new opportunities in life are always opened by the keys of unforeseen challenge.

Buzvia: The Montel Williams MS Foundation, Montel Williams on Wikipedia, The Montel Williams Show

I must admit, being paid to walk around with a big gun, driving rather unique and powerful vehicles does sound like a fun until you realize that your main purpose is to be an efficient killing machine.

Documentary Summary

You should watch this video but here is a summary if you don’t have time.

• war doesn’t only cause physical scars but also mental ones that remain with soldiers for a lifetime, hidden from sight
• solders, when they first entered Iraq, needed verification from their buddies that what they where seeing wasn’t just in their imagination, from destroyed vehicles to dead bodies laying along the road
• reports of suicide bombers where rampant as soldiers first entered Bagdad so they where very fearful as everybody looked like a potential enemy
• solders opened up fire with over 15 weapons against a woman in a black burka that didn’t obey their commands, slowly approaching them only to discover she was trying to pull out a white flag to show the soldiers
• soldier who initiated the first shots decided to hide this experience from others but it began to have a mental toll on him
• there is no protection during war for the mind as you are constantly witnessing death by the hands of others and yourself
• once soldiers return from the battlefield, they begin to regain their emotions and realizing, replaying, the tragedy that they had witnessed
• returning veterans have frequent troubling dreams, feelings and thoughts
• nobody comes back from combat unchanged
• depression, anger and emotional turmoil take their toll and the army re-enforces these thoughts by telling them that their lives are already over and not to worry about their mortality as it don’t make things better
• on any given day, there are more psychological casualties then physical ones during war
• psychological trauma was referred to as shell-shocked in WW1 and battle fatigue in WW2
• 1/3 of returning Vietnam vets suffered from psychological problems upon returning, referred to as post-Vietnam Syndrome
• after Vietnam, the medical community called this problem Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• military focuses too much on physical abilities at the cost of being able to mentally handle the ramifications of an action
• solders are not suppose to show any weakness
• there is a huge stigma towards receiving psychological help, it’s even career ending for soldiers
• Iraq was the first time that psychologists where introduced onto the battlefield to help soldiers cope with what they where experiencing, referred to as Combat Stress Control Teams by the Pentagon
• after a soldier asked for help from the Combat Stress Control Teams, they where mentally abused by the command structure and later discharged for cowardice
• military heavily frowns upon soldiers who refuse to fight or fear dying
• Veterans Affairs is not part of the military and any information given to them is strictly confidential
• resilience treatments are being performed by the military in order to help soldiers cope with their mental problems, ironically, once they are “cured”, they are sent right back into the environment that caused the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• few studies have been made on sending somebody with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder back into a battlefield, military states that combat is their job, regardless of the impact on the mental or physical costs
• purpose of the military is to win wars, people with mental or physical problems are of no use to them
• in January 2005, the Department of Defense slowly began to take steps towards dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in it’s ranks

The Bottom Line

War is the ultimate failure for both diplomats and the soldiers tasked with fighting them.

Frontline Documentary: The Soldier’s Heart

There are two types of lies in this world, those you tell yourself and those you tell others… smokers seem to be experts in both! Caring about their health while smoking is one of the biggest.

Drug addicts are all the same

So far, I have talked to smokers from Canada, United States, Australia, Malaysia, Japan and Korea over an extended period of time and the excuses are all the same. They seem to relish describing how “addicted” or “hardcore” they are. I was talking to one addict yesterday and they where quite proud to say their breath smelled like that of an ash tray… interesting, another from Australia told me exactly the same thing while I was in that country! Here are some fantastically delusional lies you can expect to hear from a smoker (feel free to add more):

I can quit anytime

If this where true, they could quit right now but just try to get enough guts and throw their pack away in front of them… they will run like a squirrel right into the bin to get them. I know… I have done this several times with the same results.

I don’t smoke that much

Sadly, the effects of smoking both primary and second (onto non-smokers) is cumulative. You won’t die right away from emphysema or COD but I wouldn’t want to be a lung in a smokers body after a few decades of continual self-poisoning.

I feel fine

Next time a drug addict tells you that they feel fine, ask them to join you for a hike up a sizable hill… their tune will change guaranteed. The reason they feel fine is because they are use to living in a marginalized body, not because they are actually “fine”.

It helps me keep my shape (slim)

There are two ways to keep your body in shape, one is to exercise and the other is to under-feed it. Sure, smoking is keeping you slim, but guess what, you can accomplish far more by working out and quitting smoking then otherwise. What you are doing is actually starving your body, making it waste resources trying to clean the crap out of the air you take in instead of improving or optimizing it.

My father/mother/uncle smoked till they where 90 years old!

George Burns also smoked a cigar until he hit 100 years old, sure, there are some people out there with wonder genetics but odds are, you don’t have them. Imagine if George Burns never smoked, he might still be alive today! Regardless of how you cut it, smoking WILL reduce not only your lifespan but the quality of the live you live dramatically with time.

Smokers Facing Death

I had a grandfather who I wish everyday never smoked because he died a painful death over several years, his body was fine but his lungs where shot from a live addicted to cigarettes. Now, this week, I got news that one of my uncles, one who saw what my grandfather went through his final years, has been diagnosed with lunch cancer caused by smoking. My grandfather openly admitted that if he ever got a lung transplant that the first thing he would to is smoke and oddly, my uncle, even while at hospital surrounded by smokers slowly fading away, still had the conscience to go… you guessed it right… smoke in hiding! Each and every smokers has to face up to the fact that one day, guaranteed, they will face their maker far sooner then anticipated due to a slow, selfish, purposeful self-poisoning of the very body they inhabit.

Unfunny Joke

Here is an unfunny joke I seem to repeat to myself just about every time I see somebody smoking. What is the difference between a smoker and a junkie? One uses a legal substance. Sad isn’t it… mentally, a junkie is in the same place as a smoker.

How do I treat smokers?

I take my health very seriously, to the point that if I find out a friend smokes, they are no longer somebody I associate myself with. I would honestly prefer to be alone the rest of my life then to spend it with somebody hell bent on destroying their health. There is no sugar coating things, smokers have a death wish but are too much of a coward to get it over with, instead, they drag the emotions of those around them into the hole they inhabit. My only exception to this “banish them from my sight” rule is family but then I try to spend my time outdoors with them as much as possible, limiting exposure to second-hand smoke. Would I ever hire somebody who smoked? Nope, politically correct or not, why the hell would I want to invest my time and resources into somebody who doesn’t give a damn about themselves?

Spiders on Drugs

To some, alright, many out there, this may seem kinda harsh but I live my life by many simple rules, at the top of my list is that if you don’t care about yourself, then I don’t care about you. I do have a very well developed sense of humor so here is something to lighten up the mood on a serious topic. The effect of drugs on spiders! If you can’t laugh at even the worst of things, then the thoughts that follow them have no way out of your head.

The Bottom Line

Reversing a denial is the first step towards a successful life.

The entire “wellness” industry has been on its BS binge for quite some time now, although herbs have been used for many millennia to “cure” conditions, it doesn’t mean they are effective beyond a placebo. Sure, there are exceptions but when you pit a pharmaceutical drug vs one sourced from “natural ingredients”, the pharmaceutical version is more often then not far more potent.

What are Herbal Remedies?

I haven’t heard anybody give me a definition for what exactly “Herbal Remedies” actually are? I visit trade shows and it seems everybody has their own self-serving definition of what a Herbal Remedy is and why their product is better then any pharmaceutical grade medications out there. As a result, here is my unbiased definition

Herbal Remedy: product sourced from many natural ingredients whose origins are dubious, it’s effectiveness relies heavily on both the placebo effect and on generational trust (it’s been used for thousands of years, so it must work safely). Often promoted as a supplement in modern times without any double blind clinically based studies to backup incredibly exaggerated marketing claims. Herbal Remedies are sold in a variety of formats, from homemade bags to pharmaceutical looking packaging at various price points that aren’t related to effectiveness nor quality. Some are effective but the vast majority are not, relying on a shotgun approach verses a laser one by the pharmaceuticals.

Natural cures for EVERYTHING!

The “wellness industry” likes to promote the reason why their “natural cures” aren’t widely available is due to pharmaceutical companies trying to protect their turf and corrupt government agencies getting in the way of healthy alternatives. I am sure there is some elements of that but while the pharmaceuticals must spend billions proving their product works before reaching the marketplace, the wellness industry is hell bent on not spending a dime on studies that would prove (more likely disprove) their effectiveness. Instead, they rely on pharmaceutical sounding words, testimonials, slick marketing and promises that they must know are over-the-top. Among the most successful out there is Mannatech but there are many more out there as well.

The Wellness Industry Circumventing a Paradox

I believe the entire “wellness industry” is in sort of a paradox, it cannot prove their product work in a clinical setting yet they cannot gain acceptance by the medical field without proving their product works. How to circumvent this seemingly endless paradox? Well, keep telling people they work, if you say something often enough, the general populous will eventually believe it’s a fact. Open any health magazine (Muscle & Fitness, Cosmopolitan, Runners World, Flex etc… ) and you will see this effort in full force, listen to the radio and you will hear the same, watch television and commercials are pushing useless herbal remedies as well.

Times article about potential dangers of herbal remedies

Dr. Sanjay Gupta wrote an interesting piece for Time which outlines the “wellness industry” in rather stark terms, here is a summary:

• use of herbal supplements by the general public has jumped 83% in the past decade and is now worth 22.3 billion dollars a year!
• most common mistake herbal remedy users make is believing the product actually works
• 19% of herbal remedy users are trying to treat specific conditions, not general wellness and wellbeing
• 2/3 of herbal preparations have never been clinically proven for effectiveness
• 2002, the FDA put out a warning against the dangers of supplements using kava root due to its potential to cause liver damage
• 2004, FDA banned ephedra after it was linked directly to over 100 deaths
• Ayurvedic supplements (Indian and South Asian preparations) may be laced with heavy metals such as mercury and lead
• Saint-John’s-wort has an anti-depressive effect but also interferes with some HIV medications and heart drugs like warfarin and digoxin

What to do?

Well, before you spend another dime on naturally sourced supplements, be sure to visit a doctor and share your concerns. He or she knows far more about health then either of us and can lead you in the right direction. Secondly, tell your doctor each and every medication you are taking, some herbals that do work interfere with pharmaceuticals. Thirdly, if it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is, save your money.

The Bottom Line

Effective herbals may have their place in overall health but should never be taken in replacement or in conjunction with pharmaceuticals unless cleared by your health practitioner.

Buzzvia
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1625175,00.html