"Does Pot Have a Similar Effect on Emotions as Alcohol?"

Comment:

     Yes, I have found as a spouse of an addict that self-care is absolutely crucial to survival. You are so right that is is not selfish, but actually necessary to be able to have something to give to others.

      Out of curiosity, do you think that pot has a similar effect on the emotions as alcohol, or are the two different?

Response:

     Yes, Charlotte, 1000%. They are somewhat different chemically but act on the same dopaminergic “reward” system of the brain. I get this alot, that smoking pot is all good dude. I get it even from parents and spouses, who want to convince themselves that their child or spouse is okay because they’re just smoking pot now and it’s not addictive. They say even doctors have told them it’s totally  fine to puff down yo. Such wisdom and duty to the Hippocratic oath.

     First of all, the meme above is somewhat inaccurate because if you’re smoking pot, you’re already in relapse, as pot is, of course, a drug, i.e. a mood/mind-altering substance, and the allergy an alcoholic/addict has to mood-altering substances crosses all lines. And yes, it is addictive. I previously quoted in “Pot” regarding the action of THC, “Via CB1 activation, THC indirectly increases dopamine release and produces psychotropic effects. Cannabidial also acts as an allosteric modulator of the mu and delta opioid receptors.”

     Physical addiction is characterized by the presence of craving and withdrawal, both of which are present in spades with any regular pot smoker, and especially in the fully blown addict. Remove the pot and you are removing excessive and superficial dopamine (as with alcohol), dopamine that floods the reward system of the brain once these mu and delta opioid receptors are activated. This is precisely what happens when any other drug similarly acts on opioid receptors specifically responsible for euphoric effects on our CNS and the “muting” of pain, no pun intended.

     Any superficially added dopamine when removed will cause various withdrawal effects, some physical, some psychological/emotional. First, the pothead will crave more, which is a physical event. Second, the pothead will suffer from a myriad of emotional effects – anger, depression, boredom, anxiousness, restlessness, discontent, dissatisfaction. Some will even suffer rage and become verbally abusive.

     Pot UNQUESTIONABLY mutes the natural surfacing and progression of feelings and thoughts, and since it also has psychotropic effects, it can and will wreak all sorts of biochemical havoc, effecting serotonin levels etc… even despite deranged, Orwellian media outlets such as CNN ignorantly promoting pot use to your children, let alone promoting all other manner of deviance including recent pieces promoting the benefits of “cuckolding” and defending pedophilia as a sexual orientation, which is by all accounts satanic. Truly disgusting.

     I only mention this because I’ve actually been called a racist and a bigot for arguing against pot use and for suggesting God and moral action as the solution for addiction. I guess tolerance only applies if you agree with the one preaching tolerance. Am I an evil, racist bigot? I’ve spent every waking moment since I recovered just trying to do the right thing, help my family and other addicts and their families. I don’t give a shit what color anybody is. All I care about is what kind of person you are and what you do. I care about character, not appearance. Perhaps it is those who only see skin color and scream racism at every turn who are the true racists.

     Sorry, but when you call anyone who simply disagrees with you on a policy matter a fascist or a racist, you really should be looking in the mirror when referring to mental illness. When Dr. Seuss, the national anthem and my 3-year old daughter’s Elsa halloween costume are now racist, you really have to question the sanity of these social justice warriors, who have become perhaps one the most entitled, uniformed, ignorant, self-loathing, isolated and just plain clueless groups I have ever observed. Also, calling anyone who disagrees with you about anything a facist is, um, sort of what fascists do. That said, because I believe in and cherish freedom, I believe they can spout anything they want. It’s unfortunate, however, that their belief is that free speech only applies to them.

     I suspect that behind this smug superiority complex is profound self-hatred. Moreover, this sort of derangement and irrational, despotic hatred and attack on free thought, free speech or anyone who disagrees is disturbingly similar to the demeanor of a drug addict, including potheads. The lens through which an addicted pothead perceives self, others and world is quite warped, to say the least.

     So someone please shoot me in the head if I blow 200K for either of my children to attend college, suck on a bong for four years, acquire zero skill sets, major in sociology or gender studies and come home unrecognizable, psychotic and suicidal claiming that I am an evil, fascist, cisgendered, capitalist bigot, lol… before demanding cash, of course, a new iphone and a free apartment… blood money aside.

     By the way, it has historically been the left that becomes violent, and it has been leftist ideologies that have sanctioned the wholesale execution of anyone who disagrees or dares to dissent. You can see how leftist groups are again becoming violent, blocking conservative speakers on college campuses and firing professors who even dare challenge the PC lunacy, which is the precise opposite of intellectual curiosity, as universities more resemble modern-day gulags rather than bastions of free thought and scientific inquiry. At the same time, students have just been offered free counseling at UCONN to soothe them of the overwhelming stress, discomfort and violent abuse they’ve suffered at the mere “thought” that Ben Shapiro might give a talk on campus. LMFAO.

     The truth is that the authoritarian tyranny lies within, yet is falsely projected outward. The hatred, intolerance, racism, prejudice and bigotry lie within. The true bully lies within. You are now branded an evil bigot and can even be charged and arrested in some regions just for using biological pronouns. If this isn’t insane, I really don’t know what is. 

     If you want to see a person lose one, if not all, of the following – their sanity, their will, their ambition, their maturity, their wisdom, their common sense, their logic, their reason, their work ethic, their moral compass, their emotional and mental stability, their self-respect, even their personal hygiene – just observe a pothead or a progressive ideologue. I know from experience because I was also a deranged liberal many years ago when I was an active drug addict and spiritually sick. The two go hand in hand. When presented with any truth, fact, statistic or challenge that contradicts his or her worldview, they seem incapable of thinking straight or engaging rationally, if not becoming completely unraveled and enraged, with the sole defense of just calling you a moron, low-life, racist, bigot, inbred hick, blah, blah, blah. Even when presented with social, economic, historical or scientific truth (real science that is, not science that is state-sponsored for bias, political agenda, control and taxation), there is sort of an immediate misfiring of neurons and apoplexy ensues.

     Needless to say, the moral outrage you see everywhere today is clearly feigned and drenched in hypocrisy, while the intellectualism and “classroom wisdom” is as empty and meaningless as the collective aggregate of accomplishments. And I presume the narcissistic vitriol towards those who work hard to achieve success and economic freedom is simply an outward denial and diversion of an inner refusal to grow up and assume the responsibility and accountability of a principled, God-fearing, sober adult. I really don’t understand this war on family, freedom and God, other than a continuation of a grand holy war between good and evil that has ensued since the beginning of human history.

     But we know better. We know that this is simply a propaganda campaign meant to divide and control. We know the progressive elite and their media puppets have been trying to incite some kind of civil war or race war, and while most of us aren’t falling for this bullshit, many gullible young people are. We also know this agenda to divide and conquer was initiated by the former regime, an admitted socialist who despises America and all that America stands for. We also know that their entire premise contradicts itself by constantly dividing people into groups and assigning value judgments based on the fiction of race. Race itself is but a social term, as all biological notions of race are false. We should be referring to racial differences as ethnic differences, which are solely based on variables such as physical geography, climate, isolation etc. There is only one human race, so for those who preach equality to see everything through some concocted social/racial lens is asinine and it is identity politics at its worst.

     Please take the time to look at the utter depravity of socialist/communist countries today such as Venezuela or North Korea- the poverty, the corruption, the abuse, the oppression – and you have to wonder why in God’s name would these braindead professors be indoctrinating students to embrace such horrible, abusive, destructive, disgusting ideologies? They will rip the human spirit, will, independence, ingenuity, creativity and dignity out of the people faster than you could think ever possible. They tear apart the very fabric of a society, replacing freedom, hard work and success with envy, dependence, division, fear and state control. 

    So the agenda for the elite is not social justice. They couldn’t care less about the people. In fact, many of them hate the people – we the great unwashed deplorables. Social justice, like global warming or climate change (not polluted air and water, which nobody wants), are just political terms meant to manipulate and incite clueless mellenials and ignorant, self-righteous progressives into accepting globalism, massive government power and theft via taxation. The agenda is to incite domestic war and bring America to its knees in order to maintain the power of the status quo on both faux political sides. Problem, reaction, solution. Works every time.

     The establishment doesn’t care about anything. They want votes. They want external power, which is perhaps the greatest drug of all. They want to become career politicians and get rich without having perform a single day of honest work. Many of them have never worked, just like many of these loony tune professors, students and SJWs have never worked, served or had children. They are blinded by the delusional bubble of intellectualism, which ironically can reduce wisdom and true knowledge. They have no understanding of the real world because they have no real world experience. They are terrified. They hate freedom and thus project their own personal failure onto others.

     What I don’t understand is the clear as day hypocrisy. How is anyone to believe that these people on the left actually care about children and people? And if they want to win elections, perhaps they should stop murdering their unborn future voter base. Yup, said it. If you don’t like it then start your own blog about how killing your children out of inconvenience is just so awesome.

     So does pot have similar emotional effects as alcohol? I would say yes. Let the anonymous keyboard thugs and bullies have at it… I couldn’t care less 😉

Why Is AA Taking God Out of the Program?

Comment:

     I learned about the higher power many years ago in AA when it still had an emphasis on that. Now, at some meetings, I find books and literature have been re-written to remove “monotheistic” references to God because it offends people. I wonder if this is why there is such a high rate of addictions now. If you take God out of the program, and substitute it with your own trendy politics you offer nothing to the sick, suffering, and dyeing. I’m sorry to see this state of affairs. I’m grieved by it.

  

Response:

     Welcome to the progressive utopia of “everything is offensive” and “everyone is a victim,” except those who disagree, of course. They can go to hell. It’s okay to offend and victimize them. Welcome to the childish, deranged, idiotic world where words have now become acts of violence and college snowflakes are actually taught that “micro-aggressions” exist and they should not say anything to anybody lest someone might be offended. Welcome to the world where it is only okay to think ONE WAY, their way, and if you don’t, you are a fascist bigot. Welcome to the world where an NYU professor critical of political correctness was just removed and charged as mentally ill and satanic by the dean and a campus “inclusion” group that promotes tolerance for not thinking the right way, for the “structure” of his thinking. Oh the irony. Tolerance? Progressives are perhaps the most intolerant people in the entire world. Beware the denial of moral absolutes and God in place of moral relativity and other degenerate ideologies.

     We live in a twilight zone where if one person is offended by anything, their personal comfort or “rights” trump those of millions. The supposed comfort of one trumps that of millions who may be uncomfortable, let alone violated, with the change. Under such an absurd and insane standard, the implication is that anybody who finds ANYTHING offensive now has the precedent and the right to have it removed. Sorry but these social justice warriors are complete lunatics, incessantly whining and complaining and imagining things that don’t exist. They are miserable and hate everything. They live to find a problem with everything, cry about their feelings and confuse them with facts. I mean, do these people ever work? Even here in New England, Tom Brady was just scoured by the liberal media for kissing his son on the lips. My God, they are so conflicted, defending actual abuse and deviance while ripping Brady apart, simply because he doesn’t subscribe to their ridiculous ideology. Accusations of inappropriate sexual conduct with Tom Brady’s child can only come from a sick mind that is itself capable of fantasizing and abusing children sexually. And did you hear? Now Yoga is apparently racist, too. If they want people to listen, perhaps they should stop embodying and epitomizing the very things they say they hate.  

     The removal of God from AA parallels the secular, cultural Marxism we have seen infecting and poisoning our society. Progressives are hell bent on removing God and all references to God from everything. Our children are being punished for praying or reading the Bible in school and are instead being taught about sex acts, gender fluidity, how farting and grilling burgers is causing Armageddon and how privileged they may or may not be. God has been removed from schools, colleges, businesses, search engines and any other institution you can think of. Good, kind, honest hard-working people who love God and Christ are being smeared and attacked at all angles. They are branded evil as actual evil is defended and promoted. Monuments of the Ten Commandment et al are being destroyed. Popular culture is now rife with all manner of Godlessness. Our culture and our children are being infected by a hatred for God and a love for selfishness, confusion and chaos. The ideas of family, marriage and having children are being attacked, let alone free speech, free thought and free markets. I recently read a story about how some children are now being given puberty blockers by insane parents seeking to change their gender identity – a form of child abuse to say the least.

 

     When putting a Christmas tree on a coffee cup is offensive, yet you are a bigot if you are justifiably critical of Islamic terrorism, we have a problem. But the crowd who is oh so offended and appalled and emotionally hurt by Christmas trees are the supposed party of women and gay rights yet go to the ends of the Earth to defend a doctrine that has a frighteningly deplorable record of the treatment of homosexuals and women, including the supposed “moderate” practice of female genital mutilation and other forms of physical abuse. They are obsessed with branding anyone who doesn’t think exactly the way they do, anyone who is conservative, libertarian or loves freedom as a racist, as if that has anything to do with personal prejudice whatsoever. They are always asserting that any policy that runs contrary to their own must be evil and will kill children etc. yet are proud to promote and defend the killing of their unborn children. They defend Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, who was not only a true racist but delivered quotes that could come from the mouth of Satan himself…

1. “But for my view, I believe that there should be no more babies.”
— Interview with John Parsons, 1947

2. “The most merciful thing that the large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.”
— Woman and the New Race, Chapter 5, “The Wickedness of Creating Large Families.” (1920) http://www.bartleby.com/1013/

3. “We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population…”
— Letter to Dr. Clarence J. Gamble, December 10, 1939, p. 2
https://libex.smith.edu/omeka/…

4. “I accepted an invitation to talk to the women’s branch of the Ku Klux Klan… I was escorted to the platform, was introduced, and began to speak…In the end, through simple illustrations I believed I had accomplished my purpose. A dozen invitations to speak to similar groups were proffered.”
— Margaret Sanger, An Autobiography, published in 1938, p. 366

5. “I think the greatest sin in the world is bringing children into the world, that have disease from their parents, that have no chance in the world to be a human being practically… Delinquents, prisoners, all sorts of things just marked when they’re born. That to me is the greatest sin—that people can—can commit.”
— Interview with journalist Mike Wallace, 1957

6. “The most serious evil of our times is that of encouraging the bringing into the world of large families. The most immoral practice of the day is breeding too many children…”
— Sanger, Margaret. Woman and the New Race (1920). Chapter 5: The Wickedness of Creating Large Families. http://www.bartleby.com/1013/5…

7. “Eugenics without birth control seems to us a house builded [sic] upon the sands. It is at the mercy of the rising stream of the unfit.”
— Sanger, Margaret. (1919) Birth Control and Racial Betterment. The Birth Control Review.

8. “As an advocate of birth control, I wish to take advantage of the present opportunity to point out that the unbalance between the birth rate of the ‘unfit’ and the ‘fit,’ admittedly the greatest present menace to civilization, can never be rectified by the inauguration of a cradle competition between these two classes.”
— Sanger, Margaret. (1921) The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda. The Birth Control Review, p. 5. http://birthcontrolreview.net/…

9. “The most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.”
— Sanger, Margaret. (1921) The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda, Birth Control Review, p. 5
https://www.nyu.edu/projects/s…

10. “No more children should be born when the parents, though healthy themselves, find that their children are physically or mentally defective.”
— Sanger, Margaret. (1918) When Should A Woman Avoid Having Children? Birth Control Review, Nov. 1918, 6-7, Margaret Sanger Microfilm, S70:807.
https://www.nyu.edu/projects/s…

11. “A marriage license shall in itself give husband and wife only the right to a common household and not the right to parenthood.”
— Margaret Sanger, “America Needs a Code for Babies,” Article 3, 27 Mar 1934.
https://www.nyu.edu/projects/s…

12. “No woman shall have the legal right to bear a child, and no man shall have the right to become a father, without a permit for parenthood.”
— Margaret Sanger, “America Needs a Code for Babies,” Article 4, March 27, 1934.

13. “Permits for parenthood shall be issued upon application by city, county, or state authorities to married couples, providing they are financially able to support the expected child, have the qualifications needed for proper rearing of the child, have no transmissible diseases, and, on the woman’s part, no medical indication that maternity is likely to result in death or permanent injury to health.”
— Margaret Sanger, “America Needs a Code for Babies,” Article 5, March 27, 1934.

14. “No permit for parenthood shall be valid for more than one birth…”
— Margaret Sanger, “America Needs a Code for Babies,” Article 6, March 27, 1934.

15. “Apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.”
— Sanger, Margaret. “My Way to Peace,” Jan. 17, 1932. Margaret Sanger Papers, Library of Congress 130:198. https://www.nyu.edu/projects/s…

16. “… these two words [birth control] sum up our whole philosophy… It means the release and cultivation of the better elements in our society, and the gradual suppression, elimination and eventual extinction, of defective stocks — those human weeds which threaten the blooming of the finest flowers of American civilization.”
— Margaret Sanger, “High Lights in the History of Birth Control,” Oct 1923.
https://www.nyu.edu/projects/s…

17. “Organized charity itself is the symptom of a malignant social disease…”
— Sanger, Margaret (1922). The Pivot of Civilization.

18. “My own position is that the Catholic doctrine is illogical, not in accord with science, and definitely against social welfare and race improvement.”
— Margaret Sanger, “The Pope’s Position on Birth Control,” Jan. 27, 1932.
https://www.nyu.edu/projects/s…

19. “All of our problems are the result of overbreeding among the working class… Knowledge of birth control is essentially moral. Its general, though prudent, practice must lead to a higher individuality and ultimately to a cleaner race.”
— Margaret Sanger, “Morality and Birth Control,” Feb-Mar 1918.
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/sa…

20. “Feeble-mindedness perpetuates itself from the ranks of those who are blandly indifferent to their racial responsibilities. And it is largely this type of humanity we are now drawing upon to populate our world for the generations to come. In this orgy of multiplying and replenishing the earth, this type is pari passu multiplying and perpetuating those direst evils in which we must, if civilization is to survive, extirpate by the very roots.”
— Margaret Sanger, The Pivot of Civilization, 1922
https://www.scribd.com/documen…

21. “Birth control itself, often denounced as a violation of natural law, is nothing more or less than the facilitation of the process of weeding out the unfit, of preventing the birth of defectives or of those who will become defectives… If we are to make racial progress, this development of womanhood must precede motherhood in every individual woman.” — “Woman and the New Race,” 1920

     So it comes as no surprise that God is being removed from AA and that recovery rates are plunging. If you remove the spiritual teeth of the program, you are going to remove recovery as well. Yes, it is a truly sad and tragic state of affairs. Beautifully put. Thank you.

"We Live In a Fallen World, It Can’t Be Done Alone…"

Comment:

     If you don’t mind some feedback… the self care you describe involves you alone. But I’m not sure that’s enough to fill up the tank, so to speak. Not sure if you are Christian, but if you are I suggest you get involved in a bible study group or other church group. We live in a fallen world, the church is the body of Christ where we can renew ourselves and each other. It really can’t be done well alone. Growing in Christ is at times a perilous journey. Picture a Thomsons Gazelle wandering the Serengeti alone. Can you also picture predator eyes tracking every movement of that gazelle. Those of us on the spiritual journey, very much need each other. 

Response:

     Not only do I not mind the feedback, I am truly grateful. I agree with what you say wholeheartedly, and it was beautifully said. I am Christian, though not always a very good one. This is not a coincidence, as two days before you wrote, I was looking up small groups at a local church. I’ll look them up again and make it happen. We are indeed social creatures, but more importantly, need each other especially now in this world where up is down, right is wrong, left is right, and light is dark. I can’t quite understand what is happening, as it appears to be some kind of collective brainwashing, but I suspect that I’ll find solace in the company of others who seek the truth. Thank you. 
     I’ve also thought about starting up a church group for individuals and/or families struggling with addiction. Moreover, I want to find some time to write another book or two – one that breaks down why addiction is no fault whatsoever of the parents/spouses of addicts. This would be an effort solely to alleviate them of guilt or false self-blame for the addiction of another. The second book (further down the road) would describe my experience post-five and ten years sober, which has been markedly different from the first five.