The Perpetual Cloud

Date Rape Drug AKA GHB

2009-11-18T15:28:00.000-08:00

The streets were alive with teen-agers looking for a Saturday night hangout. As usual, they complained there was nothing to do in their factory towns on the southern outskirts of Detroit.

It was Jan. 16 and ice covered the sidewalks. In one blue van, a group of five teens were doing nothing, as they say, just feeling the freedom of driving around on a Saturday night.

The high school students stopped for cigarettes at a Total gas station, got a peach Slurpee at 7-Eleven, smoked a marijuana joint and ate some burgers at McDonald's. Nights like this had become routine for the two senior boys in the car, but it was a thrill for the three freshman girls in the back seat.

But by early morning, two girls in the group—best friends Samantha Reid and Melanie Sindone—were lying unconscious next to each other on the cold tile of a stranger's bathroom.

Not too long before, Samantha and Melanie had sat in drug-education classes at Carlson High School in Gibraltar. They had learned about marijuana, heroin, cocaine and alcohol.

But teachers never mentioned a scientific-sounding drug called gamma hydroxybutyrate. The girls never learned there was a clear liquid known on the streets as G or Scoop or GHB.

Nobody told them to watch their glasses at parties. Nobody told them that if a drink tastes salty when it shouldn't, stop drinking it.

For Melanie, 15, the January night is mostly a blur. She remembers what it felt like as her body slowly went numb while she watched her friend slump down into a couch.

"I couldn't help her," Melanie said.

Nobody could. At 7:36 p.m. the following day, Samantha Reid would be dead.

For months, even years in some regions of the country, GHB had been putting body-builders and teen partiers into comas.

At least 46 deaths nationwide and more than 5,500 overdoses have been linked to GHB since 1995, including at least two deaths in Michigan, said Trinka Porrata, a retired Los Angeles Police Department detective and the nation's leading GHB authority. The drug is colorless and odorless with a slightly salty taste. There is a small difference between a dose that will get someone high and one that will kill. The drug is often mixed at home by teens who unknowingly can put together a deadly substance.

"The risk of dying is so volatile and unpredictable. One time—and you might be dead as a doornail," Porrata said. "It is the most dangerous drug I have dealt with in 25 years."

The statistics dating back to 1995 are understated, she said, mostly because law enforcement officials and medical examiners weren't paying attention to a drug they thought was affecting only a few groups of people known to take risks, such as body builders.

But Samantha and Melanie weren't body builders or participants in all-night parties known as raves. For that reason, the drugging of these two young girls would bring national attention to a new alphabet of drugs: E for Ecstasy, K for Ketamine and G for GHB.

The story of Samantha Reid and Melanie Sindone would show that anybody can become a victim of this new drug culture, one promoted as "natural and safe" by underground manufacturers and traded in basements and over the Internet. It would make some teens cautious about where they party and frighten parents about what could happen to even the most innocent children. It would spark debate in Washington about putting strict penalties on the use of the easily available drugs.

It would lead to the nation's first prosecution for a GHB-related homicide. Still, since Samantha's death in January, the GHB statistics have continued to grow. At least 10 more people have died from this drug and another 40 deaths are being investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. It was Jan. 14, 1999, and Joshua Cole, now 19, and Erick Limmer, now 26, were drinking at BT's Lounge, a strip club on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn. After the dancers finished, Josh and Erick met a third man at a gas station across the street from the bar. The man reached into the trunk of his car and took out a clear gallon container of what authorities believe was either GHB or a close chemical substitute called GBL. He unwound the bubble wrap from the glass container. Erick bought the drug and took it to his apartment on Grosse Ile.

Erick told Josh not to touch it, according to statements Josh later gave to police.

Last January, about the same time Erick and Josh bought the drug, Samantha and Melanie were at Samantha's house in Rockwood, watching Teletubbies. They ordered in cheesy bread from Benito's Pizza and passed a two-liter Mountain Dew back and forth between them. They listened to hip-hop, the Dixie Chicks and Monifah's Touch It. They talked about taking drivers' education classes together, going on a spring-break trip to Daytona Beach, Fla., and their latest crushes.

They used magic markers to write messages on the walls of Samantha's bedroom. Her mother planned to paint the room and allowed Samantha and her friends to graffiti the walls.

"Love you like a sis," Melanie wrote to Samantha. "Best friends forever." Samantha and Melanie met in middle school, but they didn't become friends until the beginning of their freshman year in high school. They quickly became inseparable. After school, Melanie often took the bus home to Samantha's house, where she would stay over three or four nights a week. Soon, the same three charms hung from their necks: Best Friends. 365. 24-7.

Samantha was Melanie's motivator. Samantha loved having fun and couldn't stand to see someone pouting. "Melanie SinDONE," she would say, accenting the last part of her name. "Get up. Have fun."

They both played loud music. Both had divorced parents. Both turned 15 in January.

They had differences, too.

Samantha craved attention and earned the nickname Hammy Sammy because she jumped in front of a camera at every opportunity. Melanie was always the quieter one who shied away from the spotlight.

Samantha, who stood 5 feet 4 inches and weighed 122 pounds, played every sport she could, including basketball, baseball and gymnastics. Melanie, a tiny girl at just 5 feet and about 95 pounds, planned to play basketball her freshman year, but she was hurt before the season started.

Both girls lived with their mothers after their parents divorced, and both moved around before their freshman year. Melanie's family stayed in the Downriver area; Samantha's mother, Judi Clark, 38, moved her daughter and son from Detroit to Lincoln Park to Rockwood.

After Samantha's father left when she was two years old, her mother moved Samantha and her older brother, Charles, to a home in southwest Detroit. But Judi, a strong-spirited mother, got into a pipe-fitter's apprenticeship program, and when she could afford it a few years later, she moved her family to Lincoln Park. Two years after that, when she could afford to move again, she bought a house in Rockwood to be in a safer neighborhood.

As a pipe-fitter, Judi did hard, dirty work for Great Lakes Steel Blast Furnace last winter, crawling into tunnels to reline furnaces. She worked 10 hours a day so Samantha could have the things teens want: Nike T-shirts, glitter make-up, money for the movies and, hopefully, a trip to Disney World.

Samantha was always eager to make others happy, especially her mother. Even as a freshman, when it's no longer cool to call her mother "mommy," she did it anyway.

"She's the same girl that everyone else is raising. She's the Girl Scout and the basketball player and the baseball player and the girl who likes the drive-through at McDonald's," said her mother, Judi. "She's the girl who looked forward to driving and getting a job."

Samantha and her mother had a deal: Judi would work long hours to support them, and Samantha would keep the house and yard tidy. Melanie sometimes helped Samantha with her chores.

When Samantha wasn't doing chores, one of her greatest passions was writing poetry.

She wrote about everything. About boyfriends, best friends and peer pressure.

She also wrote a poem about her fear of dying. In that poem, Samantha wrote: "What if I am too young still/Not old enough to die? What if I want to wait until/I've experienced life to say goodbye?"

Samantha didn't get that chance. On Jan.16, she said goodbye to her mom and got into a friend's van.

They drove to Grosse Ile, a community sheltered by the waters of the Detroit River.

A sign at the island's police station told visitors that it was "Michigan's safest community."

"What should I wear?" Samantha asked Melanie.

She had already changed a few times. Clothes were scattered on her bed and the floor. Lipstick and eye-shadow were strewn across her vanity.

It was Saturday night, and the girls were getting ready to hang out with two seniors from their high school, Daniel Brayman and Nicholas Holtschlag, both 18. Melanie's stepsister, Jessica VanWassehnova, also a ninth-grader, went along.

Samantha almost didn't make it out. Her mom had grounded her so her grades would improve. But Samantha had been upset about trouble in a relationship with her boyfriend. Her mom decided to let her go out, rationalizing that mingling with friends might get her mind off the problem.

About 8:30 p.m., there was a knock at the door and Nick came inside. Samantha told her mom she was going to see a movie and said she would be home before her 1 a.m. curfew. Melanie, who was planning to spend the night at Samantha's house, never called her mom to let her know she was going out.

The three girls got into the back of Nick's van, and they hit the road with no place to go. Dan was already sitting in the front. They drove around for about two to three hours. Nobody mentioned the movie.

They stopped at a Total gas station to get cigarettes and then went to the Marina Bay apartments in Gibraltar. In the parking lot of the apartment complex, a man walked up to the van and traded a bag of marijuana for cash. They drove through Downriver as they passed a joint, the smell of marijuana mixed with the taste of rebellion. It's unclear whether Samantha smoked it.

Melanie and Samantha went inside a 7-Eleven in Brownstown Township to get a peach Slurpee and then stopped at a McDonald's. Meanwhile, Nick picked up his cell phone and punched in a number. The phone rang at an apartment on Grosse Ile.

Nick told the person on the other end that the group was on its way over and to get alcohol, Melanie and Jessica recall.

Nick hung up and drove south toward the Detroit River. He crossed over the bumpy bridge to Grosse Ile and entered a different lifestyle. Grosse Ile is home to lakefront mansions, three yacht clubs and horse stables. There are no movie theaters or fast-food joints that dot every other Downriver town. When they got inside Apartment 34 in the Elbamar Apartment complex on Groh Road, the girls flopped down on a couch. It was about 11 p.m.

There were no parents there, just the three girls, Nick, Dan and another friend whom the girls didn't know, Joshua Cole. Their host was Erick Limmer.

They turned on Saturday Night Live. Teen heartthrob James Van Der Beek, better known as Dawson on the WB show Dawson's Creek, was the guest host. Melanie took a few sips of a Budweiser and put it down because she didn't like it. She declined another drink from Josh.

Erick walked into the living room. He threw a baggie of marijuana on the table and Nick rolled a joint, Melanie said. They watched Jackie Brown, a crime story about regular people who break the law from time to time. Melanie poured herself two shots of Apple Pucker liquor mixed with vodka. The teens were bored, and Josh started to get antsy. Erick left the room to take a shower.

"Let's play drinking games," Josh said, bringing out a deck of cards. "No," everyone else replied.

"Do you want something else to drink?" the girls recall Josh asking.

Melanie said she wanted a screwdriver, a mix of vodka and orange juice, and Samantha said she wanted a Mountain Dew. Josh, Nick and Dan went into the kitchen. They talked and passed around another joint, Melanie said. Josh made the girls their drinks.

Josh would later tell police that he wanted the girls to talk more, to act more lively. He wondered if some of that stuff Erick bought at the strip club, put into the girls' drinks, would liven up the party.

Dan handed a drink to Melanie, and Nick handed a drink to Samantha, Melanie said. They were watching Superfly on video, a 1972 movie about a coke dealer wanting to make one last big score before going clean.

Melanie and Samantha sipped their drinks.

"This tastes gross," Samantha said to her friend. "Can you try it?"

Melanie took a small sip, agreed that it tasted gross and handed it back to Samantha, who quickly gulped down almost the whole glass of Mountain Dew. She didn't know it, but she also swallowed GBL, the main ingredient of GHB. The chemical contains the same ingredients found in floor stripper and drain cleaner.

Within a few minutes, Samantha passed out on the couch. Melanie sipped the screwdriver and rapidly felt drunk. She felt her body going numb and tried to stop it.

Melanie began to vomit. Jessica and at least one of the boys carried her into the bathroom, where she continued to throw up. After she stopped vomiting, her friends laid her on her side on a towel in the bathroom "so she didn't choke," Jessica said.

It was about 2 a.m., and Samantha was still sleeping on the living-room couch as the rest of the group continued to watch TV. Erick was mad about the vomit on his carpet and furniture and told the teens to scrub the cushions and vacuum the carpet.

Then, they heard Samantha gagging and throwing up in her sleep. The other teens carried her into the bathroom and laid her next to Melanie, two best friends again sleeping side by side.

If they had taken Samantha to the hospital, she likely would be alive today, doctors would later say.

Instead, Samantha continued to vomit while she was unconscious.

Vomit went into Samantha's right lung, doctors would later discover. Soon, the vomit would block air trying to reach her lungs.

The other four teens knew the girls didn't look good, but they didn't think anything really bad could happen. So they left them there to sleep it off. While the two girls slept, Nick and Dan drove to Meijer at 3:15 a.m. and bought carpet cleaner and a $69.99 Hoover vacuum to clean the girls' vomit from Erick's apartment.

As they put the vacuum together, the teens heard a gagging noise coming from the bathroom.

Samantha was making "noises and having problems breathing," Jessica recalled. She checked for a pulse and wasn't sure if she had one. Jessica and the other boys discussed calling an ambulance.

"No," said Erick, worried about authorities coming to his house. About 4:30 a.m., six teens piled back into Nick's van. Josh carried Samantha, dropping her on the ice-covered sidewalk as he slipped on his way to the van.

Erick's parting advice: Don't tell anyone you were here.

On the way to the hospital, Jessica saw "white stuff stuck in ( Samantha's ) throat" and stuck her fingers in her mouth to try to clear it away.

Melanie, meanwhile, was "breathing funny," Jessica recalled. The girls were carried into Oakwood Hospital-Seaway Center in Trenton at 4:45 a.m.

Neither girl was breathing.

Neither girl had a heart beat.

"You don't know me, but my name is Josh and I met Melanie tonight and she got so drunk and passed out and we took her to the hospital."

Those are the words Nancy Sindone remembers waking up to when her telephone rang about 4:45 a.m. Jan. 17.

A few minutes later, the phone startled another mother, Judi Clark, who had fallen asleep on the couch. Joshua Cole, a boy she had never met, was on the line.

He started to give her the same news when the call-waiting beep interrupted him. It was the emergency room staff.

"Is she there because of alcohol poisoning?" Judi asked the nurse. She knew there had been a lot of that going on at colleges.

"No," he told her. He didn't tell her it was much worse: The two girls were unconscious, but they didn't reek of alcohol. Doctors suspected GHB, a powerful depressant they had learned about at a recent conference.

They had no way to test for GHB, so they treated the girls the same way they would treat any unconscious patient.

Minutes later, both mothers drove through dense fog to the emergency room. It was the beginning of a daylong vigil at their daughters' bedsides. During the first few hours at the hospital, the girls looked identical: Stark white, eyes shut, tubes stuck up their noses and down their throats. Hospital gowns replaced jeans.

"They looked dead," Nancy Sindone recalled.

Melanie was breathing slowly and was put on a respirator. Unlike Samantha, vomit had not reached her lungs. If Melanie had been brought to the hospital a few minutes later, she likely would have stopped breathing, had a heart attack and died, doctors said.

Her deterioration was just steps behind Samantha's. Doctors said Samantha was in such severe shock when she got to the hospital that she was essentially dead.

"You're wrong," Judi told the doctors. "I have a tough girl there, and she's going to make it."

Doctors didn't know why Samantha was in a coma. There was no external trauma and no sign of alcohol ingestion. They mentioned something called GHB, but said they weren't sure if that was what put her into a coma.

They had no way to know for sure. Oakwood Hospital-Seaway Center, like all the other hospitals in Michigan, has no way to test for GHB. In some ways, a test would be irrelevant: There is no antidote for GHB. And because it generally leaves the body within 12 hours, it may already be undetectable when a victim gets to the hospital.

Doctors wanted Judi to see her daughter right away. They feared that she wouldn't live much longer.

Judi tried to go to her daughter's bed, but couldn't. She called her mother and boyfriend. She couldn't go back there alone, couldn't see her 15-year-old daughter strapped to life support.

Samantha's boyfriend, aunts, and cousins came to the hospital to support Judi and tell Samantha that they loved her.

About 5 p.m., Judi went home to get clothes so she could spend the night at the hospital. When she returned, Samantha's bed was tilted and her feet were sticking up in the air.

The doctor asked Judi to leave the room. Samantha's heart had stopped beating twice, and it was becoming harder to get it started again. Her kidneys and liver had already shut down, her blood pressure kept dropping and her heart overworked itself trying to compensate for the failed organs. The doctor came out to the waiting room a half hour later. "How many times do you want to let your daughter die?" he asked Judi.

Judi never answered the question.

Melanie opened her eyes about 17 hours after she closed them on Grosse Ile. She gagged from the tube that went down her throat and into her lungs to help her breathe. Her arms were strapped to the bed.

Her eyes were open, but the tube lodged in her throat kept her from asking where she was and why she was there. Instead, she scribbled short phrases on scrap paper.

Where am I? What happened? Where's Sammy?

Doctors told her that Samantha was in the next room. They mentioned GHB. Melanie had never heard of it before.

She wanted to see Samantha. Doctors advised against it, but then reluctantly wheeled her bulky hospital bed to the window of the room next door.

Hours ago, they were lying unconscious on a bathroom floor. Now, Melanie was looking at Samantha through a window, the closest she could get to her best friend. She turned to Samantha's mother, Judi, whose face was puffy from a day of crying. She had to say something. "I'll come clean the house for you," she told Samantha's mom.

Judi heard what Melanie said, but she didn't know how to respond.

They looked at each other, looked through the window into Samantha's room, and looked back at each other.

In the silence, tears rolled down their faces.

"I'll clean your house," Melanie said again.

Judi nodded. They both knew that Samantha would never do the household chores again.

MANY FLIRT WITH GHB, UNMINDFUL OF RISKS

It Attracts Those Who Would Never Touch 'Real Drugs'

A 22-year-old man from Trenton puts five capfuls of GHB into Kool-Aid, guzzles the drink and passes out within minutes. He has a seizure at home while waiting for an ambulance.

A 23-year-old man from Grosse Pointe drinks GHB, gamma hydroxybutyrate, from an Evian bottle at a bar. He begins twitching and has stopped breathing by the time he gets to a hospital.

A Detroit man, 30, has been using GHB for two months for body building and euphoria. He bought it from a friend and now can't go more than a few hours without it. He calls the Poison Control Center in Detroit, wanting to know about treatment programs for addiction.

A 17-year-old man from Pontiac bought GHB over the Internet. He drinks some of it, begins vomiting and lapses into a coma. He wakes up in the hospital four hours later.

This is the world of GHB, a drug gaining popularity in Michigan and throughout the nation. Although it is best known as a "date-rape" drug, more than 80 percent of overdose cases are from people who willingly use the drug. The majority are white men, ages 17 to 30.

Teens and young adults use it to get high without drinking alcohol or combine the two drugs in a lethal cocktail to intensify a buzz. Body builders think it will make them stronger.

The recreational users of GHB often buy the chemicals on the Internet and mix them at home. Unlike illegal drugs that are manufactured in controlled laboratories, this "kitchen sink" chemistry means there is little regard for accurate proportions or quality control.

As a result, there are unpredictable—and sometimes deadly—reactions like those experienced by callers to the Poison Control Center this year. Many of the calls come from doctors and nurses seeking advice about a possible GHB victim. The center already has received more than four times the number of GHB-related calls this year than it did four years ago.

GHB is colorless and odorless with a slightly salty taste. Because it is a clear liquid, it easily can be masked in other drinks such as water, soda or juice. There are cases where teens drank "water" from sports bottles, but really had mixed GHB into the liquid. Their parents or coaches had no idea.

Because only a few drops can get someone high, the drug can be carried in innocent-looking containers such as Visine eye-drop dispensers.

The drug is attracting people who say they would never touch "real drugs" such as cocaine and heroin, but want a drug that will relax them like alcohol.

But because there is a small difference between a dose that will get someone high and one that will kill, some users find themselves waking up in an emergency room.

"There is no safe level of use. Nobody can tell you what is a safe level," said Trinka Porrata, a drug consultant and former Los Angeles Police Department detective. "A drop may be too much. A dose that might make a 150-pound woman high can kill a 300-pound man. It's unpredictable."

Dr. Susan Smolinske of the Poison Control Center said more calls lately have come from people using GHB alternatives, products that act like GHB but instead contain a related substance that usually is legal. Those products are sold on the Internet with benign names like Renewtrient, Zen and Blue Nitro.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that at least 46 people have died and 5,500 others have overdosed since 1995. They are investigating at least 40 more suspected GHB deaths this year. "It is not some little cult of lost kids who are doing this drug," Porrata said. "These are the mainstream kids who are using it and dying from it."

Lethal Cocktail:
The Tragedy and the Aftermath of GHB

Originally published in The Detroit News, December, 1999
Part 2 of 2

Judi Clark, Samantha's mother, uses her daughter's death to show others the evils of GHB.

Silent now, Samantha Reid lay in a pink casket, the type usually chosen for girls who die too young.

Inside were a Girl Scout sash, her Bible, a picture of her dog Scrappy, her favorite teddy bear and a Tickle-me Cookie Monster.

Gone were the clothes of a young girl, the baggy Nike sweat shirts and glitter make-up she loved to wear. Instead, she wore a black suit and a pastel pink shirt that her mother, Judi Clark, picked out from Hudson's three days after her only daughter was fatally drugged.

Samantha was 15, an age when watching Teletubbies and seeking summer jobs seem equally appropriate. An age when there's a delicate line between what's fun and what's safe.

At the Voran Funeral Home in Taylor, Judi's crushing sobs drowned out the words of Jewel's song Hands, a song that calls for hope in seemingly desperate times.

"I won't be made useless, won't be idle with despair," Jewel sang.

In the year after the funeral, Judi, 38, has used those words to get up in the morning, to fight against the drug that killed her daughter and nearly killed her daughter's best friend, Melanie Sindone.

When Melanie, also 15, hears that song now, she sobs, sometimes for hours. The casket closed. A mother went to bury her only daughter, and a young girl went to bury her best friend.

But the drug GHB, gamma hydroxybutyrate, continues to poison Melanie as she copes with the aftermath of the night she was drugged and her best friend died.

Also poisoned are the lives of four young men accused of putting GHB into the girls' drinks. The men could spend the rest of their lives in jail if convicted of manslaughter and poisoning at their trial next month. And from big-city parties to small-town high schools, the drug continues to claim more victims.

Although GHB had been slowly creeping into Michigan for about four years, few people knew about it last January when Samantha and Melanie were hanging out with some friends on Grosse Ile.

Young adults at all-night rave parties were using it for a quick high, and body-builders were taking it to build muscle. Some men knew about it as a date-rape drug because it could be secreted into a woman's drink to render her unconscious.

But most police officers were fighting the standard drugs of choice, namely cocaine and heroin. They had started to fight trendy drugs such as Ketamine and Ecstasy, but there was little attention given to GHB, a drug feared for its unpredictability. A small dose of GHB can get someone high, but a slightly larger dose can lead to seizures, coma or death.

By January, as the drug became more mainstream, signs emerged in Michigan that authorities were dangerously unaware of the unique threats of GHB. Overdose victims were arriving at emergency rooms, but few doctors knew what GHB was or how to recognize it in a patient.

Police were pulling over seemingly drunken drivers and were confused when Breathalyzer tests showed no evidence of alcohol. The police didn't know to look for the clear, odorless substance.

Educators hadn't heard of it and thus couldn't warn their students.

Meanwhile, Web sites were popping up that told teens how to make and buy GHB, a drug promoted as natural and safe on the Internet. Underground manufacturers were mixing new proportions of chemicals and picking new product names for their latest concoction of the same dangerous drug.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned over-the-counter sales of GHB in 1990, but sellers have found ways around the ban.

Some sell ingredients or kits to make the drug. Others sell similar, but legal chemicals called GBL or BD, which convert to GHB once ingested. The products are then sold with misleading names like Renewtrient, Zen or Serenity.

"There is no drug out there as scary, except maybe heroin," said Phyllis Good, a Michigan State Police specialist. "It will continue to increase, and it's only going to get worse."

The drug is still legal in about half the states. And because the federal government has not yet declared it an illegal substance, no agency tracks its use.

But at the very least, hundreds of thousands are taking GHB, say those who study the drug.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is investigating at least 40 suspected GHB-related deaths this year. At a minimum, 46 people have already died since 1995. About 5,500 overdose victims have gone to emergency rooms, but that doesn't include all the people who overdose but don't go to a hospital.

"What is really scary is that there are a lot more," said Trinka Porrata, a drug consultant and retired Los Angeles Police Department detective. "For every one reported, there are kazillions that aren't."

Samantha Reid, at 15, is the youngest known victim of GHB. A 77-year-old man is the oldest.

The drug has killed people in every age group and every region of the country, from North Carolina to California, Pennsylvania to Michigan. People who abuse this drug sometimes have no idea what they are dealing with. They listen to the illegal manufacturers who promote their products as herbal or nutritional supplements.

Often, the people reading the Internet hype have the same youthful innocence as Samantha and Melanie.

One victim who believed the hype was Kyle Hagmann, a freshman at California Lutheran College in the Los Angeles suburb of Thousands Oaks. On April 24, he took GHB after a classmate told him it was a safe sleep aid. Hagmann, 19, read about its safety on a Web site, three months after Samantha died. So Hagmann, an honor student, took it one night to help him fall asleep. He never woke up. He suffocated with his face in the pillow.

When Grosse Ile detectives confronted Joshua Cole, one of the suspects in the drugging of Samantha Reid, it became clear that he also didn't know he was experimenting with an unpredictable, potentially deadly substance. He told police that the GHB would just liven up the party.

Police said that Josh and the girls' two friends from high school, Daniel Brayman and Nicholas Holtschlag, both 18, went into the kitchen to get the girls' drinks. The fourth man at the party was Erick Limmer, 26, who rents the apartment where the group was hanging out.

"We were getting bored when I remembered about the drug in question," Josh wrote in a statement for police. "At that point in time, I had mentioned it to Dan and then to Nick. We all decided that if we put a little into the girls' drink, maybe they would be more talkative and it wouldn't be so quiet. When we decided to go ahead with the idea, I then took some and dropped a little in each of the girls' glasses, two Mountain Dews, one orange juice ..."

Douglas Baker, the deputy chief assistant Wayne County prosecutor for major drug crimes, contends that all three teen-age men at the party knew about the GHB before giving the girls the final round of drinks. Hoping to keep themselves out of trouble, they laid the girls on the bathroom floor to let them sleep off the drug's effects instead of immediately taking them to the hospital when they began vomiting, Baker said.

"What they do is roll the dice with her life," Baker told a district judge during the four-day preliminary examination last May. "They roll the dice with her life because they're going to wait until the very last minute to see if they come out of it on their own.

"They wait and wait and wait and wait - until they're going to end up with two corpses in the apartment."

GHB leaves a notoriously difficult puzzle in its wake. Few police officers are trained to look for it.

Even more troubling, though, is that GHB leaves behind no odor and its residue is nearly untraceable. Few forensic labs even have the capacity to test for GHB.

The drug is hard to detect by law enforcement because it can mimic brash drunkenness. In Los Angeles, police stopped a man three times for drunken driving before they learned that he had not been drunk, but had been under the influence of GHB.

L.A. police stopped Scott Brockman on Aug. 17, 1996, for what they thought was drunken driving. A Breathalyzer test showed he had a blood alcohol level of 0.03, far lower than the legal limit of 0.10.

Police were confused. He had run six stop signs while driving 45 mph in a 25 mph zone. They cited him for reckless driving.

Ten days later, Brockman was again under the influence of GHB when he crashed into a car stopped at a traffic light, killing the driver. Police again were stumped by a blood-alcohol content of 0.09. A year later, when police knew what to look for and blood samples were analyzed, GHB was found.

"It is scary that he made it through the system two and a half times before the true drug issue surfaced," Porrata said.

It wouldn't take that long for police to catch on in the death of Samantha Reid.

On the night Samantha was drugged, police went to the Trenton hospital and ran into a wall of lies from teens afraid of getting in trouble. The kids at the hospital told police they had been to a party in Ecorse that they knew about from a flier.

Lt. Robert Shaw drove the boys around Ecorse, hoping they could point out the house. They never found it, and Shaw didn't believe the story.

The first break in the case came when Melanie awoke from her coma. She told police that she had been at Erick Limmer's apartment on Grosse Ile.

Police obtained a search warrant. At 5:17 a.m. Monday, five officers crashed through the door of Erick's apartment. The girls' shoes were still outside the door.

Police seized 12 Budweiser beer bottles, a dozen glasses from the kitchen sink and counter, Mountain Dew and Coke bottles, Absolut vodka, Sunny Delight, Sour Apple Pucker Schnapps and butts from two marijuana cigarettes in the trash can.

Suspecting GHB, police sent the bottles and glasses, as well vials of blood and urine from Samantha and Melanie, to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Chicago. Officials then sent the evidence to its Cincinnati lab to be tested.

There is no lab in Michigan that has the capacity to test for GHB, although the drug has been illegal in the state since July 1998.

Lab analysis returned nearly two months later showed that three glasses and seven beer bottles contained residue of GHB or a close chemical cousin, GBL.

The blood tests also showed that Samantha Reid and Melanie Sindone had been given more than twice the amount of GHB needed to kill them.

The four men now face charges of manslaughter and two counts of poisoning, which carries a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison. They all pleaded not guilty. Their trials begin Jan. 31. It will be a precedent-setting case, the first prosecution for GHB-related homicide in the nation, Baker said.

John Gates, a Royal Oak attorney representing Daniel Brayman, said his client was unaware of the GHB.

Cecil St. Pierre, an attorney for Erick Limmer, said his client did not participate in putting GHB in the girls' final, deadly round of drinks. The charges against him had been dropped earlier this year, but they were reinstated by a Wayne Circuit Court judge. His attorney is appealing that decision.

The other defense attorneys declined to comment.

Melanie Sindone lives daily with what she remembers from that night and what she painfully can't remember.

She shies away from talking about the January night to her friends and family, in part because she gets upset when she can't remember details. She has difficulty listening to her mother or Samantha's mother, Judi Clark, talk about being in the hospital, watching the two girls in comas.

Exactly six months after Samantha died, Judi told Melanie and some of her friends that she found herself strong enough to stop at Oakwood Hospital-Seaway Center in Trenton. She wanted to see the nurse who took care of Samantha, she told a group of Samantha's friends.

"I thanked him for making Samantha as comfortable as he could," Judi told the girls. "He started crying. He said it changed him forever. He's still crying, just like the rest of us."

Judi looked over at Melanie, whose face was tucked down. She saw that tears were falling to the floor.

Melanie tried to speak, but was inaudible through her tear-choked voice. She ran from the room and her friends fell silent. They could hear her throwing up in the bathroom.

Melanie sat on the bathroom floor for a half hour, just above Samantha's basement bedroom. The bedroom was where the two girls spent hours talking, laughing and sharing their feelings.

It was their sanctuary from adults.

Just a few days before Samantha died, Melanie wrote her a letter in permanent marker on her bedroom wall.

Sam - Hey girl, what's up? You are my best friend in the whole wide world. I love you man. Promise me we will never fight and if we do, you gotta apologize. Just joking. I can tell you anything and you always understand. You are my girl. Always and forever, Melanie

Upstairs, Melanie's sister Anita tried to comfort her.

But there was only so much she could say. When Melanie was drugged, she lost the childhood innocence that made her feel invincible and allowed her world to expand.

Melanie continued to throw up.

After Samantha died, Judi tried to preserve all that she could of her daughter's life. For nine months, she left Samantha's room exactly as the 15-year-old girl had left it when she was fretting about what to wear before running out the door to see a movie with her best friend.

The clothes Samantha decided not to wear her last night remained scattered on the floor. Her make-up was still spread out, crumbs of eye shadow speckled on the vanity.

Judi refused to dust.

For a long time, Judi couldn't even sleep in the house, let alone enter Samantha's bedroom. But as months passed, she found herself wandering into her daughter's bedroom. Soon, it became her sanctuary.

It was where she could be alone with her thoughts of Samantha and read her daughter's writings on the wall.

She looks at the names of Samantha's friends that cover the wall. "Melanie + Sam. B.F.F." is written in blue marker on the vanity mirror.

Some names are crossed out, too, generally the names of ex-boyfriends. Even in the scribble, Judi can pick out two names from the wall that she had planned to paint.

The names Dan and Nick are etched on the wall in black marker.

They were crossed out after Samantha died.

Night after night, Nancy Sindone sees faceless boys when she closes her eyes to go to sleep.

In one dream, they are lurking around a family gathering, putting something into glasses of vodka and handing them to her family. She chases the boys but is awakened by her own voice screaming out loud for them to stop.

It has been 10 months since her daughter was drugged with GHB, but the nightmares are getting more vivid than ever.

Melanie has nightmares, too, but doesn't want to talk about them. The nightmares Melanie will talk about are played out during the day, especially at school.

After the drugging, Melanie missed about six weeks of classes at Carlson High School. She first went back to school about a month after Samantha died, but stayed home for two weeks after that because she said it was too difficult to be there.

During that time, Melanie sheltered herself in her bedroom, rarely even leaving to go downstairs. She listened to music, rearranged her room, painted her nails, talked to her sisters and rearranged her room again. One day, she was bored and picked up the phone to call Samantha. She started dialing before realizing that Samantha wouldn't be there.

"I definitely need her," Melanie said.

Back at school, Melanie cried when she saw Samantha's empty seat in their math and science classes. She grew sad when she went to locker No. 1175, which Melanie and Samantha had shared.

And in the hallways, she was self-conscious about what classmates might be saying about her.

"It felt like everybody's eyeballs were glued to me," Melanie said. "I didn't know if they were talking about me, but it felt like they were."

Melanie changed schools this year. After school now, she goes home and back to the memories of Samantha. She looks at the collage of pictures of Samantha in her room. She looks at the teddy bears she received during a somber 15th birthday party thrown for her while she was still in the hospital, just two days after her best friend died.

She reads the poem Samantha wrote to her last December, titled "For My Best Friend."

In that poem, Samantha wrote: "You taught me that I'm worth much more, Than what I'd always thought/You gave me strength and confidence, For that I owe a lot."

Recently, Melanie looked at the plastic bag of clothes in her living room. They're the clothes that she wore the last night she hung out with Samantha, recently picked up from the emergency room. There are jeans, her favorite green T-shirt, socks and a ponytail holder.

"I haven't wanted to look at them," Melanie said, peering closer at the bag to see what was inside. "Hey, that's Sammy's belt."

Judi's not quite sure why she called the Gibraltar Police Department. Maybe she wanted to see if her daughter's death had made an impact.

"Could you tell me what GHB is?" she asked the dispatcher who picked up the phone.

"I'm really not too sure. Wait, I think we have some pamphlets on it. Let me check," the dispatcher said, returning to the phone a few seconds later. "The pamphlets are all gone. Sorry."

That was when Judi decided she would start a crusade against GHB. She would begin in Michigan and then eventually go nationwide, telling as many people as possible that GHB can take their children's lives as easily as it took Samantha's.

That was about five months after her daughter's death. During those long months, she stayed home from work. She passed the time by planting a garden with more than 25 types of fruits and vegetables.

She went back to work as a pipe fitter in July, about the same time she read all the GHB literature she could find. She started the Samantha Reid Foundation with some relatives and about 10 of Samantha's friends.

The group plans to get non-profit status so it can raise money for anti-GHB awareness.

Judi already is responsible for the anti-GHB billboard at the Flat Rock Speedway and has passed out hundreds of GHB pamphlets at art fairs, seminars and union picnics. She cringes when she thinks that students are still not learning about GHB in school.

She has changed a lot in the past 10 months. It took almost eight weeks before she was brave enough to sleep at her empty home. It took two months before she went grocery shopping, previously a mother-daughter activity.

Now, she gets counseling and attends meetings of the support group, Parents of Murdered Children.

The Samantha Reid Foundation gives her hope that some meaning can come to this meaningless death. But while she acts strong and courageous during foundation meetings and at seminars, she quietly retreats into her memories of Samantha for most of the day.

One day, she went through the purse Samantha took with her that January night. She found strawberry and champagne lotion from Victoria's Secret, make-up, Teen Midol, deodorant, gum, house keys and a hair brush.

Judi stared at the brush for a while and retreated inward to that mother whose daughter had just died, a time when fighting GHB was a distant thought.

"That's all I have of her hair," she said, stroking the wisps left tangled in the brush. "I really wish I would have taken like a locket of her hair. But you don't think about them things until they're gone, y'know?"

If you listen closely in the Blue Ridge section of Michigan Memorial Park in Flat Rock, you can hear where Samantha lies.

A breeze blows through the skinny red maple by Samantha's grave, swaying the wind chimes that play like a music box over a baby's crib at night. Three women walk slowly up the slight hill to a spot where the grass is brighter than the rest.

Judi walks toward the plaque marking her daughter's grave. There is still no tombstone because she can't decide what to put on it. She thinks about her quiet house, one without dirty towels on the floor, missing remote controls and empty hair spray bottles.

Nancy Sindone looks toward Melanie and wonders whether she's becoming overprotective, worrying every time her daughter leaves the house.

Melanie looks at the purple cross she left at the cemetery. She talks about how she hates school, how she can't trust people. She's getting stronger and can talk about Samantha without crying. But she worries about the upcoming trial and again facing her former classmates from the witness stand.

Dan and Nick were kicked out of high school their senior year, a few months before the senior prom and graduation. Erick was engaged to be married when he was charged with manslaughter. Josh has nightmares about the trial and smokes a pack of cigarettes a day, his grandmother said.

At Michigan Memorial Park, two mothers and a scared, insecure young woman talk silently to Samantha, then begin to walk back to their cars, stopping at the red maple tree.

"It's too quiet out here," Judi says as she untwists some of the wind chimes on the tree. "Sam liked the noise."

Melanie corrects her: "Sam was the noise."

But Judi insists that Samantha still is the noise.

Inflaming her passion to warn the world about GHB, Judi recalls one of Samantha's poems:

For I shall not go quietly into the night; I shall succeed and no battle will be won until I have had my fight. Harsh hammers and evil enemies look out, I am on my way.

Nick and Dan were both released from prison today, Josh is up for released in 2015.

Tina's Meth Story

2009-11-03T15:40:00.000-08:00

I Am a Teacher!

2009-11-03T15:06:00.000-08:00

I was an alcoholic for years but kept it well hidden. I had to because I was a teacher. My routine was set in stone and I prided myself on being able to do my job and then sit back and enjoy my beer on weekends. If I did not need a drink during the week, then I convinced myself I was not an alcoholic and did not have a problem. I didn’t think being in bed as early as 6 p.m. meant anything. I was just tired, you know?

However, as time went on, my credit card bills showed the truth. I was spending over $200.00 a month on vodka and drinking beer from the time I got off work Friday afternoon to Sunday. I woke up on the weekends needing a cup of coffee in one hand and a beer in the other. I used up my sick days and vacation days within the first two months of school starting.

My friends and family tried to talk to me about it but I thought they were nuts. I was not an alcoholic, I told them, because I could go days without a drink. I was deluding myself but not them. I stopped going anywhere except to work. My wife did all the errands. When she broke down on the road and I was too drunk to go get her, it was the final straw in her book. A couple of days later my family and friends put together an intervention for me. They were pretty brutal in the truth. Still, it took my wife looking me in the eye in front of them and saying she would leave me right then and take our kids with her if I did not check into a drug addiction rehab.

That was four years ago. Because I was able to check myself in without it affecting my students and my position in a negative way, I was able to retain my certification to teach. I am grateful because I really love teaching. With the help the successful drug rehab center, I was able to put my life back together and I have even helped a couple of students who were heading down the path of alcoholism.

Thank you, to the drug rehab professionals, for giving me what I needed to get away from that lifestyle. The money I used to spend on alcohol is being used for family vacations and bringing pleasure to my children. My wife is happier than I have seen her in years and I am grateful I got a second chance with her and them.

Drunk Girl Owned By Boss

2009-10-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Reasons People Use Drugs

2009-10-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

This may seem like a no-brainer, but there are actually some surprising reasons why people may begin and continue to use drugs. It’s for the following reasons that anyone who is using or addicted to drugs not be judged, but helped. Here are some of the top ten reasons people use drugs.

1. They are legal: Yes, you read that right. Some of the drugs that have the most users are completely legal. Nicotine and alcohol are not illegal and yet they are highly addictive.

2. They are prescribed: There are many different medications, which are prescribed for a specific purpose, but because of the reaction of the brain to these medications, people easily become addicted. Some examples of these are pain medications, anti-anxiety meds, muscle relaxers and more.

3. Rebellion: Chances are many who are now adults did the same thing, but teenagers often begin using drugs as an act of rebellion or peer pressure. They experiment with drugs and alcohol. Some become addicted, some do not.

4. Self Medication: People live with varying degrees of stressors in their lives. There are times when instead of seeking the advice of a doctor, they begin to medicate themselves with marijuana, street drugs, or even perhaps alcohol.

5. Boredom: There are those that begin to experiment with drugs simply because they are bored or they feel emptiness in their lives. They are searching for something and mistakenly think that the answer is drugs or alcohol.

6. Peer Pressure: Not only teens, but many adults begin to experiment with drugs because their friends do. They begin casually at a gathering or a party, and continue on from there. Many times, this leads to addiction.

7. It Feels Good: If addictive drugs made people deathly ill every time they tried it, people probably would not become addicted. However, this is not what happens. Cocaine, Meth, Marijuana, and many other drugs make a person feel very, very good when they begin using them. This leads to drug addiction even though the good feelings get harder and harder to experience with time.

8. Curiosity: The power of curiosity should never be underestimated. Many people, young and old try drugs simply to see what will happen. They are curious as to the effects of the drug and start using for no other reason than to find out what it feels like.

9. Availability: Prescription drugs and street drugs are extremely accessible to anyone who wants to find them. They can be purchased on the street, through doctors, on-line pharmacies, and even through black market websites.

10. Enhancement: Drug use and abuse very often starts with people drinking alcohol. When the effects of the alcohol aren’t enough, they branch out into using other drugs as well to enhance the effects of the alcohol.

Of course, there are many other reasons why people may begin using drugs but the long and short of it is they like the way the drug makes them feel. The short-term effects for most drugs are extremely pleasant and that is what keeps the person going back for more.

Brook's Struggle With Meth

2009-10-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

Brook Smith was a 16 year old girl that had everything going her way. She was being home schooled so she could complete her dream of being a top competitor in the world of rodeo. She had many friends and fans as well as people sponsoring her to travel all the miles. Her parents supported her. She was even asked to ride some of the top horses in the world in barrel racing. A picture perfect family you could say.

Drug Addiction Stories Brook Smith Things slowly started to go down hill when her parents started having problems and the word divorce started to float in the air. She was depressed and not getting to go as many places and she wanted a way out. About a month later she was at a friend’s house and telling her what all was going on. Her friend asked if she wanted a way out, a feel good. Brook thought for a moment about how she knew it’d hurt not only her but so many people and that it was wrong. But the little voice inside her said, “Just one time you won’t get hooked. Just to make you feel better.” So she took the Meth from her friend and smoked it. Her friend was right. She did feel better; as her family’s situation got worse she smoked more.

Brook’s father moved out and she knew it was final. They lost the ranch and almost all the horses and her dreams went down the drain. The two seventeen year old girls began selling meth for their supplier in order to pay the increasing costs of their growing habit. It was the same routine day after day sell and use; use and sell; and always watching your back. The girls lasted for nearly two years; and may have lasted longer, but Brook stole a horse from an old friend . When the police found her, she had just picked up more meth to sell from the dealer. Brook was alone when she was arrested, and she would not point any of the criminal acts toward her friend. After six months in jail, Brook was sent to an inpatient rehab for 45 days; then she was ordered to go to drug court, including all the meetings associated with it for another year. When Brook completed rehab, she moved into a half-way house where she was going through drug court and holding a job as well. Rehab, drug court, and the narcotics meetings taught Brook how to live and enjoy life without drugs.

Now Brook is twenty five. She and her husband own their own business and have two children. She has been drug-free for nearly five years and couldn’t be happier. She said “I forgot how happy you could be without the affects of drugs; life can be better than Meth’s high; without the crash!

What happened to Brooks friend while Brook was attending drug court? A highway patrol officer attempted to stop her for running a red light. She tried to outrun the patrolman, her car flipped four times before it stopped. Brooks friend was dead.

Credit to http://addiction.narcononrehab.com/

GIRL FIGHT at Houghton lake Bud Bash

2009-10-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

It's always something the first weekend in August. Houghton Lake, Michigan home of the "Bud Bash". What is bud bash you ask? Well let me tell you, it is a reason for people to have an excuse to travel to Mid-Michigan to get "wasted" piss in the water and trash the nice little town that I and so many others call home. Needless to say every year this little town makes thousands of dollars off all the idiots who come here to party like that are in Cancun. Year after year people are arrested, pulled over for traffic violations, eat at our restaurants stay at our hotels and just make a mess of the place and start fights like a bunch of zoo animals. Go some where else if you can't respect the town I call home.

Death by Drugs

2009-10-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

STOP THE MADNESS!

2009-10-21T16:19:00.000-07:00

"Stop the Madness" is an anti-drug music video sponsored by United States President Ronald Reagan and the Reagan administration in 1985. The video starred Claudia Wells, New Edition, LaToya Jackson, Whitney Houston, David Hasselhoff, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kim Fields, Herb Alpert, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Casey Kasem and Boogaloo Shrimp from the Breakin' franchise. Perhaps the main star of the video was Ronald Reagan's wife, Nancy Reagan, whose main cause as First Lady was speaking out against drugs, and forming the "Just Say No" anti-drug association. Mrs. Reagan appeared twice in Stop the Madness. The video was executive produced by Brian Dyak, founding president and ceo of the Entertainment Industries Council, Inc.

After the success of the movement, the CBS television network adopted the Stop the Madness name for a long running series of public service announcements addressing forms of drug abuse, addictions, alcoholism, and other social issues at concern to the general public. The current stars of CBS always spoke directly to the viewer in short but effective spots. The campaign ran until the mid-1990s, whereupon it was succeeded by specialty campaigns such as The Arts Enrich Us All and currently, CBS Cares. The video was also released as a Record by MCA Records, the song was written by Michael Stokes.

The video was created by Tim Reid, who played DJ Venus Flytrap on CBS' WKRP in Cincinnati and Brian Dyak. Stop the Madness launched the Entertainment Industries Council,Inc. to become the eminent leader in edutainment. Brian Dyak has gone on to Executive Produce and co write and produce the nationally televised PRISM Awards, the only television special(that has aired nationally for ten consecutive years) recognizing the accurate depiction of substance abuse and mental health issues in entertainment programming in the history of television.

Drunk Driver in Russia

2009-10-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Drunk Old Bag Gets Fresh with Young Guy

2009-10-20T14:52:00.000-07:00

I think Cindy had one too many. Look at the way she just hops on that kid.

My Son is an Addict

2009-10-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

My name is Sandy and my son is addicted to crack cocaine. My son started out smoking marijuana when he was 14 I didn't know at first because I didn't know anything about drugs then I noticed his eyes were red he was laughing a lot eating more than usual. We fought a lot Jon said oh mom everyone gets high its not bad. It then got to the point when he was getting high from the time he got up until he went to bed. When he was 16 he started smoking crack cocaine. That is when my hellish nightmare began crack is a highly addictive drug the first time you smoke crack they say its the highest high you can get its a 20 minute high and once you come down from it you want more and you cant stop. He only did it once in a while but then it got worse. I've had my son in 4 different rehabs and the list goes on. He started to steal out of the house I would cry every day I didn't know what to do. Rehab only works if you want the help it cant change you you have to want to change. My son is the kindest person and would do anything for anyone, he has a problem. "Mom I'm sorry I don't want to hurt you, I love you" he would say to me as he cried. Crack cocaine is a mental addiction but its always in the back of your mind to do. A person can be clean for 10 years and you could relapse at any time. Well at the age of 18 Jon decided to rob a store and the worker at the store new Jon for 8 years . He walked in and said to the clerk give me the money in the drawer the clerk looked at Jon and said "Get out of here Jon!" Jon ran out of the store, a few minutes after the state police called me and told me Jon tried to rob a convenient store. He went to jail and the judge released him. He had never been in trouble before. I could sit here and write a book, the bottom line is he ended up going to state prison for 2 years he didn't have to go but Jon kept violating his probation by failing his drug tests. Jon has been home since July but in October last year it started again. How can a person be clean for two years then start over again I asked myself? I told Jon you are either going to die or spend the rest of your life in jail. He tries so hard to stay clean, marijuana is a gate way drug. Jon and I are very close I love him more than anything I also have an 18 year old daughter who has never tried drugs and is a good girl and my 12 year old daughter is an honor roll student. What happened to Jon?

Doctors and lawyers and judges that have kids that are addicted to drugs its not always the parents fault. Just don"t turn your back and not believe your child could never be an addict you have to catch it right away before its to late. Talk to your child they need you, please don't be ashamed its not your fault. You can be the best parent in the world and don"t worry about what your friends will say, they can't judge you if they have anything to say about you or your family you don"t need them remember that. Yelling isn't the answer if you need to talk to someone please talk to me I can tell u a lot more help your child before its to late. This is just a little of what I've been through. I know the signs of what to look for and what to help you do to find out from your child on whats going on. you cant watch them 24 hours a day but you can notice if they"re behavior is changing a lot. They will also get angry when questioned if they are using, very defensive. Please talk to you child and help. Addiction is a disease.

Another Day, Another Dose

2009-10-19T13:42:00.000-07:00

It wasn’t even my prescription. A friend asked me if I’d ever tried Oxycontin. I told her no and asked her what it was. She said it was a pain pill and gave an incredible high. I really didn’t hesitate to try it. After all, it was only going to be once, what was the big deal? She told me to chew it and not swallow it whole. Within just a couple of minutes I felt better than I had ever felt in my life. So warm, tingly, high and content. I felt so relaxed and yet so aware. Soon after that high hit, I knew I was going to want more of this stuff.

Drug Addiction Stories Another Day, Another Dose Part 1That’s how it started. I began slowly; only taking one or two pills a day. Then I had to up the dosage because I just wasn’t feeling the same great high I did the first few times. Then I went from once a day, to twice a day, to so many times I lost count. Once I had gotten past 3 pills a day, my friend started charging me for them. After all, I guess she had to buy them too. At first, I thought I could control it. When I started wanting to increase the number of pills, I started to wonder how I was going to pay for them. That wasn’t easy since I was getting really sick of my job. I’d rather be high and enjoying it than working anyway.

Somewhere along the line I did lose my job because I was missing so much work. It really bothered me but all I had to do was take a hit of Oxy and everything would be fine. Money started to become a real issue, though. I couldn’t pay the bills and I wasn’t working and most importantly, I needed my Oxycontin. That’s when I first decided to start having male “friends” over. They were decent enough guys, so it was really no big deal. The thing is, that made me enough for my fix but not enough for everything else. Hey, when you can have a fantastic high, who needs anything else? I moved out of that house and just got one of those little sleeping rooms. Next thing I had to do was get the word out about my “services”. I wasn’t really a hooker. I mean, I wasn’t walking the streets or anything.

Credit to http://addiction.narcononrehab.com/

Huge Drug Bust in Mexico

2009-10-19T13:33:00.001-07:00

I don't know about you, but I would love to have just a couple of those bundles of cash.

Druggie Gets Tazed

2009-10-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

Meth Lab Explodes in a Neighborhood

2009-10-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

Drew Barrymore Started to Abuse Drugs and Alcohol Early in Life

2009-10-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

Drew Barrymore is one of the most well known and busy actors of the last twenty five years. Acting has truly been a lifelong career; nearly fifty films since she was five years old. She inherited two important legacies from her family - acting talent and drug addiction.

When it comes to drugs and rehab, it would be wise to take advice from a girl who has been through it all. Drew Barrymore, who has been to rehab several times starting at the age of 14, is offering some advice for the Young Hollywood party generation. "If you don’t pull it together for yourself, no one else will," She stated. Barrymore started drinking at the age of 9 and first tried cocaine at the age of 12. Drew Barrymore is certainly a celebrity, but she was once a young person with a lot of pain. Many drug addicts can relate to this.

Any normal nine year old girl is still playing with dolls. At 12 years old you are thinking about getting your first kiss. In Barrymore's case she was not a normal kid. My question is what kind of person dares and child to try alcohol and or do cocaine?

He'll Feel That In the Morning!

2009-10-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

Dumb Stuff People Do While Intoxicated

2009-10-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but I have never been that drunk, well maybe I have. I just have nicer friends.

Judge has an Emotional Breakdown Durning Anna Nicole Verdict

2009-10-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

Samantha Reid

2009-10-15T17:45:00.000-07:00

It’s been a decade since Judi Clark has seen her daughter, Samantha Reid. The family lived in Rockwood, Michigan. The teenager’s death took the lives of many people in directions none of them ever imagined. It was Jan. 16, 1999, at the Grosse Ile Township apartment of Eric Limmer, 25, that the lives of seven young people took an unexpected turn for the worse.

Reid, along with Melanie Sindone, 14, of Rockwood, became severely ill after unknowingly drinking beverages laced with gamma hydroxybutyrate, also referred to as a “date rape” drug.
Jessica VanWassehnova, 15, also of Rockwood, had a different drink, and did not become severely ill. The girls were at the apartment with Joshua Cole, 18, of Southgate; Nicholas Edward Holtschlag, 17; and Daniel Robert Brayman, 18, both of Brownstown Township.

The men refused to call an ambulance when Reid and Sindone began vomiting and lost consciousness. Instead, they went to a local store to buy a vacuum cleaner and cleaning supplies to clean Limmer's apartment. They cleaned the apartment before finally taking the girls to Oakwood Southshore Medical Center in Trenton formally known as "Seaway". The men told emergency room workers and police that the girls were at a house party in Ecorse and could only remember seeing a black man working the door. The men could not identify the location.

It wasn’t until Sindone regained consciousness that she told police what had occurred and where they had been. It was speculated during court testimony that Reid’s life might have been saved had the men not delayed getting her to a hospital and saying what was in her system. Brayman, Holtschlag and Cole were found guilty in 2000 of involuntary man-slaughter and poisoning, and were sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

Limmer was convicted of being an accessory to man-slaughter after the fact and was sentenced to up to five years in prison. The Michigan Court of Appeals eventually dropped the manslaughter charges, but the Michigan Supreme Court overturned the appellate court decision and the sentences were reinstated. Limmer served the maximum five-year sentence and was released in March 2004.

Brayman, Holtschlag and Cole were eligible for parole in 2007, but remain imprisoned. If they serve their maximum sentences, they will be released in 2015. Reid's death was the inspiration behind legislation titled the “Hillory J. Farias and Samantha Reid Date Rape Drug Prohibition Act of 2000.” The law categorizes GHB as a schedule 1 controlled substance.

This case received national attention and was one of the first poisoning convictions involving GHB resulting in someone’s death. Soon after Reid’s death, her mother went on a mission to find out more about the drug. She formed the nonprofit Samantha Reid Foundation to help spread the word about GHB. The foundation was formed to push legislation and to let the public know about the dangers of date-rape drugs. The drug can be used recreationally and usually is used to sexually assault women. None of the girls in this case was sexually assaulted and it was never proved that that was the intent.

Both GBL and GHB have effects very similar to those of alcohol, but are much more potent. GHB is generally diluted with water and stored in small bottles, and the dose is usually measured in cap fulls. Since the FDA had banned GHB from sale, most GHB was and is created by clandestine chemists, and bottles of GHB can be diluted to widely varying amounts.

Street Names for GHB: GHB, "G" (most common), Gamma-OH, Liquid E, Fantasy, Georgia Home Boy, Grievous Bodily Harm, Liquid X, Liquid Ecstasy (is not ecstasy), Scoop, Water, Everclear, Great Hormones at Bedtime, GBH, Soap, Easy Lay, Salty Water, G-Riffick, Cherry Meth, and Organic Quaalude, Jib.

Description: A clear liquid. Looks just like water. Can be mistaken for water because it is usually found in a small (30ml) clear plastic bottle, a water bottle, or even Gatorade bottles, which contains several doses. One quick taste, and you'll know it's not water. Not as common, but also found as a white powder. Infact powder use is on the rise!

Effects: Intoxication, increased energy, happiness, talking, desire to socialize, feeling affectionate and playful, mild disinhibition, sensuality, enhanced sexual experience, muscle relaxation, loss of coordination due to loss of muscle tone, possible nausea, difficulty concentrating, loss of gag reflex.

What you should know:

Do not take drinks from a stranger.
Do not leave your drink unattended.
Don’t drink from open containers like a punch bowl, advises Cohen.
Drink from tamper-proof bottles or cans, and open them yourself.
Be wary of drinks that taste salty or soda that is flat; these can be signs of GHB.
Also avoid a substance called GBL. “It turns into GHB in your body,” explains Cohen. “You might as well just have taken GHB.”
Be suspicious of eyedroppers, mouthwash bottles and bubble solution — they are often used as GHB containers.
If you think you may have been drugged:
1. Call 911. “Many of the people who are dead from GHB would be alive if their friends had called 911,” says Porrata. “The sooner a victim can get medical help, the better the chance of life.”
2. Ask for a urine test, suggests Porrata. Police and hospitals often use blood tests to identify drugs, but GHB is only in the blood for four hours. It can be identified in urine for longer.
If an unconscious victim is vomiting, turn the individual on either side to avoid choking or suffocation.

Keifer Sutherland in Jail for Christmas

2009-10-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

Update on the Anna Nicole Case

2009-10-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

We have more details from the Anna Nicole Smith drug-peddling case.

Florida-based medical examiner Dr. Harold Schueler told the court today that the former Playmate was seriously ill in the days before her death, suffering from an abscess on her buttock from injections of drugs. The condition may have contributed to her death on Feb. 8, 2007.

"Infections would have had an impact on her ability to withstand the drugs," the doctor said, reducing her tolerance to the sedatives and muscle relaxers she had been taking for pain, anxiety and insomnia. "Her respiratory system could also have been compromised."

In other words, it wasn't just a minor boo-boo.

Meanwhile, former bodyguard Maurice "Mo" Brighthaupt testified that he saw Smith sidekick/defendant Howard K. Stern injecting her with medication on at least five occasions after the the death of her son, Daniel.

Still waiting to take the stand: Smith's baby daddy, Larry Birkhead.

Schueler and Brighthaupt's remarks came in day two of the preliminary hearing for Stern and Drs. Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor, who are facing a litany of felony count for conspiracy to furnish Smith the drugs that led to her death. They have all pleaded not guilty.

Brighthaupt, who works as a firefighter and paramedic in Miami, said he first met Smith and Stern in 2003, when he began working for the former Playmate. He described her as happy and fun-loving and said she called him "Mo-Mo."

"I would watch her back," he said. "I would treat her as a big brother would treat a little sister."

Brighthaupt testified that he witnessed Smith's mood changed drastically after Daniel's died in 2006. She was so grief-stricken, he said, that she routinely downed antidepressants and postnatal drugs. (Smith and Birkhead's daughter, Dannielynn, was born right before Daniel died.) He also recalled seeing Anna drink chloral hydrate straight from the bottle. Brighthaupt testified that on one occasion that year the doctor personally delivered the drug to Smith in the Bahamas.

Stern, knew about her use of chloral hydrate and would pass her the bottle when she asked for it, Brighthaupt testified.

"Eroshevich said that Anna had a hard time sleeping and she was reluctant to bring it [chloral hydrate], but she was saying she had to sleep and this was the only thing that would make her feel better," he said. "Anna was begging for it."

Eroshevich and Stern took to injecting the drug into Smith's body, Brighthaupt said, because Smith "felt that if you put it in the blood system...it would get into the system faster."

The hearing is expected to last two to four weeks. At the end, the judge will decide whether there is enough evidence to warrant trial.

Yesterday, the prelim kicked off with the lead investigator in the case revealing some rather ghoulish details about what police uncovered about Smith's final days, among them that the buxom blond was found lifeless, lying in her own feces in a hotel room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Detectives also found bottles containing hundreds of prescription pills in her room, many of which Smith obtained through various aliases.

The defense has argued that most of the prescription medication found in Smith's system was considered therapeutic and far below the dosage levels doctors normally prescribe.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry voiced repeated frustration with the pace of the preliminary hearing, now in its second day, and urged prosecutors to move quickly through evidence about Smith's death and focus on evidence related to illegal prescribing and other charges against the defendants.

When a prosecutor asked a toxicologist to testify about the hypothetical effect of hundreds of pills prescribed to Smith 10 days before her death, the judge interrupted with a question that seemed to get at a central issue in the case.

"Whose fault is it that somebody takes too many pills?" the judge asked.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Renee Rose replied that the defendants were "fully aware" that Smith was an addict who could not control herself around drugs.

"It's like putting a gun in the hand of someone who is suicidal and saying don't pull the trigger," Rose said.

Top 10 Drugs and Their Effects

2009-10-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

1. Heroine

Heroine is an opiate processed directly from the extracts of the opium poppy. It was originally created to help cure people of addiction to morphine. Upon crossing the blood-brain barrier, which occurs soon after introduction of the drug into the bloodstream, heroin is converted into morphine, which mimics the action of endorphins, creating a sense of well-being; the characteristic euphoria has been described as an “orgasm” centered in the gut. One of the most common methods of heroin use is via intravenous injection.

For the last 4 months, my partner and I have been recreationally using heroin. H became our weekend ritual. Lighting candles, playing music, brie and wine and grapes, reading tarot and finally fucking… for hours on end, the most intense beautiful technicolor sex. Each time we did it we got closer to each other. And each time we did it, we wanted to do it again, and again. We tried saying we’d only do it once every two weeks, but that lasted 6 days. We have rules about how much we do in one night, how late we stay up and so on. So far the rules have kept us safe from addiction. Unless you consider the nagging i-don’t-wanna-go-a-weekend-or-have-sex-without-it feelings. We’ve never run out, although, once we were down to our last little bit and I left the vial open on the night stand. I was reaching for the lube when I heard the most sickening sound, the vial falling over. Turns out, I was mistaken, I had remembered to put the cap back on. But in those few seconds of uncertainty, my girl and I shot each other a look we had never seen before.. Fear.

2. Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. It is both a stimulant of the central nervous system and an appetite suppressant, giving rise to what has been described as a euphoric sense of happiness and increased energy. It is most often used recreationally for this effect. Cocaine is a potent central nervous system stimulant. Its effects can last from 20 minutes to several hours, depending upon the dosage of cocaine taken, purity, and method of administration. The initial signs of stimulation are hyperactivity, restlessness, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate and euphoria. The euphoria is sometimes followed by feelings of discomfort and depression and a craving to experience the drug again. Sexual interest and pleasure can be amplified. Side effects can include twitching, paranoia, and impotence, which usually increases with frequent usage.

The cocaine arrived and we agreed to use it at a time that translated to three and a half hours after I arrived. It cost $60 for what I was told was an eighth of a gram. This seemed rather expensive, but I was assured that it was ‘high quality product.’ I took the line up my left nostril. After about ninety seconds, I felt my heartbeat increase. It was definitely kicking in. I began to worry a bit, as I could feel my heart pounding and my pulse increasing. I finally felt as if it had reached a plateau. My heartbeat became level, albeit still very high. Many people say that one feels euphoria – being invincible and/or the desire to clean the house. I did not feel either of these (and I did remember to think about these things). For me, the positive effects of cocaine came directly from knowing that I had reached a plateau and I was going to be fine. I felt invigorated, yet also very comfortable.

One of the best treatment for drug addiction is to consult with cocaine rehab centers for recovery.

3. Methamphetamine

Methamphetamime, popularly shortened to meth or ice, is a psychostimulant and sympathomimetic drug. Methamphetamine enters the brain and triggers a cascading release of norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin. Since it stimulates the mesolimbic reward pathway, causing euphoria and excitement, it is prone to abuse and addiction. Users may become obsessed or perform repetitive tasks such as cleaning, hand-washing, or assembling and disassembling objects. Withdrawal is characterized by excessive sleeping, eating and depression-like symptoms, often accompanied by anxiety and drug-craving.

We first smoked meth on New Year’s Eve because we heard it was great for sex. I had to work the next day and so saved some to smoke before work in the morning. When I got home another g was waiting for me and I smoked every day but one until I finally quit three months later. For three weeks we smoked meth with little consequence, then my skin became fragile and in addition to breaking out, started to swell. I was really worried because I was constantly thirsty and drinking water, but I rarely urinated. Then my kidneys started hurting. I had lost twenty pounds in two months and my husband had lost thirty, and we’d read somewhere that rapid weight loss can cause kidney failure. I slept every three or four days for an hour or so and woke feeling rested. I was an hour late for work everyday. My husband wrecked the truck three times. One day I forgot to feed my son. Everything was either the highest of highs or the lowest of lows, no in between existed anymore. We were banned from the sauna at our apartment complex because no one else could use it. Our sweat smelled so strongly of ammonia it burned the eyes, it was caustic, and it burned our skin too. My husband and I haven’t done any drugs at all for four weeks, and things are slowly going back to normal. But I still want it. I can’t sleep tonight because I want it. I wrote this in all honesty mostly to help myself, to remind myself why I don’t want it. And still I want it.

4. Crack Cocaine

Crack cocaine, often nicknamed “crack”, is believed to have been created and made popular during the early 1980s . Because of the dangers for manufacturers of using ether to produce pure freebase cocaine, producers began to omit the step of removing the freebase precipitate from the ammonia mixture. Typically, filtration processes are also omitted. Baking soda is now most often used as a base rather than ammonia for reasons of lowered odor and toxicity; however, any weak base can be used to make crack cocaine. When commonly “cooked” the ratio is 1:1 to 2:3 parts cocaine/bicarbonate.

As I held the smoke in for a ten count and exhaled, I thought I felt nothing except a little excitement that was neither bad nor pleasurable. The complete rush some writers have called a ‘whole-body orgasm’ hit me shortly after and I distinctly remember demanding ‘more’ as soon as the realization of heaven-on-earth came. Some people say that the effects of smoking crack lasts 10-15 minutes. For me, it was just a shortest instant of gratification. Everything afterwards was just a great increase in energy and confidence geared towards obtaining more of the drug.

5. LSD

Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, LSD-25, or acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the tryptamine family. Arguably the most regarded of all psychedelics, it is considered mainly as a recreational drug, an entheogen, and a tool in use to supplement various types of exercises for transcendence including in meditation, psychonautics, and illegal psychedelic psychotherapy whether self administered or not. LSD’s psychological effects (colloquially called a “trip”) vary greatly from person to person, depending on factors such as previous experiences, state of mind and environment, as well as dose strength. They also vary from one trip to another, and even as time passes during a single trip. An LSD trip can have long term psychoemotional effects; some users cite the LSD experience as causing significant changes in their personality and life perspective. Widely different effects emerge based on what Leary called set and setting; the “set” being the general mindset of the user, and the “setting” being the physical and social environment in which the drug’s effects are experienced.

About ten years ago I bought my third trip from a guy in my home town Norwich (UK) It was a ‘Strawberry’ and I was told it had been double dipped. The guy had a reputation for selling good acid so I happily gave him my cash. I took the single LSD tab in the late morning in a positive state of mind with no worries or anxieties. I began to come up on the acid towards the lunch time. It was to be the first and last time I’d ever trip alone. Outside it was a glorious sunny day but I was happy enough in my temporary sanctuary to even think about going outside. The LSD rush started blazing up my spine and racing through my guts, I felt a little uneasy with it but had enough mind to allow myself to just go with it and wait until the rush plateaued. I was having a wonderful time, watching floral Escher type patterns breathing over my skin. I vaguely recall deciding to go downstairs again for some reason then the next thing I recall was awakening on the floor of the dining room alone. The first thing I noticed was that there were blowflies buzzing around a bowl of catfood on the kitchen floor. I remember feeling perplexed as to why both flies had two bright neon after images in red and blue. Somehow I navigated myself through Norwich during the busy lunchtime shoppers and begun to head in the direction of the city’s central park ‘Chapelfield gardens’. If you could imagine for a moment being surrounded by people in a busy place where their heads had been removed and replaced by Squids and Octopus you might begin to accurately picture the scene confronting me in the park. Everyone had tentacles smothering their faces and dangling down their necks like fleshy snake beards, even the women and children were not exempt from this disfiguration. In retrospect, it was the worst day of my entire life, It was the closest I can imagine to having full blown psychosis.

6. Ecstasy

Ecstasy (MDMA) is a semisynthetic psychedelic entactogen of the phenethylamine family that is much less visual with more stimulant like effects than most all other common “trip” producing psychedelics. It is considered mainly a recreational drug that’s often used with sex and associated with club drugs, as an entheogen, and a tool in use to supplement various types of practices for transcendence including in meditation, psychonautics, and illicit psychedelic psychotherapy whether self administered or not. The primary effects of MDMA include an increased awareness of the senses, feelings of openness, euphoria, empathy, love,happiness, heightened self-awareness, feeling of mental clarity and an increased appreciation of music and movement. Tactile sensations are enhanced for some users, making physical contact with others more pleasurable. Other side effects, such as jaw clenching and elevated pulse, are common.

Sitting comfortably in our cosy living room, Café del Mar and similar CDs playing in the background, we began at 8 pm. I swallowed one white tablet with water. Over the next hour nothing much happened except that I found myself talking quite openly and confidently with the others, moving very easily into interesting conversations. This was a little unusual for me as I am normally quite shy and overly self-conscious in social situations and it takes me a while to loosen up. The next thing I experienced was a striking shift in my visual perception. I don’t mean a hallucination or a distortion, but a wonderful step up in the aesthetic quality. For a moment it was like being in one of those nostalgic TV ads where the world looks all gold and sepia. ‘Everything’s gone amber!’ I blurted. But then I found that my vision was becoming beautifully enhanced. It made my normal visual experience seem like cheap, fuzzy CCTV footage in comparison. Now I was seeing the world anew in sharp, lush, top-quality Technicolor! I also began to move in time to the music. The music! Oh, the music! Wow! It sounded so good, so organic! The uplifted state stayed with me and took a long time to fade — at least a couple of weeks. It had unleashed in me a rush of joy that was still accessible when I focused on it weeks later.

7. Opium

Opium is a resinous narcotic formed from the latex released by lacerating (or “scoring”) the immature seed pods of opium poppies (Papaver somniferum). It contains up to 16% morphine, an opiate alkaloid, which is most frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. Opium has gradually been superseded by a variety of purified, semi-synthetic, and synthetic opioids with progressively stronger effect, and by other general anesthesia. This process began in 1817, when Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner reported the isolation of pure morphine from opium after at least thirteen years of research and a nearly disastrous trial on himself and three boys.

I remember that what I smoked was much easier to smoke than marijuana. There was no burning in my throat nor in my lungs. I took a very large, smooth hit. Smoking it like marijuana, I held it in for about 10 or 15 seconds and let it out. It didn’t taste like marijuana, I remember the taste being rather faint. It actually tasted and smelled like incense. I was very surprised to suddenly find myself on the floor, in the dark, with a crowd of people surrounding me. Apparently I had fainted and fallen to the ground, but I hadn’t noticed. The high itself is rather hard to describe. It was much more intense than marijuana. It felt heavy, like my whole body was being impacted… but it also felt very clear and refined at the same time. As I made my way towards the bathroom the drug began to kick in again. My steps kind of faded away and it felt like I was just floating over to the bathroom. The scary thing was though, that I was having trouble seeing. My vision was fading. Distinct figures melted into shadows and everything had a sparkle to it. All of a sudden, everything felt really good. I couldn’t stop smiling. Everything was profound in a very positive way, especially the music since it resonated everywhere. It was a very abstruse experience. I imagine that I was coming down at this point, an hour had surely past by because the band was building a climax to end their first set. I went along with the crowd and made my way outside. The fresh air was wonderful. The cool air seemed to wrap around my body. A slight breeze on the back of my neck sent chills that rapidly multiplied throughout my body.

8. Marijuana

Cannabis, known as marijuana in its herbal form, is a psychoactive product of the plant Cannabis sativa. Humans have been consuming cannabis since prehistory, although in the 20th century there was a rise in its use for recreational, religious or spiritual, and medicinal purposes. It is estimated that about four percent of the world’s adult population use cannabis annually. It has psychoactive and physiological effects when consumed, usually by smoking or ingestion. The minimum amount of THC required to have a perceptible psychoactive effect is about 10 micrograms per kilogram of body weight. The state of intoxication due to cannabis consumption is colloquially known as a “high”; it is the state where mental and physical facilities are noticeably altered due to the consumption of cannabis. Each user experiences a different high, and the nature of it may vary upon factors such as potency, dose, chemical composition, method of consumption and set and setting.

After taking that first hit, and not feeling the effects within a minute (holding it in for a minute, and then waiting a little bit after exhaling) I decided, well I better hit this again, harder if I can. I took just as large of a hit, and again held it in for longer than a minute. I let my brother know I was really starting to feel something now and I don’t think I liked it all. It snuck up on me really bad, and I still had no idea what to expect. I wanted him to be quiet. Laying down was not helping, so I got back up. I went back to the garage and tried to explain to everyone ‘I am totally fucked up. This is scary!’ I was rationalizing everything tremendously, but it was SO intense! And it was only getting more intense faster! I didn’t know what to expect, I was sinking within myself, accelerating downward like into the depths of my own oblivion. I was a novice, I had no idea what to expect, and the world had become out of synch, the talking of my brothers, his friend, all ridiculous and extremely annoying. I became amazingly irritable and wanted them to leave me alone or not talk in my presence. They did not understand or appreciate my fear, and they began to get loud again. I ran upstairs to my parents bed and laid down with some wistful hope that I could wait out this storm.

9. Psilocybin Mushrooms

Psilocybin mushrooms (also called psilocybian mushrooms) are fungi that contain the psychedelic substances psilocybin and psilocin, and occasionally other psychoactive tryptamines. There are multiple colloquial terms for psilocybin mushrooms, the most common being magic mushrooms or ’shrooms. When psilocybin is ingested, it is broken down to produce psilocin, which is responsible for the hallucinogenic effects. The intoxicating effects of psilocybin-containing mushrooms typically last anywhere from 3 to 7 hours depending on dosage, preparation method and personal metabolism. The experience is typically inwardly oriented, with strong visual and auditory components. Visions and revelations may be experienced, and the effect can range from exhilarating to distressing. There can be also a total absence of effects, even with large doses.

I had acquired about 8 grams of dried mushrooms and some liquid psilocybin equivalent to another 5 grams of powdered mushrooms. I swallowed the liquid first, on an empty stomach of course. I could feel a slight sensation after about 10-15 minutes. Then I added the powder to some water in a mug and swallowed that also. I then sat by the camp fire, listening to the wind in the trees while I contemplated what was about to happen. After about 45-50 minutes I heard a ‘voice’ calling to me. It wasn’t audible in the normal sense – it came from inside my own mind! Then I was gone – out of this world. I escaped into what I perceived to be the outer boundaries of my mind or my imagination. This placed presented itself as a natural forest with low light. Here I met the owner of the aforementioned voice – the Mushroom Goddess. She took the form of a white, strapless, ankle-length dress, standing side-on from me. For about the next two hours I dialoged with her, becoming totally bewitched by her charm, her wit, her intelligence, her knowledge, her unconditional affection for me and her seemingly infinite perspective. I have come to think of her as my other-worldly girlfriend.

10. PCP

PCP (Phencyclidine) is a dissociative drug formerly used as an anesthetic agent, exhibiting hallucinogenic and neurotoxic effects. It is commonly known as Angel Dust, but is also known as Wet, Sherm, Sherman Hemsley, Rocket Fuel, Ashy Larry, Shermans Tank, Wack, Halk Hogan, Ozone, HannaH, Hog, Manitoba Shlimbo, and Embalming Fluid, among other names. Although the primary psychoactive effects of the drug only last hours, total elimination from the body is prolonged, typically extending over weeks. PCP is consumed in a recreational manner by drug users, mainly in the United States, where the demand is met by illegal production. It comes in both powder and liquid forms (PCP base dissolved most often in ether), but typically it is sprayed onto leafy material such as marijuana, mint, oregano, parsley or Ginger Leaves, and smoked. PCP has potent effects on the nervous system altering perceptual functions (hallucinations, delusional ideas, delirium or confused thinking), motor functions (unsteady gait, loss of coordination, and disrupted eye movement or nystagmus), and autonomic nervous system regulation (rapid heart rate, altered temperature regulation). The drug has been known to alter mood states in an unpredictable fashion causing some individuals to become detached and others to become animated.

When I was taking the drug, I used very small amounts. The effect was incredibly pleasant and social, so much so that me and my friends all used it instead of booze for almost a year. I couldn’t dance for shit on the stuff (I’d get stumbly and actually fell on my ass on the dance floor once) but the physical sensations and mental pictures were really fun. It is quite different from any psychedelic visuals or even Ketamine visuals…more like rolling through old film footage. To be honest, I liked it more than my experiences on Ketamine. PCP can make one nearly impervious to pain at high doses. Because of this, PCP can make things seem like a good idea that otherwise wouldn’t (leading to the stories of people leaping out of windows, etc.) I experienced very confusing physical reality when really high on it, like being unable to discern the difference between walking up stairs and down them, or standing still and walking. This could lead to very unusual behavior.

Elvis Presley

2009-10-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

Elvis Aaron Presley, in the humblest of circumstances, was born to Vernon and Gladys Presley in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn, leaving Elvis to grow up as an only child. He and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1948, and Elvis graduated from Humes High School there in 1953. Biography Elvis’ musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. In 1954, he began his singing career with the legendary Sun Records label in Memphis. In late 1955, his recording contract was sold to RCA Victor. By 1956, he was an international sensation. With a sound and style that uniquely combined his diverse musical influences and blurred and challenged the social and racial barriers of the time, he ushered in a whole new era of American music and popular culture.

He starred in 33 successful films, made history with his television appearances and specials, and knew great acclaim through his many, often record-breaking, live concert performances on tour and in Las Vegas. Globally, he has sold over one billion records, more than any other artist. His American sales have earned him gold, platinum or multi-platinum awards for 150 different albums and singles, far more than any other artist. Among his many awards and accolades were 14 Grammy nominations (3 wins) from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which he received at age 36, and his being named One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation for 1970 by the United States Jaycees. Without any of the special privileges his celebrity status might have afforded him, he honorably served his country in the U.S. Army.

His talent, good looks, sensuality, charisma, and good humor endeared him to millions, as did the humility and human kindness he demonstrated throughout his life. Known the world over by his first name, he is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth century popular culture. Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977 in the bathroom of his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 42. He had been on the toilet, but fallen off onto the floor, where he lay in a pool of his own vomit. Panicked, his staff contacted an ambulance, which rushed him to nearby Baptist Memorial Hospital, where, after several attempts to revive him, he died at 3:30 pm CST. His autopsy was performed at 7:00 pm.

The official coroner's report lists "cardiac arrhythmia" as the cause of Presley's death, but this was later admitted to be a ruse entered into by the Presley family along with autopsy physicians Dr. Jerry T. Francisco, Dr. Eric Muirhead and Dr. Noel Florredo to cover up the real cause of death, a cocktail of ten prescribed drugs, taken in doses no doctor would prescribe:

The painkillers Morphine and Demerol.Chloropheniramine, an antihistamine.
The tranquilizers Placidyl and Valium. Finally, four drugs were found in "significant" quantities: Codeine, an opiate, Ethinamate, largely prescribed at the time as a "sleeping pill," Quaalude's, and a barbiturate, or depressant, that has never been identified. It has also been rumored that Diazepam, Amytal, Nembutal, Carbrital, Sinutab, Elavil, Avental, and Valmid were found in his system at death.

The phrase "cardiac arrhythmia," in the context of the coroner's report, means little more than a stopped heart; the report initially tried to attribute the arrhythmia to cardiovascular disease, but Elvis' own personal physician has stated that Presley had no such chronic problems at the time. Most of Elvis' many health problems can and have been traced back to rampant abuse of prescription drugs. Elvis had visited his dentist on August 15th to have a temporary crown put in; it has also been suggested that the codeine the dentist gave him that day resulted in an anaphylactic shock that assisted in his death. (He had suffered allergic reactions to the drug previously.)

Requiem For A Dream Trailer

2009-10-13T16:04:00.000-07:00

This movie was released in 2002. If you haven't seen it then you should rent it now.

Ellen Burstyn scored an Oscar nomination for her stunning performance as Sara Goldfarb, a widow whose growing dependence on amphetamines and the boob tube parallels that of her junkie son (Jared Leto), his gal pal (Jennifer Connelly) and his buddy (Marlon Wayans). An unnerving tour through the agonizing nature of addiction, this riveting indie drama also stars Christopher McDonald as the host of an odious self-help show.

Dr. Phil Helps Twins with Addiction to Heroine.

2009-10-13T15:47:00.000-07:00

Janice Dickinson

2009-10-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

As the child of a violent, pedophiliac father and a pill-popping mother, Janice Dickinson grew up hearing her father's "You'll never amount to nothing!" Determined to become a raging success, Dickinson went to New York City and began calling modeling agencies. It was the 1970s, and the ideal models were blond girl-next-door types like Cheryl Tiegs, but Dickinson was a self described "Polish-mutt nigger lips". She was turned down by Eileen Ford but ended up going to Paris after Lorraine Bracco told her photographer boyfriend that she liked Dickinson's look.

She became a huge success in Europe, and returned to New York City in 1978. It was the era of Studio 54 and Dickinson partied with the likes of Truman Capote, Andy Warhol, and John Belushi. She seduced the most famous ladies' men, drank every drink and snorted or inhaled every drug. While foggy headed, she fell off a catwalk and onto Sophia Loren. Dickinson took revenge on Ford by signing with her agency and then jumping ship to Elite when she became established in the US.

After the end of her marriage to Ninja Turtle producer Simon Fields, Dickinson celebrated, and nine months later had a daughter named Savannah. She was quoted as saying "In the week I conceived, I had made love with five different men." Savannah was the subject of a fierce paternity battle with Sylvester Stallone. He accepted that he was the father until he saw Savannah's coloring, and DNA testing proved that he was not the father.

Tyra Banks Show - Fergie's Meth Addiction

2009-10-12T17:06:00.000-07:00

My Life on Meth

2009-10-12T17:02:00.000-07:00

Kirsten Dunst

2009-10-12T16:39:00.000-07:00

Hollywood actress Kirsten Dunst who recently recovered from alcohol addiction is reportedly getting into the habit again. The’ Spider Man’ actress is drinking again after a year-and-a-half-long battle to stay sober with photographs of a recent night-out showing her looking wasted. Dunst was seen knocking back shots of vodka at a Los Angeles bar.. “She told a companion to order her a double vodka on the rocks, he held her by the arm to keep her stable.

Even though she was wasted, she looked like she was trying to hide her drink in her jacket as she walked toward a couch. But minutes after she sat down, Kirsten gulped her drink,”a source said.

Eminem's Story

2009-10-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

The singer said he became so hooked on prescription medicines that he also overdosed on the heroin substitute methadone. He inadvertently took a massive dose after being given a handful of tablets by a pal. Eminem, 36, said: “My doctor told me those mysterious new pills were methadone. “Had I known it was methadone, I probably wouldn’t have taken it. But, as bad as I was back then, I can’t even say 100 per cent for sure. “My doctor told me the amount of methadone I’d taken was equivalent to shooting up four bags of heroin. “Even when they told me I had almost died, it didn’t click.” The American star, whose eagerly-awaited new album is called Relapse, was also addicted to the sedative Valium. In August 2005 he canceled a European tour, citing exhaustion. Two days later his record company revealed he was being treated for dependency on sleep medication. Although he soon weaned himself off he suffered a relapse. He told yesterday how he searched his home in desperation for drugs or medications containing powerful narcotics, such as cough syrup NyQuil.

Eminem — real name Marshall Mathers III — said: “I’m ransacking my house, finally find something in the basement, in a little napkin, 7½ Vicodin (pain killers) — the big, extra-strength ones — and a few Valium.” The star added: “Rap was my drug. “It used to get me high, then it stopped getting me high. “Then I had to resort to other things to make me feel that. Now rap’s getting me high again.”

Dawn and Fabian - Intervention

2009-10-12T14:27:00.000-07:00

Dawn, 49, is a meth addict, suffering the extreme physical addition symptoms of the drug. She often hallucinates and imagines things, symptoms of meth psychosis. Dawn lives on the streets.

Fabian is addicted to Alcohol and Meth.

The Impact of Meth

2009-10-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

Methamphetamine is a central nervous system stimulant with a high potential for abuse and dependence. A synthetic drug, methamphetamine is closely related chemically to amphetamine, but produces greater effects on the central nervous system. The drug’s euphoric effects are similar to, but longer lasting than those of cocaine. It generally comes in three forms:

Powder: a white, odorless, and bitter-tasting crystalline powder, readily soluble in water or alcohol.

Crystal: Users smoke chunks of a very pure form of crystalline methamphetamine called “Ice”.

Rock: Big chunks of the drug, usually found in yellow, are usually ingested orally.

Methamphetamine can be smoked, injected intravenously, snorted, or ingested orally. The drug alters mood in different ways, depending on how it is taken. Immediately after smoking or intravenous injection, the user experiences an intense “rush” or “flash” that lasts only a few minutes and is described as extremely pleasurable. Smoking or injecting produces effects fastest - within 5 to 10 seconds. Snorting or ingesting orally produces euphoria - a high but not an intense rush. Snorting produces effects within 3 to 5 minutes, and ingesting orally produces effects within 15 to 20 minutes.

Why is it addictive?

Meth is a powerfully addictive stimulant that has a dramatic effect on the central nervous system. Essentially, meth tricks the brain and body into thinking that it has limitless stamina while in fact draining critical energy reserves needed to maintain the body's vital organs and functions. As a consequence, meth produces bursts of energy and euphoria but ultimately leads to severe depression, brain damage, physical deterioration, and – in some cases – violent paranoia.

Meth is a stimulant – a drug that increases the energy of the user. Caffeine is a very mild stimulant, while cocaine and methamphetamine are more intense, addictive, and dangerous stimulants. Stimulant drugs such as meth and cocaine may be contrasted with narcotic drugs like heroin and morphine, which do not stimulate the nervous system but instead tend to dull the senses and induce relaxation, stupor, and sleep.

Michael Jackson - The King of Pop

2009-10-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

Anna Nicole Smith

2009-10-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

Even a 9 year old knows when something isn't right.

Lindsey Lohan's Battle

2009-10-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

The Battle Begins

2009-10-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

Over the past two years I have been dealing with my boyfriend's drug addiction to painkillers of all sorts. First it started out just getting a couple pills here and there to deal with his neck and back pain, and then he went to the doctor to be treated. The doctor just filled him prescriptions of Tramadol (240 pills) and he would take 10-20 a day without my knowing. I knew something was up when he would tell me he needed to call the doctor to get more because he "lost" some or they "fell in the toilet" when he went pee or he gave some to "friends" at work, which of none I believed.

Then he lost his insurance, and since he was addicted he started buying them off the street. He would buy any painkiller he could get his hands on. I would get so mad because he was paying huge amounts of money on these damn things and we would let bills slide just to treat his need. I didn't understand how someone couldn't take just one or two pills for the day. We would literally get into bad arguments because of the loss of money and bills being behind because of this. He would tell me over and over "I need them," "you don't understand" and "you can't feel my pain," which would then make me feel bad and I'd end up giving in and let him buy more. He is very good at twisting things and getting what he wants.

It got so bad one time that he actually thought we had money in our walls. He attempted to rip the walls open, until I talked him out of it. He has had seizures, fell through windows, overdrawn our bank account a million times (it's still in the negative) wrecked my car and started fights with me for no reason.

I love him with everything I got and I couldn't stand to watch him kill himself. It wasn't until last week that we got into a huge fight because his "dealer" called trying to get him to buy more pills. I blew up! We had our fight, I threatened to leave and he then told me that he had a problem and wants to quit.

We are now working on his addiction. The pills that he has left I am holding and I only give one or just a half of one a day. He is doing really well and I am very proud of him. We just take one day at a time and I hope he can finally be done with the addiction soon.

A Little Help Along the Way

2009-10-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

The Horrors of Benzo Withdrawals

2009-10-11T16:03:00.000-07:00

This is what happens after trying to get off Klonopin after 29 years.

Oh, Not My Daughter!

2009-10-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

On Her Way To Opiate Withdrawal
Darcy's Drug Addiction Story

Darcy’s father stood over her hospital bed, head bowed in silent prayer, asking God to help his 15 year-old daughter through withdrawal from her heroin addiction. He’s a good dad, loves his girl and can’t understand how such a young person, his child, could get into such deep trouble.

Heroin addicts aren’t high school students, they’re people who live on the streets and beg for change. Heroin addicts don’t have a 3.75 grade point average and apply for acceptance into the top colleges. Well adjusted teenage girls don’t attack their father with a golf club and curse him. How did it get so messed up?

Darcy had been using for nearly 18 months, not always regularly, but in recent weeks her appetite for heroin increased and dad discovered that his coin collection and jewelry were gone. Her allowance was generous, even by upper middle class standards, but once the addiction took over, it was insufficient to buy her the desired amount of the drug. She stole from her father, from her mother whom she lived with on alternative weekends, and from her older brothers and sisters.

Some of her grandmother’s possessions were missing, but she didn’t put two and two together and never suspected her granddaughter had ripper her off. As she increased her usage, Darcy discovered that not having enough drug was far worse than having the problem of addiction. Coming off heroin was difficult. Her body had become dependent upon the replenishment of the drug, as the heroin would attach itself to Opioid receptors in her brain and spinal chord.

Her body no longer produced its own natural chemicals to manage pain, so not having the heroin caused her to become “dope sick.” When the drug was not replenished, she went into withdrawal. She never experienced this before, because the withdrawal didn’t occur with occasional use, but after time, as she used more and more drug, and needed more and more drug, the abrupt removal of heroin was devastating.

How Drug Addiction Stories Start

She didn’t start out that way. When she was in eighth grade she and her friends were given marijuana to try. Most of the kids didn’t like it, because it either tasted terrible or they didn’t like the feeling they got when the effects kicked in. But it agreed with Darcy, who also began to raid the family liquor cabinet when she couldn’t buy grass.

One day, when she was just past her 14th birthday, she discovered some pain killers in her mother’s medicine cabinet. Her mom had a back surgery and was prescribed OxyContin, but only took a couple of them, leaving a nearly full prescription in the bathroom.

Even 14 year-old people can research on the internet and soon she learned that by grinding the drug and snorting it, the high was intense. The chances for addiction were also intense and it didn’t take long before Darcy was seeking that euphoric experience over and over.

It was the only time she felt good. She solicited her friends to steal drugs from their parents. Any kind of pain killer would do, but Vicodin and Oxy were preferred, and because they are prescribed so often, getting a supply wasn’t all that difficult. She also became rather cleaver, as each time she visited the house of a new “friend” she would secretly check out the medicine cabinets.

Drug Addiction Stories move to Heroin

Darcy soon realized that OxyContin was expensive, but heroin on the street was about a quarter the price, so see looked for suppliers. She didn’t have to search long.

Quitting heroin cold turkey is isn’t easy. Treatment centers will help addicts through the process often times by prescribing drugs like buprenorphine, which is FDA-approved for medical detox. Subutex or Suboxone are other drugs with smaller amounts of buprenorphine, and those are used to help the addict gradually descrease their physical dependence.

Clonidine is another drug used to treat the symptoms of withdrawal and may be prescribed rather than the buprenorphine. Methadone treatment is also common, but these are specific centers that use the drug, and the dosage of methadone is gradually reduced over time to help the addict’s body adjust. Unlike the other drugs, methadone treatment may be long-term.

The fact that a young girl can become addicted to opiates should not be a surprise. Take a look at the population in general. It is estimated that as many as 10% of Americans have at one time or another abused opiates. It could be as innocent an act as merely taking one too many pills, or taking your pills too often, but that is still abuse. Even when people follow their doctor’s prescription to the tee, their bodies can build up a tolerance to the drugs.

Even when the original injury is healed and there should not no further need for pain management, the body still thinks it needs the analgesic. Even people who were given pain meds in the hospital may experience withdrawal when they get home.

Darcy’s father had read someplace that some withdrawal treatment programs offered faster results. Rapid opiate detox involves putting the patient under anesthesia and injecting opiate-blocking drugs. The idea is that this treatment will speed the system to normal function, but there are cases in which the treatment actually made the withdrawal symptoms worse, or even caused deaths when the treatment was administered outside a hospital setting.

Darcy was hospitalized due to intense withdrawal and was receiving the best care. It was decided that she would not go under, mainly because opiate withdrawal causes vomiting, and that would increase the chances of death. Any rapid detox was ruled out in her case.

Her father stood there, feeling completely helpless. A nurse suggested he contact Narcotics Anonymous, or SMART Recovery, in an effort to learn how he can best help his daughter.

Moving forward, once she was released, and out of treatment, a support group would be a lifeline to help her rebuild her life and return to a healthy lifestyle. Some material from NA helped him understand that opiate withdrawal is painful, but not necessarily fatal.

While Darcy was receiving exceptional care, the biggest problem that she would face in the future, as her father learned, was relapse. Once the drug was out of her system, a return to the old dosage could be fatal. Over time her body built up a tolerance, so more and more drug was needed, but after detox and treatment, her body was getting back to normal.

The old amount was way too much and most overdoes occur right after treatment. She was going to need long-term treatment, so the group would be an important component to that. She would also need some additional medical testing, to check for depression or some other form of mental illness. Darcy may need the benefit of an antidepressant

This has a happy ending. Most Drug Addiction Stories Don't

Darcy was lucky. Treatment is more effective when the heroin addiction is identified early and having a father who was willing to be taught how to help his daughter was a plus.

This story is courtesy of Drug Addiction Support.org

Aaron Brink Intervention

2009-10-10T17:30:00.001-07:00

Aaron Brink Intervention - Watch more Funny Videos

This proves that addiction can be overcome no matter how bad things get.

A&E Intervention - Andrea and Ricky Part 1

2009-10-10T17:28:00.000-07:00

Ultrams and Vicodin

2009-10-10T17:22:00.000-07:00

My husband is hooked on Ultrams (Generic Name: tramadol (TRAM a dol), and Vicodin. This is going on now for a few years and I've had enough. Whenever I confront him on this subject he'll just insist that he's taking them for his back pain. I know that there's got to be some other alternative then taking these meds for the rest of his life and being an addict. I'm scared for his life and our marriage. Anytime I try and talk to him about this, he raises his voice and threatens to leave. He says he knows he's got a problem and he's gonna try and quit on his own by weaning himself off. He says by doing it this way he should bypass the withdrawal part. I don't know how true that is. I suggested that I take him in to get detoxed, but he refuses to do that. he said either we'll do it his way or he's not gonna try and quit at all. He gave me all his pills. so now I have control over how many he gets to take per day. I just hope he really wants this. I don't want to have to leave him, but at the same time I don't want to have to watch him hurt himself anymore. I don't know what to do. I feel like a basket case!

I Don't Believe Him

2009-10-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd throw this out there?? I've been involved with an addict/alcoholic for about 8 years...this time he says he's been clean for 2 months, but the problem is I have a hard time believing him. He has been a habitual relapse case. This January he lied to me about going to a rehab, and after a few weeks after finding out, he said he was clean and didn't need to go, but he'd would attend meetings regularly. Well, maybe some of the red flags are going up from time to time here lately, but I honestly don't trust my own judgment with him anyway. He has become irate with me because I don't trust him and he gets really angry when I question him about this stuff.However, this isn't the first time I've heard he's going to meetings. He's lied about picking up chips-(has picked them up when he was using),stolen money, meds, kids things to pawn,he's disappeared on us,the list goes on, but mainly he's lied about being clean when he wasn't. I've been very honest about how I feel with him and the addiction, but lately it justs seems to set off a fight. I don't know what to do anymore, because I feel it will take time to get that trust back and I feel very hurt since the kids and I have been there time and time again for him, but he has no patience for us??? (sorry, sarcasm)His main complaint is that there is no natural sex drive coming from me (I have the chronic back pain from an injury,which is a whole other list of problems between us) which I admit, it's hard to be sexually attracted and comfortable to someone that I have a hard time trusting. I complain we need to work on the relationship and get it stronger first, before worrying about sex and those problems. I have a hard time trusting him in the house because I'm afraid he'll steal my pills ( I take one if back pain flairs up-low dose Vicodin) and I don't want any money stolen either. He hasn't yet, but I need some time to see if he really is clean this time or if he's blowing smoke in my ear again. I told him this would be his last chance. I don't have the medical insurance for a counselor and my Al-anon group isn't the strongest in the world, but I still read the books. My oldest son goes to Ala-teen. Other than that I'm at a loss. I feel like we're on the losing end all over again. Does anyone have any ideas or opinions???