paulhillsdon.com

I was raised with biased information concerning drugs and alcohol. As I’m sure you all know, there is an amount of drug education in schools. Frankly, most of what they say is that drugs are bad and defined uppers versus downers. There’s much they are missing there, including mentioning the pros of drugs. In any case, I had been indoctrinated for a while, and it wasn’t till last year that I finally began to fully understand all the issues surrounding the consumption of such mind altering substances.

It may sound weird, especially for a 17 year old, but it wasn’t till a few days ago that I finally tried both alcohol and marijuana. The experience was quite mixed for me.

I drank a cooler (Bacardi Breeze), slowly and alone, and got the buzz. It certainly felt like my inhibitions were lowered. What surprised me (see the misinformation taught to me previously) was that I didn’t completely lose my mind, and was fully aware of what I was doing, and had control over myself. I wasn’t slurring my words, or walking weirdly. Of course, it was just a cooler, but still. It did boost my energy slightly, and the buzz lasted for the hours that I sipped the drink. It took about two hours for me to return to my regular state. Oh, and I didn’t really like having to burp so often. Overall, it was an okay experience, but I don’t think I’d do it very often or for fun, just because I like the idea of not killing my brain cells. But it’s good to know it’s not nearly as bad as I thought, and I suppose I could now define myself as a social drinker.

The marijuana experience was much different. According to what I’ve read (from the good to the bad), cannabis has much more good potential for the body than alcohol. My only worry was the smoke, not only because I’m a former asthmatic, and I vehemently hate cigarette smoke, but because I’m generally just sensitive around the quality of my air. Of course, it did end up being my biggest issue with marijuana. What’s weird is it’s not bad inhaling it, it’s the exhale that felt really weird. First off, it left this taste of burnt marshmallows in the back of my throat. I also didn’t like the feeling of the smoke in my lungs - I kept trying to just bring some clean air into my system to flush it out, but it didn’t work. The drug didn’t really hit my system for at least 10-15 minutes, which I found odd considering it apparently works much faster usually.

Cannabis basically made my body go completely cold - again, weird, since I read your heart rate goes faster.  I didn’t get the munchies, but felt really tired. Music wasn’t a better experience either. But I suppose it could be that idea that your never actually get high your first time. Anyways, it was okay, but I’d like it better if I didn’t have to smoke it. So, maybe if it was through a vaporizer or in a brownie I’d enjoy it better.

In any case, it was a mixed experience, but now I can say I tried them both and understand myself the ups and downs of the drugs.

Ontario Provincial Police used facebook recently to thwart an illegal party being planned by teenagers using the online service. Apparently, a cop simply signed up to facebook, warned the teens that police would be supervising the area, and, naturally, nobody ended up showing up. However…

Shortly after the party flop, though, teenagers were already writing about plans for the next big bush party.

“We just need to be more sneaky. … It was just a mistake posting it too soon,” one user wrote.

I can’t believe that, first of all, the teens were stupid enough to leave their event page public. And second of all, stupid enough to post that they ought to be more “sneaky” next time… publicly! They really deserve having their plans foiled if they cannot even learn to privatise things, especially on facebook of all social networks.

I used to run into this all the time on Nexopia and MySpace: idiot teens posting all kind of crap publicy, whether it’s about their party plans for the weekend, or web insults to other online strangers, or their real contact info. As I said before, whoever is stupid enough to post this info, deserves what will be coming to them eventually.

This is why I rarely post many comments on the public “walls” of people (facebook lingo, in this case). I’ve always preferred using messages if I’m saying anything on value to the other person, which I usually am. Public areas in social networks, like facebook’s “walls”, should only be used to random jokes and comments that only teens can lash out.