So. Upon taking a break around midnight I decided to unwind with a bit of ye old Entertainment. The hows and the whys escape me--the interwebs, like a magical forest, tend to lead to many unsettling discoveries--but I stumbled upon this little... gem, the website for the Montana Meth Project. Warning: The videos and the ads aren't exactly for the faint of heart. The blurb on the site sums it all up pretty nicely, 70-90% of teens in Montana are supposedly seeing these about three times a week--saturation-level advertising they're calling it. The ads themselves are... well... abhorrently grotesque. Like the Nunhagen-Aspirin ads, but there's nothing remotely artistic or what have you about this. "Not even once" is the general theme...
I'm not really inclined to try meth, personally, but in my humble opinion advertisements like this are irresponsible. In an era of media saturation this isn't informing people--children, specifically--of the dangers of drug abuse and addiction. Its designed to propagate Fear, scare the living crap out of sheep-in-training so they'll fall neatly into line when the time comes. I'll be completely honest--I've never even thought about the drug, rumors of its hazards are enough to keep me at bay. But after looking at the depraved children, selling their bodies and beating up their parents and fornicating with the homeless right after taking a single hit, one thought stuck out in my mind: God, I wonder what a hit of meth must feel like... I mean, if people get so crazy about it...
Okay... so maybe i'm a special case. But I've spent a great deal of this class / my college career / Life thinking about addiction, and the nature of addiction. What is it that gets people so riled up about their particular "Drug," be it Codeine or "All My Children" or Super Mario World or Ultimate Frisbee? And has it always been this way? Or are we getting worse? Could a lifetime that revolves around routines and schedules be making us a bit more inclined to spend our allotted "free time" as well as we can? Little Johnny has one afternoon off a week, when he's not doing homework or in class or playing a sport so he he can tack it on to his transcript or whatever. Does he sit on the couch and watch TV, because he's exhausted, or--knowing he's got another long week ahead of him with no solace in sight--call up a bunch of friends drop some acid and go hang out with some clouds?
As this blog thing is only quasi-anonymous i'm not really concerned about anyone's particular bouts with addiction or whatever (I'll confess, I'm known to play Canasta with my stuffed animals to the wee hours of the morning, sometimes my suitemates have to sedate me just so i can get to class / work on time) but... I dunno, thoughts?
I don't know how to answer everything you've inquired about here. I know I have never tried drugs, so I cannot respond to that kind of addiction, but I feel I have my own share of addictions, especially since I entered college. These might seem trite, but I find myself drinking a cup of coffee each day and I had a period where I always craved frozen yogurt (I had to give it up for lent to wean myself off it-- I had withdrawal, seriously.) I also do find myself using the small time I have free to watch extragant amounts of Friends episodes. I know I have seen every one, and probably much more than once, but I cannot help myself. I really do think, like DFW seems to imply, that we are breeding an addictive culture. I think places like McDonalds (with massive amounts sugar in everything), Starbucks (one on every corner) and things like IPODs are just fueling our addictions. This commercial/media craze is getting out of hand, no?
Wow. While I agree that the goal of these advertisements is more about fear than information, I think they're definitely effective. The advertisements--especially the radio broadcasts--left me with absolutely no desire to ever try meth. Mostly out of fear and repulsion, yes, but I think it's safe to say that simply providing the information about meth's addictive qualities would not be nearly as effective in turning people away. It isn't until people actually see or hear about real people's stories that the effects of such a drug stick.
I don't know if routine and schedule makes one more prone to drug use, though. I think that stress caused by such a lifestyle does lead one to turn to substances during free time (college drinking on weekends), but I feel like having lots of free time could lead to substance use just as easily. I don't know.