- If you want to go back.The things we do to abuse ourselves
Not in any special order, only as they'd come to mind
Downtown Beirut. 158 First Avenue (between
East 9th & 10th Streets now gone).
The Village Idiot. First Avenue (also between East 9th & 10th Streets).
Hiro's. First Avenue (a few blocks south of those above).
The Dugout. Third Avenue (between East 13th & 14th Streets).
Night Owls. Third Avenue at East 12th or 13th Street (where the hookers
used to hang out).
Barrow Street Ale House. 15 Barrow Street (between West 4th &
Bleeker).
The Blind Tiger Ale House.
Blue Ribbon. 97 Sullivan Street.
Boxer's. 186 West 4th Street.
Brew's. 156 East 34th (between Lexington and 3rd Avenues).
Brewsky's. 41 East 7th Street.
Broome Street Bar. 363 West Broadway.
Chumley's. 86 Bedford Street.
d.b.a. 41 1st Avenue (between East 2nd & 3rd Streets).
Dive Bar. 372 Amsterdam Avenue at 96th Street.
Gold Bar. (then Metal) 345 East 9th Street (1st Avenue).
Gramercy Tavern. 42 East 20th Street.
Jake's Dilemma. 430 Amsterdam Avenue (between West 80th & 81st
Streets).
Jekyll and Hyde. 91 7th Avenue South (south of Bleecker).
Jimmy Armstrong's. At West 57th Street & 10th Avenue.
John Street Bar & Grill. 17 John Street.
Little Sadie's. Amsterdam Avenue & West 83rd Street.
McSorley's Old Ale House. 15 East 7th Street.
Peculier Pub. 145 Bleecker (at LaGuardia Place).
Prince Street Bar. 125 Prince Street.
Pugsley's. Behind the Marriott at Albany & Washington Streets.
Reservoir. 70 University Place.
The Slaughtered Lamb. 182 West 4th Street (between 6th & 7th Avenues).
St. Marks Ale House (Once Grass Roots & others -- nothing lasts long
here). 2 St. Marks Place.
Swift Hibernian Lounge. 34 East 4th Street.
White Horse Tavern. 567 Hudson.
Wah Wah Hut. East 7th Street & Avenue A.
Pyramid Club. Avenue A between East 6th & 7th Streets.
Vazac's. East 7th St & Avenue B. (now named 7B, I think)
Ruby's. South of East 14th Street on Avenue B. (long gone -- reminded
me of Beirut -- sigh)
Buffy's. Somewhere in Tribeca.
Bucket of Blood (something else now). Near Bleeker Street.
Kettle of Fish (somewhere in the Village near the Bucket of Blood...I
think -- hey, I was really drunk).
Countless others in Manhattan.
Alibi Club. 242 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn.
Some others in Brooklyn I can't remember.
Walkins Cafe. Long Island City, Queens off the R (now N) train.
Full Moon Saloon. Haight Street, San
Francisco.
Top Hat (I think). Height Street, San Francisco.
Others as well.
Earl's Court Pub. Earl's Court Road. London
UK.
An Ausie pub. Earl's Court Road.
A Wine bar. Earl's Court Road.
A trendy pub. Earl's Court Road. (So I didn't get out much in London --
but I did get out every night while there.)
One Bourbon, One Scotch, & One Beer
Alcohol, the ordinary name for a substance called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, or pure spirits (chemical name, ethanol). Ethyl Alcohol, or ethanol, is formed as wine or hard cider by the fermentation of any sweet fruit juice. An alcoholic drink is any beverage that contains ethyl alcohol & has intoxicating quantities. The amount of alcohol may be as little as 2 percent, as in beers, and or as much as 68 percent as in absinthe.
Alcoholic content in most alcoholic beverages is measured in proof, which is half of the actual content of alcohol in the drink. An example is a 90 proof whiskey actually only contains 45 percent alcohol. Beer is one of the beverages containing the lowest proof. They range from 2 to 6 percent. Wines have anywhere from 14 percent or less. Fortified wines which have other alcoholic beverages included will be in a higher range.
Side Effects:
Alcohol is a depressant which acts on the control centres of the brain
to depress them.
A common picture of acute intoxication is
of: A chronic drinker may experience more severe
side effects or even death. Korsakoff's Psychosis: Two out of 3 murders, 1 out of 3 rapes, 1
out of 3 suicides, 2 out of 5 assaults, and 3 out of 5 cases of child
abuse are reported to be connected to the use of alcohol. One out of 2
deaths by fire and drowning are also reported to be alcohol related, as
are 2 out of 5 home accidents. Further, reports state that 25,000
American's die in alcohol related crashes every year, or 1 out of 2
fatalities. One out of 2 in-patients in our city
hospitals seem to be there because of an alcohol related problem and
40,000 young adults may be disfigured by alcohol related car accidents
each year. "If alcohol would have been invented today,
you would need a prescription to obtain it or perhaps it would be
outlawed completely". "You can't be a Real Country unless you have
A BEER and an airline -- it helps if you have some kind of a football
team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a
BEER." Olya Opiates are narcotics which contain Opium.
Opium is derived from the pod of the poppy Papover somniferum. There
are two processes which remove the extract. Once in a usable form Opium
can be taken orally or can be smoked. The narcotics in which opium is
an ingredient in are: Morphine, Codeine, & Thebaine. Morphine is used exclusively in hospitals,
excluding the use by drug abusers, as a pain reliever. It is allowed
into the body in several ways including; injection under the skin,
intramuscularly, or intravenously. It is also marketed as white
crystals for smoking, and hypodermic tablets for oral ingestion. Most
of the morphine obtained from opium is converted to codeine, and
secondarily, to hydro morphine. Codeine is produced from morphine and is
found in several legal products outside of a hospital. It is for
moderate pain relief and is sometimes combined with aspirin,
acetaminophen, Robitussin AC (although I think this has changed),
Charcoal and elixir of terpin hydrate. Codeine can be taken orally and
it can be injected. Thebaine is a minor constituent of opium, an
alkaloid present in another species of poppy Papover bracteatum.
Although thebaine is alike morphine and codeine, it produces stimulant
effects rather than a depressant effect. At the time of writing
thebaine is not used in this country for medical purposes, but instead
is converted into a variety of medically important
compounds. The duration of the effects of any opium
compound varies from 3-6 hours. Possible Effects: Effects of Overdose: Withdrawal Syndrome: "Opiate. An unlocked door in the prison of
Identity. It leads into the jail yard."
Confusion
Disorientation
Unsteady gait
Possible hallucinations
Confusion, hallucinations, development of various kinds of paralyzes,
development of gaps in memory in which the individual will fill in by
telling fantastic experiences in a most plausible way, she/he may also
experience mental illnesses, she/he may also develop organic diseases
-- one being the affliction to the liver.
-Teen challenge of Southern California.
-Frank Zappa, The Real Frank Zappa Book, (1989; written with Peter
Occhiogrosso).
Euphoria; drowsiness; respiratory depression; constricted pupils;
nausea.
Slow and shallow breathing; clammy skin; convulsions; coma; possible
death.
Watery eyes; runny nose; yawning; loss of appetite; irritability;
tremors; panic; chills and sweating; cramps; nausea.
-Ambrose Bierce The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906).
-Milan Kundera The Joke, (1967; tr. 1982). The line, written by Ludvik
on a postcard, was used by the Party as incriminating evidence against
him, though it was only meant as a "joke".
Don't bogart that joint
Marijuana, also known as the cannabis plant, is a drug that is grown in many parts of the world. The chemical in the drug that causes the most effect is Delta-9-THC. Marijuana is normally smoked but can also be eaten. The effects are different for both situations. Smoked takes effect in a few minutes, the strongest effects occurring after 10-20 minutes and lasting about 2 hours. Eaten -- takes effect in about an hour, the strongest effects occurring after two to three hours and can last up to five hours. You must consume three times as much marijuana when eaten compared to when it is smoked.
Some nicknames are:
Pot, weed, grass, jay, reefer, joint, doobie and hooter (that would be
my favourite).
Studies have shown that you can expect to see some variations of these problems from consuming Marijuana in one way or the other:
Brain - users are shown to suffer loss of memory, slow learning ability and loss of muscular co-ordination.
Heart - Marijuana can increase the heartbeat by 50%. This is extremely dangerous if you have a heart problem.
Lungs - Marijuana smokers, like cigarette smokers, have the chance of developing bronchitis, emphysema, and cancer. One marijuana cigarette does the damage of an entire pack of tobacco cigarettes.
Reproductive System - Men who smoke marijuana can have lower than normal sex hormone levels and lower sperm counts. Women may experience disturbed hormone levels and disrupted menstrual cycles. It can also delay normal sexual development and can cause permanent infertility. Pregnant women will pass THC to their unborn children and they can also pass the drug if they are nursing through the mothers milk. A pregnant women also stands the chance of having her child born under-weight, stillborn or deformed.
Immune System - The white blood cell count will be reduced because of the THC in the system. This means the body cannot fight off infection as well as a healthy adult and will thus be sick more often (perhaps).
Mental Health - Use of the drug causes varied reactions in every individual who uses it. Some may experience more awareness to their current senses where others may experience negative or fearful reactions. If the user has emotional or psychological problems this drug can make the problems much worse.
Long term users have shown varied symptoms including: Loss of energy; bad relationships with individuals; loss of the ability to think clearly; less interest in other activities; poor performance in work/school; loss of memory; emotional dulling; loss of drive and goal direction; &, in men, enlarged breasts (yet all this can be said equally of spending too much time with humans).
"Marijuana is...self-punishing. It makes you
acutely sensitive, and in this world, what worse punishment could there
be?"
-P. J. O'Rourke Rolling Stone (New York, 30 Nov. 1989).
"I don't respond well to mellow, you know
what I mean, I-I have a tendency to...if I get too mellow, I-I ripen
and then rot."
-Woody Allen as Alvy Singer explaining to Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) why
he is passing on a marijuana party in Annie Hall 1977.
Speedin'
Amphetamines were developed to treat narcolepsy and have since been incorporated in treatments for conditions including obesity, fatigue, parkinsonism, depressive syndromes, behaviour disorder, petitimal epilepsy and poisoning by CNS depressants (is that treated by or poisoned by CNS departments...?).
Some of the effects and signs of usage of amphetamines are listed below:
Oral ingestion:
Increases blood and pulse pressures; heart rate is often reflexly
slowed; with large doses cardiac arrhythmias may occur; in general
effects on the smooth muscle include constriction of the blood vessels
and decreased motility and tone of the stomach and intestines with
contraction of the sphincter muscles.
Central Nervous System Reactions:
Alertness and a declined sense of fatigue; elation; a feeling of
self-confidence; increased motor activity; the performance of physical
and mental tasks are improved, although this does not mean fewer
errors.
Individuals who consume large doses, or who have taken amphetamines for a prolonged period of time will experience reversed effects and will feel fatigued and mentally depressed.
Side Effects:
Headache; palpatation; dizziness; vasomotor disturbass; agitation;
confusion; dysphoria; apprehension; delirium.
"Speed is scarcely the noblest virtue of
graphic composition, but it has its curious rewards. There is a sense
of getting somewhere fast, which satisfies a native American urge."
-James Thurber A Thurber Garland.
"A new beauty has been added to the
splendour of the world -- the beauty of speed."
-Tommaso Marinetti Foundation and Manifesto of Futurism, in Figaro,
reprinted in Marinetti: Selected Writings.
"Speed, it seems to me, provides the one
genuinely modern pleasure."
-Aldous Huxley Music at Night and Other Essays, 'Wanted, a New
Pleasure'.
White
C21H23NO5
(diacetylmorphine)
HEROIN addicts may one day be treated with a polymer implant instead of taking a daily dose of the heroin substitute methadone. Researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore have developed a button-sized implant that releases a steady stream of hydromorphone for up to three months (Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, vol 14, p 535). Hydromorphone, like methadone, blocks opiate receptors in the brain that bind to heroin, eliminating cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Heroin addicts have to take a dose of methadone every day -- and increasingly they are being forced to travel to clinics to prevent the growth of an underground trade in the drug. The implanted polymer releases a steady stream of hydromorphone, which is as effective at blocking opiate receptors as methadone, over one to three months.
The implant should increase the number of people successfully completing heroin therapy. "The primary reason for patients wanting to get out of methadone treatment is the inconvenience," says George Bigelow, director of the behavioural pharmacology research division at Johns Hopkins. The implant will also cut the cost of treating addicts. This is between $3500.00 and $4500.00 a year, though methadone makes up only 7% of the total.
However, the researchers do not recommend the implant for people who need counselling, such as those beginning treatment. Counselling is often coupled with the daily dose of the substitute drug, and such addicts might relapse without it.
Heroin addicts may have to wait several years for the implant. The researchers are first considering using the implant to relieve the pain of cancer before they study it in heroin addicts.
Hey, I ain't no elephant, & I'm not tired
Phenocyclidine, known as PCP, was originally used as an anesthetic agent for humans since 1957 and is now used as a veterinary anesthetic. The degree at which a person can become addicted to PCP is unknown at this time, however, the psychological dependency is very high. The effects of the drug on each user varies as does the method of allowing the drug to enter ones body. PCP can be smoked, taken orally or injected. The most popular method is by dunking or sprinkling a marijuana cigarette with PCP and smoking it. It is the common purchasing term for embalming fluid, insecticides, rat poison, or oven cleaners. There are approximately 10,000 emergency room visits each year because of PCP.
Nicknames:
Angel Dust; peace pill; dust; shermans; crystal; rocket fuel; DOA;
cyclons; supergrass.
Actions:
Illusions and hallucinations; poor perception of time and distance;
symptoms of schizophrenia; hyperactivity.
Effects can include:
Numbness; cramps; loss of muscular co-ordination; nausea; involuntary
movements of the eyeballs; problems with speaking; decreased
sensitivity to touch, pain and position, intense headache.
Chronic use will cause:
Difficulty with thought; memory with thought; memory problems;
stuttering; depression; anxiety and brain damage.
Effects of Overdose:
Longer and more intense trip episodes; psychosis; possible death (Ooh,
where can I get some of that?).
She don' lie, she don' lie, she don' lie
Cocaine is a drug derived from the Coca leaf grown mostly in South America. After a scientific process the drug is available in a powder form, or in its derivative form of crack cocaine. This drug is addictive, contrary to popular myth, and can cause numerous physical and mental complications to the user. Free basing cocaine can be fatal if done improperly or if an explosion of the chemicals used occurs.
Some Cocaine Facts are:
1-tenth of the population -- over 22 million people have tried cocaine;
each day 5,000 more people will experiment with it; it is a $35 billion
illicit industry now exceeding Columbia's No 1 coffee export; 1 in 10
workers say they know someone who uses drugs on the job.
Some nicknames of Cocaine are:
Coke, snow, C, flake, blow and lady.
Some Signs of Cocaine use are:
Dilation of the pupils; runny or stuffed-up nose; inflammation of the
nasal membranes; have a reduced need for food or rest; will be more
talkative and sociable.
Cocaine use, researchers have found, can
both cause, and aggravate, the following symptoms:
Anxiety; irritability; undue excitability; aggressiveness; paranoia;
feelings of bugs crawling under the skin; seeing, hearing and smelling
things that are not there; violence; apathy, laziness, lethargy;
compulsive, repetitive behaviour; concentration problems; confusion;
memory problems, and nervousness and restlessness (jitters associated
with both the use and withdrawal from the drug); complications with
pregnancy including: low birth weight; miscarriage, deformed babies,
babies with brain damage and internal organ damage, and can even
attribute to SIDS.
Chronic, high-dosage abuse of the drug can
produce in some cases:
Disinterest in relationships with family and
friends; extreme agitation; panic attacks; paranoia; personal neglect;
extreme depression; suspiciousness of friends, relatives, and business
associates -- and -- a psychotic state almost indistinguishable from
paranoid schizophrenia, complete with delusions and hallucinations; for
some individuals with heart disease a rupture of a blood vessel can
occur triggering possible death; seizures and heart failure can result
from prolonged use.
Some toxic effects can be:
Heavy sweating; pale skin; anxiousness or aggressiveness, and
insomnia.
"Western man is externalzing himself in the form of gadgets. Ever pop coke in the mainline? It hits you right in the brain, activating connections of pure pleasure." -William Burroughs Naked Lunch.
-Kate 0'Rourke, Baltimore, with no permission.
Naked Lunch
"In England & especially in Edinburgh the citizens bubble coal gas through Klim -- a horrible form of powdered milk tasting like rancid chalk -- & pick up on the results. They hock everything to pay the gas bill, & when the man comes round to shut it off for the non-payment, you can hear their screams for miles. When a citizen is sick from needing it he says, 'I got the klinks' or 'That old stove climbing up my back'."
"Nutmeg. I quote from the author's article on narcotic drugs in the British Journal of Addiction: 'Convicts & sailors sometimes have recourse to nutmeg. About a tablespoon is swallowed with water. Result vaguely similar to marijuana with side effects of headache & nausea. There are a number of narcotics of the nutmeg family in use among the Indians of South America. They are usually administered by sniffing a dried powder of the plant. The medicine men take these noxious substances & go into convulsive states. Their twitchings & mutterings are thought to have prophetic significance'."
"Bulbocapnine induces a state approximating schizophrenic catatonia...instances of automatic obedience have been observed. Bulbocapnine is a backbrain depressant probably putting out of action the centers of motion in the hypothalamus. Other drugs that have produced experimental schizophrenia -- mescaline, harmaline, LSD6 -- are backbrain stimulants. In schizophrenia the backbrain is alternately stimulated & depressed. Catatonia is often followed by a period of excitement & motor activity during which the nut rushes through the wards giving everyone a bad time."
"I had a Yage hangover [Yage, Ayuahuasca,
Pilde, Nateema, are Indian names for Bannisteria caapi a fast growing
vine indigenous to the Amazon region], me, & in no condition to take
any of Browbeck's shit. First thing he comes on with I should start the
incision from the back instead of the front, muttering some garbled
nonsense about being sure to cut out the gall bladder it would fuck up
the meat. Thought he was on the farm cleaning a chicken. I told him to
go put his head back in the oven, whereupon he had the effrontery to
push my hand severing the patient's femoral artery. Blood spurted up &
blinded the anaesthetist, who ran out through the halls screaming.
Browbeck tried to knee me in the groin, & I managed to hamstring him
with my scalpel. He crawled about the floor stabbing at my feet & legs.
Violet, that's my baboon assistant -- only woman I ever cared about --
really wigged. I climbed up on the table & poise myself to jump on
Browbeck with both feet & stomp him when the cops rushed in."
-William Burroughs
Draw your own conclusions.
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Updated: 13-Apr-06
*All material © by Angus Fergusson 1997-2006 unless otherwise noted.