The Drug Report

Facts about what can go wrong when people use drugs

  • The Best Drug Info Ever?

    A big part of my inspiration for The Drug Report was Beth Pearce's amazing film, VOICE OF THE VICTIMS: TRUE STORIES OF ECSTASY AND KETAMINE. The film simply lets the victims of drug tragedies tell their stories. It's real life, it's undeniable, and it's incredibly powerful. I'm sure Beth has saved many, many lives, and it is my hope that this blog will do so as well. To learn more about her film, go to Voice Of The Victims.

    FACTS ARE FACTS

    A friend of mine likes to say, "You're entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts."

    When it comes to drugs, there are lots of opinions out there: Some think drugs are safe and fun, some think they're dangerous and frightening, and many think everything in between.

    But facts are facts, and when someone dies from drugs, or someone is murdered by a person who is on drugs, or is raped by someone who has given them drugs, that's just a fact. Drug users who actively promote drug use rail against these facts, and I expect they'll be commenting regularly on The Drug Report. But they can't change the facts.

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Ecstasy … the Love Drug?!

Posted by Laer on June 29, 2006

Ecstasy’s reputation of making people feel all lovey-dovey sometimes is proven wrong, very wrong:

Prosecutors said Monday they will seek the death penalty against a transient accused of decapitating a 91-year-old retired screenwriter and stabbing his neighbor to death.  …Special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder during torture and burglary were included in the case.

Keven Lee Graff, 29, is accused of killing former screenwriter Robert Lees at his Hollywood home in June 2004. …

Police said that after the killing, Graff took the man’s severed head, climbed a fence and stabbed to death Dr. Morley Hal Engelson, 69.Graff, a former Marine, was living in his pickup truck and on the streets in Hollywood before his arrest one day after the deaths, authorities said.

Graff told the Daily News of Los Angeles that he was high on methamphetamine and ecstasy at the time of the slayings and doesn’t remember anything about that night.

“If I really did this, man, I just want to say I’m sorry,” he said.

Unbelievable.  Any of you pro-drug people want to defend this guy?

This entry was posted on June 29, 2006 at 10:31 pm and is filed under Charges & Trials, Ecstasy, Meth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Ecstasy … the Love Drug?!”

  1. Dodgy said

    June 30, 2006 at 2:30 am

    The mans quite clearly got mental health issues.

    Drugs and even alcohol (which is notorious for making people aggressive) do make ordinary people commit such crimes. They may however, help push already unstable people over the edge.

    I hope he gets some help anyway.

    Reply

  2. Childress said

    June 30, 2006 at 8:38 am

    And sometimes drugs make people unstable who otherwise would be able to keep their stability. I know of two young people who struggle with schizophrenia today that has been traced to their drug use while they were in their teens.

    Reply

  3. Dodgy said

    June 30, 2006 at 5:34 pm

    I wouldn’t disagree that drugs can bring underlying mental health problems to the surface, especially in the case cannabis.

    Intrestingly there have been studies which have identified a gene that makes some people susceptible to cannabis induced psychosis. 1 in 4 people have this gene apparently, and it has been shown that people that have this gene are twice as likey to suffer from psychosis if they smoked weed on a daily or weekly basis.

    I think it’s fair to say that smoking the odd joint once or twice a month isn’t going to result in many problems for anybody (even people that have this gene), but the problem we now have is that the weed being grown these day often contains outragously high THC content with users often smoking it on a daily basis. That cannot be good.

    Amphetamin and crack cocaine are also drugs that have been linked with with causing psychosis, though to a lesser extent than cannabis.

    I’ve yet to see any evidence that links ecstasy with psychotic episodes and my experience of it leads me to believe that it’s not one of the risks that come with it’s use. Ecstasy will leave you feeling a little low after use but it doesn’t really make people paranoid.

    I’m far more concerned about the long term risks of ecstasy and it’s effects on the brain in regards to depression, but unfortunately we won’t know until some reliable studies have been conducted. I’ve been consuming ecstasy for over 10 years now and have taken the drug hundreds of times, and seen it being taken by thousands of people in that time. I guess my generation will show in years to come how ecstasy really effects you in the long term.

    Reply

  4. Childress said

    June 30, 2006 at 8:34 pm

    I too am concerned about the depression. The brief period of depression that frequently follows Ecstasy use, often called “Suicide Tuesday,” is an indication of damage to dopamine receptors. Whether this will be permanent is the question.

    In the teen edition of “Voice of the Victims” a young Ecstasy user talks frankly about the depression that is wracking and wrecking her life. She blames it entirely on Ecstasy and it is very sad.

    I’ve seen depression close-up and it is a horrible, devastating disease, an all too common side effect of which is suicide. Dodgy’s comment “I guess my generation will show in years to come how ecstasy really effects you in the long term.” is no small thing. You guys are risking a horrible later life in the name of drug-assisted fun toay.

    It would be smarter not to take this chance.

    Reply

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