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(discovermni.com)

My first post on this Recovery Coach page requires a short Introduction:

Firstly, I'm not a Doctor, although I've exasperated quite a few. Secondly, my intent with this and future posts is to start with a Quote by William L. White (a Keystone of Recovery Coaching's foundation) followed by the thoughts and feelings which that particular quote has inspired me to share. And Thirdly, I invite anyone who reads it to comment, adding their own reflections, to agree to disagree where applicable and to add their flavors to Our Recovery Broth.

Because this is a Private Group, a link will be provided at the bottom of the post should you decide to copy and past on other pages or social media (Note that this link will never include anyone's comments from this Private Group after I first post it).

Below the next colon [:] is the complete text to this first post, immediately followed by the link:

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"The effects of continued amphetamine use were subtle in the first year [circa mid-1960's], and I recall no one voicing any suspicions of such use. Consciousness about drug use was not what it is today." - William L. White, Recovery Rising, p.7.

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I know it is just short of rude and perhaps politically incorrect to call any addiction Fashionable, but drug use has surges in popularity with waves of addiction in their wake.

Crack cocaine, for example, is no longer at its peak, but you will still be able to find some in any inner-city, perhaps more easily than one might procure a bag of fresh asparagus.

It depends on what you're hunting for.

Most readers of this post likely have never heard of Black Beauties (a form of amphetamine readily available at the time of the Bill White Quote which opens this post). 

My introduction to amphetamines was during this time and enough women and a few men found diet pills easily accessible. Many in my sub-culture took Black Beauties as a study aid. These pills killed my appetite and left me immobile on a comfortable chair reading Moby Dick in one continuous string from beginning to end. Amphetamines seemed to suck every ounce of available energy from my body while simultaneously fueling an energy all its own. For me, crash and burn fits post-amphetamine effects more so than any other drug in my arsenal. 

Black Beauties fell out of fashion along with my then-trendy multi-patched bell-bottom jeans. You see, drugs come and go, fashionable one day and out of fashion the next. But for many, and sometimes most, the addictions that drugs create are not so easily left behind as the ever-changing popularity of different drugs wax and wane.

Meth (methamphetamines) has made a huge resurgence of late with different names, different toxicities and additives... and different victims.

Moby Dick (& other whales and other drugs) rises above the waves with great spouts from his blowhole and dives deep to once again re-emerge too soon.

For me, the constant sea was a sea of alcohol and today I breathe free on dry land still learning to tie and untie knots, for myself, for others... on the sober shores.

There is still much peace to be found as you and I and they find more of us on solid ground.