my random thoughts....

 
"My wandering once took me up to an opium farm in the northern mountains where I had occasion to interview the local chieftain. At one point I asked him, since he grew the drug, if he did not use it himself. His answer was a decisive negative. 'Look over there,' he said. 'See that old man sitting in the shade? He has lived out his life. He can no longer see, nor hear, nor enjoy anything that makes life worth living. He needs the drug, and we give it to him. But I am young and strong and it is of no interest to me.' It is odd that our under-culture people in the West have not reached a similar conclusion."
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"My smashed elbow taught me many things. The splinters of the radial head had to be removed, but though the surgeon laid the arm wide open, he was for a long time unable to find all six pieces. This meant that the incision was wide open for a very long time, and post operative pain is strongly influenced by the duration of the open wound. This hurt. I cannot offer a comparison, but for several days after the operation I spent a lot of time up in Class 1, and was never below Class 2.

"The morphine was there, and addiction began to set in. In those days, antibiotics had to be administered every four hours, and so I had to be roused regularly and reminded of how much I hurt.

"I got cagey. In a naval hospital reveille is a thunderous occasion. At 6 a.m. everything comes violently to life. The lights go on, the blinds go up, the floors are swept, the polishers roar, and doctors and nurses march up and down the beds examining charts. This is not a time for sleep, so I got used to the idea of calling for relief some half hour before the horn blew, so I could lie there in a dreamy haze while the ward business conducted itself. I was developing addiction.

"The staff noticed this, of course, and as soon as clinically possible they sent me home 'cold turkey.' They were not thoughtful enough to inform my wife of the situation, and it was very hard on her. It is impossible for a patient suffering withdrawal to behave in a civilized manner. The euphoria that morphine produces is reversed, and any sort of sensual input is turned into a torment. A slamming door, a crying child, a barking dog are nearly unbearable. I got over it, of course, but it was certainly a learning experience. I know what a drug addict suffers, and I certainly know enough to stand well clear of the whole business."

--Jeff Cooper

posted by Greg at 12:54 PM