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    Gateway To Death
    Gateway To Death
    Gateway To Death
    Ebook99 pages1 hour

    Gateway To Death

    By Laurie Pailes-Lindeman

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    About this ebook

    The first part of this book is the basic information on the world of drugs, street names, and effects they have on the body. The world we live in is riddled with drugs. Take this journey with one mother who found out by text message that her daughter was using heroin. Go through the process that most parents go through while their child fights addiction. Behavioral cues that parents can be aware of and help them stop before it starts. This book will give you insight into the drugs that are reaching everyone today. Throughout you will find tips and tricks to monitor and the last section is about a my journey. A lot don’t agree with my thoughts and ideas I am not a “Oh my poor Baby” type of mom as someone who has worked in the medical field for over 25 years some would call it a desensitization I call it tough love. At the end of this book you may love me or you may hate me however if at the end one parent can intervene and help their child then it’s all worth it. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTwin Cadeuces
    Release dateMay 21, 2016
    ISBN9781533775719
    Gateway To Death
    Author

    Laurie Pailes-Lindeman

    Loves to write in her neck of the woods in NH. Mother and wife and lover her fur babies of three dogs. Reads about 3 books daily and loves finding the next great read. Best time for her is having her toes in the sand and a book in her hand

    Read more from Laurie Pailes Lindeman

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      Book preview

      Gateway To Death - Laurie Pailes-Lindeman

      Chapter 1

      HISTORY OF THE DRUGS THAT ARE DESTROYING OUR KIDS

      Heroin, which is an extremely mainstream drug of choice in the American drug culture today, is not another drug that just appeared in the late 1960's, nor are its negative impacts special to present day times. Heroin is an opium derivative and, as with any of the opium subsidiaries, there is a serious physical/mental reliance that is created when Heroin is abused. Today it is so cheap the kids can get it easier than most other drugs out there. 

      The Birth of the American Heroin Addict.

      In the mid to late 1800'ѕ, opium was a genuinely mainstream drug. Opium nooks were scattered all through what we know today as the Wild West. The Opium convergence amid this period was expected in extension as part of the drugs being brought into our nation using Chinese migrants who came here to chip away at the railways. Exact American history lets us know that well-known names of the period like Wild Bill Hickok and Kit Carson really frequented Opium Caves/Nooks more regularly thank Cantinas.

      The stereotyped picture we have of the cowhand's belly up to the bar drinking whiskey straight after a long hard ride on the dusty trails is only part of the story of the old west. Often, the cowhand was not belly up to a bar at all. He was in a prone position in a dim candle-lit room smoking Opium in the company of an oriental prostitute. It was not uncommon for some of these cowhands to spend several days and nights at a time in these nooks in a constant dreamlike state, eventually becoming physically addicted to the drug. Nonetheless, it was true that alcoholism was a bigger problem. Alcoholism was one of the major sources of violence and death during this period. Eventually, however, Opium was promoted as a cure for alcoholism by the late 1800’ѕ.

      It was from Opium that Morphine, a derivative, was developed as a pain killer in or around 1810. It was considered a wonder drug because it eliminated severe pain associated with medical operations or traumatic injuries. It left the user in a completely numb euphoric dream-state. Because of the intense euphoric side effects, the drug in 1811 was named after the Greek god of dreams, Morpheus, by Dr. F.W.A. Serturner, a German pharmacist. By the mid 1850’ѕ, morphine was available in the United States and became more and more popular with the medical profession. The benefits of using the drug Morphine to treat severe pain were considered nothing short of a miracle to doctors of that time. Unfortunately, the addictive properties of the drug, on the flip side, went virtually unnoticed until after the Civil War.

      During the Civil War, the numbers of people exposed to morphine in the course of being treated for their war-related injuries skyrocketed. Tens of thousands of Northern and Confederate soldiers became morphine addicts at no fault of their own. In just over 10 years time of its arrival in this country, the United States was plagued with a major morphine epidemic. Even though, no actual statistics were kept on addiction at this time, the problem had grown to large enough proportions to raise serious concerns from the medical profession. Doctors became perplexed and were completely in the dark as to how they could treat this new epidemic. (Is any of this starting to look like history repeating itself?) BY  1874, the answer to this increasing problem was thought to be found in the invention of a new drug in Germany. This new wonder drug was called Heroin, after its German trademarked name. Heroin was imported into the United States shortly after it was invented. The sales pitch that created an instant market to American doctors and their morphine-addicted patients was that Heroin was a safe, non-addictive substitute for morphine. Anyone else seeing a pattern here? Seems to be that even today the fact that we went from a society in the mid to late 90’s where it was inhumane for people to suffer from any kind of pain. The quick solution was pain medications given out like candy. Here we are; many years later, some of those people have been on these medications for years and years. The first line of defense is to find other pain management treatments first and work from there. Now we see the increase of Opioid addicted patients. Just recently news reports have stressed the fact that Marijuana is thought to be the gateway drug for Heroin and Opioid. However, not even a week later, they reported that they are thinking about using Marijuana to treat Heroin addiction. Does anyone else see a pattern here? It seems that the profit outweighs the better good for the people. Not only are they making money off the substitutes for Heroin. Things like Suboxone and methadone to help with addiction, but does it really help or is it because these are legal and money making that they really care about.

      Hence, the Heroin addict was born and has been present in American culture ever since. Shocked yet? You should not be the only difference is the inclusion of mixtures they are adding to the Heroin. From the late 1800’ѕ to the early 1900’s, the reputable drug companies of the day began manufacturing over-the-counter drug kits. These kits contained a glass barreled hypodermic needle and vials of opiates (morphine or heroin) and/or cocaine packaged neatly in attractive engraved tin cases. Laudanum (opium in an alcohol base) was also a very popular elixir that was used to treat a variety of ailments. Laudanum was administered to kids and adults alike - as freely as aspirin is used today.

      There were of course marketing and advertising campaigns launched by the drug companies producing this product that touted these narcotics as the cure for all types of physical and mental ailments ranging from alcohol withdrawal to cancer, depression, sluggishness, coughs, colds, tuberculosis even old age. Most of the elixirs pitched by the old snake oil salesmen in their medicine show contained one or more of these narcotics in their mix. Heroin, morphine, and other opiate derivatives were unregulated and sold legally in the United States until 1920 when Congress recognized the danger of these drugs and enacted the Dangerous Drug Act. This new law made an over-the-counter purchase of these drugs illegal and deemed that their distribution is federally regulated. What is that old saying that if we do not learn from our mistakes, history is bound to repeat itself? However, by the time this law was passed,

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