"Until we have a more precise knowledge of brain electronics, drugs will remain an essential tool of the interrogator in his attack on the subject's identity."
William Burroughs
Since I was a kid I had a very special attraction and fascination for "forbidden substances", or what at least for me was at that time my first drugs, I was not an addict or a lost child, but I was intrigued a lot and called me the attention all types of pills, drinks or plants that could cause an effect on my head, and even that wasn't much in the beginnings I have to say that surely this was my small door to the psychedelic world.
At age six, one of my greatest adventures was to steal the aspirin blisters from the drawer of my mother's bedside table to take them under my desk and eat one after another. I honestly do not remember having any kind of change in my mood, but the psychological side affected me and the simple fact of consuming those pills made me feel a tiny yonky.
Later I started experimenting with the syrups, my favorite was the throat pain syrup, a thick sweet and banana flavored liquid that made me want to buy it bottled liter, somehow like the aspirins this concoction also had no noticeable changes in my functions but kept the forbidden effect that made it special. I used to take a very similar one for the cough but it tasted like strawberry, it was rather more bitter and with a very particular retro taste, and although it was not the best it achieved its purpose.
With the passing years I was losing this habit and today is nothing but a funny memory, despite my young age I was very clear what pills should not be consumed. With ten years my addiction became a little more natural, and we used to lurk in the house of one of my friends to eat Honeysuckle, or Lonicera japonica which is a flower that contains a sweet nectar and with a oily texture, similar to a light syrup. This was like a god's nectar, we spent hours devastating a giant plant and sucking these incredible flowers, added to the adventure of eating a plant in the middle of a forest. Another habit that was born at about that age but which lasted for a few weeks because of the disgusting taste it had, those were the tips of ferns, we had read in an article in a local weekly mag that those stems dried ferns could be smoked, and basically all we did was burn it to be able to throw the smoke through the mouth. The tingling sensation and headache was instantly, but we enjoyed puffing before we started coughing. As I said we were lucky to quit this habit in a few days and we decided to stay a little healthier as to what we consume.
Time later I fell back into the tablets, and "Redoxon" was a time bomb, a good size citrus tablet that was consumed as effervescent and gave us a certain amount of vitamins to feel fuller and healthier.
They were delicious, the effervescence exploding in your mouth and a deep citrus flavor that at times its acidity scraped under the tongue was amazing. However, it was very addictive, I not only used to rob my parents pills but also saved money and bought me the tubes of ten, at that time it was not very cheap but it totally worth it.
Luckily all this was a stage of my childhood and my teens, today I remember it with much nostalgia and feeling of mischief. And beyond having transformed myself into a person who has strict ideals to find the pharmacological system and the consumption of drugs a big lie, all this history follows me being one of my favorite experiences, and as you can see in a simple personal experience all the problem of addiction lies in the person and goes beyond the substance itself, and the simple fact of being taboo can develop a wave of marketing that in some how it could start the temptation and sub estimate the consumer to the point of making this almost a placebo experience.
We all have our secrets addictions to something, and the one who feels free from sin should throws the first pill.
Credits:
Photo 1 by Jonathan Perez on www.unsplash.com
Photo 2 by Jenelle Ball on www.unsplash.com
Photo 3 by http://www.florespedia.com
Photo 4 by http://www.farmavazquez.com
what were on those pills?
Redoxon? was a citric efervescente pill, it was no big deal, just some vitamins. I don't know if those are still on the market today.
My childhood drug was burned sugar in the spoon :D
That was one of the best magic tricks i knew at the time, making your own good tasting candy))
hahaha I never could have imagined that one but totally sounds like a thing I would be addict too
Reminds me I used to really like Victory V lozenges. I recall reading the ingredients - they included camphor and ether. Years later I saw them on sale again; sadly they had removed all the active ingredients and tasted crap. However, here in Thailand, both camphor and ether exist in a number of OTC products and, yes, mildly addictive, but not really "experience enhancers".