This episode of the Meatweed Podcast is going to be a bit more serious because it deals with a topic that I have first-hand experience with.
Part of it is me going through some stuff, but a majority of it is, to be honest, other people.
Because there's a thing, right, that a lot of people luckily will not deal with in their life.
And that something is addiction.
The problem with addiction, right, is I could tell you all that I've been through, right, when it comes to me being addicted.
Because the thing is, I was addicted to nicotine for what, five years? A decent number of years.
I could tell you how it feels to try to quit. I could tell you how it feels to have cravings. I could tell you all these things.
But the thing is, I could never fully get into your brain's folds and show you how it feels, right?
But there's someone who's really good at it.
I've been watching this show recently called Tales From The Trip. It is absolutely amazing.
So if you're listening, Tales From The Trip, consider me a fan because I've actually been binging your entire series.
And I can't get enough. I mean, these are horror stories from people who have been on the worst trips of their lives, you know, when doing drugs and having these issues.
And I have first-hand experience in dealing with that kind of stuff because I used to work in a pharmacy.
I've been around people who were dealing with stuff. I've seen people trip and it's unpleasant.
This is going to be an interesting episode. Anyway.
When it comes to the nature of addiction, it's very difficult to get at the root of it.
You see, a lot of people can be addicted to things and it could be something harmless like caffeine.
A lot of people who maybe drink a cup of coffee in the morning and they have a headache if they don't. Congratulations, you have an addiction.
Is it a strong one? No, it's not one that I could say is particularly dangerous. We're just using it as an example.
The thing is, right, your brain can latch on to anything.
And what I mean by that is, you know, maybe the sweet taste of chocolate that there is a, you know, it releases endorphins.
You get really excited tasting something nice and sweet, something chocolatey and your body craves more.
That's the term, the craving for more. That is what an addiction is.
So there are people that deal with addictions that are very light.
Some people will have addiction to watching stuff on Hulu, honestly, stuff that's very simple.
Every little thing that could bring a bit of pleasure is addictive.
And for the most part, a lot of societal addictions are, you know, they're okay on a societal standpoint like coffee.
But if you drink stuff like an energy drink, yeah, you will get some heads turning.
See, we're building up here and we're starting from the very bottom and we're making our way up.
We don't start, you know, you don't dive into the deep end. You make your way out there.
Okay, you understand now that energy drinks are a bit less healthier than you.
They have way more caffeine, they're chemically concentrated caffeine, and they're designed to be more addictive.
You know what else is? You know, sodas. Things that are very sweet.
Anything with a high amount of fat, sugar, sodium, they're going to be a little addictive.
The reason being is because we're mammals. We're animals. At the end of the day, we're animals.
Yeah, we're a bit smarter, but you know what? That doesn't change our body's chemistry.
Our body's chemistry latches on to these things. High fat, high sugar.
These things are important. High carbohydrates as well.
That one's very hard for me because I'm on keto right now.
I got home and I just wanted to rip apart a loaf of bread, and I'm not going to lie, it was hard not to do that.
I didn't do it. I didn't. The bread is still there, but it's the fact that I want it to, you know.
You know why? Because I'm a creature at the end of the day. I'm an animal.
Humans are animals, okay? I don't care how advanced we get. I don't care how much technology we have.
At the end of the day, we're just advanced monkeys, okay? That's just what we are.
And it sucks thinking about it, you know? But at the end of the day, we're just controlled by this big meat sack in our brain.
I keep saying that. I'm on a loop here. Anyway, let's move on.
So, high sugar, high fat. What else do we get that's addictive?
Being in a state of pleasure of any kind, really. Maybe you're feeling the warm sun hit you, right?
Kind of like a lizard sunbathing. You just want to sit there and embrace it.
Maybe you're on a beach somewhere, you're just sitting there relaxing, right? It's nice to relax.
Is it addictive? I wouldn't say it is. At least I haven't heard anything or seen anything on record that would tell me that sunbathing is addictive.
There might be some. There absolutely might. You know, what I have seen is people going to rock concerts.
There's a person who...I remember this years ago. I never looked it up any further.
But there was a meme going around that some guy had to go on medical leave because he was physically dependent on going to metal shows, like rock concerts.
Like, he was so addicted to going to live shows that he couldn't physically stop himself from going.
Now, is this a true story? Probably not. I'm not going to lie. When it comes to the internet, if you put it in a meme template, chances are it's a 50-50.
You could flip a coin and see what happens. So we covered baseline addictions, okay? We covered stuff that everyone can be addicted to and it's fine.
Another one, alright? Let's add a bit more to it before we move on. Coffee. A lot of people are addicted to coffee, right?
How many people listening have gone to Starbucks, right? I myself just went. I just finished my Americano.
Could you blame me? It's October, man. Come on. They got the drinks out. It's really hard to drink keto when you're going to Starbucks.
But I managed to do it, you know? You can get sugar-free options. That's what I do.
And it's funny thinking about this, too. I mentioned sugar as an addictive thing, but there's something else, okay?
I'm talking about those people who are addicted to Diet Coke. I know you've seen them. There have been TLC documentaries about these people that
there's that woman who drinks Diet Coke instead of water and it's just...don't. Please don't. Don't do that.
Listen here, okay? Drink water. It's more vital than you think, okay? You're 70% water. You're a little over 70%, but still.
Okay, fine. So we've established a base ground, right? Coffee, stuff that's, you know, sugar, a lot of fatty food and a lot of salty food, stuff like that.
And there are some people who are also addicted to...I was going to say chocolate, but now that I think about it, that falls under the sugary category.
So we have these addictions. You know, addiction to food, basically. Let's summarize all of those by saying addiction to food, which is one of the most common ones.
I think everyone likes food, right? Okay. So why are these addictions okay, right? Well, the truth is it's because their health effects are miniscule compared to the rest.
Whatever else is considered addictive. I had to pause for a moment. I had a hiccup coming up. You could probably hear it building up.
Like, I definitely heard that. I'm leaving it in, though. But, okay, we have these baseline addictions, the ones that are like...they're a bit addictive.
They're more of a habit, you know? Let's call them habits, which they're not as bad as the second one. This one I'm going to classify a little higher in that smoking, cigarettes, and drinking.
These two are, for the most part, you know, they're bad for your health, and they're worse off than coffee, you know? Would you rather drink a fifth of vodka in the morning or a coffee?
I'd much rather drink a coffee, right? Well, personally, I'd prefer a Magic Mind. That's right. What is a Magic Mind?
Well, do I even have to explain it anymore? You guys already know, but just in case you haven't heard, this is your first episode. Let me enlighten you.
Magic Mind, they're good friends of the podcast. They've helped us out in the past before. And let me tell you something. It's delicious. It's very simple.
If you want to reduce the cup of coffee you have in the morning, why not just get a shot of Magic Mind? It's a very tiny shot. It's an energy shot, right?
You drink it once, you're good to go. Or you can drink it with your coffee, and it'll help boost it, you know what I mean? It's a slow-burn caffeine, okay?
It's good for you, too. It's got ashwagandha in it, which is what I really need, because ashwagandha helps me focus, helps me stay on the straight and narrow, and I can record these podcasts all in one take.
You want to know why? Ashwagandha is good for your head, you know? It's good for the brain. And hey, flu season is coming up. This thing's got cordyceps in it, right?
Magic Mind has cordyceps in it. It's good for the immune system. Get your immune system nice and boosted up. You don't want to get sick this winter, you know what I mean?
I could sing at Praises all day, or you can go to www.magicmind.com slash MWPod and get yourself some. And use my promo code MWPod20. Okay, let me spell it out for you. M-W-P-O-D-20. Get 20% off.
Or how about this? How about instead of spelling it out for you, I'll leave a link in the description. You guys be sure to use my promo code. I'll leave it down there, too. Thank you again to Magic Mind. You guys are amazing.
Off topic, but earlier I heard a news thing. I heard a news topic, right? That I really wanted to bring up because I found it interesting. Not for the reason you think, though, okay? I'm gonna go right into it.
Four hours ago, I heard about this outbreak of bed bugs in France, okay? You're with me so far, right? It's because they banned a chemical that was really strong against bed bugs, but it also killed off cockroaches. Everything's really clean there now, you know?
There's only one problem, though. I was blissfully unaware. As of this moment, I am now aware of it. But I was so blissfully unaware that cockroaches and bed bugs are natural enemies. Did you guys know that? I did not.
Like, I genuinely had no idea. This is my first time learning. I'm gonna train- I'm training to be an exterminator, and this is how I learned it. From a talking fish on TikTok.
And he went, I don't know, that was interesting. What were we talking about again? Oh, right, addiction. Anyway, we're gonna get to the addiction category. It's a little higher than the regular ones, which is, you know, tobacco and drinking alcohol.
Personally, I find nothing too wrong about drinking alcohol if you can handle it.
Now, this is where we get to a topic that I personally know. Because the thing is, I make wine, I know how to make it, I know how to age it, barrel age, dry wine, stuff like that. Artisan stuff is kind of my thing, right?
Obviously, I don't sell it. I'm not allowed to do that. I don't want to sell it either. This is entirely for me. When it comes to winemaking, that's one thing. Distilling spirits, on the other hand, I cannot do that, period.
That's against the law. I'm not gonna do that either. I'm not the kind of person who could do that, nor do I even know the skills to do it. I would probably accidentally burn it, you know what I mean?
I heard it has something to do with boiling. That's all I know. But, let's talk about why I know this, right? Okay, there's some people who can handle their alcohol. There are others that go overboard. They'll drink, and they'll keep drinking, you know? They'll drink in excess.
That's not a good thing. You don't want to do that. Because, you know, long-term effects are your liver...your liver just really starts going downhill. It takes a really strong hit when you drink too much alcohol.
However, the one that I have the most knowledge about, sadly, this is me getting personal, okay? Hear me out. You guys already know, I was heavily addicted to cigarettes for five years.
I started young. In fact, I started around 17, 18. I was too young to start, but I had started. And the truth is, once those claws get hooked onto you, they're there, you know?
The taste of addiction is very strong, very sweet. But, what scared me the most about it, looking back, is I was unaware of just how much money I was spending.
My life became tobacco. My life became vapes, cigarettes, e-cigarettes. It didn't matter. I had to get nicotine in my body somehow. I did snus. I did little nicotine pouches. I did everything.
And the thing is, I was unaware of how much money I was spending. I...unironically, okay? Over that course of five years, I've spent maybe tens of thousands of dollars on nicotine products of all kinds.
All in any kinds, including vapes, and including these little snus pouches, which was one of my go-tos when I was learning to truck drive. And I thought I was being healthier. That's the thing, right?
When it comes to addictions that are this bad, even though they're affecting your health, you will go out of your way to say, oh, it's not that bad. This isn't as bad as that. That's not as bad as this.
Addiction will do that to you. You will trick yourself. You will believe the delusions. I know. I was heavily addicted for years.
There's a number of factors that do come into place, though. There's one thing that many people don't really take conscious decisions over. You know, many people can't really change this thing.
For me, what it was, what really added to the addiction was my environment. At the time, I was a truck driver, the long-haul kind that are away from their families for days, for weeks. In one case, a full month, full 28 days.
Without seeing my family. And it really affected me. And the thing is, I used it as a coping mechanism. Tobacco became this thing that, well, nicotine, you know.
Nicotine became this thing that I used just to kind of numb my emotions. I had just gotten to the point where it was self-medicating. And a lot of people do use substances in that way. A lot of people will use, you know, nicotine or alcohol. And that's something that I got to tell you right now.
You will only make things worse by trying to do that. If you are addicted heavily to nicotine, I suggest slowly winging your weight down. That's what helped me. I just slowly reduced the amount I was using. And then I was able to clean it, you know, to cut it cold turkey.
But oh my god, that cold turkey, right? For three days. It is agony. For three days. It's worse than a coffee headache. You know what I mean? You know when you haven't had caffeine and your head hurts a little because you're addicted to it?
It's much worse than that. Your entire mood shifts. The problem is, it's painful to let go of stuff like that. It's painful to let go of an addiction. But it's necessary. It's necessary pain, okay? Your brain is rewiring. It's finally taking in those emotions that you so numbed with nicotine.
And I got to tell you right now, it's not...this voice that I have is actually partially a result of the amount I smoked. And it permanently damaged my lungs. You can hear my voice. My voice used to be a bit higher. But now listen to it.
I mean, it is what it is, right? I have a podcast now. Some people like my voice. But the thing is, it's a result of a really sad past. It's a result of trauma. It's a result of me dealing with addiction. And I'm glad that I can look back now and realize that I've grown as a person.
Many people aren't that lucky. Many people aren't fortunate to be able to look back and say, I no longer do those things. Many people look at the past and realize nothing has changed.
I'm happy that I am where I am now. Because the truth is, I did not quit on my own. I quit because of somebody else. I quit because I now had support. And that really does help. I had the loving support of my girlfriend and I got to thank her so much for that.
Even the other day she mentioned, hey honey, it's been this long since you smoked or did any tobacco at all. I've almost got a full year. Which the first week is the hardest. And I've heard that now that I've been clean, now that I've been smoke free for almost a year now, my lungs are fully back.
And it feels amazing. I can run again. I have all this energy. And I feel the way I felt before I even started. It really does hold you back using any substance for anything. If you self medicate, please. I insist that you look in the mirror and you tell yourself. You have to tell yourself this too.
When you're addicted or naked teen, you have to tell yourself, I have a problem and I want to stop. No one who has an addiction is proud of it. You know what I mean? Most people who are, they're probably just making a joke.
And after that, it's just taking little steps to get away from it. Now as for addiction to alcohol, I can't personally talk about it because I am not there. You know? I'll drink a glass of wine maybe once a week. That's it.
That's because I've set boundaries for myself. I know that I have an addictive personality and I do not wish to pass that threshold. There's people that can binge drink on the weekend. I am not that kind of person. There's people that can drink hard liquor. I had an old buddy who could drink half a liter of vodka, by the way. I don't know how you did that for the love of God, stop.
And no, you know? I say old buddy because I'm going to talk no more. And I don't know. I don't understand alcohol as much as other people. Wine is my limit. That's it. I can't even drink beer. I don't like the effect that it has on me.
Beer for me doesn't taste good. It's more, you know, it's an acquired taste I guess. A lot of people who enjoy it. Good for them. I'm not a beer guy. I tried IPAs. It just did not work. Wine was my thing. Wine is my go to.
Distilled spirits on the other hand is just alcohol plus. You know what I mean? Amazon Prime of Liquor. That's funny. But yeah, these are these two. Cigarettes and alcohol.
Alcohol. I would talk more on, right? But I don't. I've had one bad experience with it, okay? Let's talk about it. It's the same era where I was self-medicating with nicotine. I had a little too much to drink in Las Vegas.
And I threw up all over myself. That was embarrassing. And exactly. That's kind of the moment that I stopped. You know some people say let's never drink like that again. And then they do it again.
I'm the kind of person. I'm a man of my word, okay? That's who I am. I'm a man of my word. So when I said that, I meant it. Because that was the last time I ever drank to the point where I was so dizzy I couldn't even stand up.
And I don't understand people enjoying that feeling. I understand self-medicating. Because if you want to escape something, that's an option. Often I do look back on those times and I realize just how dark that era was. It had its highs and lows, but you know, it is what it is.
Alright. I guess it's on to the last topic which is above. A cut above everything. Also I guess in the classifications of cigarettes and alcohol, we can classify marijuana. It depends on the state you're on, right?
In California it's illegal, so people smoke it all the time. A lot of people do edibles. But personally I don't see the harmful effects. I guess, you know, a lot of people still have this old notion that it's a gateway drug.
Which, no. No one smokes weed and then goes, oh I should try crack. No one does that. However, crack is kind of the next category we're going to talk about.
Because it's not just crack. It's every substance that's, if I remember correctly in the pharmacy, it's schedule 4 and above. Which is 4, 3, 2, and 1.
Schedule 4 is addictive. Schedule 3 is more addictive. Schedule 2 is highly addictive. Schedule 1 is street level drug that is completely and has no medical use whatsoever.
While we're on that topic, you guys might be surprised to learn this little fun fact, okay? A little bit of fun fact for you guys, okay? Everyone listen up.
Cocaine. You guys probably think it's a street drug, right? Well, surprisingly it's a schedule 2 drug. Which that means, that means there's an actual legitimate medical use for it.
In certain hospitals you can find a liquid form of cocaine that can actually be used to, you know, help someone out. You know, it's a last case scenario, you know?
A worst case scenario kind of drug. Where they don't want to use it, but it's a schedule 2. It's incredibly powerful. It can basically bring someone back from a certain state of being.
And let me just check Google, make sure I'm not wrong. And I am wrong about one thing. It's cocaine hydrochloride, which means it's actually a numbing agent. I'm sorry.
But yeah, it's not used to bring someone back. It's more like before a medical procedure, cocaine hydrochloride will be used and it'll numb the person out. Which I didn't know it did that actually. That's actually surprising.
I mean, I'm just saying there's probably a much, much better medication for that. But like, you know, to each their own, I guess.
Another fun fact. I was actually in college when Vicodin became a schedule 2 narcotic instead of a schedule 3. If you guys don't know what that is, it's essentially Tylenol with codeine.
Which, was it that one? No, yeah, it was Vicodin. There was a lot of stuff going on. This was a few years back now. But I was around, I was around medical school when it changed to that, you know what I mean?
Whenever I say medical school, people probably think, oh, you were going to be a doctor? No, I was always going to be just a pharmacy tech. I mean, it was a career choice that I was curious about.
And once I started working in it, it took two years for me to realize, oh, I don't like this. Period. I mean, the medical part is really cool, right?
That was fun. It's just interacting with certain customers. You just, you got to learn how to do that right. And my coworkers didn't help. Period. Like, I was not trained properly.
Anyway, moving on from that. I don't want people hearing this and going, oh man, he hated his coworkers. Not the case at all. It's just, it's very hectic. It's very fast paced.
If you don't know what you're doing, it's much worse. And I never knew what I was doing. I never knew what the fuck I'm doing anyway.
Okay, fine. Let's move on to schedule one street level drugs. What would that be? Well, you got crack. Period. That's it. That's it. Right there. It's that fast. You know what I mean?
Listen, I don't know how to explain this, right? I want to talk about what certain drugs do to the body, but at the same time, I'm not well versed as much as I used to be.
Although I know Alprazolam is, you know, Xanax. That was very popular for a time. When I was in medical school, it was actually really popular as a recreational drug.
But a lot of people died as a result because they overdosed. They would take a whole bar and it's like, no, you don't do that. A whole bar of Xanax.
You'd be able to tell because they have individual divots, which you're supposed to break and then take like one fifth of it.
It's not, you're not supposed to take five doses at once. That's basically what that, what people were doing.
And beginners would unfortunately overdose. A lot of stories have come from people overdosing and just coming back from death, getting really close and making their way back.
That's where Tales from the Trip comes in. Seriously, go watch his channel. It's so good. It's so good. I mean, I mean, holy shit. I absolutely love it.
I'm singing praises to him because I binged his channel. And the thing is, medical stuff is very interesting to me. This is a side of medical stuff that I had seen from a distance.
This is never something I studied in depth because it was such a big faux pas. And someone tackled it, you know, someone bit the bullet and said, fine, I'll do it. I'll read the stories.
I'll tell people what it's going on. You know what I mean? And he did it. Awesome. More people should be interested in that concept.
What people who are overdosing on drugs, what they're going through, how they felt like, how they got there in the situation that led up to their, their inevitable, you know, demise.
What led to the end, basically? We as humans need to understand that no one chooses to start a drug habit. Nobody goes out and says, I'm going to ruin my life.
It just happens mostly from circumstance. There are a few people who sadly, yeah, they'll do that. They'll say, I'm going to ruin my life. And then they'll get clean and come back.
But the overdoses, that's what scares me because people will, well, they'll get incredibly, they'll get right there to the point where it's like, okay, a little more, they'll be dead.
Period. It's a dark topic. It's such a downer to talk about. But at the same time, a lot of people, I don't know, I've never dealt with people abusing drugs like this.
I have actually had one, now that I think about it, but it was my old neighbor. He overdosed on fentanyl and died. And we were the same age.
So that's the new drug. I've a lot of people are on fentanyl right now. And sadly, it's because it's so cheap and synthetic. A lot of people can get their hands on it easily.
And I'm noticing around Oregon, Pennsylvania, a lot of the big inner cities, a lot of places are getting an abundance of it. And it's very scary to think about.
Having said that, there's an aspect of these heavy, hard drugs that a lot of people, every single one of them have one thing in common. If you take too much of them for a prolonged period of time,
okay, if you're constantly bombarding your senses with all of these drugs, whether it be Xanax, whether it be actually a mixture of marijuana and crack.
I remember hearing a story about that. A mixture of all of these hard drugs, right? You know, oxycodone. Okay, you get it. You get it.
So basically, you have these prolonged experiences where you're doing the drugs over and over and over again for months at a time for some people.
Or doing LSD, acid, mushrooms, all that, okay? What happens if you do it for too long and at high doses?
You enter psychosis. Almost every single drug has that. They have the effect of psychosis. And that is what scares me the most.
It's essentially your brain saying, you better stop. You're going to kill us both. I'm going to terrify you. I'm going to traumatize us both so that you stop.
That's when your heart rate skyrockets. And I guess the unofficial term, or I guess the lingo is, you know, you're tripping balls or you're having a bad trip, okay?
But in the medical field, that's called your body fighting back. It's your body going, okay, this addiction is killing us.
That's, it's scary. It's scary to me. And I remember, I wanted to talk about some stuff in the pharmacy, but unfortunately there are some laws that restrict me from talking about it.
I'm not even going to attempt it, okay? Because these laws are so strict that the FBI will kick down my door and say you're not supposed to say that and you already know you're not supposed to say that.
I know it's called HIPAA laws. I'm not going to break those. Having said that, I can summarize the entirety by saying these three very important words, okay?
These, these, these words are, don't just apply to kids. They apply to every single adult listening, every single teenager, everyone who is still going through life, everyone alive.
Don't do drugs. Period. That's that simple, okay? I mean, it really, it was really that easy of an, of an answer. You know, when we were kids, we were told that, don't do drugs, say no to drugs.
And yet the D.A.R.E. program was an immense failure. You want to know why? Okay. If you want to teach kids not to do drugs, don't tell them, drugs are bad. I am an official man.
This was, D.A.R.E. started during the peak of the rebellion era. That's why I started smoking. It was an act of rebellion. I saw the truth thing, you know, the, I saw those PSAs that are supposed to tell you, oh, the truth of nicotine.
That made me smoke. And it upsets me that they're still getting funded. A lot of people don't fucking realize truth.org is run by the tobacco companies, okay?
It's gotta be, because that shit is so cringe that it made me smoke. Five years later, every time I see those ads, I just think, if it wasn't for these ads, I wouldn't have done it. You know?
And if it wasn't for D.A.R.E., some people wouldn't have tried drugs. Sometimes by trying to stop people from doing things, you push them over the edge.
So, this is me telling you all. It is your personal choice what you do with your life. I'm simply asking you to make the right decisions.
That's gonna do it for this episode of the Meat Wheat Podcast. Thank you all for listening. I know this episode hit a bit harder than usual.
And especially at the end, because I got a bit heated, because I think of, I think of the corruption in this world, okay?
And it just boils my fucking blood that I was an end result. That my voice, that I was permanently scarred by these fucking tobacco companies.
Yeah, I got heated. Sorry about that. But, we gotta keep smiling.
Because the truth is, I am sober. I am tobacco free. I have beaten my own addiction.
That is gonna do it for this episode of the Meatweed Podcast. Be sure to check out Tales from the Trip.
Be sure to purchase Magic Mind. Check the link tree in the description. By all means, just have a great week. Okay?
Because life is short. Don't make it shorter.
Alright, see you guys next week. And, my email is still open. So, if you want to message me, that's fine.
Also, I have a thing to bring up. I was unaware of this until today. But, Apple Podcast, a lot of people have been rating me 5 stars.
I want to thank you all so much for that. Seriously, thanks. You guys are amazing. See you guys next week.