Forums | MacLife

I imagine Mac users do less drugs than PC users, as Mac users typically comes from better homes and have higher education.

Echo, see above comment about location. 

And I don't believe caffeine is a controlled substance, except in the case of certain types of NoDoze.

nope, %100 straightedge for me.

At some point, most people figure out that recreational drugs are a complete waste of time.

Get a load of this, though, it's fascinating: The newest drug "the kids" are using, leak, has to be the most ridiculous street drug concoction ever. The previous winner was "wet," which is plain old enbalming fluid stolen from funeral homes (some say drained straight from corpses, boo!) and smoked on a cigarette.

(I'd post a link, but the newspaper I clipped this from only leaves their articles up for 2 weeks. Lucky for you I kept a copy in my e-mail.)

The drug is 'leak,' its use is alarming

PCP, embalming fluid a recipe for violence

Friday, May 30, 2003

BY WILLIAM KLEINKNECHT
(Newark, NJ) Star-Ledger Staff

Lamar Lee and Jurisha Boone are 23-year-old men who recently pleaded guilty to separate sex crimes whose brutal details shocked even the most case-hardened detectives in Essex County. Both held jobs and had no previous trouble with the law.

And both claim to have committed their crimes while high on "leak," a smokable mix of embalming fluid and PCP that is gaining popularity in Newark and other inner-city areas.

PCP, or phencyclidine, is an animal tranquilizer that was a popular street drug among suburban youths in the 1960s and 1970s, but went out of vogue after users became acquainted with its harmful effects. The drug can produce frightening hallucinations and paranoia and, in some cases, has led to suicide and acts of violence.

Now substance abuse experts are alarmed that use of PCP is once again on the increase. The blend of PCP and embalming fluid soaked on either mint leaves or tobacco is called "leak" in Newark but is known elsewhere as "illie," "wet," "amp," "fry," "dust" and "love boat."

"This is a horrible drug," said David Kerr, president of Integrity House, a drug treatment facility in Newark and Secaucus. "We've had people in here hallucinating and really out of control. Unfortunately, it seems to be an 'in' thing among some young people."

Most worrisome to researchers is that PCP has been widely reported since the 1970s to produce violent behavior in some people. Phil Brewer, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital, said studies have shown that 5 percent to 10 percent of users have violent reactions.

"This is a subset of users who, with minimal cues from the environment, can be provoked into a sort of rage that is extremely dangerous," Brewer said, adding that other research has shown that people have greater physical strength while high on PCP.

Jane Alexander, a researcher at the University of Texas in Austin who has studied the drug extensively, said she also has seen many examples of PCP causing violence.

"We had one really terrible incident in Austin where a couple of young guys were stuffed into the trunk of a car and dumped in the river," she said.

Lee and Boone exemplify such concerns. Lee and another man, Waymon Chester, robbed a nutrition store in Newark in May 2001 and repeatedly raped the store owner's daughter in front of him.

After pleading guilty to the crime, Lee and his sister told the victims at his sentencing in 2002 that leak was the cause of his violent behavior. Robert Laurino, chief of the sex crimes unit in the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, said Lee is a suspect in a double murder in New York City, also believed to have been committed while he was high on the drug.

"I have seen his personality on the drug leak," said Lee's sister, Melinda, at the sentencing, "and he wasn't even in a normal state of mind. He wasn't even my brother."

Boone and his accomplice, Anthony Mangan, abducted two sisters at a Glen Ridge bank in October 2000, raped them for more than an hour and forced them to commit sex acts on each other. He also blamed leak at his sentencing.

In April, New York City police reported that Larme Price, a 30-year-old man charged with the unprovoked slayings of four Middle Eastern shopkeepers in separate incidents in Brooklyn and Queens, was under the influence of PCP during the killings.

A number of indicators point to a rise in the drug's use. Kerr said people being treated for PCP use was once a rarity at Integrity House, but he said the facility took in 26 such users last year. He said the number jumped to 24 just for the first four and half months of this year.

The Drug Abuse Warning Network, a federal agency that collects data on drug-related emergency room visits, said the number of emergency PCP cases reported by hospitals in the Newark metropolitan area went from nine in 1998 to 35 in 2001. The agency estimated that there 39 cases in the first six months of last year, but said that sharp increase still needs to be finalized and could be subject to some adjustment.

For the nation as a whole, the numbers increased to 6,102 in 2001 from 3,436 in 1998, with the estimate for the first six months of last year showing a jump to 3,257.

Experts believe that the actual number of emergency episodes is much higher because users often are not even aware they are smoking PCP, so they cannot report it to medical personnel.

The acronym PCP is said to have stemmed from the term "peace pill," which was the drug's street name in the 1960s. In those days it was a suburban phenomenon, but now it is almost exclusively found in the inner cities, according to experts.

Brewer said his emergency room sees people from all walks of life and that there is no mistaking the venue of PCP abuse.

"It is clearly an urban drug," he said. "I never see a suburban kid who is on PCP."

One of the users being treated at Integrity House in Secaucus -- a 17-year-old Jersey City boy who asked that his name not be used -- said the drug is widely available in his neighborhood. He said he would buy a small jar of mint leaves soaked in what he was told was embalming fluid for $15 and had no idea that it contained PCP. He said his friends called it "dust."

The youth said he had never heard of PCP, but the behavior he described while under the influence fit what experts describe as the classic symptoms of PCP intoxication.

"I broke into cars and I hit people for no reason," he said. "I robbed people for no reason. I was stealing from stores. I couldn't think straight."

Copyright 2003 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.

whoa thats pretty scary

I imagine Mac users do less drugs than PC users, as Mac users typically comes from better homes and have higher education.

That doesn't necessarily mean that you don't do drugs.  Some of the biggest drug users I know come from rich, upper class homes.

Yep, youre totally right, I have lots of very rich friends who do the most drugs out of anyone I know, infact the richer the people are the more money they have to spend on that smurf. So drawing a parallel between education, weath, social class and drug use isn't correct.

Actually come to think of the group of friends I know that smoke the most weed (they never do any other stuff are all quite rich and most are in university. So I guess that further prooves the point.

I don't use any illegal drugs, although I support marijuana legalization.  I could smoke, being 18 years old, but I think it's disgusting and stupid.  I haven't used alcohol yet.  I guess that could change when I get to college though.   

I know - and I was merely bragging about my (dis?)advantages due to location.

See? The only thing that sucks is that you guys got the short end of the stick on the exchange rate.

I was just curious because it seems like the people who post are a bunch of pro-pot peeps.  I was wondering if that was from principle or experience. 

I see a lot of people here for the legalisation of other drugs too...

I would think that more 'teens' would be admitting to having had a beer or two.

I would think that more 'teens' would be admitting to having had a beer or two.

That would be a waste there. Just a beer or two? What's the fun in that?

I'm a drunkard, and it won't be legal for me for another 3 months.

I also think pot should be legalized.

Jay: have you eaten a piece of chocolate? Ever had any coffee or tea?

I don't use the other drugs though, either - smoking, drinking, or any illegal drugs.

Any no, marijuana should not be legalized.