17th May, 2007

Dr NICK HODGSON

Life is about choices - and the consequences that follow.

In the book of Genesis, we see Eve being deceived by the snake. Earlier, God had warned Adam that even though the tree in the centre of the garden was called the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil, if man ate from it, it meant death.

TRYING TO MAKE THE PARTY LAST THAT LITTLE BIT LONGER? Dr Nick Hodgson warns that using mind-altering substances can start out as a way of making yourself feel good but can quickly lead to negative consequences. PICTURE: S.N. (www.sxc.hu). "Our society is currently under the spell of a clever deception: synthetic mind-altering substances help you to relax, lose some inhibitions, feel happy and become fun to be around."

The thing about deceit is that most of it sounds plausible, and even attractive: “the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil” sounds pretty good to me - knowledge of good and evil seeming an admirable thing to aspire to. But there is also a masked lie - “You won’t die if you touch or eat from it”  says the snake. Often we miss the lie amongst the good-sounding sales pitch. Eve missed it; Adam was too passive and slow to prevent it. And look at the mess we’ve been in ever since!

There's a similar them in the recent movie Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Again we have deceit. For deceit to work, there must be an inner yearning within the victim. For Anakin it was the desire to save lives, and circumvent death: an honourable and attractive motive. The skill of the tempter is in his or her ability to offer you something that they don’t actually have; in return for your custom and loyalty. The Emperor made Anakin believe that he could provide the secret to bringing the dead back to life: The Emperor never even had the product line on his shelves! But Anakin bought the lie covered by the attractive offer, and sold his soul to evil and destruction, and even death; and the following episodes IV to VI tell the rest of the story.

Our society is currently under the spell of a clever deception: synthetic mind-altering substances help you to relax, lose some inhibitions, feel happy and become fun to be around. Social use is fine, as long as you don’t harm anyone else. And if you do it in the privacy of your own home to chill out or improve your sexual-performance; then hey, mind your own business!

Relaxation, enjoyment, exhilaration, fun, making new friends, forgetting and escaping the stress of your day’s work, or the relationships that await at home? All sound like perfectly attractive and justifiable achievements to me.
But wait, there is a concealed lie: synthetic mind-altering substances don’t actually provide any of the above benefits; they just alter your mind’s perceptive processes enough to make you think that you are getting all those things.

Come on now, let’s be frank for a few seconds. Let’s remember the times when we are in social settings and we are totally sober. How does the drunk or stoned guy or gal actually look to you? Do you observe behaviours, judgements, conversations and choices that you would aspire to? The only people who think that they are cool and funny are the other perceptually-altered individuals. And the only chick or stud that they will 'crack-onto' is the one who is significantly more synthetically handicapped!

But the lie gets reinforced because if you binged on enough of the stuff, you are sufficiently anaesthetised to only be able to remember the good and exhilarating feelings that were occurring inside your head. Even enough to make you think that the totally crap way you feel for the next one to three days is worth it. And despite the fact that you have to ask your friends what it was you did while you were feeling so happy and liked, and “out of it”.
But hey, you were the life of the party weren’t you? Not that nerdy, inhibited dude that you are normally in the workplace, and the judged and misunderstood 'black-sheep' that you are at home. So, of course you are going to do it again, and again.

So here’s the next lie. Those synthetic mind-altering substances are going to work the same time and again, there may even be something that works even better. And you’re going to make more and more new friends who just love to be around you.

Now here are the home-truths: hangover, tolerance, toxicity, side-effects, overdose, interactions, abuse, dependence, illegal substances, negative consequences, drug-related crime…ADDICTION.

The hangovers aren’t going to get any better, especially when you discover that you have to use more amounts or more mixtures to produce the same benefits. And then there are those bad-mixes that you get from time to time - “Man that was a bad trip” - but something makes you remember the good times and push those scary nights to the back of your memory. And do you even notice that your friends who do manage to maintain a degree of sobriety start to avoid you, especially after some of the things you said and did to them. But hey, what a great party! And anyway the guys you have started hanging out with are more daring, and seem to have an endless supply of the goodies. Plus things have deteriorated at home: why do they have to hassle you about the hours you are keeping, and the way you look, and smell. And so what if you have been missing days at work? Don’t they understand that you haven’t been well lately? Anyway, you hate your job.

What is going to happen in episodes IV to VI of your life? Can you return to the ways of “the force”? A lifestyle where you discover and explore natural means of feeling reward, connection, friendship, challenge and achievement?
Or will you slide further down the dark path? Using just to feel vaguely normal, instead of the usual pain, anxiety, depression, anger, and craving that has now consumed you like a dark storm? Stealing from the very people that have nurtured you, to scratch together enough cash for another trip? Resorting to a range of illegal activities to pay back your debts to your suppliers, whom you’ve discovered aren’t such forgiving friends after all? Losing your licence, your job, your savings and credit rating, your credibility, your self-esteem, maybe even your life?

Like Luke Skywalker, the loving and forgiving son of Darth Vader, we know that there is still a spark of good inside you. And that if you return to the ways that lead to peace, acceptance, forgiveness, repentance and recovery then you will rediscover the joys of a new created being, living in a garden that supplies all your worldly and emotional needs.

And your Creator can once again say “this is my child with whom I am well pleased”.

The information contained in this article is of a general nature only. For advice on your specific situation, please consult your medical professional.

Dr Nick Hodgson is a chiropractor working in Victoria. Recognised by both the Chiropractors Association of Australia (Vic) for his service to the chiropractic profession, Dr Hodgson has been responsible for introducing the torque release technique (www.torquerelease.com.au), auriculotherapy and addictionology training to the Australian chiropractic profession. Nick is a Fellow of the Holder Research Institute (F.H.R.I.), has completed five of the ten modules of the Certified Addictionologist (CAd) program, and is the Australasian provider of Torque Release training. He is a member of the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia (CAA) and the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA), and sits on the WCA’s International Board of Governors. Visit Nick online at www.healthetalk.com.au.

© Dr Nick Hodgson 2007.

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