Fornits

Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => Straight, Inc. and Derivatives => Topic started by: FaceKhan on July 01, 2001, 04:27:49 PM

Title: My friend is home
Post by: FaceKhan on July 01, 2001, 04:27:49 PM
My friend is home
My friend Alex, who was sent to Alldredge Academy in WV is home after 2 months. He says that the experience was beneficial and that despite the information that led me to believe the place was unsafe, it was not really bad there. He says he had enough food, the staff was competent, and overall a good experience. His complaints were mostly related to the coercive element of being there, and how the school tries to prevent escapes, like taking the kids' shoes at night and such.


 I don't think my friend was brainwashed or harmed there but, my other friend who has gone on one of these came home similarly impressed by the staff and program, but today (2 years later) is a bit resentful of his parents tricking him into thinking it was a regular Outward Bound sort of trip when it was really a coercive therapy trip which he did not need.  

Slavish discipline makes a slavish temper... If severity carry'd to the
highest pitch does prevail, and works a cure upon the present unruly
distemper, it often brings in the room of it a worse and more dangerous
disease, by breaking the mind; and then, in the place of a disorderly young
fellow, you have a low spirited moap'd creature, who, however with his
unnatural sobriety he may please silly people, who commend tame unactive
children, because they make no noise, nor give them any trouble; yet at
last, will probably prove as uncomfortable a thing to his friends, as he
will be all his life an useless thing to himself and others... Beating them,
and all other sorts of slavish and corporal punishments, are not the
discipline fit to be used in the education of those we would have wise,
good, and ingenuous men...
John Locke, 1692

Title: My friend is home
Post by: Kathy on July 01, 2001, 10:40:05 PM
Yeay!!!!
yeah!!! I'm sooo glad he is home already.  Though, I must commend you once again on being so smart.  When the people first come home from any of these places they may think they are really impressed with the staff and the program... That usually is part of the brainwashing.  Look at me, I did speaking engagements for the abusive program I was in.   Also sometimes there is the element of fear.  Sometimes they are afraid if they speak out about the program, someone will hear and they will be sent back.  The part that bothers me is the taking of the shoes and keeping them there.  That is one of the same elements that are present in many very abusive programs.  Even if there was no physical violence, it sounds like some mind-raping did occur.  


At least he is back and if he ever happens to come to you later on with questions or complaints about the program you know where you can direct him.  


Take care, Kathy

Title: My friend is home
Post by: tommyfromhyde on July 01, 2001, 06:18:56 AM
I'm still going
    You remember what we talked about.

Title: My friend is home
Post by: Antigen on July 01, 2001, 12:40:21 PM
Yeaaaaaayyyyy!!
Good to hear it, Face.  

-If there's a worse idea going than locking kids up for victimless crimes, it's probably locking them in close proximity to some tyrannical altruist bent on helping them even if it kills them.Saving our Children from Drug Treatment Abuse

Title: My friend is home
Post by: KimberlyNJ on July 01, 2001, 10:09:48 PM
WoooooHooooooo!!!!!!
I am soooooo glad to hear your friend is home.  I can say from my experience, all you need to do right now is be a freind.  He is still THERE mentally and will not say that anything really bad happened out of fear.  Or perhaps nothing really bad did happen,, I can pray for that.  All you need to do is be a freind.  Don't ask a whole lot of questions, don't act like he was in a "fucked up" place.  He doesn't want to hear it right now and probably wouldn't hear it either.

You ARE a true friend for worrying like this about him.  I hope all is well.  God Bless

Title: My friend is home
Post by: j on August 01, 2001, 11:49:53 AM
mind raping
The message is: "you don't get to be free until you do our therapeutic thing."  Even in a setting that has none of the other characteristics of the Straights, and thus does not seem too bad at all, this is still the prime element of abuse.


I was mulling this over: what if a person was shipwrecked, say, on a tiny island in the South Pacific, where there was a small tribe of people who took her in, and no way of leaving the island or radioing for a rescue.  Say she was there for two or ten years.  Say the island people were mostly "live and let live" folks, who didn't mind her many wierd ideas and ways of doing things.  Alone in a vastly different culture, she would probably change a great deal, and come to agree with many of their customs, even if they went against her former beliefs.  She would see the world  very differently.  The islanders, as well, would be changed by her and by what she told them of the rest of the world.


So, I was thinking, that is kind of like being put in Straight, with some crucial differences.  First of all, I was "put" into Straight by my parents.  This was not an accident of wind and weather.  Hence the terror and rage of abandonment.  Second, in Straight there reigned the very opposite of the "live and let live" ethic: Straight and all the people I was there with had an agenda for me.  I had no freedom to go to my grass hut and mull things over.  I had no freedom to enjoy the people for themselves around the evening fire.  There was no honest give and take of information and knowledge.  It became clear: it is not possible to survive in this situation.  I do not have the basic necessities for healthy human survival: love, sunshine and the outdoors, the freedom to make my own life, time to myself to think, free exchange of ideas with other people or at least through books and other media.  Since it is not possible to survive here, I must escape.  I can either escape literally, and risk the consequences, or I can escape by graduating.  (I don't think many of us realized the inherent consequences in that choice.)  To graduate, I must completely assimilate into this society.  I do not get to question anything.  Assimilating meant, among other things, having no privacy of mind or emotions.  What should have been my private space was subjected to continued assualt.  I think we are all familiar with the specifics: staff had our private journals, we had to talk about our "pasts", we had no right to "get into our heads" or stare into space thinking, we had to talk about sexual experiences, in fact, we had to talk about everything, lest we be accused of withholding information and being "full of shit."  We were subject to ridicule.  We were told what we were feeling and given no right to disagree.  We were told what we were not feeling.  We had to have certain emotions while talking about certain things.  We had to stand a certain way while talking: arms down so we didn't "hide".


In the Straights, this was all very extreme.  We had no break from it at all.  But in any coercive so-called therapeutic or rehabilitative program, freedom comes only through submission to therapy or rehabilitation, and that is the rotten core.  That is mind-rape.


I have the right to be private.  I have the right to understand my life and myself in my own way.  


Essay question: How is Susanna Kaysen's experience in a mental institution, as told in "Girl, Interrupted", like or unlike the Straight experience?  Would the shipwrecked woman experience a similar sense of being "interrupted"?  Why or why not?



Title: My friend is home
Post by: FaceKhan on August 02, 2001, 02:31:34 AM
Well he seems about the same
I have not spent a whole lot of time with him, since I went out of town a day after he got back, but I saw him yesterday. I think he is still adjusting to being back, he said as much when I saw him. A few little things trouble me, some of the things he says when he talks about the program sound so much like the testimonials for these kinds of programs that I am not sure they are really his words. The best example I can give is his description of  how in the 2nd month he would scream at this one counselor in the 'village' and now he thinks he is a great guy.  Which is quite similar to "The first day they are screaming at me and the last day they are hugging me." which is a staff testimonial that is heard a lot from these programs.


I have not noticed much of a change in his overall personality, except that some of his attitudes towards his parents, drugs, and authority have shifted back to what I remember he was like a few years ago and he seems generally happier.


  I have not really asked much about the program except for a few little details, like what the school's 'hearbeat model' is supposedly about, and he said he had not even heard the phrase used while he was there, which was a little strange considering the founder claims it as his intellectual crowning achievment.


  I guess only time will tell as to whether his newfound 'sobriety' (not so much in the drug sense, as in the attitude and behavioral sense) is natural or unnatural. I got a bad feeling that even if this program was in fact beneficial, it will not change very much on the longterm because his parents still have their share of the family's problem.

Slavish discipline makes a slavish temper... If severity carry'd to the
highest pitch does prevail, and works a cure upon the present unruly
distemper, it often brings in the room of it a worse and more dangerous
disease, by breaking the mind; and then, in the place of a disorderly young
fellow, you have a low spirited moap'd creature, who, however with his
unnatural sobriety he may please silly people, who commend tame unactive
children, because they make no noise, nor give them any trouble; yet at
last, will probably prove as uncomfortable a thing to his friends, as he
will be all his life an useless thing to himself and others... Beating them,
and all other sorts of slavish and corporal punishments, are not the
discipline fit to be used in the education of those we would have wise,
good, and ingenuous men...
John Locke, 1692

Title: My friend is home
Post by: FaceKhan on August 02, 2001, 02:33:34 AM
Re: I'm still going
Yes I remember, I am most interested in anything you find.

Slavish discipline makes a slavish temper... If severity carry'd to the
highest pitch does prevail, and works a cure upon the present unruly
distemper, it often brings in the room of it a worse and more dangerous
disease, by breaking the mind; and then, in the place of a disorderly young
fellow, you have a low spirited moap'd creature, who, however with his
unnatural sobriety he may please silly people, who commend tame unactive
children, because they make no noise, nor give them any trouble; yet at
last, will probably prove as uncomfortable a thing to his friends, as he
will be all his life an useless thing to himself and others... Beating them,
and all other sorts of slavish and corporal punishments, are not the
discipline fit to be used in the education of those we would have wise,
good, and ingenuous men...
John Locke, 1692

Title: My friend is home
Post by: Imone on August 01, 2001, 11:15:19 AM
Do not be fooled
At least when i was there, this program was not right,


-graduate of Alldredge December '99 Bowzin@aol.com

Title: My friend is home
Post by: Antigen on August 01, 2001, 04:40:41 PM
Do tell
Chances are that, right now with all of the media and state regulatory attention, they're behaving themselves.... sort of. They'll make whatever changes to the rules and structure they need to to show effort to address whatever specific complaints they're getting. It doesn't really make any difference, in fact it can be more of a mind f*** than blatant violence.


Please, do tell what goes on up there in WV. I have some property in Doddridge Cnty and a good relationship with at least one newspaper out of Charleston. Even if you don't want your name attached to anything, it might help if we could give journalists and state investigators some specific things to look for.

-If there's a worse idea going than locking kids up for victimless crimes, it's probably locking them in close proximity to some tyrannical altruist bent on helping them even if it kills them.
Saving our Children from Drug Treatment Abuse

Title: My friend is home
Post by: Anonymous on March 13, 2002, 02:42:00 PM
So, do you guys think that using drugs is okay? How exactly would you prefer parents to intervene in their childs development when they are using drugs, lying, stealing, becoming abusive, depressed, angry, self-mutilating, etc.?
Title: My friend is home
Post by: ladyjerrico on March 20, 2002, 11:23:00 PM
Using drugs is o.k. ONLY IF used for medical reasons, such as a dying patient with a disease or things of that nature.. NOT for recreational purposes.
If my parents weren't so abusive in my adolences, I probably wouldn't have never been on drugs and been a good student.
One thing I found out in life with drugs is that there is ALWAYS an underline reason for using, I found that out AFTER I left Straight.
I would have appreciated if my parents would talk to me instead of yell, hug me instead of slap the crap out of me.. and best of all, explain to me for reasons of abuse and punishment (my father tried his best to do so, but my mom would never listen).. so I ended up in rehab regretting the day I set foot into that deathcamp insane cult!
Title: My friend is home
Post by: Anonymous on March 21, 2002, 07:38:00 AM
Save yourself and your child a lot of heartache and use the money to take them on a long cruise. Take it from a parent who has been through it already. I wish to God that's what I had done. Your odds of gaining any benefit for money spent is better at the craps table in Vegas than a "speciality" school.
Title: My friend is home
Post by: ladyjerrico on March 21, 2002, 10:57:00 AM
I never thought of it that way.. but I would say if my child had that much of a problem.. I would probably show them all the Straight Inc. footage I could find.. if that wasn't enough, I would need to find out how severe the problem, what drugs he/she is taking and do some corrective action.. not as corrective as Straight.. but I know that I would find a way because I was there too!
Title: My friend is home
Post by: Anonymous on March 25, 2002, 01:57:00 PM
"Using drugs is o.k. ONLY IF used for medical reasons, such as a dying patient with a disease or things of that nature.. NOT for recreational purposes."

My lady, What the fuck??
Title: My friend is home
Post by: velvet2000 on March 26, 2002, 02:49:00 AM
I don't think she's saying that there's something wrong with people who do use recreationally Anon, just that they aren't good for you.
Title: My friend is home
Post by: Anonymous on March 26, 2002, 07:45:00 PM
No, drugs aren't good for you...niether is sunshine, fried food, municipal water, or missing church on Sunday.  I heard enough of people saying what is "wrong" and what is "right" in Straight.  One thing that helped me get past my experience in the program was making my own decisions.  Wisdom today, in my opinion, is the understanding that everyone has a dynamically different opinion on what is categorically defined as "wrong" or "right" in society.

Personally I wouldn't be so bold as to answer the question in the thread "So you all think doing drugs is ok?".  Furthermore, to say "they are ok for medical use" would only define me as a steeply opinionated and maybe prematurely vocal individual.  

How and who is to judge whether or not it is ok if I go in the bathroom and shoot up, throw up, and nod off for awhile? Contrarily speaking, who is to say whether it is ok or not if I "recreationally" toke a joint at a Pink Floyd concert?  Or if that toke or fix was "medically" used because I have glaucoma or HIV?  The "right or wrong" arguement regarding drug use (and what are drugs...caffeine? tobacco?  what is use? Once a week, twice?  What is abuse?  Five times a day?  Heroin once a year?) is a mute point not only here on the boards but also in the real world for those with wisdom enough to understand the fundamental meaning of controversy.  Robert DuPont(fucking fool) made the arguement about marijuana being a "gateway drug", which also sits right on the fence with other controversial, unquanitative, and mute points.  Is holding hands or kissing the "gateway-foreplay" to veneral disease and AIDS?  Will we discuss are deepest opinions on religion, abortion, and politics next?  Straight is over, there are no absolutes in nature, and right and wrong is only a matter of personal opinion that should remain just that--a personal opinion.

I apologize for getting so wound up and long winded, I just hate to read "DRUGS ARE WRONG" in a forum such as this.  I also hate to see that still so many need to pull the DARE sticker off the bumper, smoke a joint and relax.
str8jack-it
Title: My friend is home
Post by: velvet2000 on March 27, 2002, 12:01:00 AM
Anon, I wouldn't have a problem if someone came in here and did announce their beliefs in religion or politics, even if I disputed it. Perhaps what you might be upset about is Lady's deffinition of the word "wrong". In Synanon type programs they are saying that drugs are wrong in a sinful type way. They say that anyone who uses drugs is a wrong person, or that they have it all wrong. We were told that everything we did in our lives up until the program we were in was completely wrong, and drugs were the highlight of our wrongness. I don't see any harm in stating that drugs are not okay, as long as that persopn is not coming here to manipulate you out of your ways, or treat drug users as if they are less than, and from what I've read lady was not doing that.

  Velvet
Title: My friend is home
Post by: ladyjerrico on March 27, 2002, 12:26:00 PM
In response to the word "wrong"
Let me say that for me saying "that's so wrong".. it is slang for me to use (thanks to my friend Terry).
I want to clerify that I'm not saying what I mean is "right" or "wrong".. it's the way I talk verbally.
I want to make that clear for future postings or people who see that word that I type.
I'm not saying what anyone is doing here is right or wrong.. I'm not the judge of someone else, nor am I trying to cause an arguement.
I know it's hard to express feelings and personality in typing.. that's one thing about the internet that is a bit lagging.

Sorry for the confusion
Title: My friend is home
Post by: ladyjerrico on March 27, 2002, 12:33:00 PM
also in response to using drugs..
In my personal opinion (everyone has their own).. I agree everything is bad for you.
I'm talking about hardcore drugs like majuania (sp?) cocaine, crack.. what-have-you.. that is what I mean by it shouldn't be used for recreational purposes.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion.. so bash me if you want to.. I have my own opinion.

As far as drinking goes. I have one on occassion, but those days for me are over.. people are entitled to do what they want to as long as they don't make me a part of their bad habits.

I think that people would live longer if they abide by a diet, excersize and good nutrition.. there are complications I understand like depression or diabetes.
But in the overall general aspect of life, I think that those who choose recreational drugs (the ones listed above) are looking for a shorter lifespan than those who don't

This is the point I'm trying to make
Title: My friend is home
Post by: Anonymous on March 27, 2002, 02:21:00 PM
Marijuana a "hard" drug???  Not meaning to bash anyone for anything, but what the fuck happened to the liberals on the board?  
Anti...you out there?

I'm certain your opinions are more than welcome my lady, and thank you Velvet for the clarification.  

It's just that...well, nevermind.  
str8jack-it
Title: My friend is home
Post by: ladyjerrico on March 27, 2002, 02:50:00 PM
Like I said before.. just my opinion about pot..
I knew that I would get slammed by that one
Title: My friend is home
Post by: Anonymous on March 28, 2002, 02:50:00 PM
But I was the only one that stepped up for the slamming!!  That is a change, there used to be several that would jump at the opportunity to address such conservative and residual programmed philosophy regarding drugs and drug use!  I need  bowl...
Title: My friend is home
Post by: str8isabuse on March 28, 2002, 09:14:00 PM
hi... just wanted to put in my two cents... i don't use pot or other drugs for recreation other than a drink once in a while, but i really do not think it is wrong for a person to indulge in a drug for fun as long as it is done responsibly.  no on should be harmed by someone else's drug use, so drugs that induce violence like pcp are not good.  highly addictive drugs that drive the addicts to commit violent crimes to obtain the drug are dangerous to society.  but it's well known that marijuana calms and relaxes people, and is not physically addictive like alcohol, tobacco and heroin.  we let millions smoke tobacco and drink alcohol, and we all know how deadly those drugs are.  marijuana is probably most dangerous as a carcinogen to the lungs, like cigarettes, but poses little danger to others besides second-hand smoke.  people have been smoking various weeds for thousands of years.  as long as they are considerate of others, i have no problem with it, and it actually does a lot of good for many people, especially people who are ill.
Title: My friend is home
Post by: kaydeejaded on March 29, 2002, 02:24:00 PM
D

[ This Message was edited by: kaydeejaded on 2004-03-03 08:26 ]
Title: My friend is home
Post by: Anonymous on March 29, 2002, 05:35:00 PM
There are now eight states that have Medical  Marijuana laws .

Cannabis is good for the relief of pain associated with Irritable Bowel syndrome
(it is a lot better than percocets,which are given for irritable bowel)

There was a study commissioned by a retired war general ,who aslo happened to be the Drug Czar for Clinton as to put to rest whether or not Cannabis had any medicinal value. Personally I think old Barry fecaled in his pants when this report came back that not only did it have incredible medicinal value,it was found that it is in fact not addicting ,not a gateway drug and there is no direct evidence that anyone has died from using it .

The 25 plus page report is on the internet and very astute scientists from the USA and England participated.

Personally I believe that if you don't like cannabis,don't use it.Though if someone finds relief from using it please be a compassionate human being and don't pass judgement

Oregonian Blueberry
Title: My friend is home
Post by: ladyjerrico on March 29, 2002, 10:00:00 PM
Something tells me I opened up a can of worms with my pot remarks and opinions.
Title: My friend is home
Post by: kaydeejaded on March 29, 2002, 10:48:00 PM
Thats right lady J. oops gotta check those brownies I was bakin ya.....just kidding bad sense of humor. :sad:
Title: My friend is home
Post by: ladyjerrico on March 30, 2002, 09:41:00 PM
Hope those brownies are a bit uh.. BURNT!! jk :smile:
Title: My friend is home
Post by: kaydeejaded on March 31, 2002, 01:42:00 AM
lol :grin:
Title: My friend is home
Post by: str8isabuse on April 01, 2002, 01:50:00 PM
it is all about money.  the government, pharmaceutical companies, and booze companies know they would lose business if it were legal to grow your own whatever--opium, marijuana, or make moonshine.  They want us to pay a premium to buy THEIRS.  Of course they don't care if we get sick from it or anything else.  They also want us to pay for their rehabs, and we wouldn't be doing that either unless they keep most drugs criminalized.  Alcohol is far more dangerous to families than marijuana.  Heroin is dangerous because of the dirty needles, which are dirty because heroin is illegal.  It all comes down to MONEY and POWER.  Why can't people let others live in peace and happiness?  Why do so many people feel compelled to harrass other people?  Sometimes I'm surprised they even allow sex within marriage, but I guess that brings more children to keep the system going.
Title: My friend is home
Post by: ladyjerrico on April 02, 2002, 11:42:00 AM
Well, the reason I'm against drinking or drugs.. mainly for the fact that how many drunk drivers do you find behind the wheel and come to find out they kill a teenager or someone else that is totally an innocent bystander?
I think it's sad that so many people need to do those kinds of things, get behind a wheel or do something totally stupid like that, and take the life of another human being.
I agree that drinking is more dangerous, not only to the mind, but to the body and other methods in the ways of thinking.
I think pot is mainly the same thing, but once you become immune to the affects of pot, there is always something more that you need for your body in order to feel a sense of not being in touch with reality.

I just think smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee or something caffinated and taking my anti-depressents for myself, will be more than enough to not want to do anything else.. I just want to enjoy a normal life without anymore toxins that I used to do before Straight, and I certainly don't ever want to touch pot again.. bad reaction last time I had it and I'll never go back to it
Title: My friend is home
Post by: Kenterprises on April 02, 2002, 02:36:00 PM
"I dont know what to believe" when I was there in Straight INC. in St. Pete There was NO physical abuse! From what I have read this negative actions must of occured after I got myself kicked out. Only after having to start beating the hell out of a staff member or person bugging me. "J" You were right about them not letting you get into your head, fuck every time I did, I had some fucking punk snapping his fingers in front of my face to bring me back from what I was enjoying and I do till this day! How about this one I dont know how far back some of you go but Im 41  and I ws there in the begenning at straight, I remember when every other minute  the whole place would jump up and down in their seats snapping their fingers trying to get who ever was the staff person was to pick on them just to pick a song and if the staff person did not like the song even though they sing the fucking thing a thousand times durring the day, he would say Na then go to someone else to pick a song he or she liked! A real Tribal Idiot!!! So Jim or Liz,(the staff back then) you fat piece of shit, if your reading this today I have made it!!! without fucking Straight INC. I sat on 1st phase people till 6 months finally I could not take it anymore, I went nuts trying to pick fights back then it was "bringing the other person down It was a goal for me to find the one who just made 3rd phase and see if I could get him to laugh, you would be suprised how many did.I was sent there by a Judge Harry COE they called him Hanging Harry, if ya;ll remember about 4-5 years ago he was found dead he had blown his brains out in his car, Does anyone know why??? DRUGS! he was selling and they were closing in on him it was in St Pete. The same bastard that sent me there, well i did have a choice % years of hard work and labor or  finish the straight INC. Program of cource I picked straight, at 17 I would have killed myself in a prison. But after the 6 months of it I was ready to do the time just so at least I know when I would be free, I remember drinking Kool aid from a dixie cup and eating choclate chip cookies dunking them in my kool aid, I had lost a lot of weight in that place from lake of food, there was hot meals I dont believe anyone who says they ate PBJ for a year or more there full of shit!How come these shows are not shown on tv today??? Like it did back then on Phill Donahue? Lets get Montel involved!!! They did carry you around by the belt loops if you had to use the bathroom. What I thought that sucked was that you had to earn the right to talk to your parents, for only 5 minutes! they would take us outside and go out by the marsh for a hour or 2. That fucking hot sun in that tin bld and we did'nt have no AC durring the week they would only turn it on when  it would be parents night or when they would have a guest there that was doing a tv show about us like we were some fucking circus. The thing that I did realy get out of straight was to recconise what I was feeling. Back then I did not understand that, or what it meant! I faked my way to 2 nd phase and I got to stand up and yell "MOM IM commimg Home" No body was expecting it, not even my mother who after 4 months they had her convinced and she quit brining me my cigarettes. But the first night I was home I was ready to run away, I got my freedom back that evening and I did not want to go back after the 3rd day when I was going to run, they stood me up in the afternoon and anounced that they were going to take me back to 1st phase, That was the straw that broke the camels back. I was put into the THINK ROOM does anyone remember the think room, a 4 wall room nothing in there but concrete and a chair and a guard outside the 2 doors that went into the place, of course I had to fuck with the guard and run to one door like i was going to escape and when he would run to the same door I would run back to the one he left. LOL The only thing is that I realy wanted to leave, I did not want to hurt anybody just to get my point accross but I had to because they woukld say oh you better realy think hard you dont want to leave you will die if you try and make it on your own! Nobody ever watched me go to the bathroom or anything like that, they did take you in by your belt loops or if you were on 2 nd phase or higher you could just get up and go.I was always checking out the woman though, good thing they had them on the other side :smile: I was going to make a run when I got there but a friend that was ordered there with me LOUIE Jones ran after the 3rd day there and got away lucky bastard! that put the lock down on my ass cause they knew we were tight friends. I always a fantasy to be able to run and make it I used to sit around and think about it all day long its what got me throught the longest 6 months of my life. then Once I was kicked out They took me down to JDC in St. Pete  remember that place??? I was free at last more there than straight even when those doors would lock at night! I did not have no one hanging onto my beltloops and I got to eat a real meal not out of a can and blended with all these other can foosd that the parents would bring in, and you were doing good to get bread with it! I got to work in the kitchen at JDC and only a week I was in there before my guidence counslor  came got me and took me to a half way house, then a week later after that I went to see the Judge, I did not complete the straight program like i was ordered I thought for sure I was on my way to Trento NJ. Because later on I found out my Mom was going to not take me back home and the only other place I could have gone would have been Trenton, but thank God my Mom Loved me enough and it was Mothers day the day I had to see the judge, and the Judge said I had belonged in straight for 6 months I had to have learned something, he gave me probation with the exception My mother want me to come home, and sure enough she did!! what a great ending. But my point is that I had made up my mind I was not going back to STRAight PERIOD! And guess what a person That had graduated the program I met up with him and guess who turned me back on to smoking pot YOU GOT IT HIM! I smoked pot and did other drugs even when I was in the Service, But I did quit doing everything back in 1986 turned it all around and did not do anything! I been just fine since then. I am Happly married with 2 fine sons 18 months and 4 months old. And a beatuful wife Debbie for 4 years now. Remeber how every one would yell out when you sat back down after you would reveal everything personal about your self and be totaly exposed?? then they would yell " WE LOVE YOU DAVID" HOW NAUSIATING NOW WHEN I THINK BACK. And what was with those fricking songs, Sung like the micky mouse version STRAIGHT INC! or JOY, Or the one that would make me want to vomit ITS A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL. every one sound off on here as what age you are now and how old you were in straight. I feel as if Im the only one that is the oldest on here.  "LOVE YOU EVERYBODY"  Now lets have a song!
Title: My friend is home
Post by: Anonymous on April 18, 2002, 12:13:00 AM
coldn't agree more with what anonymous (not me!) said last page, about what" right, what's wrong, and who says? Personally, I'm glad I did all the crazy drug-taking I've done (SINCE Straight, I mean...I hardly did ANY before!). Even the insane years as a speed freak, while ugly and grim, were part of the path that led me to HERE! When I used to eat fistfuls of acid, I never had a freak out, but I saw a kid lose it completely and really screw up his life on half a hit.
my point is, there are NO 'rules' about drugs that apply to everyone, always. The ones I've found personally immutable are DON'T USE NEEDLES! (never have) and DON'T DRIVE WHEN YOU'RE MESSED UP (I don't anymore).
We of all people should know better than to be fascists about what other people consume!
Title: My friend is home
Post by: bettypills on April 18, 2002, 12:32:00 AM
that last one was from me, I forgot I had a username on here!