Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Tweak (copy)

In this season of scary, my last two booktalks discussed a town lost to methamphetamines (meth) and the dangers lurking in our plant world. Combining their messages, I began to wonder if meth occurs naturally in the plant world and ran across a Wikipedia entry claiming it does.

“Methamphetamine has been reported to occur naturally in Acacia berlandieri and possibly Acacia rigidula, trees which grow in west Texas.”

Yes, I am skeptical. I find a normal path’s reversal odd since drugs derive from plants rather than researchers finding them in plants after they are synthesized. It could happen, I guess, but the path to drug use is happening and rather scary.

Two more books to scare you are Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff and Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff. The father and son actually wrote the separate memoirs at the same time. They also stopped writing about the same time when David suffered a brain hemorrhage and Nic relapsed into abuse.

The two recovered and finished their perspective manuscripts and decided to let each other read them before publication. David felt it was a fair arrangement since Nic’s abuse had hurt family and friends and he did not want Nic’s book to hurt anyone else. The experience brought them together and both books were published in February, 2008.

In Beautiful Boy we see every parent’s nightmare happening to David as he watches his bright, talented son descend into drugs. David prescribes to the tough love method and just before Nic hits bottom during the writing relapse, David is ready to say, “No, I will not give you money and contact your sponsor.”

By reading both books, readers will get a full understanding of secrets. For example, David claims his son was 17 when he started experimenting with drugs, but in Tweak we find Nic is 11 when he starts. They both claim it is the meth that brought Nic to his lowest, but I found Nic to be more enamored with heroin. It is odd to read how Nic associates the heroin “nod” to being cool and the meth “tweak” to being messed up. I am left wondering if heroin lurks in his future.

Whatever one may think of meth and books about the subject, these two are very useful sources. Whether one finds themselves on the path of patience with a user or the path of abuse, these two books are rough but arrive at hope.

8 comments:

Missy B. said...

I think it is admirable that a Father and Son wrote memoirs at the same time about a horrible, hurtful time in both of their lives...and to get both perspectives on the subject of drug abuse. These interest me - I am going to check them out. Thanks for the great review!

maggie moran said...

Thanks Missy, for the nice words! I look forward to doing _Beautiful Boy_ in book club, too!

Jeane said...

If I ever read one of these books, I know I will have to read the other, to get the full picture. I wonder how many other memoirs would have new light thrown on them if another person in the story wrote what they knew?

maggie moran said...

Would have been nice to have another perspective of _A Million Little Pieces_ before I wasted my time reading Frey's fictional memoir!?! Good thought Jeane!

Paul said...

Maggie, as a former drug counsellor,I can only tell you the truth. Drugs are ripping the fabric of civilization and we do not have a grip on it !

maggie moran said...

Thanks for your service with these abusers, Paul. I totally agree! We are losing our factory jobs and the little that is left requires blue collars to literally work thier asses off! Meth allows one to work for long hours without breaks. They consider this drug more vocational to recreational! I'm preaching to the choir, but this chit scares me! I also know what to look for in side effects and have now noticed 10 students at work on meth! YUCK!!!

Paul said...

Drugs (of the illicit and legitimate varieties) are a billion dollar industry...As a nation we are so dependent upon drugs whether prescribed by a physician or dealer on the corner that our social fabric is being affected...I am reminded of the Rolling Stones' paen to drugs "Mother's Little Helper"...Meth is a very dangerous drug and most people either don't really care or ignore it altogether...I don't mean to sound so negative but the chit gets me down too Maggie...

maggie moran said...

Amen Paul! Preaching to the choir! I'm really sick of these drug ads on the TV, too! Wish that old law was still in effect. Peeps come in wanting to know what fibramyalgia (sp) and if they have it all b/c they saw it on the tube! If I want a pick-me-up I walk around the block. What do you do? You are wheelchair bound after having a severe stroke, right?