Catnip Crazy

     We share this house with not one but three cats of various ages. Sawyer is the old man of the house at 16, he doesn’t do very much anymore but lay around and take life easy. Cricket is the youngest and the one most likely to stir things up a bit. You can usually find them one of two places. They are either in here on the back of my chair or directly in front of the space heater or they are in the room where the wood stove is located. Ordinarily they are an easy going group. They act like human siblings in that they get along most of the time, but there are moments when someone has to start something. Its all well and good unless it is two in the morning on the foot of my bed. It got really interesting here the other day. James found the container of catnip and decided that he would give some to the cats.

   That was when things got a bit ugly. He swore later that he only put a pinch on the floor. (No he didn’t tell me that but he did show me.) Cricket found it first and took full advantage of the cat drug of choice. She’s had cat nip before, it didn’t do then what this taste did. That bit of catnip turned a sweet kitty into something mean and unrecognizable. She stalked the older cat and jumped him, causing a fight to begin. My son managed to break it up and separate the two combatants hoping that ended it. His hope was futile. She searched the house until she found Sawyer and once again tried to pick a fight. My son once again separated them. This time Sawyer came in here and was helped up onto the back of my chair. (He can get up there by himself, he just likes to act pitiful)

 He stretched out across the back of the chair but before he could doze off here come his attacker. She was literally climbing up the back of my chair to get to him. James came and got her and took her into the other part of the house. She was going to be confined in his room until the catnip wore off. I told him not to give her any more of that particular batch. I’ve had it a while, it may have gotten too old.

  Thinking about a cat acting like a mean drunk is in a way funny. It wasn’t funny to the old cat, but I can understand how that would be true.

  I wonder though, what people think when they witness how alcohol or drugs affect a person. I’ve watched one beer turn a person mean. One beer. Years ago I watched a person who had smoked pot lose control over their motor skills. Walking? Well, yes, just not in the right direction. Stopping is a problem to unless there is a wall handy to block any further movement. I will be honest in that I have never been around anyone using any of the hard drugs so I can’t say anything about a person experience.

   Everyone has their reasons for drinking alcohol. I’m not saying that drinking is bad for you. Over indulging, is bad for you. One beer may be fine for relaxing, getting drunk (in my opinion) should be left alone. People who are drunk, are not funny. To lose control of one’s coordination, one’s vocal ability, one’s personality is not good. Drinking does allow one to be more relaxed and less inhibited but that is not always a good thing. It lessens your reaction times, your thought processes, your ability to react to the things going on around you. Driving after drinking is an accident waiting to happen.  Being less inhibited can cause you to do things that you will regret later. It is also not good for your body. It is useless calories that causes you to put on extra weight around your mid-section that puts a strain on other organs. A glass of wine may be good for you, but more is not better.

  I do not judge nor condemn a person who drinks one or two drinks socially or in the evening at home with or after a meal. Especially if they aren’t driving after drinking. I’ve been in a car with a drunk driver. It won’t happen again. How someone did not end up badly injured is beyond me. Just because you think you are fine, doesn’t mean you are.

 

  Several states now have legalized pot. Having never tried it I can’t see the draw in it, but I see it as the same as with drinking. If you have been smoking marijuana you do not need to be driving. You are impaired and your reaction times are going to be effected. From what I have been told and what I’ve read, marijuana helps those with chronic illnesses. It eases pain when nothing else would work. Medical is fine, just don’t drive.

 

 People being people tend to do some strange things. We all go through times when we feel as if we do not fit in with those around us. We feel depressed or sad, scared or alone, like no one understands. While most know how to handle these feelings and more there are those who self medicate with drugs. It may start out innocently but once hooked, its a forever struggle to free oneself  from the grip of narcotics. You don’t see how you look while stoned. You don’t realize what you are doing while under the influence of  drugs. I stood on my parent’s porch while you stood across the way screaming obscenities and threats. I watched as all of those police cars pulled up and talked you out of the house and into the ambulance. I heard the officer checking on my parents and telling them that you would be under watch for a while. This isn’t the first time. You attacked my mail box and tossed out your threats. You trashed that mobile home making in unlivable. You have nearly died and people visiting with you nearly died from the drugs. You saw and heard things not there. You begged for help.

  I watched a girl, maybe in her early twenties, walking through Walmart several years ago. She had no idea where she was, what she was doing or why. You could see it in her eyes how gone she was. I worried about her until I saw employees headed her way. Someone had to help her, she was going to hurt herself and never know it.

  I’ve listened to people as they fought to break free of the grasp of drugs and the lifestyle. Its their own form of catnip. It can make you crazy, it can have you crawling around, rolling around in the floor trying to get just as much as possible into your system. It can make you crazy. It can make you shameless. It can make you mean. And you don’t care. All you care about is getting more. All the while so many of these substances are destroying your body. Look at how drugs age a person. Look at how they destroy the teeth, the health, the mind of the user.

  Many people laugh at the actions of one under the influence of any mind altering substance. But it isn’t funny, not really.