The 60’s were known as a
time of sexual freedom. It
was a time when a wildly
unpopular war raged on,
uniting the voices of a
younger generation to rise
up and protest. It was a time
of experimentation. The
voice of a generation, psychiatrist
and drug advocate
Timothy Leary, made
famous a quote: “My advice
to people today is as follows:
If you take the game
of life seriously . you must
turn on, tune in, and drop
out.”
That was our parents’ and
grandparents’ generation.
Our generation faces similar
tribulations. We are in a
time of sexual promiscuity;
a time where two unpopular
wars rage on, a time of
not just experimentation but
of abuse.
The similarities between
our generation and theirs
end there. Today, our generation
faces more pathways
to get that next high.
According to the National
Institute on Drug Abuse,
substance abuse within the
last ten years is on the rise.
But we don’t just face illicit
substances; a large swatch
of the population is “on”
something. A 2006 study by
Express Scripts, a consortium
of pharmaceutical
companies, found that up to
74 percent of the U.S population
was on a prescription
drug, a large proportion of
them being anti-depressants
and sleep aids.
Indeed, our generation is
one that may very well hop
from one addiction to
another. We wake up in the
morning and hammer back
a 16 oz Red Bull to stay normal
for the day; maybe a
few of us sneak into the
back of school to puff a bit
of pot or pop a few pills to
get us through the ho-hum
of college after the caffeine
crash, all the while compulsively
checking our
Facebook status. Maybe
when we get home, we
escape reality for a few too
many hours by playing
Halo or Madden, or go out
to party, binge drinking
“Four Loko’s” until the
world fades to black.
If everybody is doped up,
whether for recreation or
for normalization, what
effect does this have on us?
That is the question we are
exploring in this collection
of writing.
Join us as we explore the
dark side of compulsion
and dependency; the dim
pathways of obsession
where one wrong turn leads
to a downward spiral and a
rock bottom crash.
In this package, you will
find stories of people struggling
with their obsessions –
from the compulsions of
social networking, to the
obsession of getting one
more piece of ink; from people
who devote their lives to
the idol worship of sports to
those who lose themselves
completely in their work,
sex and porn.
In this package are the torrid
tales of when addiction
consumes one’s life – gambling,
prescription drugs,
weed and narcotics – real
stories from real people
whose compulsions turn to
dependency.
The stories in this package
are all real; from the harrowing
to the downright
horrifying. In some cases,
names have been changed
to protect the not-so-innocent.
So read on, brave soldiers
of truth, as we explore our
generation – a generation of
compulsion, obsession and
addicts.