Who is on Drugs?

Editorial

This picture was randomly selected from today's headlines and is not meant to represent a person on drugs

Today's question - Who among our "leaders" elected officials is on drugs? We, of course, have no way of knowing for sure because, although we drug test high school students, we do not test those empowered with making the decisions that control our lives. It would seem to me that we would want to know if these leaders elected officials are drug impaired. It sure seems to me that they are.

Given the statistics on drug consumption, and I'm talking prescription drugs here, we could guess that at least half of those we see every night on the TeeVee Nues are under the influence of some drug or other. And I don't necessarily mean "high" on drugs. Often the behavior of a drugged person is a lack of affect, or inappropriate crying, or inappropriate laughing, or too perky, too sweaty, too jerky, or just plain too wacky.

Just to pluck a name from today's headlines - how about that Qaddafi? Delusional with shades of megalomania? Too many LSD trips in the desert? Or what about Sarah Palin? Too perky? She hails from the meth capitol of Alaska - maybe it's in the air - I'm just sayin'.

We know that Hitler was a dedicated methamphetamine user - his personal doctor invented the stuff. Towards the end of his infamous career, it took multiple injections just to get Hitler out of bed.

We often learn after the fact that a beloved leader was on drugs:

It's now well-known that John F. Kennedy's vigorous public image was a facade. In fact, it concealed infirmities that often left him unable to climb a flight of stairs or put on his own socks. His pharmacopoeia was terrifying, as historian Robert Dallek writes: "Steroids for his Addison's disease, pain-killers for his back, antispasmodics for his colitis, antibiotics for urinary-tract infections, antihistamines for allergies and, on at least one occasion, an antipsychotic ... for a severe mood change that Jackie Kennedy believed had been brought on by the antihistamines."
Mutual friends introduced JFK to Jacobson (Dr. Feelgood) during the 1960 campaign. The first shot elevated his mood. From then on, it was clear sailing. Miracle Max shot up the president before the Kennedy-Nixon debates, the major state addresses, and even the 1961 Vienna summit meeting with Nikita Khrushchev. Secret Service files and the White House gate log confirm that Jacobson saw JFK no fewer than 34 times through May 1962.
Did Kennedy experience any of the impatience, irritability, and grandiosity, an exaggerated sense of personal power, that amphetamines so often produce? Clearly not: Kennedy's court historians maintain that his illnesses and drug use didn't affect his presidency. In any case, in June 1962, when Attorney General Robert Kennedy advised his brother to stop using Jacobson's concoctions, the president replied, "I don't care if it's horse piss. It works."

Outside of the realm of politics, drug use is known to be rampant - see Charlie Sheen. The behavioral after-effects of drug use are often just as obvious as the use itself.

The next time you are watching the erratic behavior of an elected offical, you may want to ask yourself - What drugs are they on? Remember, they should not be operating the heavy machinery of state while on drugs.