The general decline in standards today

[jamespowers]

^^My heart goes out for her, Lizzie, and for you. As you imply, that "one little toke" does bring with it dire consequences, despite the fools who preach to the contrary. Yes, the whole "drug culture" that we inherited from the hippies (and I am fed up with hearing all the "nostalgia" peddled about them--I was around at then, and remember much of the degradation of the times) has got to go. It has helped to destroy too many souls.

I second that and again we come to it was the hippies. :laser::hippie:

 

[Feraud]

Very sorry to hear about your friend Lizzie. I wish the young lady a quick recovery.

It's not the penny-ante dealers we have to eradicate, it's not the distributors, or even the big time trafficers that have to be exterminated. It's the whole filthy "let's get high" culture that has to go, the whole idea that drugs are an acceptable outlet for social interaction, that drugs are benign, and that one little toke never hurt anybody. If I could slaughter every supporter of that culture, every last manifestation of that culture right now, with my bare hands, know that I would.

My wife and I have experienced too many friends and family ruin their lives and the lives of families due to the disgusting selfish mentality you note above. One of the most pernicious social problems we have today is the acceptance of so-called casual drug use. When the slaughter begins I'll gladly join you.

 

[sheeplady]

I'm reviving this thread because I'm angry. Not whiny internet-message-board angry, not there-she-goes-again angry, but blood-spitting, red-eyed rage angry. And right now there isn't a damn thing I can do about it, which makes me even angrier.

This afternoon, a young woman I care about very much is strapped to a hospital bed in an intensive care unit under heavy sedation. She is twenty-five years old, she's worked for me at the theatre for the past five years, and she had another job as a children's librarian in a neighboring town. She's a good, smart, decent young woman, and eight days ago she made a mistake that could cost her her life.

Eight days ago she was "hanging out with friends," when one of them offered her a joint. She wasn't a pothead by any means, not any kind of a habitual drug user, but to be social she took it. Everyone else was, pot is harmless they all say, don't be so uptight, it's relaxing and helps you fit in, etc. etc. etc., all the stuff you hear, all the stuff they tell you. She took it and smoked it. She didn't sleep that night. A day later she was feeling hyperactive and euphoric. She didn't sleep that night. The next day she was still hyperactive and euphoric. She didn't sleep that night and late that night she called me and nearly incoherent. The next morning she didn't show up for work. I sent one of the other kids to her apartment to check on her, and she was in a state of uncontrollable mania. They went to the hospital emergency room, the emergency room sniffed -- huh, kid with no insurance, snort -- gave her a sleeping pill and sent her home. She didn't sleep that night, and spent most of the night screaming and hallucinating. The next morning she was rushed to the hospital, and she's been there ever since.

That joint was mixed with "spice," some designer-drug filth cooked up in someone's toilet, and used to cut the real stuff to make the dealer a little more money. I don't know the whole story of where it came from or who sold it because she's unable to talk. She might not ever be able to talk, who knows? And all because her culture, her millenial-age post-college culture, taught her that it's ok to "get high." She made the mistake of listening to that and could pay for it with her life.

It's not the penny-ante dealers we have to eradicate, it's not the distributors, or even the big time trafficers that have to be exterminated. It's the whole filthy "let's get high" culture that has to go, the whole idea that drugs are an acceptable outlet for social interaction, that drugs are benign, and that one little toke never hurt anybody. If I could slaughter every supporter of that culture, every last manifestation of that culture right now, with my bare hands, know that I would.

And don't any one of you dare to say "oh, but it was all her fault." Don't. You. Dare.

I hope your friend gets better soon.

I hope her friends are OK too- it sounds like whatever that joint was laced with was bad bad stuff. Spice, as far as I understand it, is synthetic THC. (The synthetic THC was created for medicinal research.) The problem with it is it is much much stronger than "natural" THC. That is how it causes psychosis, it's basically putting your system on overload. That and soaking joints in embalming fluid are two things that are "being done" to joints today in a long list of things that have "been done" to drugs for a long long time, often for kicks by dealers or even "friends." I believe that spice is legal in most places- it takes longer to legislate these things than it does for people to come up with them.

I just hope she gets better.

 

[Rudie]

One of the most pernicious social problems we have today is the acceptance of so-called casual drug use.

Correct. Alcohol is totally accepted by society although thousands (probably millions) each year are killed by it. If you don't drink alcohol a lot of people, even those who despise other drugs, give you the evil eye. That's how much it is accepted as a casual drug.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Absolutely right. The whole idea of intoxication-as-fun-social-outlet is the root of the problem. And that's what has to go.

Thank you all for the words of support, it means a lot right now.

I have a friend who knows his way around low places, and he might be able to track down some information on the supplier. Getting one filthy POS off the street won't matter much in the long haul, but making sure they get this specific one would make a lot of difference to me.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Same thing went on in the late '60s after I had been out of HS a couple years. Many drugs where 'laced' with garbage which could cause dangerous affects. Some users were more susceptible than others. Often you never quite knew exactly what you were getting. Even if PCP or Strychnine may be mentioned in the mix..the attitude of some was 'Wow that's cool'!..while the unsuspecting still think it is nothing more than what its suppose to be.
HD

 

[Sloan1874]

A similar thing happened to the brother of an ex. He was handed a joint at a party, took a few puffs, and the world turned inside out. He managed to get home where his mum, a nurse, took one look at him and called an ambulance. He woke up in a hospital bed. Docs said the joint had been laced with crack.

 

[Foxer55]

Rudie,

Correct. Alcohol is totally accepted by society although thousands (probably millions) each year are killed by it. If you don't drink alcohol a lot of people, even those who despise other drugs, give you the evil eye. That's how much it is accepted as a casual drug.

Indeed. By and large its a social addiction.

 

[MikeBravo]

Correct. Alcohol is totally accepted by society although thousands (probably millions) each year are killed by it. If you don't drink alcohol a lot of people, even those who despise other drugs, give you the evil eye. That's how much it is accepted as a casual drug.

Alcohol is here to stay. They tried to ban (or at least prohibit) it once, and we are still feeling the effects of that.

There are plenty of songs about "reefer" and cocaine use from the 1920's and 1930's, blaming a few people from the 1960's is not quite correct.

Unfortunately there is an attitude that "drug taking is normal" that is endemic in most western societies. There is also a widespread belief that casual drug taking is nothing new. The son of a friend of mine once said to her "You grew up in the 70's, you took drugs". Of course, she didn't but that is the general belief among young people today. I have heard other people similar things too. The look of shock on their faces when I tell them they're wrong is sad.

PS I said a short prayer for your friend, I hope she recovers.

 

[R.G. White]

I hope your friend recovers, Lizzie.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Well..actually in my part of the world(small town Indiana) in the '50s-early '60s. The teenage experience/experiment consisted of a few beers or a pint of Sloe gin on a Saturday night as common for some. By the late '60s-early '70s pot had replaced that..then speed..LSD..cocaine..then you name it. The hippie movement had been injected with mind altering drugs that spread like wildfire associated with freedom and the cool idea of magical 'mind expansion'. What came along with this was the added greed to 'expand' the drug. Fillers for the unaware with an added 'rush' to better sell it. Afterall..as it spread across the culture and country there was big money to be made. Sellers couldn't just add alfalfa making 3/4 an ounce of pot look like a full ounce...so the filler had to have a boosted high for popularity selling sake. Same with any other drug.
There certainly was drug use in the past...but..now it had become bigger business by far. All provided by the corrupt who could care less how pure the drug actually was or just who was partaking in it. The more the merrier! My brother started High School in the mid '70s and drugs ran rampant by then. Mostly Pot..but practically any popular drug was available if you had the $$. Even I was shocked at how things had changed from 1965 to 1975. It had become a dangerous game that seemed to emerge as quite acceptable by many youth and even many young adults to over-indulge in. Athough the hippie movement had faded..it left behind the idea that drugs are cool..among a few other distructive misconceptions.
HD

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

As I've said many times before I greatly admire the approach of countries such as Malaysia and Singapore in dealing with the drug problem: Death for the dealers and traffickers, and for the user, forced cold turkey instead of rehab which I think neatly addresses both the supply and demand ends of the equation.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I can remember kids sniffing glue in the back of study hall when I was in high school, and there were a few potheads around, but honestly, at least around here it was nothing like it is now. And modern culture doesn't help even when it thinks it is helping -- the images it promotes of addicts are the shriveled crackhead cowering in a doorway or the toothless meth punk in a trailer in the woods. These nice middle-class educated parents never see their *own* kid in that situation, they never understand that all it takes is just one mistake and it's their kid. Noooo, they'd never do that, their hip little angels have been taught to be responnnnnnsible and careful with their "experimentation." And then they sip their wine and joke about how, sure, they inhale occasionally themselves, and it never hurts anyone.

Bullsh*t. Until society starts teaching -- and *believing* that there is absolutely no place for drugs, period, nothing will change. Instead all the moderns will continue sit and snicker and snark about "Reefer Madness" and stamp "I Grew Hemp" on dollar bills, and wear their pot-leaf t-shirts, and talk about how much more "enlightened" they are now. And while they do that, every day another someone's son or daughter or brother or sister will fall into the abyss.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

And then what's really maddening is the parent who says, "If my child expresses curiosity about pot I will smoke some with her." I've come across more than a few of these sorry excuses in parenting. :doh:

 

[LizzieMaine]

Meanwhile, I was finally able to talk to her on the phone today, and she knew who I was and what I was saying to her, but she was having trouble putting sentences together. They've moved her out of the ICU and into a private room, which is progress, I guess, but she's going to be there for a while. I plan to visit tomorrow morning and reassure her that there are people looking out for her, which is all I can do, I guess.

Nine days ago she was a smart, funny English major and we spent the whole afternoon exchanging Lewis Carroll quotes. And now she struggles to put together a sentence. ******mit.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Meanwhile, I was finally able to talk to her on the phone today, and she knew who I was and what I was saying to her, but she was having trouble putting sentences together. They've moved her out of the ICU and into a private room, which is progress, I guess, but she's going to be there for a while. I plan to visit tomorrow morning and reassure her that there are people looking out for her, which is all I can do, I guess.

Nine days ago she was a smart, funny English major and we spent the whole afternoon exchanging Lewis Carroll quotes. And now she struggles to put together a sentence. ******mit.

Hopefully her focus will return..and she'll come out of it. Has anyone been able to investigate just what chemical was in the pot..?
HD

 

[Atticus Finch]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it isn’t pot or coke or any of the street drugs that’s the problem right now. It is prescription drugs.

Its ironic and sad. Some of the most vocal antidrug advocates I know don’t think twice about what’s in their bathroom medicine cabinets. They come home and immediately drop fifteen or twenty mg of oxycontin for their “back pain”. Then they follow up with a big ol’ highball or two while they watch the evening news. And they cry and whine and moan…and blame everyone and his cat…when precious Junior thinks its cool to get high.

AF

 

[jamespowers]

And then what's really maddening is the parent who says, "If my child expresses curiosity about pot I will smoke some with her." I've come across more than a few of these sorry excuses in parenting. :doh:

Now those people need caning.

 

[Edward]

The biggest part of the problem with drugs these days is that so often people simply have no idea what they are taking. The worst of all are the so-called 'legal highs' - chemicals, never fully tested, long-terms effects unknown.... Doctors here would rather treat folks who have taken cocaine or whatever because at least then they know what they are up against. The worst thing is how many people are seduced into thinking that it must be harmless if it's legal. That's what has always given me pause to think in the debate on legalisation of weed, the negative effects of which we're even now only starting to fully comprehend (a bit like tobacco in generations past, I suppose). On the flipside, there are those who will dabble precisely because it is illegal, and that carries an illicit thrill - an attraction otherwise absent.

The alcohol comparison is apt. Once upon a time, people thought only the drunk on the street was an alcoholic, only people who got paralytically intoxicated regularly were in danger of doing themselves harm.... and so many people carried on harming themselves by drinking unhealthily, not realising they had a problem. A relative of mine once worked with a guy who burned out his liver with alcohol. Never drunk in his life, but two pints a night, every night of the week for years was way over the healthy limit and took its toll. Similarly I think nowadays we still have the notion of 'drug addicts' as being the homeless junkies... the idea that the middle classes are too clever for that and can have a cheeky bit of coke now and then as a luxury is the dangerous one. What bothers me - and this is where it gets political - is when you get people who are very into their human rights, who support all kinds of positive causes, yet somehow never think of the dreadful things they are facilitating by providing a market for the drug trade. Things which harm the third world every bit as much as the shameful exploitation of third world workforces by big corporate training shoe and sportswear manufacturers, among others.

 

[jamespowers]

Well..actually in my part of the world(small town Indiana) in the '50s-early '60s. The teenage experience/experiment consisted of a few beers or a pint of Sloe gin on a Saturday night as common for some. By the late '60s-early '70s pot had replaced that..then speed..LSD..cocaine..then you name it. The hippie movement had been injected with mind altering drugs that spread like wildfire associated with freedom and the cool idea of magical 'mind expansion'. What came along with this was the added greed to 'expand' the drug. Fillers for the unaware with an added 'rush' to better sell it. Afterall..as it spread across the culture and country there was big money to be made. Sellers couldn't just add alfalfa making 3/4 an ounce of pot look like a full ounce...so the filler had to have a boosted high for popularity selling sake. Same with any other drug.
There certainly was drug use in the past...but..now it had become bigger business by far. All provided by the corrupt who could care less how pure the drug actually was or just who was partaking in it. The more the merrier! My brother started High School in the mid '70s and drugs ran rampant by then. Mostly Pot..but practically any popular drug was available if you had the $$. Even I was shocked at how things had changed from 1965 to 1975. It had become a dangerous game that seemed to emerge as quite acceptable by many youth and even many young adults to over-indulge in. Athough the hippie movement had faded..it left behind the idea that drugs are cool..among a few other destructive misconceptions.
HD

Hippies never went away here. I am glad they disappeared there. They are still just as destructive, dope smoking and maggot infested here as they ever were. Their kidlets follow in their sandal steps too.