Sins Of The Father

[Nyboy]

Was heroin, when my house was broken into police told me you have no idea the heroin problem in NY schools right now. I feel bad for anyone with children now. When I was in high school pot was the drug of choice, now high school drug of choice is heroin. With shared needles new cases of AIDS will skyrocket.

 

[seedcorn]

It is a national epidemic. People have too much $$$ and time. Not enough responsibility.

Wish I had an answer. I go from send them to drug camp & supply all the drugs they can use till they r dead (take the profit out of drugs) to all out war against drug trade-even if it means shooting dealers-regardless of age, race, or social standings.

 

[journey11]

I was talking to a lady at the hospital one day and she said it is because they've cracked down on all the pill mills. Heroin is much cheaper, like $5 a dose and easier to get. Unfortunately more deadly too and often laced with something else. My brother's girlfriend used to do heroin and they put her on Subutex to step down. She has been on it for years; just as addictive, but not as deadly. And the pill dealers will sell that too. I think hopelessness leads a lot of people into it. When the unemployment rate went up here was when the drug problem really got out of hand. My brother is a high school drop out. Makes more money selling than anything else he thinks he could do.

 

[Nyboy]

Journey I don't agree I see kids from wealthy families with everything going for them still use. A client remarked when she picked her son up at school how many where driving $40,000 cars. I think more peer pressure and boredom .

 

[Ridgerunner]

What a complicated topic, I sure don't have the answers. I don't know the causes. For the kids I think it's more than peer pressure and boredom. We recently talked about how kids think they are bullet-proof or impervious to harm, that nothing will happen to them. Even if they see what drugs do to others they feel that won't happen to them. Kids tend to rebel, that's just part of being a kid. We as a society romanticize outlaws and standing up to authority. The more people in authority tell them not to use, the more some want to. They hear what bad things can happen to them if they use, yet they see adult and other kids using and functioning in society, often very popular kids in school as well as celebrities. Paul McCartney recently said some thing close to "When we were doing it, it all seemed so innocent". For the adults I don't know how much is gateway drugs, carryover from childhood, depression, anxiety, or what else. Getting hooked on prescription painkillers is a factor but I don't know how big in the overall scheme of things. Everything is an epidemic on the national news, they tend to sensationalize everything. That's probably a lot like how those teenagers feel about us when we warn them of the dangers of drug use.

Once you are addicted, you are addicted. Some people can stop smoking tobacco, coffee, or excess alcohol cold turkey, some just can't. With many of these drugs we are talking about, the body really craves them and your have great physical pain and discomfort if you stop. Some of that is mental but some is physical. For some people once they get hooked it is a lot like a disease. They can't function without it. And their body craves it, sometimes for a long time.

I don't know why use seems to track the economy. Is it because in bad times people are more despondent and become users or because selling is a way to make money when nothing else seems to work so ease of access goes up and you might have more price competition. Probably a combination. I don't think the growers, makers, smugglers, or dealers are the whole problem. As long as somebody is willing to pay for it, someone will supply it. I certainly don't give the smugglers and dealers a free pass, but I think the ultimate solution to them is to take the profit out of the trade. Whether that is by attacking the users part of the equation or making he drugs available to the addicts so they don't have to buy from a dealer, I don't know. Some European countries are experimenting with that. it may take more than one or two generations to see what the overall effect is, but maybe we can learn from them.

Why do I feel so hopeless when I think about this topic? I just don't see a solution and I hate to see the lives ruined.

 

[sumi]

It certainly is a complicated and sad topic, but reality. Drugs, "legal" and and otherwise, are too common nowadays and destroying too many lives. Though I thankfully did not know anyone who OD'd, I did know and still do too many people who use it either as recreational "fun" or as a crutch, or (and this makes me really, really MAD), because they got hooked by doctors they trusted to HELP them, that instead turned into "legal" drug dealers, keeping their patients on drugs they don't need and shouldn't be taking long term, for years. The doctors I know off have a small pharmacy at their practice and sells the pills to their patients. Both my mom and MIL, same doctor, got hooked on pills for depression and anxiety and he kept supplying them year after year after year… When my mom moved to a different town, some 80 miles away, he made a note on her file telling his receptionists to sell her her pills of choice if/when she's in town and needing a refill. No need to consult him, just sell them to her. We're talking schedule 4, prescription drugs!! I told the receptionist if they sell her ONE more pill, I will personally make sure that doctor loses his licence to practice medicine. They stopped without arguing. They knew what they did was wrong and illegal.

Maybe as @Ridgerunner said, taking the profit away would help solve the problem. For "legal" and illegal drugs.

 

[digitS']

Don't feel hopeless, @Ridgerunner . You have given a very thoughtful analysis of this problem.

In a "feel good" society, we have to face the music sometimes. We need to think and work towards solutions and do so as individuals, groups and as a society. Turning our backs or trying simple fixes is likely to just add to the problem.

Individuals caught up in drug use and addiction are still individuals and are there for varying reasons, as you note, Ridge'. Addictions come in many forms. Recognizing that isn't tolerance but not recognizing the trapped humanity in the problem would be ignoring the entire reason to resist this destructive and corrosive behavior.

Steve

 

[journey11]

Journey I don't agree I see kids from wealthy families with everything going for them still use. A client remarked when she picked her son up at school how many where driving $40,000 cars. I think more peer pressure and boredom .

I say "a lot", just based on the tone in my area. We don't have many rich kids. I dabbled in a few things when I was in high school and it just seems to be a whole other game nowadays.

There are other things to despair of besides poverty, I guess. Not blaming the parents, because most parents are just doing their level best. I think some kids may turn to drugs and partying because they lack real self-worth, or for some there may be a lack in nurture there. Could be some of those wealthy parents "live to work" not "work to live" and are missing a connection with their kids. I don't know... You see some as adults with good jobs also getting hooked, particularly on heroin or pills. A lot of those have had emotional troubles or divorce to deal with, etc.

We have some dear friends in their mid 70's raising their 5 year old grandson. Only grandchild they got out of their 3 kids. The dad (their son) and mom are both hooked on heroin. The son did recently go to long term rehab though. Praying he sticks it out. His parents won't always be around.

Maybe those with money are more likely to get help. That could be some of what we see reflected in the demographics.

 

[Carol Dee]

Oops, I just found this post Thank you for attending for the mother's sake. You are a sweetheart.

 

[digitS']

Up to 15% of doctors are drug addicts

Is it surprising? Isn't it likely given not only access but a belief in the benefits of medicine?

d'S'