The drug problem: how is it in your area? (college, celebrities)

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by FCMA

Another day on Interstate 91! NYC to Springfield/Holyoke to Greenfield to Vermont. This kind of bust is about a weekly occurrence in W MA and Southern VT, lest you're under the impression this is only an urban problem. Police Find 1,100 Bags of Heroin in Car | NECN

Too true. I've heard a lot of it ends up in Rutland, VT.

I have no idea why anyone would try drugs. It's not that they don't know what it does to people.

[Beachcomber4]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

I have no idea why anyone would try drugs. It's not that they don't know what it does to people.

We are an over medicated society. Some just choose to get their fix at the street level. For many it starts with a doctor's prescription.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Too true. I've heard a lot of it ends up in Rutland, VT.

I have no idea why anyone would try drugs. It's not that they don't know what it does to people.

A lot of the issues I've seen locally/personally stem from people getting a taste of opiates via legally acquired pharmaceuticals. Having been given intravenous morphine after a severe trauma, I can say strong opiates are really really good. Not only was I given intravenous morphine, but post-op I was given a quite generous prescription for oxycodone. Now, had I gone into this situation with other stressors beyond the physical trauma, I could easily see myself having utilizing the opiates to escape emotional pain or other realities, such as dead-end career, failed relationships, etc. Opiates provide an incredibly powerful escape, even if the escape is temporary and incredibly flawed.

I've seen neighbors, friends, family go down this path. They acquire pharma grade opiates, begin abusing them due to other life stressors, and end up buying street heroin because it is cheap and relatively easy to acquire. It happens at a rather violent pace - white collar job, colonial home in a good school district, new Lexus ... 18 months later they're divorced, unemployed, and living a transitional home.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

I have no idea why anyone would try drugs. It's not that they don't know what it does to people.

People try them to find out. And they're fun, in the beginning.

[Beachcomber4]

Originally Posted by timberline742

People try them to find out. And they're fun, in the beginning.

The best advice I got on explaining drugs and alcohol to my kids was from an addict.

"Don't lie and tell them they will make you feel bad. Because the truth is, they make you feel really good to start out with. And when your kid feels good, they think, my parents lied, or what do they know? The bad comes when it's too late to stop."

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber4

The best advice I got on explaining drugs and alcohol to my kids was from an addict.

"Don't lie and tell them they will make you feel bad. Because the truth is, they make you feel really good to start out with. And when your kid feels good, they think, my parents lied, or what do they know? The bad comes when it's too late to stop."

Yup!

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber4

The best advice I got on explaining drugs and alcohol to my kids was from an addict.

"Don't lie and tell them they will make you feel bad. Because the truth is, they make you feel really good to start out with. And when your kid feels good, they think, my parents lied, or what do they know? The bad comes when it's too late to stop."

That makes sense. They think they've been lied to and if they are young, they are in the rebellious stage and they don't trust what older people tell them anyway.

I'm just glad that I am old enough to only think of heroin as something the old beatniks took in NYC on skid row. To me, it's dirty and for derelicts.

But adults should know better, yet it's everywhere. I've been on feel-good medication after surgery and when it runs out, I just stop--like most people.

[brienzi]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Too true. I've heard a lot of it ends up in Rutland, VT.

I have no idea why anyone would try drugs. It's not that they don't know what it does to people.

It's everywhere. I work in Burlington VT about once a month and the H problem is so obvious it's scary. Why they do it and stuff is obvious. It's cheap, it's something one may try at a party not realizing the addictive nature and lastly people have issues and think escaping through drugs will cure their woes.

And from what I've read their mixing the stuff with fentanyl and other lethal drugs.

[Coolhand68]

Woburn isn't too far from me, I think there were 9 heroin overdose deaths in Oct or Nov just in the town of Woburn alone. Heroin is a huge problem on the east coast now. Comes in through NYC, gets processed in the Bronx and distributed throughout the region. Bad stuff.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by brienzi

It's everywhere. I work in Burlington VT about once a month and the H problem is so obvious it's scary. Why they do it and stuff is obvious. It's cheap, it's something one may try at a party not realizing the addictive nature and lastly people have issues and think escaping through drugs will cure their woes.

And from what I've read their mixing the stuff with fentanyl and other lethal drugs.

So education like DARE doesn't even work? Except for the rebellious ones who don't believe their parents (as was explained above) everyone knows it's addictive and everyone has seen pictures of what drug addicts look like, everyone has heard horrific stories about overdoses and deaths. I guess I don't understand why any intelligent person would even try it. In my day we all tried weed but we sure didn't try heroin.