Anybody who was a full on raver in the 90s, what do you now tell your teenage children about drugs?

[FakeMoustacheAndGlasses]

I haven't talked to my children about drugs yet and I don't want them to do drugs.
My (extensive) experience with drugs though was all positive, as was my husband's, they were the best years of our lives.
I haven't done any drugs since those days, I don't even drink now, I don't go clubbing anymore either though.

Anyone with similar history, what do you tell your kids?

@MaryAndGerryLivingInDerry

I was just about to ask- do young people nowadays take as much interest in drugs as they did in the 90’s?

Yes! If anything I think drugs are considerably cheaper and more commonplace than they were 30 years ago. I used to pay £12-15 for an E in 1990-ish they're now about a fiver!

@Stillcrikey

This is what I told my young person.

Be careful with drugs. If you choose to take them, only do it with people you trust completely. At best you’ll have a good time. Mostly you’ll turn into a dick (hopefully temporarily). At worst your mental health will be damaged irreparably. Plus, think about the supply chain and how the ‘market’ supports slavery etc.

I too was lucky and mostly had a lot of fun. But looking back it really was only luck. I spent way too many nights taking risks (of all kinds) but had good luck. Others, not so much.

Well, death is the worst.

And I was not anti-drugs when I was younger but we need to be honest about the consequences

Yes!
If anything I think drugs are considerably cheaper and more commonplace than they were 30 years ago. I used to pay £12-15 for an E in 1990-ish they're now about a fiver!

That would suggest demand is a good bit lower today then?

Following

@elelel

I think I live in another world. I find drugs abhorrent and the idea of a parent telling their own child how to 'safely' do drugs is alien to me.

I never took drugs in the 90s and I would be horrified if my DC took them now.

I would love to know the real truth from your kids!

That would suggest demand is a good bit lower today then?

Or that pills are far more widely available these days, quality lower and competition between dealers for custom is high!

When people say death is the worst outcome, of course death is awful and devastating for the families but is it the worst outcome for the person in question? Surely being left in a vegetative state or having life long mental health issues is a far worse outcome for the person than dying suddenly on a night out? It reminds me of a colleague I had years ago who took a lot of drugs, I asked him if he worried about how they would affect him later in life, the potential for mental health issues while he was trying to raise a family etc and he would say “I’m here for a good time, not a long time.” But turns out he’s still here, living the long time he didn’t plan to live, he didn’t get the young exit he half expected.

Or that pills are far more widely available these days, quality lower and competition between dealers for custom is high!

Both these can be true as well as demand being lower though.

I was the same as you. Had amazing experiences from 1994-1999 within the rave scene. Such a fun time. Now though it seems so different with the drugs available and how they are mixed. I have a 20yr old son who's more into the gym than clubbing but I'm always saying to him be careful what you take, if anything. I try and scare him off saying it's mixed with rat poison🤣

@MyGreenTutu

I would love to know the real truth from your kids!

Not sure what you mean here, but if you are insinuating what I think you are I can assure you I know my children better then anyone else, including you. Please don't judge everyone on your own standards. We are most definitely not the same.

Same as I would when it comes to drinking, be cautious, make sure you have people around you that care and understand getting you to hospital in is important I'd anything happens. Never get so out of it you can defend yourself but your own drugs noone gives away for free unless they want something! Make sure you are doing it very you enjoy it and not just to get off your face. 90s teenage last went raving pre lockdown barely do drugs now just love the dancing and meeting people.

I don't understand how anyone can do drugs and drive. I don't mean whilst under the influence either.

There's nothing at all online to suggest when Cocaine for example leaves the system. Could show up in a drug test many days after the effects have worn off. What if you're caught? I don't mean killing someone in a car accident either. Just what if you're caught with coke in your system? There's nothing to say when it'll leave it

I'm a 90s, naughties and sometimes now raver - will be talking to them about moderation, safe spaces and supply chain. But I'd rather they did pills or smoked weed than binged on booze. The situations throughout my life in which I'vr put myself most at risk have ALWAYS been alcohol related.

@elelel

Leah betts sadly died because she drank too much water as teenagers weren't taught harm reduction in those days.

Hear this so much but when you are off your face and thirsty you will not think 'oh mum said not to drink too much water' - Leah Bette died tragically because of drugs.

But Leah Betts didn't choose to drink 7 litres of water in under 2 hours. Her family and friends, who thought they were doing the right thing, encouraged her to drink a staggering volume of water that sadly caused catastrophically low sodium levels and swelling in her brain. If those around her had any knowledge of safe drug use then she'd likely still be alive. The advice to stay hydrated when using ecstasy is relevant if you're dancing in a hot sweaty club all night, not so if you're just hanging out with friends. Harm reduction is incredibly important.

I'm quite happy to be a hypocrite around some of this. Parenting can be very hypocritical anyway, can't it? Cross at the green man and never before, eat your veggies, get an early night... often the choices we want our young people to make aren't the same ones we make for ourselves.

What I would say is that skunk today is a world away from the hash we used to smoke and I have no problem giving my DS a very hard steer against that. And when I was taking drugs I gave not one thought to the supply chain, which was of course my own laziness, I think differently about that now and don't want my DS (or me) to participate in something that brings misery to others.

But it's hard this one.

[quote IDidntFloatUpTheLaganInABubble]@Whycantibetangy after parties in service stations was South Mimms in our case.[/quote]
United Dance, Hardcore Heaven, Helter-skelter and Dreamscape??! If so I was there too!

Where is this safe drug use/harm reduction being taught today?

But Leah Betts didn't choose to drink 7 litres of water in under 2 hours. Her family and friends, who thought they were doing the right thing, encouraged her to drink a staggering volume of water that sadly caused catastrophically low sodium levels and swelling in her brain. If those around her had any knowledge of safe drug use then she'd likely still be alive. The advice to stay hydrated when using ecstasy is relevant if you're dancing in a hot sweaty club all night, not so if you're just hanging out with friends. Harm reduction is incredibly important.

Ultimately Leah died because she took ecstasy.

@NotebookVsDiaries

Ecstasy is one of the safest drugs in the world.

I'd 100% prefer my dc to experiment with Ecstasy and mushrooms rather than cannabis, coke, or even cigarettes. If they ever spoke to me about wanting to try it I'd teach them how to use safer rather than preach abstinence. Leah betts sadly died because she drank too much water as teenagers weren't taught harm reduction in those days.

IF you know it's ecstasy...

@Cheeseandlobster Dreamscape yes!! Wish I had kept my jacket!

Lots of london clubs, Rocket, Camden, Astoria, Bagleys and various others!

@MaryAndGerryLivingInDerry

Where is this safe drug use/harm reduction being taught today?

I don't know about in schools, but a fair few festivals and events (Warehouse Project, etc) have drugs testing facilities aimed at harm reduction - attendees can have their drugs tested and if they're unusually strong, cut with something dangerous, or not what they were sold as, people can find out.

I'd far rather someone test their drugs and be slightly safer (and know they had non-judgemental help available nearby, instead of ignoring concerning reactions or illness out of fear) than nothing at all, so it's a step in the right direction. Also, it removes the mystique and excitement of it a bit, which might help curb some use.

So the young people's drug and alcohol workers in my LA teach 1 pint of water an hour for ecstasy use if you're raving. That's publics health msg to young people experimenting. If leah betts and her family/friends had that info then she wouldn't have died. People take drugs. We all drink coffee, nicotine is a very addictive and damaging drug (more deaths than heroin) alcohol again is worse than ecstasy and more people die using that. Lots of teenagers and young people will take illegal drugs. People have taken these drugs since they've found them. Pushing a - drugs are bad don't do them msg without informing and educating people is what's actually bad imo.

I find the moralising in this thread from people who think they're somehow superior for never having so much as inhaled second hand cigarette smoke so tedious.

People have been taking drugs as far back as you can go - they were tripping off nightshades in 1000BC, the Hindu Veda mentions something widely thought to be magic mushrooms (2000BC) and both Sibera and China have records of their nobility using psychoactive cannabis from 2500BC. Plus alcohol, coca leaves, etc - all been around a long, long time.

The moral panic around drugs is relatively new, in terms of human history.

Obviously, some of it is warranted - supply lines etc.

But the moral judgement of drug use is so pointless - we've been doing drugs for thousands of years and I'd go as far as to argue that seeking ways to make your brain feel different is part of the human experience. Given that we have, decades after the war on drugs swept the globe (cheers Nixon - useless policy with devastating effects), still got millions using drugs worldwide, we'd be far, far better focusing on harm reduction, destigmatising use, and stop pretending we're morally better if we don't use drugs.

Shame, stigma and lack of information are not effective drug treatment programmes or deterrents, trust me.

(To answer your question OP - or kind of - my parents were both honest but not encouraging about drug use. They didn't want me to take drugs but were honest if I had questions, told me about their own experiences with a good balance of 'not denying they can be fun' and 'not ignoring actual dangers'. They told me the advice they wished they'd had - you're often better off not doing them, but if you are, be around people you trust, know where to go if you need help, and know when to stop. And their overriding message in my teens and older was always, if you really need me, I'll be there. So when I had the worst comedown of my life at a weekend event in Birmingham in 2006, my lovely dad heard me sobbing "I just need to be at home, I haven't slept" and drove 3 hours to come and get me and did not even lecture me or ask questions, just occasionally tried to get me to eat something and handed me Lucozade in the car... I've never felt more grateful for anything! As it was I was far less of a wild child than either of them which I think they were hypocritically grateful for... )

So the young people's drug and alcohol workers in my LA teach 1 pint of water an hour for ecstasy use if you're raving. That's publics health msg to young people experimenting. If leah betts and her family/friends had that info then she wouldn't have died.

But they didn't have that information, so as a result of taking that ecstasy, she died. Many others also won't have that information.

I find the moralising in this thread from people who think they're somehow superior for never having so much as inhaled second hand cigarette smoke so tedious.

I don't think I'm superior. Just to clarify. I have my option on drugs and I shared it as part of discussion.