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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think drug taking among teens is at epidemic levels

107 replies

BackInTime · 23/04/2018 17:06

Posting for traffic.

This is based on observations and conversations with my teen DC, teacher friends and other parents. It seems like drugs are cheaper and more available than ever before and schools and parents struggling to cope with the fallout. According to my DC getting hold of drugs via social media is as as easy as ordering pizza. Back in my day kids were smoking cigarettes behind the bike shed whereas today they are more likely smoking weed or taking legal highs. Drug taking now seems to be accepted as the norm among teens but it is ruining lives and families.

I’m not sure if it is actually worse than ever before or perhaps I am just more aware. Maybe some of you have statistics I cannot find.

AIBU to think a lot more needs to be done about this?

OP posts:
ThatchersCold · 24/04/2018 22:57

It was rarer to find a teen in the 90s who didn’t take drugs than one who did.

We were off our tits, wholesale.

Nothing new OP. Though I agree that legalising drugs is the only way to make it safer.

NChangeyMcChange · 24/04/2018 23:04

I took a fuck load of drugs when I was at Uni (Oxford in the 80s). I do understand that weed has become cheaper as prices are relatively unaffected by inflation due to the boom in hydroponics and the higher levels of THC in modern hybrids.

Weed definitely isn't cheaper! You used to get 1.4 grams for a tenner back in my day (10 years ago). Now it's half that, if you're lucky. Not that I partake any more, gruesome stuff. But it's definitely no cheaper. Was always easier to get than cigarettes or alcohol though.

Dapplegrey · 24/04/2018 23:21

Coffee shops like in Amsterdam for weed and doctors/pharmacists for the rest on prescription. Just like any other pharmaceutical...

Iflyaway - when you say on prescription, do you mean anyone who wanted any drug would only have to ask for it?
I feel conflicted about this. Obviously all over the world drugs are a terrible destructive problem and the cause of major crime.
However.......when I was in hospital I was given morphine which provided the most blissful high.
If all I had to do was go to the chemist and ask for it I'm sure I'd be tempted.

Original poster
BackInTime · 25/04/2018 08:57

So for those of you who feel drugs are not an issue because you took them and turned out ok - would you be happy for your 13 year old DC to do the same?

OP posts:
SomethingOnce · 25/04/2018 09:00

Being happy about it and being realistic are not the same thing.

NetofLemons · 25/04/2018 09:06

I believe that relatively fewer kids now take drugs or smoke than in recent years. Nightclubs have been decimated so that makes less of a normalising weekly opportunity for a lot of young people to do the above. but in terms of a loss to our culture it seems very sad.
There are lots of young people who proudly don’t drink now and that’s becoming quite normalised into youth culture too. I really bloody worry about opioids though.

waterlego6064 · 25/04/2018 09:11

I think it’s on the decline, as is smoking, which is brilliant.

There was plenty of drug use going on in the Home Counties village where I was raised in the 90s! (Near a vibrant and liberal city so easy to get hold of stuff). The first time I saw anyone take Poppers (!) was on the school field, and there were a group of boys in my year who used to do the bong in the playground regularly. Another lad was reputed to have taken a gram of whizz on sports day...so plenty of it about.

summerinthecountry · 25/04/2018 09:14

The solution is to legalise in a way that makes it feel like a serious illness. Clinics should be open for drug users to access help cutting of the drug dealers. Users would be treated as 'patient's referred to as patients and treated as if you would anyone else with an illness.

People do not take drugs because they are happy and content with their lives. Teens may try it or once or twice, but overwhelmingly the people that become addicts are people that need help.

Drug use should be looked at with sympathy, that would strip the glamour away very quickly. Not every dealer would disappear but the large majority as there would be no supply or demand.

We have to take this issue on, head on as a country.

flowermug2 · 25/04/2018 09:15

About 6 years ago when I was in school the most popular ones where weed (seen as no big deal, people would smoke it on lunch break or even before school), MDMA and cocaine (for parties).

flowermug2 · 25/04/2018 09:17

People do not take drugs because they are happy and content with their lives. Teens may try it or once or twice, but overwhelmingly the people that become addicts are people that need help.

I agree and disagree. Some Pepe enjoy alcohol throughout life without descending into alcoholism and are happy, same with some drug users.

It's only when dependency occurs that it becomes a symptom of something deeper imo.

Merrykegs · 25/04/2018 09:18

I'm surprised at all those saying drugs were as rife in the 80s. Noone I knew at school in the 6th form took drugs, there might have been a couple of shadowy rumours. The odd bit of weed. This was pre the 'second summer of love'

Dd said her mates now take ketamine when they go to the pub.

Of course there's been a change.

RedDwarves · 25/04/2018 09:22

Statistically, it's not.

Teenagers these days are statistically more "tame" than their predecessors.

iBiscuit · 25/04/2018 09:25

The teens I know drink, smoke and take far fewer drugs than we did back in the 80s.

Main issue I see though is that weed is an entirely different beast to the cannabis we had back then.

Merrykegs · 25/04/2018 09:25

I find that hard to believe. Drinking and smoking yes, drugs no. Are we really saying that the rise of drugs over the Internet has had no impact on the amount of people taking them? Seems hugely unlikely

iBiscuit · 25/04/2018 09:26

Drink and smoke less I mean Hmm

Adversecamber22 · 25/04/2018 09:28

I never took illegal drugs but loads of my friends did , this was early 80's they dropped acid and took pills. We were 15/16 and used to go clubbing. Also remember people snorting coke at parties in London. I was at uni and these were slightly older rich proper wanker banker types.

FrancesHaHa · 25/04/2018 09:40

My understanding from friends who work in substance misuse services is that although drug use is down overall the big change is the way in which young people use drugs.

They rarely see young people use crack and heroin, only really see older people for those drugs. Use of skunk is also down in recent years. As pp have said ordering drugs online has changed things, and people have access to a wider range of drugs such as anti anxiety drugs and legal highs. They are also seeing lots of young people who are using drugs to self medicate for anxiety and depression, taking drugs such as Xanax, as opposed to buying drugs for fun, although these drugs do get used at parties.

Certainly in London a shift away from alcohol may possibly be influenced by attitudes of young people from different ethnic communities who don't have a drinking culture.

iBiscuit · 25/04/2018 09:44

It's very difficult to get hold of alcohol now underage, I imagine that has a bearing.

BlackBeltInChildWrangling · 25/04/2018 09:50

We've had the Xanax warning from school, (after an issue at another fairly local school) and I hear from my young teen DC and other parents about alcohol, weed and vaping use definitely happening around this age group in Years 7-9. Nothing else more serious yet. Nothing at all in their immediate friendship group and avoids the kids involved at school/near home as much as possible. Don't hear anything about cigarette smoking, unlike when I was at school. Vaping seems to be the biggest issue - DC sees it on the bus to/from school and even at school. It's a good school on the whole and it sounds like staff are trying to keep on top of it, but these kids are pretty determined. Vape pens are confiscated and destroyed, parents informed etc, but the kids just buy more.

My DC is really disapproving and let's hope it stays that way, but I don't think any of us can be complacent. Education, vigilance and keeping talking/listening all the way is all we can do.

Claire90ftm · 25/04/2018 09:56

Drugs should not be legalised. I think drug taking is disgusting but sadly very prevalent. I have never taken drugs in my life and I feel that is something to be proud of. More should be done because weed is a gateway drug and it's despicable that it's so easy to get hold of. I think if my child grows up to take it, I will involve the police. Scare it out of them because it is a terrifying thing.

waterlego6064 · 25/04/2018 12:45

I don’t think the police would be able to help much Claire, as people can’t be arrested for taking drugs.

stateschool · 25/04/2018 12:49

It was pretty common when I was a teen but I wasn't that fussed. People took drugs in the 80's and 90's and 00's ... teens apparently are turning their backs on drugs AND alcohol in favour of fitness. The statistics support that by the way, but maybe your personal experience is different because of your kid and where you live.
And glue - remember that back in the 80's?? I can't imagine nay of the teens I know doing glue now...

snash12 · 25/04/2018 13:28

Stacey Dooley did an interesting documentary on this - how social media is being used for drug dealing. I was shocked, the people are blatant and don't need to talk in code or anything, they post photos of drugs with funny names, people comment or message them and they meet up somewhere. All very risky and scary,. It's probably still on BBC iPlayer.

Battleax · 25/04/2018 23:07

So for those of you who feel drugs are not an issue because you took them and turned out ok - would you be happy for your 13 year old DC to do the same?

I think there’s no need to panic because I saw it all around me for years and didn’t do drugs. Also because so saw others dabble and then stop.

Drugs are not a contagion. I have a certain degree of confidence in my DC not to do anything too stupid.

TinklyLittleLaugh · 25/04/2018 23:28

I lived in a tiny place in the back of beyond and I hardly saw any drugs before I went to uni. I was at uni in the eighties, very alternative. Smoked a bit of resin, quite a lot once I graduated and had more money. Knew a lot of younger people in the early nineties who were into the rave thing and ecstasy.

We live in a small northern town. Plenty of weed and pills and coke in town, not so much in the schools. I have 2 kids at uni and one recently graduated. Two report their unis being awash with drugs: weed, nox, ket, mdma and coke. They have friends who have got quite messed up. One of my DDs really struggled with weed for a while but seems okay now. The other one is not in the uk and hasn't encountered very much at all.

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