This hits close to home. For the last 5 years, ever since we have been associated with our local high school, there has been at least one OD death every year. We live in a middle class suburb north of Dallas, and the drug problem is huge.
It starts in middle school, where 7th and 8th graders start with marijuana, and when they get to high school, there is a variety of drugs, pot, Mollies, Hydros, heroin, crack etc freely available. Local kids are openly displaying their drug use on social media. One kid I coached in baseball was caught using “Hydros” in the classroom, and his dad threatened to sue the school district after they suspended the kid, because he claims they never drug tested the kid.
Another emerging problem is the use of ecigs, where the kids are buying synthetic drug oils, eg Blueblossom, to use in those. It can only be detected if the ecig itself is tested, and that doesn’t happen. Every second high schooler is walking around with an ecig, because, my son tells me, it is really the cool thing right now.
There will be more deaths if it isn’t stopped. I have a low tolerance for the casual approach we are taking to this.
Neither of my kids were offered alcohol or cigarettes in high school. BOTH of my kids were offered MJ, meth, and pills multiple times in high school.
We need to regulate this crap. The dealers don’t care if a kid smokes, but a store owner will NOT risk his license by selling a minor cigarettes or alcohol.
What we are doing is not working.