I was thinking about the crack era. The number of family members that got caught up and have or continue to waste years of their life. Mainly think of my Uncle Tony, who in the 90’s would ring the doorbell and bang on the door at 1-4am to get a dollar. This went on when he learned I had a job around 17 and my mom was working nights. Who use to do it so often that I eventually got use to it and could sleep through it.

Fastforward and Uncle Tony still stays high but the ss check keeps him from knocking on doors like he use to, well not for drugs but he’s usually looking for a representative payee to make sure he dont smoke his apartment and food away.

On another note, Uncle Tony’s ex-wife was caught up in the same scene in the 80’s, but sobered up rt around the 2010’s.

Like most 80&90’s kids, I had prime examples of why not to get higher than weed allowed.

But as time goes on and the examples become less and less, I wonder what we have to inform the youth to not get sucked into drugs, especially with easily accessible sugar coated drugs packaged as weed adjacent shit out now? How do we keep the next crack-ish epidemic from happening?

I wonder how after 30yrs my uncle’s ex-wife recovered. Thats a lot of time gone.

Also at a gathering of girlfriends one lady said for 3 yrs she was hooked on cocaine. Started with a guy she was dating, then one day she decided no more and had been sober for about 5yrs at that time. There was nothing about her that read addiction/recovery etc. I know thats a poor assumption to make about someone, but it was also an eye opener that theres not just a handful of looks with drug addiction. Where as my uncle wears it strongly, there are others who dont.
I recall her saying that she could’ve continued because he had money and she a couple of businesses but at some point she didn't enjoy it.

*chuckle chuckle* but for real, elaborate.

2026 gotta be better, long story short.

So whats the little much that can be done?

I’ve been pump-faked into thinking shit’s gonna get better, but it gets snatched away and I’m back at square one.

His death scared the shit out of my as a young person. Wasn't a lot of cocaine in my hometown but when I got to college and kids were doing it, I had no interest. Even when I moved to LA and that shit was EVERYWHERE, I had no interest and would get indignant when ever people offered or asked me for it (because in LA random girls would walk up to you in the club and ask you if you had coke).

Eventhough I was lightweight dating a girl who in retrospect must have been doing a lot of coke, I never did it for the couple of years I was in LA.

Then in Law School there was a lot of coke around but people did have the decency to go into another room to do it a lot of my circle did it except me and my future wife. We did dabble in other stuff like shrooms and ecstasy and my early NYC days was the closest I got to regular drug use. Being a young lawyer with no real bills, meant lots of disposable income, lots of nights out popping bottles, and not needing much sleep.

My favorite coke story is i was in Miami with my dude who does alot and I asked him, Dude what's the big deal with coke. We were entering the Fountain Bleu and he said, "go up to the baddest chick here and offer her coke and see what happens". I did. I was just blown away how easy it was to make a friend who was willing to go back to a hotel room with 4 dudes for the chance to get coke. It was crazy. For the record, I got uncomfortable and got her friend to go with her as she went to my friends hotel room "to party".

But during that time I learned my favorite drug of choice is alcohol and a lot of the other stuff wasn't worth it. I'm the type who can go super hard for 48 hours but then not want to touch again....for at least a week. Alcohol works well with that but other drugs did not. For example, I did eventually try coke but all I got from it was 15 minutes of feeling like having red bull and vodka and 2 days of not sleeping. Extascy was more fun but that meant 1 super fun night of talking to strangers like best friends but feeling like I can't get out of bed for 2 days. That didn't work work well with a job and definitely wasn't possible when we had small children.

I also learned that every high for me came with a polar opposite low. Even in the past few years I've started drinking less because I know a night of drinking at best is going to cost a good night sleep and at worst costs feeling like shit for a couple of days and anxiety and regret about the foolish stuff I did while bent (when I could remember what I did).

I'm old enough to see what happened to my homeys who continued to do hard drugs and I don't like it. You can see the wear and tear on their face.

I feel like through the grace of God I skated passed serious addiction but I've been thinking about it a lot lately (hence the long post) because I have young boys JUST beginning to navigate drugs and alcohol. I thought I had more time but they are already going to party's at 14 where kids are drinking (and it's the girls not the boys!). Len Bias death and growing up in rural Christian Virginia helped me avoid harder drugs at an age I would have been more open to trying it on a regular basis. My boys are not nearly so lucky in that regard.

Lately I've been seeing post and I'm like, "why didn't you just Google that" but this is a good OP post Molly.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Got one young adult son and a 15yr old. Both have different dads who have different habits (alcohol/drugs&alcohol). And unfortunately both my sons have dabbled, the oldest as a teen got some bad weed from a girl he was seeing via a dating that made him paranoid af and a trip to the ER cause he couldnt feel his heart beating and freaked out.
The youngest got one of legal gummies from a schoolmate that made him call me and confess w/laughter and later lay in bed with his limbs looking like he’d been knocked out by Tyson. So far as I know neither has gone down those particular roads again but the oldest probably smokes weed still. The youngest has turned into a health nut.

I inform them both of their fathers addictions and easy it is for either of them to get stuck, but honestly the reminders, questioning and talks seems to be the best I can do as one lives in another state and in 2 years the other will be off to college.

I was 14 when that happened and that's always stayed with me!!












You don't impress me!!




RIP Reggie...I love you!! http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb449/Mynewstuff2011/RegLover.jpg



https://www.instagram.com/hawkcomedy/

when she had company, there was never anything like that around.

as I went to other places, I saw people putting needles in, sniffing paint from bread bags, smoking cigs or weed, and of course, crack heads everywhere in my neighborhood.

shit just wasn't a draw for me. it never crossed my mind that it was something to do. and junkies looked so bad!

Are a 70’s baby/80’s kid?

I feel like the 80’s&90’s painted such a clear picture that most of us wanted no parts of. Granted we had rappers talking about selling drugs, aside from weed none celebrated using drugs like rappers do now w/ lean, molly, percs etc. And despite many of us knowing these new rappers are Feds or fed bound, seems little to know one publicly spoke out against them touting that shit.

my first memory of anti-drugs was the just say no campaign. I'm sure those and 'this is your brain on drugs' helped me stay away.

seeing those folks (put needles in their veins, huffing paint, sniffing clue, and eventually seeing crackheads up close) was a bigger deterrent for sure.

there was also a since that my mom would be hella disappointed if her only child ended up drug head. even a functioning one.

I’ve always played sports and been active, and have mostly been fairly health conscious as far as exercising and eating healthy. Hard drugs don’t fit that lifestyle at all.

Also, I’ve seen enough people looking rough from drug abuse and I don’t want to look like that.

I keep it to a few beers here and there, and an occasional piece of an edible.

I know a TON of drunks/coke heads in the gym.

but I'm glad for you, that shit is the pits.

Gummies particularly have lil to no regulation yet FDA approved. Then again FDA approved oxy too and look how that turned out.
Its like MKultra just weaseled its way into legalization to make the shit seem okay but weed w/out seeds is like any other fruit/veggie w/out them, genetically modified and cut like crack.

Less you buy directly from someone who grows weed, you really dont know what youre getting.

Particularly cause I spent a lot of time in East New York (Brooklyn).

Partially being told by everyone in my life not to.

Partially hearing horror stories about the adverse affects of drugs.

And, I acknowledge this is dumb as hell, but there's no acceptable way to consume drugs that's not painful or uncomfortable to me. Definitely not sticking any needles in my body, never ever putting anything up my nose (I don't even like using nasal sprays), hate taking pills, not smoking anything, don't eat mushrooms.

About the eeck of how drugs were/are still consumed. I remember hearing how crack pipes would blow up in a users face, how junkies would be found dead with the needle in their arm, and my mom’s story of how she consumed a dark clear dot no wider than a millimeter that caused her to passout immediately and wake up in the ER.

But now we got sour patch kids/straws/strips, gummies, cookies, drinks and so many other less eeck items to consume thc, but whats preventing heroin to be laced up in a lollypop?

Also are the new drug addicts today that are identifiable as they were in the 90’s? We really dont know what a molly, perc head looks like and meth seems to the last drug w/an identifiable physical trait amongst users.

and just growing up around drugs and seeing the shitty side and consequences pretty much stripped away curiosity. They sold they used, they got locked up for months. We moved all the time. I bounced around to my grandma's alot.

weed was always in the house, and there were always people partying, they'd let me take hits off joints when I was 6 or 7. It didn't do anthing because I didn't know how to inhale, but I felt cool doing it, and for a long time I thought wèed did nothing. It probably wasn't until 7th or 8th grade that I actually got high with my friends

I think the only reason i never did coke was because there were times we didn't have money for basics and somehow there was money for that.

I also had friends who bacame addicts and saw their lives go to shit, but i never really went past weed and alcohol

and I’m sure my Dad and his friends did powder from time to time.

but my fear of hard drugs came from HS. Grew up in the burbs and these white folk did all types of drugs. Once heroin came to the rust belt they started dropping like flies.

10 of them have died over the years from that shit and these pills killed a friend of mine’s son.

Condolences for friends you and your son lost.

but my mom was really vocal about not doing hard drugs. “Weed is from the earth, stay away from the hard stuff”

so I did..

plus anytime I saw people doing the harder stuff the looked like dog shit.

when their life was going well?

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

That's basically every Rock hero. Plugged away, got lucky, got famous, got rich, here come the sexy hippie chicks and their drugs.

Right?

I feel like that's the character arc.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

long before the drugs

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Most celebs particularly live entertainers usually start w/ a legal prescription to stay awake, knock down anxiety or sleep.

I consider how many legal drugs are advertised on tv 24/7, rather to stay on your A game, health reasons or to party, US is doing its best to get and keep us all high.

That being said, you probably right and I'm playing an asshole's version of devil's advocate for shits and giggles while I waste time at work, so......

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

would be shocked to know how many people have tried that stuff and decided it wasn't for them.

And you would never know.

We were all raised to believe (rightfully so) if you try those drugs once you instantly become an addict, but that's not exactly true.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

but as in all things, "right" is typically hard and complicated. Common sense exists for a reason and in general will get your further than all else.

while not already in the throes of multiple layers of trauma, mental illness, ongoing addiction, and (insert here)?

I think lots of people have tried hard drugs and shaken them off and that's really what I mean is that there's a difference between those who don't

but injecting heroin isn't just a party thing for someone who isn't deep down the well, afaik

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Gary had everything going for him, but the peer pressure got him

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

also my body is really sensitive, so i’m a weakling. I can’t even drink coffee because the caffeine makes me feel ill. I took codeine once when I had my wisdom teeth taken out and it was the most unpleasant experience ever. The pain from the constipation was worse than the pain from my teeth getting yanked and my face being swollen to twice its size. I can’t imagine the discomfort of using something stronger. I know so many people die on the toilet.

Coke is also hard on the wallet. Both are addictive. Both would shorten one's life span and quality of life.

Opioids are VERY addictive and really bad for one's health.


>How do we keep the next crack-ish epidemic from happening?

Seems like we are still in the Opioid Era now. Heroin, percocets, vicodin, oxycodone, hydrocodone, fentanyl, and tramadol are all opioids.

Also, prescribed medications like adderall, dexedrine, vyvanse are all amphetamines, so we could be a law change away from the meth epidemic spreading if things follow the prescribed opioid pattern.

Alcohol is also a drug, and highly toxic as well.


Education is key to prevention.

Indeed it is.

So my kids had black teachers all the way through 1st grade (even a black male in pre-K), and the first white teacher came along, and my son suddenly became a disciplinary problem.

The school recommended psychological evaluations, and he was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. My wife freaked out, but I wasn't so much because, while he was being diagnosed, I recognized I had all those traits. Anyway, we agreed to do all sorts of interventions, including a prescription of Adderall (or maybe a similar drug).

With all the interventions, he actually turned around as a student and became quite a good reader in about a year and a half. But eventually, in 3rd grade, he said he didn't want to take the medicine anymore, and we stopped. His grades did not suffer, and he retained all the good habits he had developed during his 2 years of intervention. He's a good student and reader, and there are no issues in school anymore.

Anyway, almost every time we visit the pediatrician, she keeps pushing us to put him back on drugs. And the rationale she uses isn't that compelling to me. She tells the story that it wasn't until she started Adderall herself that she was able to pass the MCAT. I am like, so you got through college and med school and didn't need them? I mention he is a B+/A- student, and the doctor is like, "don't you want him to be an A student?" That last line made me want to curse her ass out.

The thing is, Adderall did change him. He became a much quieter kid and not the chaotic kid I love to death. Adderall is absolutely amazing for focus. But it would have that effect on anyone. I remember I tried his meds and wasn't sure if it was working until I noticed I cleaned out my whole storage while on it without even thinking about it.

I'd rather my son make it through life without needing a drug than feel dependent on a drug to take exams. And that's a value choice a doctor should respect.

RFK Jr. has been successful by tapping into a real skepticism that people have about drugs and doctors' recommendations, and I experience that skepticism firsthand.




**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

my cousin forgot his meds one day while he was staying with us and was freaking out on his way to camp. It was a camp for young Black men on campus.

When he got home he acted like he had the worst day ever and was wilding on the ride home and I had to remind him he was the exact opposite in the car ride home. He was vibing looking at the city while I played music when usually he would be bouncing off the while hyper af.

when someone is outwardly chill

you don't know what is going on inside their head.

he described his actual experience. you described what it seemed like to you.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I have about 40 years without adderall and three with

the idea that it makes you feel dependent on it to do things is ridiculous (your kid literally asked off of it? I've never heard of anyone do this with something that was at all addictive), and I don't take it every day. I've done lots of shit without it.

with it, I've actually remembered to replace the battery in my Tile so that when I lost my keys, again, I could find them a lot faster. it's a slight but notable difference, and one that brought me to tears the first day I took it because I realized my life could have been very different.

the homework assignments that disappeared, the calls that were never returned, and oh yeah, starting fights with people on the internet to fight off boredom -- didn't need to be.

I don't know what medication is best for your child or in what dosage, or if it even is, but if they are struggling in school, the idea that not giving them medicine that will help their issue will teach them something that they fundamentally are unable to do is stupid.

if he's doing fine and he doesn't want to take it, that's a choice for him to make, but I have questions about what influence he received toward making that decision. he might not want to take the pill that dad tells him makes him seem like an addict. I didn't look at medication as a solution for a long time because I felt like people were taking shortcuts, and I didn't see any need to do that, obviously, because I've had a very successful life without needing it.

Someone made the decision for me when I was diagnosed the first time, thirty years ago, that since I wasn't one of those kids who lost focus every two seconds and ran around constantly, I would be fine without medication. I was not fine. I'm not fine with it, but it is better.


If you are in any way cosigning a motherfucker who thinks that it's better for kids to get measles and die and has a worm in his head, think twice



www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

are the same

then you should go back to science class

as far as I know (lmk if I've got this wrong), no one who ever took an opioid, prescribed or otherwise, needed to have multiple reminders set on their phone telling them to take it.


www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1_Hv3yEMsQ&t=11s


I'll just be over here with my weed and wine

I was good from then on

i only do coke socially ie when other folks have it and offer it to me.

buying coke is has always been one of my lines in the sand of shit i have too much pride to do

This is a safe space.

Truth be told I'm partial to a bathroom key bump myself....

but always quick to hit it.. lol

the first time i tried it though i knew i just couldnt have it readily accessible like weed. wayyy too much fun.

I had a summer job in high school at an ice cream place. At first it seemed cool but I quickly figured out there were some weird things going on there. Over the course of the summer, I learned that the owner had a pretty serious drug habit (always seemed loopy, visible track marks all over his body, etc.).

Turns out that his long-term partner had recently left him for good; she apparently was the rock that kept the business afloat. So without her to stabilize him he fell really deep into a spiral of drugs and partying that included both heroin and crack.

I know this because he asked me for a ride after work one night, lied about where we were going, and had me drop him off at a crack house. His crackhead friends used to come by all the time and try to get free ice cream. He also tried to get me to smoke crack with him one night after I closed up. It was hella messy.

Over the course of a single summer I saw his life completely fall apart. He went from a successful businessman who owned 3 different shops, was making lots of money, multiple cars, etc. to a strung out junkie who lost all of his assets and had to shut down all the businesses. It was shocking to me how quickly it all fell apart.

I never really had an interest in hard drugs, but if I were ever tempted I would just think of that dude.

he was a cool enough guy, he's pledged alpha in college and was always talking about that

but what you didn't know if you didn't know him, is that if his wife didn't pick up his check at the end of the week before he did

he'd go off on a bender and blow it all smoking crack

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

but maybe I shouldn’t because every time I write it out the site wont post it…

maybe the word cr@ck isn’t allowed.

a professor at a university I worked at got caught smoking with her newborn in the car.

turned the university on its head. Everyone loved her and she went out like a Tyler Perry episode. Small white rural college in Kentucky. We were shocked and mad af. Kids were devastated. They loved her.

She was down bad. Did anyone suspect she had a problem? Crack and heroine use have never appeared to be easy habits to hide. Anyone keep tabs on her? Where is she now?

with enough time left over to take care of basic hygiene

a crack / meth addict mostly just seems very productive, except that they periodically disappear for vague reasons



www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

and my father drank himself into needing a liver transplant. I have no interest in trying either because maybe there's an addiction lying in me somewhere so why indulge it?



<========================================

Sincerest condolences.

My brother has alcoholism. We have different moms and his mom’s parents were strong alcoholics which eventually took their lives during a house fire. Although his mother has and never will drink, my brother got hooked young (high school) and been stuck in a bottle since.

If ever I have the money, I’d send him on s 3 -7 day rehab retreat in Mexico where they use either an African or Native American herb that has been said to leave a lasting effect to never bother with drugs or drinking and gives the person a new found lease on life.

"i do more for both our communities than you'll ever know." - Heinz
"But rest assured, in my luxurious house built on the backs of people darker than me, I am sipping fine scotch and scoffing at how stupid you are." - bshelly

Both (IIRC) had bits back in the day about how cocaine "shrinks your dick and makes you an asshole". Robin had the additional bit about "cocaine enhances your personality... yeah, but what if you're an asshole?"

I wanted to keep my dick and my friends (I'm enough of an ass w/o chemicals), so those known users both did more to keep me off hard drugs than Nancy Reagan ever could...

There is a saying about how the military, jail and drugs brings out more of who you truly are.