Pledging and illicit drugs

[jolene]

Heroin is huge. A Georgia Tech baseball player died ODing a few years ago. He apparently had no history with drugs, but, per rumor, his roommate dabbled in H. Tech is very close to an area in Atlanta called "The Bluff" which is noted for heroin (among other drugs). The people who live there are doing their best to turn it around, but it takes time. A local TV station also did a series on 'the heroin triangle' in Atlanta. It's scary. I have a daughter in middle school and these things terrify me. Sorry to highjack the thread.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by TXDG

A lot of kids are first introduced to drugs at "pill parties" in high school where kids raid their parents cabinets for whatever they can find- opiates like OxyContin and Hydrocodone are pretty easy to find. Some of these kids will graduate to heroin products once they run out - it's cheaper and more accessible. Some are prescribed opiates after athletic injuries/surgeries and become hooked. This heroin epidimic is hitting the middle and upper classes hard. It's not the "stereotypical" junkies shooting up in dirty drug dens anymore; it's a lot closer to Prince accidentally ODing on pain pills cut with fentanyl.

Exactly this. The fact that heroin is the second-choice drug is just amazingly f'ed up.

As far as the original post, I would tell your daughter to run like the wind from any chapters that spread such rumors.

[tootiepie2]

A LSU fraternity pledge also died of a heroin overdose last year ( or maybe year before, time flies!!) It is very scary and is becoming the drug of choice in a lot of places.

[TXDG]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Exactly this. The fact that heroin is the second-choice drug is just amazingly f'ed up.

I agree. I think they mistakenly think if they aren't shooting up, it's not as dangerous. The dealers are mixing heroin with everything from OTC cold medication to fentanyl (pain killer that is something like 1,000 times stronger than morphine and typically used for cancer patients) to elephant tranquilizers. Users truly do not know what they are using and that is super dangerous. One dose could barely get you high one day, and the same amount of heroin could kill you the next day if it's mixed differently.

Across the US, more people have died from heroin OD's than in car accidents over the last two years.

If you have kids, teenagers, college students, etc in your life, you need to be talking to them about heroin. And educate yourself about what heroin looks like in 2016.

{TXDG hops off her soapbox!!}

[Munchkin03]

When I first read this, I suspected it was tent talk. I'm glad to see that everyone else agrees.

OP, I have to say that it's a good thing that your daughter told you about this, and expressed her disgust. Not sure I would have felt as comfortable telling my own mom about it. It sounds like she may have a good head on her shoulders!

I walk through San Francisco's worst neighborhood on my way to work, and it's heartbreaking how many people one sees just nodding off in the middle of the street, standing up. I've heard a few stories about mutual acquaintances getting hooked on heroin, but nothing too substantial for now.

[TXDG]

Originally Posted by jolene

Heroin is huge. A Georgia Tech baseball player died ODing a few years ago. He apparently had no history with drugs, but, per rumor, his roommate dabbled in H. Tech is very close to an area in Atlanta called "The Bluff" which is noted for heroin (among other drugs). The people who live there are doing their best to turn it around, but it takes time. A local TV station also did a series on 'the heroin triangle' in Atlanta. It's scary. I have a daughter in middle school and these things terrify me. Sorry to highjack the thread.

Here's a link to the Atlanta local news series on the heroin crisis in the northern Atlanta burbs. It is certainly eye-opening for those who are under the impression that heroin is still an inner city drug or that heroin still has a stigma attached to it.

Would many/any parents know if their teenager texted his/her dealer, left a $20 under your front doormat, and picked up the heroin delivery from the mat after the dealer dropped it off?? Because that's what's happening.

http://www.11alive.com/mb/news/inves...ation/94225151

[SoCalGirl]

An article regarding pot and heroin. http://www.vox.com/2016/9/9/12824282...ical-marijuana

There's debate if the legalization of pot has led to more deadly heroin.

[33girl]

That article is spot on. The Oxy/heroin crisis was rearing its head well before my dad died and that was almost 8 years ago.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

Nope. It is very common, especially since it has been purified so that it's snortable. Do some research. The "my kid would never be that stupid" is exactly the problem. It may not be coke or molly common, but it is also far more dangerous.

+1

Heroin is everywhere right now. It's cheap and common, and it's easy to OD and die on that stuff.

[sissyintexas]

To the poster above who said Texas A&M is not a "hard drug campus." EVERY campus is a hard drug campus - especially where we are talking tens of thousands of students. Opiate/Opioid use is an epidemic among high school age and college kids. It starts with oxycodone and codeine and when that no longer gets the result they are looking for they move on to heroin.

It is not just a "street drug" anymore. I live in a fairly affluent area and without thinking I can name 6 kids who have died from heroin overdoses in the past 3 years. Where there is money, there will be drugs.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by sissyintexas

To the poster above who said Texas A&M is not a "hard drug campus." EVERY campus is a hard drug campus - especially where we are talking tens of thousands of students. Opiate/Opioid use is an epidemic among high school age and college kids. It starts with oxycodone and codeine and when that no longer gets the result they are looking for they move on to heroin.

It is not just a "street drug" anymore. I live in a fairly affluent area and without thinking I can name 6 kids who have died from heroin overdoses in the past 3 years. Where there is money, there will be drugs.

Very true.

I am currently attending a huge insurance conference and there was a presentation about workers comp and drug use. According to the CDC, deaths from opioid pain killer overdoses now top deaths from heroin and cocaine combined.

The thought, "At least it's not heroin" doesn't even apply. All of these drugs are a concern.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by sissyintexas

EVERY campus is a hard drug campus - especially where we are talking tens of thousands of students.

Yes. At my Ivy League undergrad, I could have told you how to get any of the "hard drugs," and I didn't do anything harder than alcohol. This was back in the early aughts, when most people my age were scared off of heroin because of Kurt Cobain.

[jenidallas]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Very true.

I am currently attending a huge insurance conference and there was a presentation about workers comp and drug use. According to the CDC, deaths from opioid pain killer overdoses now top deaths from heroin and cocaine combined.

The thought, "At least it's not heroin" doesn't even apply. All of these drugs are a concern.

And then there is the wave of middle class professionals who are turning to heroin because it has become easier to obtain than opioid pain drugs due to changes in prescribing laws. Chronic pain control is a health care gap in many communities across the US and many health care systems don't have the resources to deal with these patients outside the inpatient setting. As a result, many are self-medicating, often with disastrous results.