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No. I think lack of parental supervision, guided direction, goals/ambition, and self-esteem lead to drug use.
Probably true in some cases, but some of the country's best schools have major problems with drug use; the lack of parental supervision might there, but these are kids who have plenty of ambition. They study hard, they party hard, they think they're invincible.
I recently started to read the book "The High Price of Privilege," although haven't finished it yet; the author specifically deals with the issues faced by rich or upper middle class kids, often those living in the suburbs (she's based in Marin County outside of SF, but argues that it's a national problem).
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I don't think being raised in the suburbs makes you particularly more prone to using drugs. I teach in city public schools and went to suburban public schools, so I can see the comparison. Generally speaking, the students in city schools usually can't afford any drugs that are expensive. I lived in an upper-middle class town right outside the city growing up that was known for students using expensive drugs. I went to middle school and high school from the mid 90s until the early 00s, and I don't remember drugs really ever being a problem. Kids mostly used them for fun and never knew of any addictions. Nowadays I keep hearing how my town has a problem with heroin now, which I know is pretty expensive. Growing up it wasn't really ever a problem. I knew people who smoked marijuana from time to time, but I never got involved in that or alcohol or anything.
I think a large part of it has to do with how you keep yourself busy growing up. I was really involved in sports and never thought twice about wanting to drink or smoke. My friends who were involved in that didn't have any extracurricular activities. A large part has to do with the parents, but to be honest, my parents never taught me to say no to that kind of stuff; I just didn't want to because I had better things to do with my time.
I think a large part of it has to do with how you keep yourself busy growing up, yeh exactly, I LOOOOVVVE Music and Social Studies so im alwasy either practicing/playing or looking stuff up/reading. Also my parents are both doc's so ive got ive inherited a wish to stay healthy. Also if i every want a shot at music do u really want to have to chose...o gezz ive only got 5 bucks...burger or pot???????
I Googled this phenomenon myself and found this thread. I'm 19 and grew up in a very wealthy county in the suburbs of Atlanta. I began doing "club drugs" when I was 17 because some 20 y.o.s' introduced me to them. It was actually just Ecstasy (multiple occasions) and LSD twice. At the time I was one of few at my school who seemed to be doing this, but within a year things RAPIDLY changed. I stopped going to raves and doing Ecstasy and now I go to The University of Massachusetts, however, everyone from my old school/county seems to be going to raves now - they are the majority of the people at these city parties. I'd really like to know how this sudden change came about. My theory is their large amount of disposable income, boredom, but as stated above; these kids have no idea about the downside to drugs. It was all this which most CERTAINLY pushed me down that path (Although, not very far). I just hope half of them have the intelligence to not get caught up in drugs. "Do drugs, don't let drugs do you." type of deal. Anyway, I find all this very interesting, especially considering access and what drugs they are using. It seems to me that their use consists solely of Ecstasy, which is interesting because in my county it's hard to get weed, let alone E. We would have to drive to the neighboring county every time we wanted to get some. I just have a lot of facts and experience with it and if anyone wants to discuss this issue further and speculate on the reasons for sudden mass drug use among suburban teens - feel free to email me at thegeorgiascene@yahoo.com
Location: Detroit's eastside, downtown Detroit in near future!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by th3vault
Club drugs, yes....... but definitley not heroin. The junkies and heroin addicts are far, far more common in urban areas.
this is far from true! black children in urban areas usually only smoke weed and drink. heroin, crack and other hard drugs are a thing of the past. they sell it, suburbanites buy it
-- Lack of parental involvement. Just giving your child a nice house to live in and enrolling them in a high-achieving "safe" school isn't enough. Kids need their parents. They need their time, they need their attention (and not just when they're on the athletic field or dance recital stage), and they need their authority and loving guidance. So many parents today are so caught up in themselves...their careers, their dating lives, their looks, their possessions. Ask any kid which they would rather have: an overachiever dad with a great sports car and his name in the paper, or a hands-on dad who puts his kids' needs ahead of his own advancement in life.
--Money as a substitute for parental time and attention. In the case of the "good" high school in Ohio where wealthy kids were found to be doing heroin in an astonishing number, when asked, the kids cited the fact that they were left home alone a lot with large amounts of money at their disposal. Money is NOT a babysitter, folks!
--Parents not teaching their kids a firm set of rules of right and wrong. I know that not everyone feels that they need to go to church, and that's your prerogative, but can you at least admit that back when the vast majority of families did go to church weekly things were much, much better in terms of everything: crime, drug use, divorce...I'm not giving credit to religious leaders so much as to the centuries-old Judeo-Christian moral standards that used to be upheld and followed. And while I'm no expert, I believe that true Islam, not that of the terrorist extremists, teaches solid moral principles too. So many kids today seem to be drifting around with no moral anchor, no reason NOT to abuse their bodies and do stupid things, because there is no defined set of rules in their lives. Do whatever feels good...there is no right or wrong, only what is right or wrong for you...blah, blah, blah. That's just crazy.
I agree 100 percent: its parents either being into drugs themselves and/or not getting involved in their child's moral education.
Location: Detroit's eastside, downtown Detroit in near future!
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its not that kids in the city can't afford expensive drugs seeing that many of them sell themselves and are the ones providing the drugs. Kids in most big cities have already seen what drugs can do to you in the future. Why would you do heroin and you see base heads at the gas station begging for change? or you're probably selling to them yourself. Suburban kids seem to be more sheltered and find stuff like that "cool". Party drugs or not (smh) drugs are drugs. City kids smoke weed and drink, suburban kids do the heavier stuff. Besides there is no such thing as "doing it for fun and having no addiction". Please tell that to all of the suburban, sheltered kids on all of these TV shows talking about their addiction and how it started of as fun. People can even get kind of hooked on weed, what makes you think you can't get hooked on ex?
Kids who are raised in the city have better access to drugs and depending in their race and economic class, it can be high chance. I went an expensive private school in a good section of D.C. and I was born and raised in housing projects, I'm only 21 so it wasn't that long ago.. The affluent kids at my school didn't do drugs, well most of them. But dam near everyone who came from low income areas did.
I personally know a few heroin addicts (north burbs of Chicago, probably close to the OP). I also know a couple of people who over-dosed and died. The neighborhood I live in is one of the wealthiest in the country. In the past 3 weeks there was a meth lab bust and a crack ring run by gang members taken down.
The area I grew up in is pretty wealthy (My hometown was the second "poorest" of the 5 towns in the area and the median family income is around $100k) and H is a huge problem. In high school it was mainly just weed and then sometimes shrooms or ecstacy...then by junior/senior year it was blow. College it was blow and weed...some kids didn't go to college and they were the ones most likely to get into OC's (OxyContin)...but eventually spending $80 for a pill of synthetic heroin didn't make sense when they could pay $10 for the actual drug.
You can often blame the parents but not always. I know people who are doing great, work for prestigious companies, etc...but they have siblings who both fell into the trap. In cases like that, I feel terrible for the parents because it's not as if they didn't care, or didn't do what they considered to be right. It worked for one child, but not the other. There's really nothing they could have done, but they still feel responsible.
Depends on what is qualified as drug. Technically a drug is something that changes your behavior or train of thought. So that makes weed a drug, despite it affects are about as harmful as drinking beer. I went to a suburban high school that had a lot of weed smokers and gang members(GDs, Stones, Latin Kings etc). As far as I know, the heavier stuff is sold and wasn't used by kids. Any kid who might of did the heavier stuff(crack,heorin) certainly didn't make it publically known because that would've got him/her laughed at, verbally or physically assaulted for days.
And another thing, most suburbs fall in the class of lower middle class and regular middle class. Just like the city, suburbs come with a diversity of incomes and demographics. Some suburbs even have there own version of the projects and hood life.
Last edited by Chicagoland60426; 01-26-2011 at 11:15 AM..
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