Drug Culture and Addiction

I've been curious/wanting to talk about this and didn't want to post it on Facebook -

I grew up in a pretty bog standard blue collar American town and the towns that surround it are too.  People think of Massachusetts as a place of privilege and education, but believe me, there are huge underprivileged and areas of poverty there.

I recently lost a childhood friend to a heroin addiction (suicide, but he wanted to have the last word, not heroin)

I have another childhood friend who is currently 8 months clean after spending stints in prison for writing fake prescriptions for opiates and lost so much, including visitation with his son  (He's doing good now and I'm totally rooting for him)

A family friend overdosed on opiates two years ago and left behind her dedicated husband and gaggle of children/grandchildren

A high school friend's ex-husband recently died from an opiate overdose

My sisters and cousins have all lost friends (of the millennial age group) from heroin and opiate addictions.

I also have close family members with addiction issues, even in drugs that are now becoming legal (but hey alcohol is legal too and this can go awry). 

Before I go too far, I'm far from innocent myself -  I'm a huge Grateful Dead/jam band fan, and spend my teens and 20s whilst I lived in the US going to shows and late night raves/afterparties, whatever .... and if you know anything about these scenes, you will know there is a culture
 
I will say, these days I live the most boring , stay in , exhausted from the work week, plus hobbies, and playing music and gardening all day kind of weekends and a husband who knows nothing of any drug culture and really has a hard time with any of it (The first time I brought him to a party in my hometime, he was gobsmacked)

Drug culture isn't new from where I'm from, I don't think. There were always the "original" hippies, the ones into peace, drugs, rock'n'roll
Me, and my pals,  sat through years of  'D.A.R.E.' because of a recognised need.  Fat good it did, friends are all dying off because of drugs.

The town I grew up in is dire these days. It's become poorer and poorer as the blue collar jobs have gone.  And the drug culture is thriving.  Opiates especially. Prescription drug abuse.  Many friends claim they got addicted because of being prescribed a short course of whatever kind of opiate for any injury and they've stayed addicted. Some say this is because there is no hope, there are no jobs, there is nothing to do.  It's no wonder they all voted Trump, logic of course all flawed, but, I can see why they did....
And stats in the US show this is all up too.

Does anyone else from blue collar America feel the same thing is happening where they are from?   Or maybe beyond blue collar America? Is it everywhere?   Am I just feeling now that because I am lucky and never had a "problem" or addiction  (My drug use has always been on pare with alcohol.  Have fun, but don't screw up school or work or family or anything.)  that I find this all a bit sad and getting out of hand and now all my childhood friends are all dying and losing everything? 


 

Sorry I can't do much other than sympathise and agree with you that things seem to be getting worse.  I don't get to the states very often and lack personal experience. 

Like you my partying days are mostly behind me and I married a person who wouldn't get any of that either.


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Unfortunately I think you're right when you say this is a problem that's happening everywhere. I was a total square when growing up, and still am, so I don't have any friends who have been suffering with addiction. I have no doubt, however, that there are people in the affluent suburb I grew up in who are. In the one year I lived in SC, my best friend there had three friends die from overdoses (two opiates, one alcohol). In one year!

My friends from less-wealthy areas all seem to have those experiences. It's like every month, someone I knew had a friend die. It's depressing as hell, and everyone feels powerless to stop it.

My condolences to all your friends and family, phatbeetle, and best wishes to your friend who's 8 months clean!

I get the impression it's everywhere. I have lost 4 kids I grew up with to drug abuse. I am from an affluent town where your parents had to 'make it' in order to move there. But there aren't really any jobs that pay enough for the kids to buy homes, make a life of it etc... It's such an affluent place that it even had its own soap opera at one point.

It means the kids have lots of cash (but not enough to raise a family with etc...). So yeah, they abuse drugs. There was a big thing I read not long ago about make narcan (the drug that reverses opiate overdose) more readily available and how that would save lives.

Thanks folks, these are interesting thoughts.  I can't say I'm 'glad' it's not just me noticing these things, but it does make me feel there is definitely something there.  Makes me realise we all need to rethink everything we thought addiction and helping people with addiction. Hmmm... 

I know there is definitely a drug culture here in the UK too, but it seems to be much more underground, if that makes sense?  I go to music festivals here and it took me a wee while to work out why something didn't seem the same and I realised that the overwhelmingly heavy pot scented air was missing.

but hey alcohol is legal too and this can go awry

In the grand scheme of things, alcohol is probably the worst self-inflicted thing to happen to humankind.

In the grand scheme of things, alcohol is probably the worst self-inflicted thing to happen to humankind.

I do keep thinking that drinking is probably one of the dumbest things I do. And I don't drink that much. But there's absolutely no good health outcome from it.

The stereotypical British attitude towards drinking (ie, let's drink until we pass out on the pavement) boggles my mind. The only time I ever saw anything like it back in the US was on St Patrick's Day. If you go out and drink until you vomit, people think you're a moron. However, I do like that having a beer with lunch is totally acceptable!

MA has gotten exceptionally bad in the last few years with heroin. A lot of young people in my town and surrounding towns have been hit hard. It's incredibly sad