Bass

for some strange reason I have this current fascination with watching shows like Intervention and other drug shows that show the life of an addict and the outcome (both good and bad)

Last nights Intervention show was all about the heroin and oxicotin

JAMESDEAN65

Media hype, drugs have been around 4 ever,and now we just have 300 channels to surf for info. when I was a kid we had 3 channels and got alot of news from the newspaper. Nobody reads the paper anymore.

Lainey

Some folks won't believe this, but I have NEVER inhaled.

I went to a small Catholic school, drugs weren't a huge issue, but there were kids who went to the water fountain at the break and they weren't taking an aspirin. I'm sure there was plenty of around too. Another school a few miles away had a more affluent student body and drugs were much more common.

Not so sure about the hard drugs....I do remember about 20 years ago finding out that a co-worker's brother in law was on his way to rehab for a heroin addiction. Never would have suspected it. I've also heard folks who attend group support for drug addiction say that you would be VERY, VERY surprised at who you might run into at a meeting.

I think it might be worse than in the past, maybe different "varieties" than back in our days, but I'm sure Jeff can chime in on this one, with first hand experience.

CTMechE

The History Channel had a great series a few years back called "Hooked: Illegal Drugs and How They Got That Way." It basically goes through the chemical, social and legal history behind drugs.

As someone who was born in 1980, I learned a whole lot more than I thought I would. I was a "DARE" child of the Reagan era and had a pretty good education on the subject, but suffice it to say, what they taught us in school was far from the whole truth.

Basically, it's like anything else: The only thing new is the technology behind the chemicals, their creation and their distribution... the abuse remains the same.

Bass

so you're saying usage and demand has not increased?

05berlinas2k

oooo YES it has!!!! being a young person, living in the south shore, i see what goes on!!! believe me there arent any shortages... i dont think i would have any stuggle trying to find "SOMETHING"

Bass

Thanks for the insight matt

CTMechE

I really don't know. I'd imagine it has, but the population is also much bigger than it used to be, and more drugs to be considered illegal. I don't know that there's an easy answer to your question. Nobody knows if the heroin addicts would just be crack addicts if heroin never existed.

05berlinas2k

well can say they havent lost there abundance from about 1999-00 till now anyways...

Legal Bill

Drug use is on the rise in the workplace in Massachusetts. It is down nationally. A drug testing company for the federal government has just released a report on this subject.