I don't care if i sound like a twilight years, grandpa that can't get a grip on the "youth of today," but seriously, i'm absolutely shocked by the use of drugs by pre-teen and early teenage kids. And i'm not pining about experimentation with cannabis, alcohol or cigs. I'm talking about 12yo's popping pills and dumping acid. When i was at high school (which was not THAT long ago), the "druggie cliche" emerged somewhere during year 8 (so about 14yo's). But this was mainly confined to pot and alcohol, certainly no eccy consumption. I think at about 16-17, people began playing around with e's, lsd, speed.
However, now i'm hearing ever increasing reports of drug use filtering through to upper primary school. On a recent visit back to my old high school, i was approached by the younger sibling (in year 7) of one of my HS friends, asking whether i would sell him some "meth". And i can assure you that the older sibling was not responsible for introducing this kid to drugs. I don't think i even knew what meth was when i was in year 7.
I don't know if many on this board will agree with me, but i think there is something drastically wrong with dabbling with drugs at what i consider to be a very young age. For starters i think its dangerous to the extent that i'd assume many of these youths don't know much about what it is they are ingesting or supposedly ingesting. Also, at that age i don't think i could deal with the emotional comedown. Finally, i think its sad that kids at that age feel that they need to supplement their lives with drugs.
I donno, maybe i'm just old fashioned, but i think there is definate danger in playing with drugs during the early stages of the formative years of your life.
What does everyone else think? What would you consider to be an acceptable age to experiment with drugs? Am i over-reacting, or have others noticed a trend for drug use to filter down to the younger age brackets? Should harm minimisation/drug education be introduced at an earlier age?
However, now i'm hearing ever increasing reports of drug use filtering through to upper primary school. On a recent visit back to my old high school, i was approached by the younger sibling (in year 7) of one of my HS friends, asking whether i would sell him some "meth". And i can assure you that the older sibling was not responsible for introducing this kid to drugs. I don't think i even knew what meth was when i was in year 7.
I don't know if many on this board will agree with me, but i think there is something drastically wrong with dabbling with drugs at what i consider to be a very young age. For starters i think its dangerous to the extent that i'd assume many of these youths don't know much about what it is they are ingesting or supposedly ingesting. Also, at that age i don't think i could deal with the emotional comedown. Finally, i think its sad that kids at that age feel that they need to supplement their lives with drugs.
I donno, maybe i'm just old fashioned, but i think there is definate danger in playing with drugs during the early stages of the formative years of your life.
What does everyone else think? What would you consider to be an acceptable age to experiment with drugs? Am i over-reacting, or have others noticed a trend for drug use to filter down to the younger age brackets? Should harm minimisation/drug education be introduced at an earlier age?