Kids these days...

Now...when I was at high school (about 10 years ago) I was one of those few who....OH MY GOD!!!!.....smoked mull. It was seen back then as something that only the bad/cool/no-hoper people did, and definetely not a common practice among my peers.

It seems that all that has changed and mull has become the norm and the only thing that might shock the youngsters is watching how much a dedicated mull-pig can suck down on any given 18th birthday or whatnot.

Now to the point, to any 15-20 year old who is still in high school, I want you to give me a rough idea of how things have progressed as far as the useage and availability of amphetamine like substances in your peer groups (MDMA Meth/Ice Speed....etc)

The reason I ask is because back when I was say 17, if anyone of my mates had anything harder than mull he would seem like the ultimate Cool Dude or something, you know, real hardcore. Of course it's shallow, but hey. But these days I get the impression that it would be a lot more common place than the 90's, but I don't know anyone from that age bracket to ask.

I really just want to know what the mood surrounding drug taking is like in school these days to compare it to what it was like when I was younger.

Cheers.

I'm no longer in High School, but the situation was the same as how you described it a few years ago.

I think alot has changed now and e is being taken more now and is more accepted within high school peer groups. I'm not sure if it's a good thinh or a bad thing.

when i was in high school (three years ago), drug use was really not that obvious...maybe i was just naive, but it really didn't seem to be around much at all...i know there were three or four guys (out of about one-fifty or two-hundred year twelvers) who were known to be the big stoners, and one of them was a tweaker (not that i knew what that meant at the time!), but apart from that i think very few people were into drugs.

for sure, people were experimenting, but i'd say that very few took anything harder than weed on a regular basis, and i don't think weed was even that prevalent. the universe certainly caught up with us after high school though

I agee - growing up, dope was common, some people occasionaly took trips, especially ravers. E was almost unheard of, as was coke. Hardcore people smoked dope, droped trips at raves, and occasionally took some speed. Nowdays, and i used to work with high-school aged kids, they get onto all sorts of shit alot earlier.

I don't preach to them, just tell them to be safe...

I was a leaver of '01 It seemed that in the first year of high school only the bad/elite/cool tried a bit of weed but by year 9 (second year of high school in W.A.) a lot of people had tried it and quite a few people were smoking it regularly. By year 10 (age 15) the same bad group had tried speed. And by year 11 they had all dropped out
There weren't too many people who used anything harder than weed still left by final year. A few of us who went raving from time to time were gurners, pingers or whatever but other than that it was all goon and cheap beer%)

I reckon that the last two years of high school (the voluntary ones) are among the cleanest as far as drugs at school go

I'm 4 years outta school now, i graduated year 12 in 1999 and in 4th year of uni degree now.
I went to a fairly small private school. There were 56 Year 12s in my graduating year of which I say around10-15 smoked weed. These were the cool "hardcore" guys. Nobody was into anything hard like E, speed, coke. Most of us just drank. I spose it is a fair percentage though considering its a small population group. Works out at around 20%-30%.

I was one of the young ones in school and didn't turn 18 til half way thru 1st semester of uni which is when i started hitting the pills and speed. At this stage the guys who were pot heads at school still were. They have really only now got into harder drugs and some are dealers.
Has been cool to bump into a few of em at events and see the suprise on their face when they realise that they are not the only ones to try new things and the even bigger suprise they get when they hear i been doing it for years. Its a whole role reversal i guess, they have gone from being the "hardcore cool kids" to being the newbie niave guys.

Interesting

Beech Out
PS I dont believe taking drugs makes you cool, its just a perception some have.

LOL, i can relate to that Beech - i left my private school, went to a public school. Years later the KKK (Kool Kids Klub) we shocked to know i had been doing stuff for nearly a decade when they first 'discovered me' at a rave... the look on thier faces when i had my name at the door... so funny!

yeah dude it is interesting how things turn out. I was one of the popular dudes at school but never knocked anyone for being different and kept my cards pretty close to my chest in regards to my social habbits and what I did for fun. The Hardcore Cool Kids at school liked to brag about their weed habbits and then get all condescending telling people that they shouldn't start smoking weed cos once ya start ya cant stop and all that sorta shite.

I just find social behaviour and the revolutions that take place in society very interesting.

Beech out

Yeah Pete, i agree - the younger the generation, the more open minded (generally) about substances. I am the oldest in my family, and the last to experiment!

Finishing year 12 at the end of 2002, here was the deal at my(private)school.

By year 12, 80% of kids had tried marijuana, 30% were smoking every 3 to 4 weeks and around 4% were smoking nearly everyday.
There had been three main kids that from about year 8 had always been into harder drugs such as lsd, mdma and speed. Two of the three kids left at the end of year 10 and the third one became one of my good mates over the next two years.
The next most popular would have been speed with around 30% of kids having tried it and 5% would be takin it around once a month.
Not as many kids ate pills (4%) but the ones who did, had them fairly regularly at a rate of once every 1 to 1 1/2 months.
LSD was hard to come by for us in year 12 so hardly any kids were eating that.
GHB was another one that didn't receive a huge amount of attention either.
K was only usually found in pills that had been bought off a less than reliable dealer.

Another thing to note is, that as the year progressed the drug use escalated which just goes to show how well 'tough on drugs' policies are working

PnP

Yay, another golden oldie I just attended my 10 year high school reunion this year. Scary huh?

I feel much the same as you do - drug use was either minimal or very carefully hidden when I was in my mid-teens... jesus, in my group we were "hardcore" if we got pissed on wine coolers and smoked a ciggarette when I was 16.

(granted i did go to a Catholic private school).

But even at my partner's tech school the worst thing that went on to his knowlege was smoking on the oval and a few bongs. I don't know what it's like now, but at risk of sounding old and crusty, it seriously disturbs me when I see 15 and 16 year olds posting on this board about hard drugs.

I'm SO glad we were innocent of that option back then; like you I might have fallen into it. I'm not blaming those who do it now, I'm just saying it exponentially multiplies the chances for fuckups in your youth and I'm glad I only fucked up as an adult.

Alert! Tipsy ramble...

I'm a recent graduate (2001) of one of Sydney's less respectable public schools...

When I was in year 7, one of the seniors stabbed another over a small weed deal. Marijuana use was rampant to say the least... Stoners came and went, some made it through school, others dropped out, some never developed their habbits beyond a weekly puff, one had a nervous breakdown and has never been the same. There would have been at least a dozen regular smokers in my year alone (which was 10% of the year) and by year 12 a definite majority (probably approaching 90% ) had tried it.

Binge drinking was rampant from year 8 onward. Stories of who spewed where and arguments about who could drink who under the table often came up. By year 10, I don't think there was a soul in my year who hadn't "been drunk"... The kids who burnt down the pavillion with all our sports equipment inside were apparently drunk and driving at the time too. The damn thing was listed as Australian Heritage, so it wasn't allowed to be redeveloped... They fenced off the remains as "Australian Heritage".

Probably 50% of the year were cigarette smokers to some degree, be their patterns influenced by socilising or intoxication. I have no doubt that everyone had at least given smoking a go, but some had the brains not to take it up. Most of those that did smoke did so on a daily basis. We actually broke into the basement of our school in search of a hidden place to smoke and skip classes... It turned out to be a labyrinth! We found a little room in the complete darkness where there were melted candles, school chairs from at least 50 years ago and food packaging that was equally old. We were right below the main activity block of the school too - we could hear footsteps and classes over our heads... Anyway, we weren't there first. Upon lighting a candle we discovered initials and dates in true "jimmy was here 1975" style on the roof dating back to WW2. We left ours too. Anyway, that tangent aside...

A mate and I tried MDMA in year 11, but there was a general attitude of resentment toward anything "synthetic", so it didn't spread very far. Over time, people got curious and said they'd try it after the HSC... I'd love to know if they did. Nitrous got around - we had a few nangs between classes once. There was one guy who I know intimitely who had been through a multiplicity of tryptamines, dissociatives, hallicinogens, stimulants and depressants by the end of high school. He took drugs at school a few times, and copped a lot of lectures from his mates... He was always the quiet one, always the kid who got beaten up and teased. At the school formal he was revealed to be more than just a user... Shocked faces ensued. I remember him being accused of doing it all to be cool... But I can safely say his drug use was due to some problems on the inside he was having trouble dealing with, and simple curiosity based experimentation.

He was the only one who got into drugs in a big way, and he's just about finished repeating his final year of high school. He still uses drugs, but for far better reasons and in a harm minimising fashion.

Cool, those were the kinda replys I was hoping to see. I really didnt want to find out that the harder drugs were becoming more prevelant within our schools...although obviously they are to a point, but not as much as I would've expected.

I was one of those guys who smoked and got shit-faced at 13 and started smoking mull at 15 etc etc.... I can't imagine what I would have ended up like had I indulged in some of the finer poisons I now do....and that's what scared me...what if some kid who loves getting high just like me, is given that opportunity by a society which has become more tolerant to drug taking than the previous generation....

I hope the next generation are able to grow up without that "risk", but are still able to "exeriment" later on with the backing of experience and intelligence up their sleeves.

Cheers.

Juvenile said:

I was a leaver of '01 It seemed that in the first year of high school only the bad/elite/cool tried a bit of weed but by year 9 (second year of high school in W.A.) a lot of people had tried it and quite a few people were smoking it regularly. By year 10 (age 15) the same bad group had tried speed. And by year 11 they had all dropped out
There weren't too many people who used anything harder than weed still left by final year. A few of us who went raving from time to time were gurners, pingers or whatever but other than that it was all goon and cheap beer%)

I reckon that the last two years of high school (the voluntary ones) are among the cleanest as far as drugs at school go

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I wouldn't say that drugs cause people to drop out (not sure if that is exactly your point but...)
By the time I graduated year 12 I had been a speed addict for a year and gotten off the drug on my own accord, taken a half dozen pills, taken coke, and I smoked bongs every day of year 10, 11 and 12. 6 years later and I've travelled the world, and am about to finish a university degree.
I think drugs held me back a bit, but only the weed really. But they never pushed me or any of my mates close to dropping out.

In some ways drugs, especially pills, helped me out in bettering myself. For instance pills really helped my communication skills. Might sound funny but its true, I really opened up on a permanent basis after a few months of constant pilling.
Speed helped in some ways... but 9years later I'm still an addict (under control now though, just have to have it at least fortnightly) so the good points are outweighed by the bad. In high school it definitely did more harm than good, but only once stopped me going to the classes that I wouldn't have otherwise skipped

Acid is bad I don't even remember much of what happened in my life before my acid stint. I remember taking something in the vicinity of 60tabs in 3months between year 10 and 11. I really don't remember much of my life before then 8) But boys will be boys And even that didn't make me drop out!


At my school in metro Perth, at least half the kids smoked pot by year 11. By the end of year 11 most of my crew had tried speed and pills. The chemicals were less common, mostly because no-one could afford them!! Or no-one knew anyone that sold them. Acid was pretty common by the start of year 10 Sometimes it scares me thinking about the stuff I did and how I would deal with a son/daughter doing that kind of stuff! But I don't think home-schooling is the answer

Speaking as a parent...

Sometimes it scares me thinking about the stuff I did and how I would deal with a son/daughter doing that kind of stuff! But I don't think home-schooling is the answer

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Thanks for your summary entropope. This is an interesting one, although a potentially comforting thought may be that kids tend to follow a different path to their parents. In many ways this has proven true in our house. Our eldest is 20 and a responsible guy who doesn't have any real vices except perhaps for being a gamer (different from both his parents at that age). Our youngest is 13 and hangs round with mostly older kids. Although some of them play up, he seems to be content just having their respect. We've talked with his mates and they all say they don't want to see our kid get into drugs, but they also appreciate that we don't overly preach about what they decide to do (other than to stress the importance of education) so we give them the benefit of trust. We know our boy has recently tried alcohol once and had a single puff of something, but as there is no fear of telling his parents what he's done, there seems to be less desire on his part to do these things. Whether this will last I don't know, but he likes sport and having a sharp mind, so we'll see.

Entropope, an important distinction between your situation and ours may have to do with environment. Their is undoubtedly every drug available through local schools (as almost everywhere) and there is unlikely any less peer pressure to do drugs, but overall, coercion seems to have way less impact. A smaller community is undoubtedly a part of it, as I'm sure this would be different in the city. We've sent our kids to a public school as we believe it does (at least in the early years) promote greater social skills than the often sheltered education received in some privates schools. In line with the same thinking we've never thought that avoiding exposure ensures a temptation free life. Quite the contrary. Experience, whether direct or indirect, informs. We believe it's been through establishing an open relationship with our kids that we've been able to discuss these issues/questions as they come up, without fear they'll be punished or be banned from hanging with their crew. They have always been given credit to their intuition in this regard and both are very perceptive of character.

There is certainly less mystery associated with drugs for our kids, as they have grown up as part of a great extended family, many of whom have worked in the music industry or for Ravesafe. They have accompanied us to doofs and all age events since about age 5 and have helped with looking after the Ravesafe crew at multiday events. So they have well and truly seen the good, the bad and the ugly of drugs. People falling over and breaking bones from being so out of it, others hospitalised, confused frightened etc. Pretty (un) impressionable stuff for most kids.

So perhaps for our kids, the reality of drug use is viewed a little more thoroughly. Without a doubt, for them regular drug use is definitely seen as something involving more than the periodic few hours of expected pleasure. .

Just a final note. I don't wish to give the impression our house is anything that out of the ordinary. We argue and disagree just like anyone. And I don't have any disillusion that I can speak for the future in regards to my kids and drugs as they are both truly individuals, each in charge of his own destiny. But speaking as a parent , the road so far has been an easy one.

My experience:

Left highschool in 2001, went to a small private highschool, pretty much, my year 12 only had like 50 people in it, very small, during 7-12, it was drinking, smoking, weed, speed, pills...

but the thing is, we never though the people using the shit were cool, the opposite, we just thought they were to hardcore messed in the head type, the cool people were the ones who were the atheletes and crap like that...

I think drugs and school are just way to wrong... I never touched drugs at school, there is a time and place for it, and little lunch aint a place for doing it..

Gospeedgo I went to a school similar sounding to yours - small private school. You said the cool guys were the ones who were sports stars and atheltes and the guys who took drugs were just thought of as hardcore headcases. My school was other way round. The athletes or 'jocks' (hate that term, its sooo American) were like but not on the top rung of the ladder. I was one of those guys who was great at sport and well the 'cool drug kids' just sorta looked at us as being 'try hards' cos we actually put effort into stuff. Most generally had respect for us but didn't aspire to be like us whereas it seemed a lot of ppl looked up to and aspired to be as cool and hardcore as the guys who took drugs.

I agree 100% with ya that school and drugs dont mix. High school too important to risk fucking up with drugs. Wait til uni to start experimenting. Thats what uni is for, fucking round, having fun and finding out who you are.

Beech out

Werd Beech I find it stupid for kids to take drugs @ highschool, I still can't believe people find kids who take drugs cool, I barely enjoyed getting pissed @highschool, but man, I really appreciate the time at uni i'm having able to experiment with pills and go whenever i want

highschool's great for other things, just not drugs..

all the kids i knew who were doing any harder drugs were doing them at night when they went out with they're fake I.Ds, which is why no one at school at any idea at all. That is why it seems it's not around school, cos it pretty much isn't a fun place to be off your pickle

^^I agree secret squirrel. I finished school in 2001 (public) and there were only a couple of guys who were into e. Of course, no one knew because they didnt tell anyone. Not until recently has e flourished in my home town. Its extremely popular among those just left highchool and older. Lots of people smoked mull in high school, but e wasnt even thought of. Mostly because a lot of small minded people thought people who took it thought they were doing it to be cool. Funny how some of those people are now regular users........