Is the drug problem as bad as it sounds?

[Anonymous]

Of course I know there are always drugs. But sounds like rampant pot smoking in high schools plus several overdosing stories occurring at school. What’s going on? Same problem as we have had for decades or is it worse?

[Anonymous]

Y’all voted to make pot legal. What did you expect?

[Anonymous]

Kids naturally rebel.

Pot served that purpose when it was illegal. Now that it is not they have to go to harder drugs.

[Anonymous]

Maryland's law doesn't take effect until July 2023 and is only applicable to age 21 and older.

[Anonymous]

No OP it is not worse.

Social media and the news if it bleeds it leads.

[Anonymous]

The overdosing is due to Fentanyl which is lethal at very low dosage. Mix that with an Opioid crisis, kids still partying with Ectasy and mental health problems, Violaa big substance abuse problem.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is because of fentanyl. Teen overdose deaths have more than doubled since 2019. According to this article, it's not so much the amount of drug use going up, but instead the lethality of drugs available now, particularly fentanyl. U.S. had over 100,000 drug overdose deaths last year. It was about half that in 2015.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/teen-overdose-deaths-spiked-low-drug-use-rcna23103

[Anonymous]

Yep, with the fentanyl situation and the large number of counterfeit pills circulating, experimentation is dangerous. You don't have to have a "drug problem" to OD

[Anonymous]

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/youth-overdose-deaths-increased-by-120-in-montgomery-county.amp

[Anonymous]

It's always been a serious issue. Parents clearly don't have an issue with it so not sure why MCPS does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of course I know there are always drugs. But sounds like rampant pot smoking in high schools plus several overdosing stories occurring at school. What’s going on? Same problem as we have had for decades or is it worse?

You need some more nuance in your question. Is the pot problem as bad as it sounds? No. Kids have been smoking pot in HS for decades. I'm hopeful that the legalization of pot will stop the dealing and relegate pot to just an issue of students being impaired, similar to drinking.

Is the fentanyl/opiod problem as bad as it sounds? Not yet, but that is why they are sounding the alarm bells. If you heard fatalities went up by 120% last year, recognize that actual numbers went from 5 to 11 fatalities. Not good, but percentages make it seem worse. However, the increasing overdoses combined with another death last week have made it urgent to work to educate parents and the community about the problem. Teens are curious. They don't have to be into drugs to make a poor choice one time and try a pill that ends up killing them. And even if you are sure your kid would never do that, they are affected when a classmate does, and then dies. As a community, we need to understand that it is an urgent problem and educate our teens about the problem and also how to support their peers to not get involved with drugs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it is because of fentanyl. Teen overdose deaths have more than doubled since 2019. According to this article, it's not so much the amount of drug use going up, but instead the lethality of drugs available now, particularly fentanyl. U.S. had over 100,000 drug overdose deaths last year. It was about half that in 2015.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/teen-overdose-deaths-spiked-low-drug-use-rcna23103

There has never been an “opioid crisis.” That is a convenient figment of the imaginations of governmental entities that want to do pirate raids on the treasuries of pharmaceutical companies.

The fentanyl problem is real and outrageous. The authorities know where it is coming from, who the powerful individuals running the show are and how it is being introduced and distributed. Then they do nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maryland's law doesn't take effect until July 2023 and is only applicable to age 21 and older.

I don’t think it matters. People already believe that it is legal even if you cannot walk into a store to buy it without a medical card. It is also not that hard to obtain from DC where there are a lot of grey market shady shops/delivery services and limited to no regulation.

Marijuana use has become the new vaping. I think I would prefer if they made it easier for kids to access Juul and harder to access marijuana. But these are our societal priorities: nicotine needs to be stamped out while access to a very strong psychoactive drug on developing brains is increased. Obviously it would be good to reduce access to both, but somehow that doesn’t seem politically possible and so here we are.

The opioid issue is just another matter altogether. It has always been an issue upcounty around Damascus (apparently Rt 27 is called the “heroin highway”), particularly during the height of the opioid crisis a decade ago. Now it seems to have spread downcounty where it previously was not prevalent. It is interesting though that poor girl was from Damascus. I really feel for her mother.

[Anonymous]

Weed is like nothing to kids these days. I'm hearing that you can smell it in the high schools and there simply isn't enough staff to monitor or do much about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it is because of fentanyl. Teen overdose deaths have more than doubled since 2019. According to this article, it's not so much the amount of drug use going up, but instead the lethality of drugs available now, particularly fentanyl. U.S. had over 100,000 drug overdose deaths last year. It was about half that in 2015.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/teen-overdose-deaths-spiked-low-drug-use-rcna23103

There has never been an “opioid crisis.” That is a convenient figment of the imaginations of governmental entities that want to do pirate raids on the treasuries of pharmaceutical companies.

The fentanyl problem is real and outrageous. The authorities know where it is coming from, who the powerful individuals running the show are and how it is being introduced and distributed. Then they do nothing.

Nice try. Are you employed by big pharma?