Oakton high school overdose

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Clearly none of the virtuous "I never tried drugs. My children will never do drugs." people did not watch the video about Cayden. That's what his parents thought too, PPs. It could happen to ANYONE.

It’s not about being virtuous, but rather wondering why so many kids are willing to take this risk today. What has changed?

Social Media and cell phones. It's much easier to communicate with people now than it was when you were a teenager.

Pretty much all risky behavior is way down among teens compared to prior generations since the late 1990s -- drug use, drinking, sex etc.
The increase in opioid overdoses is because fentanyl has severe consequences from a couple of milligrams and can be easily laced into anything. It's extraordinarily hard to prevent trafficking because it's so tiny--though there have been some major busts of late. I've seen advice that all parents should just keep Narcan in their first aid kits in case their kids or anyone else they encounter accidentally overdoses on any opioid. The nasal spray can be bought over the counter I believe and is harmless if someone does not have opioids in their system--so you don't have to worry if you don't know for sure the cause.
https://health.choc.org/what-parents-should-know-about-over-the-counter-naloxone-narcan-nasal-spray/

I took first aid training recently and this was they told us, too. Also, Fairfax County offers free training and a free Revive kit that includes Narcan.

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/community-services-board/heroin-opioids/revive

There's a virtual class posted on that link Jan 3 at 6 PM if anyone is interested in registering.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Why did he take a Percocet to begin with? That’s the question.

Really? You *never* tried any drugs to see how they would make you feel?

DP, I am 48 and I never tried any drugs, not even mj.. Never had anastesia either. People who try drugs are idiots.

I'd love to know how many of your friends and family members are idiots, then.

None. Husband never tried drugs. We raised two kids who didn't try drugs either. My dad is smoking tobacco, but other than that neither grandparents did drugs.

Well then you're the perfect parent with perfect children. How was church this morning?

You are a complete idiot and I am really sorry for your kids. I don't go to church as I was raised in atheist country. The sad thing that you don't understand the issue and justify kids experimenting with. drugs. I hope you will not be the next parent in the video.

You didn't even grow up in this country. So that alone tells me that you know nothing about what it is like to be in high school in the USA. I tried marijuana all of one time in college and didn't like how it made me fell, so I never tried any drug ever again. Stop making ridiculous assumptions about me just because I am being realistic. You asked why this kid would try Percocet? The answer is simply because (1) he was curious and (2) peer pressure. If you think your children will never be exposed to either of those two things, then I have a bridge to sell you...

You don’t know that for sure. I find it odd that he was hanging out with college kids home from winter break while he was in high school. That to me is a red flag - running with an older crowd?

Are you serious?? They went to the same high school. I was friends with kids older and younger than me in high school. We would absolutely hang out with each other over winter break. There is absolutely nothing unusual about that. Again, you appear to know nothing about American high school culture.

I wrote the post you just replied to, but I’m not the same poster who replied earlier about not being from this culture.

I do think it’s odd to have older friends who are off at college come back to hang out with high schoolers. And it is odd to take a Percocet from one of them.

I’ll ignore the pill part for a moment but you think it’s odd to hang out with someone a year younger or older? I had friends that were older and we hung out and I went to visit them at college for the weekend when I was a senior in HS. I had friends a grade lower who I definitely saw when I was home from college. None of this is odd. You don’t stop being friends the second you leave and I imagine it’s easier to stay in touch with cells and social media now.

I dont think it's that common to have friends outside your year. Not unheard of, but not common.
I also never visited any of my same-year HS friends at their colleges.

+1 I’m glad someone else thinks so too. Once you are in college, why on earth would you come home and hang out with high schoolers? That is weird to me. There is a totally different dynamic once you go off to college. Most college students returning would want to hang out with their new college friends who may be in the area or might travel to visit their new friends. I am shocked any college student would want to still hang out with high schoolers. It’s even more weird to me that a high schooler would take a pill from a college student. My guess is this college student wanted to sell drugs to the high school crowd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly none of the virtuous "I never tried drugs. My children will never do drugs." people did not watch the video about Cayden. That's what his parents thought too, PPs. It could happen to ANYONE.

It’s not about being virtuous, but rather wondering why so many kids are willing to take this risk today. What has changed?

Social Media and cell phones. It's much easier to communicate with people now than it was when you were a teenager.

This. My friend teaches high school. Kids text each other all day, cause teachers have little power. Parent complain if a teacher touches a kids phone. Kids can easily text and meet up in the hall/bathroom. It’s hard to monitor 30 kids in one class, kids are sneaky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kudos to the parents for speaking out and using their son's fatal mistake to try to reach other parents and kids.

The slogan "one pill can kill" needs to be said over and over. And still, the nature of teens is that they like to take risks. So, there will be more cases like Cayden's. We will never stop all of it. But, the parents are right to put the spotlight on those who know a friend is taking pills. Encouraging them to speak up might help some kids avoid Cayden's fate.

We need kids to report (anonymously) where the drugs are being sold (if at school).

We need more PSAs --- "Don't let your friends die." "Poison pills will kill." "It's lonely when you could have saved your friend but didn't." Whatever.

Kids need to be faced with the reality that a single pill CAN kill you. There is no second chance with fentanyl.

Agree. My son attends a different FCPS high school and I am a FCPS teacher. Your high schoolers all know which bathrooms to avoid and who to ask if they want drugs. Schools shouldn't be responsible for policing bathrooms but they absolutely should be doing tardy sweeps and using E-hall pass to keep better tabs on which students are out of the classroom a lot and which students are in the bathrooms in a completely different wing of the school far away from where they're supposed to be. There's an anonymous link to report bullying on each school's website and there needs to be an anonymous one to report drug activity in middle and high schools, too. Any student who is dealing drugs on campus needs to be expelled, zero tolerance. Yes, they will probably continue to deal even if they're not on campus, but it's a lot harder to disseminate pills that may or may not be fatal if you don't have your "clients" all in the same place at roughly the same time. I bet the guys who sold those drugs to the young man who died did a lot of business onsite when they were at the school and had gotten in trouble for it but never really faced consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly none of the virtuous "I never tried drugs. My children will never do drugs." people did not watch the video about Cayden. That's what his parents thought too, PPs. It could happen to ANYONE.

It’s not about being virtuous, but rather wondering why so many kids are willing to take this risk today. What has changed?

Social Media and cell phones. It's much easier to communicate with people now than it was when you were a teenager.

This. My friend teaches high school. Kids text each other all day, cause teachers have little power. Parent complain if a teacher touches a kids phone. Kids can easily text and meet up in the hall/bathroom. It’s hard to monitor 30 kids in one class, kids are sneaky.

Still, what happened to “Just say no”? Contacting each other doesn’t answer why they are trying drugs. They know drugs are bad for them and dangerous. That was drilled into our heads as kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly none of the virtuous "I never tried drugs. My children will never do drugs." people did not watch the video about Cayden. That's what his parents thought too, PPs. It could happen to ANYONE.

It’s not about being virtuous, but rather wondering why so many kids are willing to take this risk today. What has changed?

Social Media and cell phones. It's much easier to communicate with people now than it was when you were a teenager.

This. My friend teaches high school. Kids text each other all day, cause teachers have little power. Parent complain if a teacher touches a kids phone. Kids can easily text and meet up in the hall/bathroom. It’s hard to monitor 30 kids in one class, kids are sneaky.

Still, what happened to “Just say no”? Contacting each other doesn’t answer why they are trying drugs. They know drugs are bad for them and dangerous. That was drilled into our heads as kids.

All the evidence shows those 'just say no' programs did nothing to reduce substance use. The kids who feel it "worked on" them were not the ones who were curious about trying drugs, tended to be cautious--and so probably wouldn't try drugs anyway. And it could be that for some of those who did try them--or knew people who did--and they could see their brain didn't fry like an egg or whatever, it could lead them to be more skeptical of adult advice. All kids still get a ton of anti-drug info in their health classes.

I do agree with a PP that fentanyl-specific psa's might work though. The DEA has the "One pill can kill" and I think their front page showing pictures a real Xanax vs a fake Xanax, a real Adderall vs a fake Adderall etc. showing that you really can't tell the difference between the real one and the deadly one may be more effective. Because while a kid might know a kid who bought an Adderall from a friend and used it to get an A on a big test and it worked and nothing bad happened--knowing that doing that is kind of rolling the roulette wheel of getting a potential deadly fake is more frightening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly none of the virtuous "I never tried drugs. My children will never do drugs." people did not watch the video about Cayden. That's what his parents thought too, PPs. It could happen to ANYONE.

It’s not about being virtuous, but rather wondering why so many kids are willing to take this risk today. What has changed?

Social Media and cell phones. It's much easier to communicate with people now than it was when you were a teenager.

This. My friend teaches high school. Kids text each other all day, cause teachers have little power. Parent complain if a teacher touches a kids phone. Kids can easily text and meet up in the hall/bathroom. It’s hard to monitor 30 kids in one class, kids are sneaky.

Still, what happened to “Just say no”? Contacting each other doesn’t answer why they are trying drugs. They know drugs are bad for them and dangerous. That was drilled into our heads as kids.

All the evidence shows those 'just say no' programs did nothing to reduce substance use. The kids who feel it "worked on" them were not the ones who were curious about trying drugs, tended to be cautious--and so probably wouldn't try drugs anyway. And it could be that for some of those who did try them--or knew people who did--and they could see their brain didn't fry like an egg or whatever, it could lead them to be more skeptical of adult advice. All kids still get a ton of anti-drug info in their health classes.

I do agree with a PP that fentanyl-specific psa's might work though. The DEA has the "One pill can kill" and I think their front page showing pictures a real Xanax vs a fake Xanax, a real Adderall vs a fake Adderall etc. showing that you really can't tell the difference between the real one and the deadly one may be more effective. Because while a kid might know a kid who bought an Adderall from a friend and used it to get an A on a big test and it worked and nothing bad happened--knowing that doing that is kind of rolling the roulette wheel of getting a potential deadly fake is more frightening.

Adding link: https://www.dea.gov/onepill