To each his own.

I had school children (in high school, seniors) who told me that they could go any place in Richmond and get any drug they wanted in 15 minutes. That was 45 years ago. I can imagine what youngsters are exposed to in today's world, not just in the United States.

My hope is that they are getting parental guidance and that they have enough foundation and security in themselves to know to leave things alone that can be harmful to them.

People do, as Blue Mountains said, in my view, bring their experiences with their understanding when they come to the forum. My experience was that drugs--and alcohol is a drug--were harmful. It isn't a blanket statement to say that alcohol kills brain cells just as heroin does.

Cognitive function? That's the first thing to sink in drinking heavily. (Please, no offense is intended, Blue Mountains.)

Most of us take medications here. We rely on them to assist with cognitive functions, emotional stability and social functioning levels to some extent. All the while we know that the more we take, the greater the likelihood that adverse conditions will sooner or later emerge from the use of them, although they are needed to mask the illness' symptoms (at least until the causes of bipolar illness are known and are curable).

Many have seen more than I have about the results of drinking too heavily and the pain involved in trying to stop and the difficulty in trying to clear the damage from it in the lives of loved ones. To lose a love to drugs is, maybe, the most painful experience one must endure in life.

My experience was that I had one senior student in high school who could not put down heroin. His father had given up on him, literally. The boy was never able to keep his head off the desk the entire time he attended. Dropping out of high school was his choice--limited as that was. He was deserted by his family. I've often wondered what happened to him.

Someone has mentioned the negative approach to this. I have it, I feel sure, about drugs. A friend said 40 years ago that "there won't be enough mental institutions in this country to care for all those damaged by drugs in our lifetime".

I read "Alcholics Anonymous" not for the attempt to learn a cure; it was read to enlighten me about what excessive and uncontrollable alcoholic consumption does to the individual physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I see the changes in some wonderful people on the addiction forum who have been through addiction and overcome it admirably.

This is a wonderful social group who try to keep the positive in view at every possible level. I wish that were the level of life for those involved in drug use; the other side is not pleasant nor is it positive.

Youngsters need and want direction and leadership in the teen years. They may protest it, but they need it. They are not fully adults wise enough to make the best decisions for their lives in many cases. Many do make wise decisions, but for those who donot or have a "rose-colored view" of how life is going to be for them, a rude awakening is in store for the drug abusers. Hey, it was Socrates who said that not many ever learn to reason strongly and doing so requires groveling to obtain the skill.

I wish you all well, but have strong opinions about this subject, and as Blue Mountains has said, when it is brought before the group there is always the use of statistics, research findings, etc., etc., etc.

And about Chinese use of drugs, just for kicks, Pearl Buck has painted a pretty vivid picture of heroin use in China in her novels. And novels, movies, etc. have offered their share (often skewed) of some of the truth about alcoholism and other drug abuses.

Yes, alcohol is a drug and is the most frequently used in the United States, along with caffeine, but you all know that. It is naive, in my personal view, to think that Chinese, Russians, Germans, Jewish people, Americans, Indians, Canadians, --you name it-- are not subject to the same temptations and experiences that Americans have. And they all have their addicts, as well.

I hope to God that my grandchilren are spared the conditions that exist in society on this level. I think about Speed and feel such pain for what she is going through.

I hope to be able to resist posting on anything else that brings such a negative view.

Thanks for the hint.