Students need to realize that there is no way to ‘know’ what combination of drugs are in the illegal substances. Even Marijuana, which is unfortunately legal in some states, can be ‘laced’ with hallucinogenics - and some people who use some of these substances do have ST and long term mental issues that perhaps can be tied to these drugs. Maybe they have a Borderline Personality Disorder and they get bumped into being Schizophrenic; see and hear things that are not there. Many, many other issues when opening Pandora’s Box.
Wessleyan (CT) is ranked #15 Best National Liberal Arts Universities, and is ‘most selective’. You have smart kids there, but taking illegal drugs is a youth risk thing. One student was in critical condition over the weekend. I guess the students affected can feel lucky no one died. Four people were charged in court today in Hartford for their roles in illegal drug distribution.
Do not ‘borrow trouble’ with any form of illegal drugs! And parents, please warn your students, in middle school, high school, and college.
@whenhen - I remember reading somewhere that weed is not necessarily laced with other illicit substances but rather people will lace drain cleaner, lead, prescription drugs, etc with it to “enhance” the high. However, it’s also incredibly rare for weed to be laced in the first place. (I wouldn’t know first hand… I’m a good noodle.)
“Being smart and being wise are two different things”. Just heard this today and think it applies here.
Young people are very trusting. That is why some young people have unprotected sex with someone they may barely know, believing that person does not have a STD or is HIV positive. No way of knowing when you only know them casually.
Yes sometimes marijuana is laced with more expensive drugs because they want you to get addicted and buy more, use more. That is how some then become drug dealers to feed their own habit. These people can be very charming because they are so addicted the drug is the most important thing for them.
Look at all the people you know that ‘party hard’. Do you want to emulate them? Where will they be in 5 years?
Since you do not ‘know’ for sure what exactly is in any drug purchased illegally, you are risking one of your most precious assets, your brain power.
I saw an ER show where some people took some party drug - I don’t remember what it was, but if they had not gone to ER and been treated, they would have died. It was an OD situation. They put out an alert so people in that area would refrain from taking as the drug supplier had a ‘bad batch’ on the streets.
“because they want you to get addicted and buy more, use more”
That is some paranoid thinking. Almost on the same level as “I heard about someone who injected 5 whole marijuanas and died”
Look at all the people I know that party hard? Did you coop yourself up in the library all throughout college? It’s 2015, the work hard, play hard mentality is prominent in campuses all over the country, even the ivies. You’ve been watching too much Animal House if you assume people who do drugs in college aren’t going to be successful.
“People are just uptight because the kids are having fun. They didn’t have the same freedom because they didn’t take it; they just followed the lives laid down by their parents. And they’re jealous of the people who didn’t do that.”
Enjoying one’s youth does not mean using illegal drugs and excessive amounts of alcohol - people in all walks of life can do this - how many do it as short term behavior, and how many have problems due to alcohol/drugs because of the reasons they perhaps started.
People can choose to ignore what effects ingested substances affect their brains and their behaviors.
I am not uptight because my kids are having fun at college - and fun does not have to mean using illegal drugs and excessive amounts of alcohol.
No one laces marijuana for one, and two you can easily buy a drug testing kit for like 25 bucks and see exactly what is in your product. But molly or MDMA is sketchy to start with its in crystal or powder form so easily cut with other drugs. So I say keep on smoking weed and test your other drugs if you are going to partake.
Moral of the story is that it’s better you don’t (“keep smoking weed” doesn’t sound like the best advice to me").
If you do decide to use, make sure you are fully aware of the risk associated with drug taking. Most of all definitely do not harbor the “it will never happen to me” mentality. Those kids only wanted to have fun - they didn’t know they would be hospitalized.
I’ve smoked marijuna pretty daily for several years in several states. Just based in odds if there was laced pot I would’ve ran it to it but I haven’t. Also most drugs that are addictive are more expensive and dealers lose money on lacing marijuna. Let’s use meth per say, meth is a lot more expensive than pot and more addictive. But the way you ingest marijuna doesn’t lead to optimal meth usage. Most of the meth if not all is wasted and your not any closer to addicted and dealer lost money. Perscription pills someone said for one if you’ve ever crushed a pill for various reasons there is a lot of powder. I seems highly unlikely to me you would not notice pill powder on your marijuana and the cost becomes huge for dealer on larger amounts and snoking pills not very effective way to ingest them at all. Un feasible as highly obvious to anyone with eyes. Drain cleaner if you can’t tell your weed smells iffy after drain cleaner was used on it your a idiot and drain cleaner would knock of most thc crystals and make weed high unusebale why waste product. But in the end because of the way you ingest weed it makes most drugs you could lace it with highly ineffective or just a waste at all. Drugs that can be laced usually are much more expensive and in the end you should notice if something is up with your pot.
From a economic view point it’s not start business to lace marijuna and from a chemistry stand point most of the stuff put on it wouldn’t even be absorbed because smoking leads to low rates of bioavailability in those drugs. I’m just advocating if your gonna do a drug, spend 25 bucks on a testing kit and see what your putting in your body.
I don’t think it is fair to suggest that students who aren’t using illicit substances are automatically wasting away their youth cooped up in the library - you can still work hard/play hard without ending up in an altered state of mind.
Update by Associated Press in Sunday’s paper. The drugs were taken Sept 13.Two Wesleyan students were ‘fighting for their lives’ - Friday night Sept 27, the only victim still in the hospital, “against all odds” the student would survive. “The drug dealing was an open secret”. The four students arrested sound like they were the distributors - two were known to sell Molly from their residences… A school trustee commented “You want a policy which keeps students safe. You don’t want them to experiment with all this sort of stuff.” It sounded like either the student drug use problem was growing or there were varying numbers with disciplinary actions - with a student body of 3200, 154 in 2011, 281 in 2012, and 240 in 2013.
To me it seems more student education for making ‘responsible choices’, including the school examining how to deal with this issue. This involves way too many students, and crosses over on the health issues and safety of students regarding “addictive and dangerous substances”.
L O freaking L at whoever thinks that college students are lacing weed with hallucinogens. Broke kids are putting more expensive drugs in already-expensive drugs? No. Smoking weed does not make you a. A slacker b. Stupid or c. “Wasting away your youth”. Cigarettes, which are perfectly legal, are significantly more addictive and life-threatening over the long term. I would rather have my kid/friend smoke weed than cigarettes. Heck, my mom has smoked marijuana user since high school, and she’s one of the most well-regarded programmers in the country. I assure you that after ~40 years of smoking weed, she isn’t schizofrenic yet. Just because something is illegal does not mean that it’s the worst thing to happen to college kids.
I don’t think anyone is trying to conflate marijuana with something like crystal meth; health risks aside, if you’re attending one of the top schools in the country, you probably shouldn’t be doing anything that could be grounds for dismissal/expulsion.
@robbietoy - Why do you hope you get rejected? You aren’t obligated to attend if you’re admitted RD; and getting accepted to Wesleyan (or any school of that caliber) is quite an accomplishment.
@robbietoy I would look at best fit for you with school - with you field of study and other considerations. It sounds like Wesleyan is addressing this unfortunate situation. Every campus has a few students that make bad choices. If it takes re-visiting your top couple of choices after you get all the info in from all your school considerations and work out your spreadsheet, as well as some soul searching and parent input.