Hey Kids! A Modern Drug PSA
Step 1: Don't listen to the government
Dear young people,
I’ve noticed our government’s public messaging about drugs has changed recently, and how they seem to no longer be interested in having a sane conversation about the drug epidemic that’s happening all over our country. They say, everyone, everywhere should keep Narcan with them to prevent overdoses, and not be ashamed of their drug use, but be empowered. It feels like our government is more concerned with not hurting drug users’ feelings than saving drug users’ lives.
In many ways, it feels like they have given up.
Personally, I think the message they put out was both wrong and dangerous, and that’s what I want to unpack today. My main issue is that they are failing to educate young people that the black market drug supply has been poisoned with Fentanyl in recent years and is now deadlier than ever. The poisoning of the drug supply is the beginning of a new epidemic where you no longer need to be a drug addict (or someone who uses hard drugs) to die from an overdose. It can now happen to anyone who experiments with drugs for the first time or agrees to take a pill without knowing where it came from.
There are 100 different reasons why kids do drugs. Some just want to experiment. Some use it to celebrate. For others, drugs and depression become part of their identity. Recent hard times certainly gave plenty of reasons for kids to want to feel good and escape reality for a moment, leading to a surge in national drug use.
All of the uncertainty, anxiety and stress surrounding COVID were just awful for kids. No one was psychologically prepared to survive a pandemic, especially young people. How could they be? School closures were hard. Not being able to socialize was hard. Staying home while watching the entire country shut down was a nightmare that no previous generation had ever experienced.
Drugs serve as an escape from growing pains, depression, and a social lubricant for those who struggle with anxiety. I get it. I was an awkward kid who liked art and skateboarding, making friends wasn’t always easy. Getting wasted in high school and college is not some new story. Your parents did it, your grandparents did it, and if you think you also deserve the right to experiment with drugs and alcohol, I understand why you would think that. This is why it’s so important to have this conversation about how the drug supply is not what it was 4 years ago, and what that means for drug users today.
America has had a record number of overdoses recently, and it doesn’t sound like it will slow down any time soon. During 2021, an estimated 108,000 drug overdoses occurred in the United States, more than any other year on record. 80% of which involved Fentanyl, which takes only two milligrams to kill you.
For those trying to imagine what that looks like, it’s equal to 10-15 grains of salt and can easily be mixed into any other drug, especially pills. In fact, one recent report from the DEA claims that 6 out of 10 pills circulating the drug market now contain a potentially lethal dose of Fentanyl.
As easily accessible prescription pills and painkillers have become popular amongst young people, it’s important to educate everyone about the dangers of buying drugs on the black market. There are fake prescription pills all over the country that are branded “Oxycodone” that really contain Fentanyl, and they are killing first-time users.
Despite the fact that most young people who experiment with drugs don’t actually want to die, someone has to help young people connect the dots and understand that their local drug dealer cannot, I repeat, cannot be trusted. Drug dealers all over the country barely know the person they get their drugs from. The chain of supply is simple: Someone knows a guy, who gets it from a guy, who gets it from a Mexican drug cartel.
Considering the current scenario, It is COMPLETELY INSANE to trust your local drug dealer with your life.
Mexican drug cartels make billions of dollars selling drugs and none of it has to do with keeping people alive, as new potential customers are born every day. Their business model begins and ends when you hand someone money and they place drugs in your hand. The DEA seized 379 billion fatal doses of Fentanyl in 2022. Make no mistake that fentanyl finds its way into small towns all over America, every single day. “That stuff doesn’t happen here” is not going to protect you or anyone that you love from an overdose.
Stories are beginning to surface in the news showing that young people all around the country are beginning to overdose on Fentanyl despite never having agreed to try it in the first place. Sure, you can be cocky and think “that will never happen to me” or “my dealer is a cool guy, it’s safe” but people all over the country have taken that same chance and haven’t been so lucky.
In February of last year, a 16-year-old in Connecticut overdosed on Fentanyl laced marijuana. In November, a 10-month-old baby overdosed on Fentanyl at a playground in San Francisco. In my personal life, a friend of a friend recently overdosed on Fentanyl in Brooklyn. He made some new friends at a bar and agreed to smoke a joint with them that ended up being laced with Fentanyl. He was one of those “I only drink and smoke weed” people who had no interest in ever trying hard drugs.
Recently, someone made a documentary about parents who recently lost their children to Fentanyl overdoses and it’s one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen. I encourage all of you to watch the video and try to imagine your own family going through this horrible experience.
Personally, I already know what it’s like, as I’ve lost both of my best friends to overdose deaths. In 2001, I stood over my best friend’s casket and held his crying 4-year-old daughter in my arms. Then in 2009, I had to do it again, this time spending the afternoon holding my best friend’s mother crying into my shirt. It was the worst day of my life and sent me spiraling into depression, taking me years to recover from.
One of the hardest parts is knowing that while both of these situations were so hard for so many of us, I don’t actually believe that either of my friends ever wanted to die. Neither of them would have ever been so reckless with their lives if they knew how much their deaths would hurt their friends and families. Yet unfortunately, no one ever thinks about that when it’s Friday night, they’ve had a few drinks and decide to put a pill in their mouth that they purchased from some random guy at a bar.
I also understand that asking all young people not to ever do drugs has never been an effective message. I just think it’s really important that young people understand that the drug supply has been poisoned and that it’s not just addicts who die anymore, sometimes it’s young, healthy teens experimenting with drugs for the first time.
If dying and destroying the lives of your family and friends isn’t enough to convince you to avoid drugs, maybe have a look at the Fentanyl crisis in San Francisco and Philadelphia and ask yourself if this is the life you want. I know that no one ever plans on being a drug addict when they grow up, but unfortunately, certain people are already genetically predisposed to addiction. For those people, that first time experimenting with drugs is just the first step on a very long and painful road.
I know this is a tricky subject to navigate and most people think it doesn’t affect them but please do not listen to any of the recent public messaging from the government about using safely, and not feeling ashamed. To me, it’s a sign that they have both given up on fixing it, and hired the wrong people to spread this message. The life of a drug addict is a hard life where not a single person is happy, healthy, or safe. Please be careful out there.