When did we decide to normalize “recreational drug use?” A WSJ headline screamed from page three: “More Partiers Testing Drugs For Fentanyl.” Carry “the basics,” they advise, “wallet, keys-and fentanyl test strips.” Makes you long for the decadent 80s when condoms were de rigeur and the only thing tainting cocaine was corn starch. The article even solicits advise from a San Francisco drag queen: “you shower, you’re getting cute, you put on your makeup, you’re putting on your outfit, you test your drugs…..as a normal part of your routine.” Normal? Really, Wall Street, when did you decide to be so socially progressive by even reporting this nonsense? But suggesting that testing your drugs should be a routine part of your night out is suggesting that drugs are a routine part of your life. Not cool. Sure, we can acknowledge that drug use is endemic in this country, but we shouldn’t normalize it. To suggest that there is a difference between recreational drug use and drug abuse is disingenuous at best. And to go one step further and suggest that there are good recreational drugs that are being tainted by bad drugs is blurring the line. Blame marijuana for this morass. Despite a lack of evidence concluding marijuana is safe for chronic and long-term use, we plowed ahead and legalized the stuff anyway. On the contrary, there is a significant body of evidence that suggests it may alter brain chemistry, especially in youth, leading to incidents of schizophrenia and bizarre behavior. It also appears that, despite arguments from contrarians on the left, it is more of a gateway drug than initially suspected. Has anyone watched the news recently? Perhaps that can explain the sudden legion of the mentally ill and the criminal element roaming our streets. Fox News, typically a bastion of conservative thought, interviewed the father of an overdose victim seeking to shine a light on the fentanyl crisis. Apparently, the young man was recovering from an injury and elected to purchase what he thought was Percocet on the street, only to succumb to a drug that was laced with fentanyl. Uh-huh. I’m sorry for your loss, but who with a legitimate injury seeks the services of a drug dealer rather than a physician? Percocet is a compounded drug with oxycodone, a potent and addictive opioid used for moderate to severe pain. It’s also very popular on the street, and the street is not your source for the treatment of legitimate pain. But in this day and age, it seems that every 20-something knows where to score their drug of choice to “take the edge off.” And this comes from a generation where 9% of teens have been medicated with some mood-altering drug under the direction of a physician. Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused an estimated 25% increase in anxiety and depression worldwide, disproportionately affecting women and adolescents. It would appear that our youth is receiving mixed messages, bombarded with critical race theory, gender ambiguity, a medical community quick to prescribe mood-altering pharmaceuticals, and above all, readily available recreational drugs. And this occurring in conjunction with Covid lockdowns that disrupted their education and social development. Compound all this with a disturbing media trend to reinforce gender identity as a choice, and engage in demagoguery of virtually all traditional institutions as racist, while they continue to promote and glorify drug use and violence. A progressive dumbing down of admissions policies in education and employment in the name of social justice and equity coupled with bail reform amounting to unequal justice under the rarely enforced law have all resulted in social upheaval. We have hobbled our youth and have failed to protect them from society’s ills, and have not been good stewards, failing to provide necessary guidance in an increasingly confusing world. We have cooked up a toxic social stew laced with readily available recreational drugs……and it’s a recipe for disaster.
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