Drugs. Legal highs.

Thankyou Soontobe and JessM

My DGD is improving well at the moment. She volunteers at a school for disabled children one day a week and is coping living in supported accomodation, I think we are now getting somewhere.

She still has one or two ''bad moods'' but is now drug free completely, apart from prescribed medication from her doctor.
She is now no longer the volatile girl she was 6 months ago.

I do remember a group of us trying to smoke banana skins when I was still at school because that was supposed to be a 'legal high', but I think it was an urban myth!

Yes, anyone could get hold of cannabis in my youth, too - although it wasn't as potent as the skunk commonly used today.

I don't think so-called legal highs were available when I was a teenager – I must be a lot older than you janerowena. There was plenty of dope around, which wasn't particularly expensive, and acid, also pretty cheap, was as ubiquitous as Smarties in some places. Both, of course, were illegal.

You have made my blood run a bit cold with your reference to the possible problems re regulation as regards glue sniffing.

Your second paragraph, first half. How awful. A dreadful thing for them to say.
Second half. The same thing nearly happened to me when younger, Luckily I stopped someone doing it.

What seemed to stop most of my friends taking them when we were teenagers was the cost and relative scarcity. They were all being imported from abroad. Now, they are synthetic, home-made and cheap. You only need to look at glue-sniffing to see that it will be well-nigh impossible to regulate use, but the shops should not have been encouraged.

I have heard an argument that sounds pretty terrible, which is, let them do it, and those who die, die, so be it. Those who remain will be stronger either physically or mentally. There are plenty of flaws in that - what about all the poor people who have substances slipped into their drinks or food, for a start. Not long ago a friend of mine's non-drinking sister, with her at a fairly sedate hen party, started dancing on their table. It was a while before they realised what must have happened, she was completely unlike herself. Just because someone thought it would be funny.

That wouldn't stop the problem of more and more 'new' legal highs being introduced into the market.

You can't stop someone deliberately ingesting, injecting or otherwise taking a drug in dangerously large quantities but you can regulate the manufacture.

How can you regulate against someone overdosing on any drug, legal or illegal?

What do you mean by regulation, absent? Regulation of what?

There is a conference/symposium/some sort of high-powered gathering of scientists and academics at one of our universities this weekend where there will be discussions and talks about legal highs. One of the leading figures in this field was interviewed on television and pointed out that most of the deaths are the result of overdoses. If this is the case, then regulation should be considered as a viable option.

It isn't just as simple as the government acting quickly, soontobe. As absent says, as soon as one 'legal high' is made illegal, another one with a slight change in the formula is put onto the market.

I can imagine that being a chorister in a cathedral could put someone off.

soon after years of being a chorister in a cathedral, he is a confirmed atheist and the only one of his peers to flatly refuse to be confirmed. He is lovely though, he does have friends. Just not close ones living nearby.

Lapwing. The issue does indeed need to be talked about.
Lets hope that the Government acts quickly.

pinkprincess . I hope that your gc makes a full recovery.

And at shops and a petrol station doing this.

janerowena - has he tried the christian clubs? He doesnt have to become a christian! But, on the whole, drugs and excess drinking are not on their top list of priorities in life. Just an idea.

JessM - I am never sure about the legalising route. But, as I said, I dont know much about it all.

absent - I agree about not putting to much detail on gransnet.

Ds's first facebook posting once he had started Uni, only 18 months ago, was that 'All the people on my course are Stoners ' He got used to it, but like me at his age, feels a bit left out. As he didn't drink either, it took a while for him to settle. He nurses a bottle of beer all evening now. He says he has just got used to it.

However, those in his house do not take anything other than a few beers after playing football on Saturdays, so he tends to stay with them more now. He likes the people on his course very much, but just doesn't like socialising with them. He hasn't a girlfriend, he says he is just too picky, he doesn't want one who either drinks or takes substances but doesn't feel he can ask a girl the first time he meets her! I can see him having to find someone online.

Sympathy to you and your family pinkprinces and good luck.

There is a valid argument for legalising such "recreational" drugs. Not only does the illegal status feed crime here and abroad, but none of it is tested, regulated, dose controlled etc etc (It's not a weird idea - the Economist has favoured this for years) but I agree with this inventive chemistry it is difficult.
A young woman died in NE Wales using diet pills bought over the 'net and taking more than recommended dose.

Legal highs are also an issue that there has been an attempt to address where I live too – although meth amphetamines remain the biggest problem. The difficulty with banning synthesised drugs is that only a tiny change in the formula changes the named drug that's banned to a drug that isn't. Lawmakers and police have to play catch-up which is far from effective.

On another note, I think Gransnetters are generally unwilling to discuss recreational drugs. Anyone who has concerns about a grandson or other young relative and drugs may understandably feel that it is unwise to put details of the problem on a public forum. Those who don't really remember the sixties and seventies have no intention of disclosing the fact now.

Soontobe
You are right. I have seen this happen to one of my grandchildren.You don't believe it can happen but it does.

Where I live legal highs are sold in some corner shops under the counter.Also at least one petrol station that I know of.

GC thankfully is now in rehab. It has been a long horrible journey, but I try not to think of what could have happened.

I now look forward to getting my beautiful granddaughter back now that this evil stuff has left her system.

It can so easily happen. And very quickly.

These things are really, really, worrying. My grandsons at the moment are two very sweet innocents. I so hope and pray they never take a wrong turning in life.

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/drugs/Pages/legalhighs.aspx

If you put into google, "legal highs", some recent up to date information comes up about them.

Legal highs have got some untested chemicals in them, which can kill, and are not yet covered by law.
"Manufacturers" keep evading authorities, by changing slightly what is in the pills.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3044840/Will-child-die-legal-high-Freely-available-targeted-naive-teenagers-chemical-highs-soon-kill-Britons-heroin.html
[I know some gransnetters dont like daily mail links, but this article is useful in the circumstances].

What are legal highs.