<p>No seriously, maybe someone who works at my regular Safeway or at the dry cleaners but while I may be acquainted enough to speak with them, I certainly don’t know them to any extent. I certainly wouldn’t be able to guess which one to approach with my request to purchase illegal substances.</p>
<p>I’m really trying to think of someone in my social circle who might be a possibility but I’m coming up empty.
Clearly, I have some really dull friends :)</p>
<p>I have a much younger friend group than the majority of the posters in this thread. The majority of those closest to me do not use drugs. I have one who is experimenting just to experiment<em>. Another who occasionally</em> smokes weed. However, they don’t do anything harder or more frequent. I’d like to keep it this way. I’d rather have no connections to drug dealers than connections with drug dealers. </p>
<p>Before college, I had a larger social circle where drug use more prevalent. I drew myself away from them for a reason.</p>
<p><em>She gets hooked onto fads and trends easily.
*</em>one or twice a month</p>
<p>Going to through a point out: A true friend would support their friend to the best of their ability. While they may fear judgement, coming out may reveal love, support, and compassion that they would never imagined.</p>
<p>(Small case of “Do as I say, not as I do.”)</p>
<p>The newest white middle-class users of heroin often start with an injury or illness that causes pain and a prescription for opioid painkillers. If they become addicted to them beyond the point where they can get legiimate doctors to write prescriptions, perhaps they ask around and find a less-legitimate doctor. For sure these doctors are out there–the number of prescriptions for opioid pain meds is astronomical. From there, it’s not so hard to find and ask someone in the waiting room about street dealers. When they run out of money to purchase expensive pills, their dealer can tell them the truth: that heroin is much cheaper. Which it is.</p>
<p>We non-addicts can’t find someone because we are not looking.</p>
<p>Re finding a marijuana dealer: If I were working in an office, I would probably know a bunch of people with various outside interests, representing various demographics. I don’t work in an office, but I have an interest in Brooklyn architecture and I have met a wide variety of people that have become a circle of friends. If I wanted to purchase pot, I know I could ask some of my casual friends and I am sure someone would know someone.</p>
<p>And that very fear could threaten many things…such as maintaining employment and social relations with one’s family and friends. </p>
<p>A couple of former older colleagues who used to disproportionately overreact to the most minor of perceived slights or suddenly throw temper tantrums right out of the blue on a chronic basis were later terminated and brought up on charges according to colleagues still in that office because they were caught using cocaine in their work area. It wasn’t exactly concealable as cops were involved and were swarming over their work area and escorting them out. Once I heard that bit, it really went a long way to explaining a lot of things. </p>
<p>Also, a seemingly mild mannered 7th grade teacher I chatted with on occasion at lunch our at my Catholic elementary school was later busted for attempting to buy cocaine from an undercover cop and had that bit of ignominious news splashed all over the local papers. He was also immediately terminated and the school had a special assembly which shamed him and urged us kids to “not follow his bad example”. </p>
<p>There’s probably many other possible users who I may not know about because they are fearful of judgment and its consequences and that’s perfectly understandable. Especially considering the serious negative life shattering consequences as illustrated above. </p>
<p>Probably know many more marijuana users and even possibly dealers simply because so many classmates/alums at my college openly used it during their undergrad years. Am sure about the use, but not sure which of them deal though some probably did due to demand and the exceedingly poor town-gown relations when I attended which tends to make students distrustful of folks from the local town. </p>
<p>That and I found several HS classmates used MJ during and after my college years when I hung out with them and they offered me a puff. I politely declined but continued carrying on relaxing and chatting away as usual. </p>
<p>I couldn’t use marijuana even if I wanted to because I am subject to random drug tests (RN). So far I’ve never been called for one, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen tomorrow.</p>
<p>I think the idea that marijuana is a gateway drug is probably an example of people confusing correlation and causation. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if heroin addicts are more likely to have used pot when younger as compared to people who are not heroin addicts. That doesn’t mean, however, that using pot caused them to be heroin addicts.</p>
Their fear isn’t the one threatening their employment and social relations. Their drug addition is. </p>
<p>I do not view “gateway drugs” from a “correlation/causation” aspect. I consider a gateway drug to be a drug that increases the likelihood of the user moving on to a more dangerous drug of choice. If pot does that, I would consider it to be a gateway drug. If it doesn’t, I would not consider it to be a gateway drug. </p>
<p>Fortunately, drug tests are not the equivalent to a pregnancy test. One line for positive presence of opiates. Two lines for negative presence of opiates…</p>
<p>Niquii, I think you misunderstand correlation/causation. Sometimes, there is a correlation between things, meaning that they appear to occur together, and people believe that this means that one causes the other. The correlation does not demonstrate causation. </p>
<p>There are many who have smoked pot and not done heroin but I don’t know any who have done heroin who hadn’t tried pot first - that implies some level of causation.</p>
Nrdsb4, it’s fairly easy to get harder drugs if you’re willing to ignore most of what you’ve been taught about staying away from strangers, especially strung out looking homeless people. I’ve personally witnessed former friends of mine talk to homeless people with the intention of buying low level drugs (in LA, cops aren’t going to waste their time on low level marijuana dealing), and then getting connections to buy harder substances.</p>
<p>It is relatively easy to get anything in a large city. I know drug addicts and dealers who in unfamiliar cities can “score” in less than 30 minutes.</p>
<p>*
It is relatively easy to get anything in a large city. I know drug addicts and dealers who in unfamiliar cities can “score” in less than 30 minutes.
*</p>
<p>This is true.
I remember on a tour of " prestigious east coast college", when someone asked about drug use on campus.
The tour guide helpfully replied " oh, you can find just about anything you want!"
X_X </p>
<p>People, places and things! It makes it difficult for recovering addicts to walk down the street and be constantly bombarded by dealers even when they are not looking for drugs</p>
<p>I know right. That’s why I don’t make eye contact on city streets, and I keep my hands in my pockets. When I visited Chicago, I ended up with almost 75 grams off meth!</p>