Pot/drugs: An all-encompassing explanation.

[Jenne]

I just googled "skittle parties" and all I got was adds for party planners, people who like to eat actual skittles at parties, and some forum/chat threads where people are asking if skittle parties are really real or just an urban legend and not one single piece of information to back up the assertion that this is, in fact, something that is commonly happening in teenaged social circles across America (or anywhere, at all, involving anyone, ever).

Okay.  Mr. ExpertMan on All Things Youth Related.

My own research, or whatever:  http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=pharm+parties&aq=f&aqi=g3g-m3&aql=&oq=

but I do have tracts and circulars GALORE on this stuff at home. 

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

**remember the "pharma parties" and "popping pills from a bowl like skittles" discussion? sure we resolved the confusion in the end, you never meant to imply kids grabbing a handful of pills blindly from a bowl, but it took pretty damn long before we cleared up that simple misunderstanding, mostly because you took it so very personally that people doubted your story.

Uh, yeah, but that's exactly what he meant, and that is EXACTLY what is happening.  I can link you up if you want, but google pharm or skittle parties and it's all over.

I find the abuse of prescription drugs to be a very bad idea. I know that kids steal and take prescription drugs, or sell them... Very Bad Idea. However, as was argued before... the idea that kids are coming to parties with bottles of pills, dumping them in a jar and popping handfulls of them stretches the bounds of credulity. I know kids that are in the drug scene... I know kids that take Oxycotin, Ritalin and other drugs... Very Bad Idea. However, even though they talk to me about that, when I've asked about pharm parties, they look at me like I'm on crack.

I think Slate magazine has published a number of articles on the topic and basically pointed out that all of the "reports" are based on quotes from someone, NOT police reports, hospital reports or even eyewitness claims.

Could it be happening? Sure, monkeys are crazy and do crazy things. It is realistic to believe that they absolutely ARE happening and they're a widespread phenomena? I haven't found any evidence to support that position. I mean, I would think that if you have a house full of kids, popping several random pills... there's gonna be an ambulance, cops and hospitals involved. Especially if its prevalent.

EDIT: found the slate articles. http://www.slate.com/id/2242212/

[Jenne]

**remember the "pharma parties" and "popping pills from a bowl like skittles" discussion? sure we resolved the confusion in the end, you never meant to imply kids grabbing a handful of pills blindly from a bowl, but it took pretty damn long before we cleared up that simple misunderstanding, mostly because you took it so very personally that people doubted your story.

Uh, yeah, but that's exactly what he meant, and that is EXACTLY what is happening.  I can link you up if you want, but google pharm or skittle parties and it's all over.

I find the abuse of prescription drugs to be a very bad idea. I know that kids steal and take prescription drugs, or sell them... Very Bad Idea. However, as was argued before... the idea that kids are coming to parties with bottles of pills, dumping them in a jar and popping handfulls of them stretches the bounds of credulity. I know kids that are in the drug scene... I know kids that take Oxycotin, Ritalin and other drugs... Very Bad Idea. However, even though they talk to me about that, when I've asked about pharm parties, they look at me like I'm on crack.

I think Slate magazine has published a number of articles on the topic and basically pointed out that all of the "reports" are based on quotes from someone, NOT police reports, hospital reports or even eyewitness claims.

Could it be happening? Sure, monkeys are crazy and do crazy things. It is realistic to believe that they absolutely ARE happening and they're a widespread phenomena? I haven't found any evidence to support that position. I mean, I would think that if you have a house full of kids, popping several random pills... there's gonna be an ambulance, cops and hospitals involved. Especially if its prevalent.

EDIT: found the slate articles. http://www.slate.com/id/2242212/

Good.  Cuz kids in our n eighborhoods are too stupid and are doing it all over the place.  Glad the kids you know are smarter.

[Jenne]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=skittles+drug&aq=6&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=skittles+

Gee, that was HARD, ECH.  You're right.  Damn.

[East Coast Hustle]

What happens if you google "Moustache Parties?"

my pance get tight.

[East Coast Hustle]

I just googled "skittle parties" and all I got was adds for party planners, people who like to eat actual skittles at parties, and some forum/chat threads where people are asking if skittle parties are really real or just an urban legend and not one single piece of information to back up the assertion that this is, in fact, something that is commonly happening in teenaged social circles across America (or anywhere, at all, involving anyone, ever).

Okay.  Mr. ExpertMan on All Things Youth Related.

My own research, or whatever:  http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=pharm+parties&aq=f&aqi=g3g-m3&aql=&oq=

but I do have tracts and circulars GALORE on this stuff at home.  

that's funny, your search turns up even more "this is an urban legend, are people really dumb enough to believe this?" results than mine did.

ETA: Jack Chick has tracts galore at home too, does that mean the shit in them has anything to do with reality?

[Jenne]

I just googled "skittle parties" and all I got was adds for party planners, people who like to eat actual skittles at parties, and some forum/chat threads where people are asking if skittle parties are really real or just an urban legend and not one single piece of information to back up the assertion that this is, in fact, something that is commonly happening in teenaged social circles across America (or anywhere, at all, involving anyone, ever).

Okay.  Mr. ExpertMan on All Things Youth Related.

My own research, or whatever:  http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=pharm+parties&aq=f&aqi=g3g-m3&aql=&oq=

but I do have tracts and circulars GALORE on this stuff at home. 

that's funny, your search turns up even more "this is an urban legend, are people really dumb enough to believe this?" results than mine did.

ETA: Jack Chick has tracts galore at home too, does that mean the shit in them has anything to do with reality?

Yeah, I'm sure huffing had its detractors back in the day too:

Shit,  man, kids gotta be PLAIN dumb to inhale motherfucking BLEACH and AEROSOL cans!  I mean WD40?  WTF?!

[Jenne]

Laugh it up, even if it's a false rumor, better to know what's possible than not, well-informed is well-armed for the parents who don't always don't know or give a shit what their kids are up to.  It's not an urban legend, but it's nice that people think that kids don't have the stupidity to perform such acts.

http://newsok.com/article/3324405

http://www.allbusiness.com/crime-law-enforcement-corrections/law-police-forces/13583417-1.html

http://www.todaystmj4.com/features/iteam/45751987.html

http://www.summerhousedetoxcenter.com/blog/archives/43

http://www.sergiochapa.com/files/tbarz.pdf

...but perhaps this is just like so many UFO-sighting stories, yaknow?  Perhaps we just should ignore the fuck out of this, since really, if the kids OD'd and no one knows what they're on because their friends didn't see them take what it was and wouldn't know, who's to say this wasn't just RANDOM, or just a Chick Tract Gone Awry?

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Laugh it up, even if it's a false rumor, better to know what's possible than not, well-informed is well-armed for the parents who don't always don't know or give a shit what their kids are up to.  It's not an urban legend, but it's nice that people think that kids don't have the stupidity to perform such acts.

http://newsok.com/article/3324405

http://www.allbusiness.com/crime-law-enforcement-corrections/law-police-forces/13583417-1.html

http://www.todaystmj4.com/features/iteam/45751987.html

http://www.summerhousedetoxcenter.com/blog/archives/43

http://www.sergiochapa.com/files/tbarz.pdf

...but perhaps this is just like so many UFO-sighting stories, yaknow?  Perhaps we just should ignore the fuck out of this, since really, if the kids OD'd and no one knows what they're on because their friends didn't see them take what it was and wouldn't know, who's to say this wasn't just RANDOM, or just a Chick Tract Gone Awry?

Actual claims of evidence... thats good! I have found the 'news' to be so full of shit that if something sounds stupid, wrong or implausible I tend not to believe it until I see something in the way of evidence.

However, I think some interesting points are made at http://www.adolescent-substance-abuse.com/pharm-parties.html

In the same way that teens may hang out and drink or smoke marijuana, they may also hang out and use prescription drugs. The get-togethers have been labeled "pharm parties" by the media, though few teenagers would call them that, and it over-dramatizes the gatherings.

The media will tell you that "pharm parties" are organized by teenagers for the sole purpose of collecting and ingesting all the prescription drugs they can find. The stories will go on to say that the pills are tossed into a bag or bowl out of which the party-goers grab handfuls to consume, often washing them down with alcohol.

While there's little evidence to support the existence of "pharm parties" as characterized by the media, prescription drug abuse among teenagers is still a growing issue. Teens may not gather with the single intent of swapping prescription medications, but when there's a party, prescription drugs are often involved, especially since they're easier to get than either alcohol or marijuana.

There's a Time Magazine article where a Reporter actually saw a "Pharm Party" http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1086173,00.html

a teenage boy turns to a friend and asks impatiently, "What did you get? I'll give you some of this"--indicating a bottle of Ritalin stuffed into the front pocket of his backpack--"for some of that painkiller." As a rap song plays just loud enough not to disturb the neighbors, his friend eyes the bottle suspiciously. "Is this generic, or is it the good stuff?" he asks. Upstairs, several teens are sitting at the kitchen table listening to a girl who looks to be about 15 tell how she got the narcotic Oxycontin from the medicine cabinet at home. "It was left over," she says, "from my sister's wisdom-teeth surgery."

it's a pharming party, a get-together arranged while parents are out so the kids can barter for their favorite prescription drugs.

Now that description matches very closely with what kids around here seem to do. Note, that they aren't stuffing a hand full of unknown pills in their face, but are trading one known substance for another, even asking if its generic or not.

That's dangerous as hell, a bad idea, something I would never condone for an adult, let alone a kid... and it seems far more realistic than the skittles bowl of pills that people pop by the hand full with no knowledge of what they are.

Is it possible, Sure. Is it possible that its mostly media hype, Sure. I do note that most of the links you have seem to support that kids are taking prescription drugs at parties and that it is dangerous... they do not seem to provide evidence that kids are taking a random hand full of pills. That's what the argument Triple Zero was referencing was about. Kids abusing pharma, We all Agree... Kids eating a hand full of pills that they know nothing about... sounds fishy and appears to lack evidence... but could be true.

[Doktor Howl]

I know a lot of freaks, and out of everyone I know, only Nurse Mayhem necks pills more or less at random.  However, it is relevant to add that her other favorite pasttimes include bare knuckle boxing and sunroofing.

[BabylonHoruv]

Actual science also proves this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35642202/ns/health-addictions/

Long-term pot use can double risk of psychosis
Young people who smoke marijuana more prone to delusions, study says

LONDON - Young people who smoke cannabis or marijuana for six years or more are twice as likely to have psychotic episodes, hallucinations or delusions than people who have never used the drug, scientists said on Monday.

Correlation is not the same as causation.  It is a distinct possibility that people prone to psychosis are more likely to smoke pot.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I  thought the Slate articles did a pretty thorough job of debunking the whole "Pharm-party" myth.

But it's like the woman who sexed herself to death with a jackhammer; it's juicy, it's sensational, people want to believe, so they do.

[BabylonHoruv]

33 pages, and we're reduced  (on both sides) to ignoring or dismissing out of hand any articles or sources that disagree with our own beliefs.

RWHN brought up a good point about long-term side effects, with references, and it was howled down with no rebuttal.

Nigel bumped the article on shrooms having a good effect (can't remember who posted it in the first place), and a knee or two jerked instantly.

This has become about as productive as the standard Israel/Palestinian debate on any given politicaltard board, because both sides are yelling and nobody's listening.

OOK OOK!

For the record, I actually didn't have any direct commentary on that article that Nigel bumped.  I am a little suspect of the findings, but I'm not dismissing it out of hand.  However, what I would say is that the long term effects should continue to be studied to do a cost/benefit analysis of the benefit found in this study, versus long term impacts on mental and physical health. 

I would like to point out that many in this thread are opposed to reaching that mystical sense of religious transcendence in the traditional way (that is, through religion)  If religious transcendence is bad, it's bad whether you get it from Jebus, Buddhist Meditation, or Psychedelic mushrooms.

[Freeky]

I would like to point out that many in this thread are opposed to reaching that mystical sense of religious transcendence in the traditional way (that is, through religion)  If religious transcendence is bad, it's bad whether you get it from Jebus, Buddhist Meditation, or Psychedelic mushrooms.

I personally disagree, but if you could perhaps expand on your idea, I might see what you mean.

[BabylonHoruv]

I would like to point out that many in this thread are opposed to reaching that mystical sense of religious transcendence in the traditional way (that is, through religion)  If religious transcendence is bad, it's bad whether you get it from Jebus, Buddhist Meditation, or Psychedelic mushrooms.

I personally disagree, but if you could perhaps expand on your idea, I might see what you mean.

It's not something I am against.  I like the feeling of religious transcendence, but I am, as far as I can tell, in the minority.  Any time it is brought up in the context of magic it gets bashed pretty heavily by many here.  I haven't seen any threads on meditation, but I do know that the concept of enlightenment tends to be mocked.  If enlightenment is bad, and magical gnosis is bad, why would enlightened gnosis via shrooms be good?

(not that I have seen anyone suggest that it IS good mind you, I just want to make sure the assumptions are clear)