12-11-2016, 12:28 AM
Demand is the problem that will probably never go away. People have been getting high since forever. As long as there's money in it for someone willing to take the risk, the business will continue to flourish despite whatever is done to combat it.
To compound all of this, job loss in manufacturing and in the coal industry have created hotbeds for drug use in places that used to epitomize the All-American lifestyle. I only see this getting worse with the rise of automation and the demise of decent-paying low-skill work. The appeal of getting high and the economic incentive of profiting from the demand will combine for a true epidemic in the next 50 years. It will make what's going on now look like the good old days.
I'm not in the least bit hopeful that this is going to get better. The only thing I can imagine having an impact is increased exposure to horrifying consequences. When it gets to be like cancer and everyone knows a junkie or an OD victim and all the stories that come with them, maybe then people will be turned off enough to avoid it and buck the trend. Gotta hope that the general social will to survive can beat out the desire to get high.
To compound all of this, job loss in manufacturing and in the coal industry have created hotbeds for drug use in places that used to epitomize the All-American lifestyle. I only see this getting worse with the rise of automation and the demise of decent-paying low-skill work. The appeal of getting high and the economic incentive of profiting from the demand will combine for a true epidemic in the next 50 years. It will make what's going on now look like the good old days.
I'm not in the least bit hopeful that this is going to get better. The only thing I can imagine having an impact is increased exposure to horrifying consequences. When it gets to be like cancer and everyone knows a junkie or an OD victim and all the stories that come with them, maybe then people will be turned off enough to avoid it and buck the trend. Gotta hope that the general social will to survive can beat out the desire to get high.
