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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Drug use among young people?
So. I grew up in one of the few deeply religions regions of my country. No one did drugs, no one drank all was beautiful on the surface.... but in fact, high school students drank, smoked marihuana etc. The picture perfect illusion is a lie.
How is China. Naturally there will be no stats on teenage drug use, but do the teachers among us have any first hand experience. Do any of your high school or university students ever talk about drugs, do they ever seem like they are under the influence of drugs. Since China has a steady supply of designer drugs, don't tell me it is not available to young people.
8 years 36 weeks ago in Family & Kids - China
Well, here's an article that suggests meth use is on the rise among Chinese youth, especially the "left behind."
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-05-25/china-s-growing-meth-ad...
I also wouldn't be surprised if teens who were cramming for the gaokao took stimulant drugs to stay awake.
Scandinavian:
...or some of those stellar Chinese parents sneak a bit of upper into the prodigys breakfast porridge
Well, here's an article that suggests meth use is on the rise among Chinese youth, especially the "left behind."
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-05-25/china-s-growing-meth-ad...
I also wouldn't be surprised if teens who were cramming for the gaokao took stimulant drugs to stay awake.
Scandinavian:
...or some of those stellar Chinese parents sneak a bit of upper into the prodigys breakfast porridge
Well, I've asked college students in lessons before (I was talking 420 Day, as an example of culture shock). I had to explain what marijuana was, as students didn't even recognize pictures of marijuana leaves, or joints. I don't know if the students were feigning ignorance, or really didn't know, but I doubt they pretended to have no idea what it was.
Alcohol use seems to be, low, from what I can tell. Students will drink a can of beer or a wine cooler at a party, but I've never seen much binging, and the few Chinese students who do, are those who are much more Westernized (and usually drink with Westerners).
Smoking (among males. Women and girls smoke much less in general) seems to be rare in high school, but happens. It just increases from there, with several college students smoking, though smoking is so culturally accepted that it's not really seen as a "drug" of any kind, much like alcohol.
I've never seen high school students, well, high, compared to back in the West, where I knew which of my classmates were stoners.
I can totally see meth being used by gaokao takers, as a "study aid", justified in that it'll help them get higher marks (I guess any stimulant could be justified that way).
Scandinavian:
I think the leaf as a symbol of marijuana is not commonly understood all over the world. I am pretty sure, if asking stoned teens in my home country if they could recognize the plant, they would not, as they buy small green/brown blocks of resin.
Go to ant KTV and you'll find kids loading up on Ketamine and meth. They do produce those things en masse here dont forget and they are easily distributed around the country, especially the south of china.
I smell marijuana in the streets often, its around.
So @Mateuz - your students might deny doing it, but everyone is having a dapple...even older ladies and grannies!
http://shanghaiist.com/2015/04/01/3-jailed-aunties-taking-special-k.php
I always figured i'd just too expensive for people to maintain drug habits unless they were financially independent at a high level.
Imagine how much it would cost to be a burnout pothead here. They couldn't possibly afford it. It's not like back home where if you're on minimum wage you can afford to smoke up all the time.
Meth would make sense as an exception because it could be manufactured in quantity here. I guess K too. Anything that you just need chemicals to make because they have lots of chemicals.
Lord_hanson:
You must take into account that drug dealers in the west charge as much as possible. They have a large profit margin. Drug dealers here could probably sell drugs just over cost and they are still making a profit.
Scandinavian:
and synthetic drugs are most likely a lot cheaper to put on the streets than e.g. plant based that requires cumbersome farming.
DrMonkey:
The invisible hands of the markets never sleeps... Introducing flakka, a very cheap drug (and very addictive)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-Pyrrolidinopentiophenone
icnif77:
Flakka is tearing S. Fl apart:
http://www.wsvn.com/story/29601297/flakkas-devastating-impact-in-south-florida
http://www.news4jax.com/news/feds-seize-2-kilos-of-flakka-arriving-from-china/34220072
Nah, not really. Drugs aren't very popular in China.
DrMonkey:
It's not because you don't hear much about it that it does not exist. Never heard of the town of Boshe ? The *whole* town have been producing metamphetamine & ketamine, for years, until no less than 3000 soldiers came to clamp down on that. Despite this, it's still producing... It's not the only town, there's a never ending game of hide-and-seek with drug producers and police in Yunnan. It's not only for export, is for national usage too : people can afford drugs, now... You see stories of bored aunties doing ketamine, youths in shitty industrial towns fighting under influence, dealrs being caught, etc. A relatively new drug, nicknamed Flakka, is mainly produced in China, but no idea if it's for export or internal use too. If there was not much drug usage in China, why there are often stories about dealers being caught in Chinese TV news ?
Talking about herbal drugs. Some of my friends have bongs in their homes, and they don't use it for tobacco, I even know a guy who grows weed in his bathtub for personal consumption, he's got 2 bathrooms in his flat. These are middle class youth who are bored with their life and can afford to maintain drug habits.
Cops probably know but can't do anything because these dudes' parents have good guanxi with the local authorities.
Marijuana is everywhere on the streets in Yunnan province. Why do you think they have bongs everywhere on every street corner, in every imaginable color? You even see people bonging it up on the street corners, and they act like it's nothing.
I was actually shocked at how openly people were getting buzzed on the streets, and even more shocked by the fact that you could buy bongs everywhere.