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The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

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Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
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Print Issues

I want a new drug

By Jennilyn Merten and Jeff Chapman

Dear Jeff and Jennilyn

I’m a freshman at school here, and I recently made a bunch of new friends. We hang out as a group all the time, and I feel like I have a really good relationship with each individual person, too. I really care a lot about these new friends of mine, and I feel like they really get me, not like my friends from high school. But recently they started doing drugs, and I mean, like, hard drugs.

They always invite me to join them, and I always say I don’t want to. And they’re fine with that; its not like they put a lot of pressure on me or anything. But my question is: Is it really bad to do this? Would it really be so bad if I joined them sometimes? I was raised in the D.A.R.E. program, to believe that all drugs are bad. But being with my friends? makes them look really appealing. And my friends are able to stay in school and still get pretty good grades. And they mean a lot to me. I feel like I could be closer to them if I joined them. And a part of me just really wants the experience. I’ve never done anything like this before, and I guess I just feel too sheltered and naive, a little curious and a little left out.

I really want to just try it out. Would it really be so bad?

Dear Fear And Loathing in Las Utahs,

Jennilyn:

Unfortunately, for most people, innocence went out of style a long time ago.

Of course, this means, like the whimsy of fashion, innocence might make a comeback-come roaring on stage in hot pants and short boots, demand an audience and not just with the religious right. Make for the catwalk.

In the age of the tell-all memoir, if you haven’t had an affair with your father or exaggerated your jail time or drug use, you might feel, as you suggested, “naive.”

But there’s a difference between innocent and naive.

Naivety is thinking hard drugs don’t have their own style, whimsy, consequences and illegality. Naivety is thinking hard drugs make a good story, not an object lesson.

Don’t go looking for material to write a memoir. We tend to gauge our interestingness by the amount of bizarre, traumatic or truly exceptional experiences we’ve witnessed.

While I can’t deny the interest in 40-year-old virgins and satanic cult survivors, perhaps we’ve forgotten the curiosity of ideas or even pure personality. Naivety is an oversight, but innocence can be a provocative choice. If you want experience, learn how to make tough decisions.

Your friends may not directly pressure you, but they don’t need to. Groups have an unspoken need for shared experience. Your friends want to feel validated by your participation as much as you want to prove you belong. You might happily abstain, but group affiliation will likely remain a continual question.

You might find out if one friend is less interested in drugs than he or she lets on. You should also make some new friends outside this group so you are not entirely dependent on them for support. Freshman year is hard enough. Meet as many new people as you can-you may find others who offer you deeper understanding than you are currently getting.

I doubt you’d be hunting for crack cocaine on your own, hoping to enrich your freshman year.

And when did D.A.R.E. become some quaint joke rather than a political organization with real thought behind it? Don’t let naivety steal your innocence.

Jeff:

Would it really be so bad to give big and sexy drugs a go? If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?

Maybe, if the friends were cool enough.

I think we all know the dangers of drugs. Your life will slowly and inextricably slip from your hands. You’ll lose your job, your home, and some of your teeth, and you’ll have body odor. And you won’t be able to tie your shoes because your fingers will turn into cabbages.

These are the things we know to be true.

We all draw our lines somewhere. Some don’t drink alcohol. Some don’t have premarital sex. Some don’t smoke pot. Some don’t snort cocaine. Some don’t use sporks. Some don’t play Russian roulette.

Each of these “vices” has a consequence and a payoff, some consequences more serious than others, some payoffs smaller. Hard drugs are “hard” because they can have some pretty serious consequences. And they’re not going to make you Ms. McCool. For that you have to wear cool vintage clothes from the D.I.

However, drugs are also not a one-way ticket to Deathville, as they’re often painted in our culture of fear.

We all draw our lines somewhere.

We all accept the risks we’re willing to bear if the benefit seems great enough. Frankly, it sounds like you’ve already made your decision-that you want to give drugs a try-and you just want someone to tell you you’re not a jerk.

You’re not a jerk.

This said, couple words about your motivation.

I totally understand you not wanting to live a sheltered life. Generally I would argue that you should try everything at least once. I can’t stand people who won’t at least try sushi, say. But clearly, there’s a whole wide range of things you shouldn’t try. Murder. Unprotected sex. Regicide.

You can lead a very non-sheltered life without going to the extremes.

And I can also understand your wanting to belong in a group. Really belong. It’s hard to feel like part of the crew when everyone but you is shroomin’ in the desert.

But it sounds like your friends are a bunch of hip kids. They don’t seem to judge you for following a different path.

Most of my friends drink alcohol. We have a friend who doesn’t. He always hangs out with us, sober and spectacular. There is no one more respected. Hip kids like nothing more than an individual with convictions.

Draw your own line. Just don’t draw it for the wrong reasons. Do what you want (within reason), not what you feel you should.

[email protected]

Editor’s Note: The Chronicle does not condone the use of narcotics. If you or someone you know has a drug problem, contact the U’s Counseling Center at 581-6826.

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