Snort, Don't Shoot!

Last night, M's band played at an art gallery which was fun. It was a late night which means I got a late start on the day today which is ok...that's what weekends are for. I had a disturbing conversation with one of our nation's youth last night. M's band has played an art gallery show before and since they don't serve alcohol, it's BYOB. Also, because it's an art gallery show, there is no age requirement, hence there were about 4 lads of about 17-18 there grabbing beers from the cases that people brought in. The nurse in me came out and I was worried about how they were getting home...and I'm not sure alcohol is the only thing they were on.

I managed to cozy my way up to the one that I was the most concerned about...I was assured that he had a ride and that one of the kids he was with was not drinking. And then I was quickly appalled by the next turn in our conversation. I was trying to be 'cool' and not interrogate the kid so I asked him how old he was and he said he was a senior in high school somewhat sheepishly. I told him that we didn't care how old he was, just that he was not going be driving himself home. I jokingly told him he was going to have a rough day today and he said that he drinks all of the time and he never gets hangovers. I asked him why he drinks that much and he said he's bored. THEN, he pulls out a little baggie with a binder clip on the top and says, I do a lot of coke too. I tried not to react too much, and just said 'do you shoot anything up? if you do, at least don't share the needles'. He told me he drew the line at heroin. Hopefully he does....Yikes!