Park City drug issues are not new and may cost you everything
Days before my 16th birthday, my next door neighbor committed suicide. He drove out to a lake, wrote his parents a letter, and pulled the trigger on a shotgun. In the aftermath, and for a VERY SHORT while, people tried to explain it, but they never really understood. They missed the point and ignored the broader picture.
I somewhat feel the same with recent coverage of the teenage overdoses in Park City. The Park Record says, “Residents were stunned. Police said the boys had been talking with their friends on social media about dangerous drugs, a revelation that caused parents to fear that other children were also in danger. In a matter of days, the issue had been dragged into the light, and officials were saying it as clearly as they could: Drugs are a larger problem in Park City schools than many parents realize.”
It’s all so sanitized and medical. So, let’s please cut to the chase and avoid the niceties . Your kids are in a place where drugs and alcohol are prevalent. Your kids are in a place with lots of money which leads to lots of options. Park City kids have been associated with a drug culture for 30 years.
My wife grew up in Sandy in the late 80’s and early 90’s. It was “known” back then that if you wanted drugs and alcohol, you went to Park City.
What was our main concern when moving to Park City from Sugarhouse seven years ago? Do we want to raise kids in the alcohol and drug environment of Park City? We hoped we could instill the right environment for our kids (and educate them on the topic), so we decided to move here. Will one of our kids try alcohol before age 14? Probably.
I have no magical answers for “solving” Park City kids’ drug issues. However, I do know that treating it like something new and mysterious does everyone a disservice. Who cares if it is some synthetic opiod from China! That makes it sound like something most kids wouldn’t go to the effort to obtain. I can hear the kitchen talk, “Oh it’s not going to happen to our kids.”
So, let’s tell it like it is:
- Your 18 year old knows someone who regularly does cocaine
- Your 17 year old knows people who do heroine
- Your 16 year old knows someone who could get them vodka this Friday
- Your 14 year old can find some money, go to Smiths, buy a prepaid credit card, order who-knows-what from the internet, and then receive it via UPS on a Friday at 2 PM.
Do with that what you will, but please don’t tell me it’s unexpected.
It’s up to you to save your kids. It’s up to all of us parents, individually, to save our kids.
Our kids are in the jungle and it’s up to each of us to get them through.
To do anything less, or expect that it’s not an issue, is putting blinders on. Those blinders may cost you everything.
Parkrag
We believe in citizen journalism. We believe there are stories to tell that can help to shape our community for the better. We believe tomorrow's Park City can be better than today's.
Comments
3 Comments
Your kids could just as easily find drugs and alcohol in Sugarhouse, Sandy or Provo for that matter as PC, what a redicuolous way to start your article. Drugs and alcohol are more prevalent in all schools than most parents realize, especially in Utah, where everyone believes their children will choose the right; no need to discuss drugs or alcohol here.
Nicely said. This town is not immune by an stretch of the imagination.
First of all, it’s “heroin”, not “heroine”.
Secondly, we moved here recently from a large Southeastern city. All things considered, our kids are FAR SAFER in Park City than anywhere else we’d choose to live. Certainly they’re much safer than they were in the Southeast.
I can’t think of ANYWHERE in our former home state where elementary school kids can walk, ride bikes, or skateboard to and from school without an adult bodyguard. Likewise a middle school kid riding a city bus. This kind of safety simply DOES NOT EXIST in most of the country. Yet in Park City, I can see evidence of an America that I thought disappeared in the early 1970s. One where my kids can walk to school, hop a bus to Main Street, or even play outside without fear of kidnapping or drive-by shootings. I’m thrilled that I don’t have to carry my Glock under my shirt every time I go to the grocery store or dry cleaners. In my old town, I carried a concealed 9mm everywhere, even to Wal-Mart in the middle of the afternoon.
Drugs and alcohol are a reality of life everywhere, unfortunately. But I’m very grateful to live in a city where I don’t have to worry that my new teenage driver won’t accidentally make a wrong turn and find herself in Sketchytown. That, to me, was a far more immediate physical threat than the presence of a dime bag.
Leave a Comment