I lost two family members to heroin in the sixties and seventies. So I am aware of the dangers and I pay attention to drug issues. We were white middle-class too.
However, this article does not make its point that the young’s interest in heroin is due to helicopter parenting styles–as satisfying as that thought may be to those of us on the right. I followed the links and I can’t even pin down whether “Today, the average addict is a white, middle-class teenager.” It may be true, but I’d like to see the numbers.
I suspect it’s a combination of the usual teenage risk-taking, the pleasure of escape, the availability of cheaper, purer heroin that can be snorted, and the innocence of not having seen the dangers with sufficient vividness first-hand.
