I know there was alcohol, and I assume there was pot and maybe a little coke at my rural high school in the 80's/90's-- but apparantly when a family friend was going to the same school in the late 90's, students were dropping acid in study hall.

There were definitely drugs around both my junior high and high schools, but I was rather oblivious to it unless I overheard a transaction in the bathroom or hallway. Overheard in junior high was a 'shroom buy (it was 1979, after all), and in high school, one of the most prominent of the rich bitches at the all-girls Catholic school I went to--she was the Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade Queen the year after graduation--was a notorious pill dealer (uppers were very popular for losing weight; eating disorders were very "eewwww!" inducing and not talked about).

Our school was so agricultural that we were all pretty much baffled by the anti-drug campaigns at the time. We were all, well, we wouldn't know drugs if you handed them to us. We'd probably try to bake something with them. So I wouldn't worry if I were you. Lots of pot, though.

Now? The local schools I'd call "riddled" with drugs. For a while there were dealers just walking into the school. There's a new principal now, and he's locked it down a lot, but at the cost of a lot of personal freedoms. But it's a real problem.

Particularly with meth.

Late '70s. Lots of alcohol, so much that those of us who didn't drink (at least on weekends) were seen as odd. I think there was a fair amount of pot and at least a little cocaine. But I'm not sure how much (either during school hours or afterward/on weekends) because I was way, way out of the social mainstream.

Good to know, tommyrot. I'll never put it into practice, except perhaps fictionally.

First thought - Hey, shrift's gonna write SPN/O11. Excellent!

I'm not sure it is hysteria. I look at the section of the cemetery where my father is buried. Way too many of the people in that section were born in the 1980s. There have been a ton of heroin deaths.

Late '70s. Lots of alcohol, so much that those of us who didn't drink (at least on weekends) were seen as odd.

Yeah. That was my high school. My girlfriend used to give me shit because I didn't smoke or drink - she said it made me look like I thought I was "better" than everyone.

Basically, I didn't drink in high school because I had to drive everywhere I went and I was paranoid about drunk driving.

Oh, and they hit us very hard with the anti-drug campaign when I was in 5th-6th grade (about 1972-74). No particular emphasis on avoiding any particular drug. Favorite vehicles were movies narrated by Art Linkletter and Sonny Bono.

Basically, I didn't drink in high school because I had to drive everywhere I went and I was paranoid about drunk driving.

I was focused on college, and I wanted to take no chances whatever of blowing it on an underage drinking arrest. So, since I didn't turn 18 until 3 months after graduation....

My throat hurts from the smoke, and I feel like I'm breathing mud.

Allyson, as soon as you can get in/out, I would like to loan you my air filter. It works really well, and I think it will really help you to breathe better in your apartment for the next few days as the smoke and ash settles. Can I please talk you into taking it?