Posted by
Nathan on Thursday, May 31, 2007 6:02:06 PM
L&G-
I found this article considerably amusing. According
to a survey conducted by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration, reports of marijuana and other illicit drug
use among the deconstructionist generation* (ages 60-42) has risen by
an average of over 60% during the four year period ('02-'05)**.
Meanwhile, American teens' (age 12-17) drug use has declined by an
average of [a shade under] 15% in the same time frame. The author,
Donna Leinwand of USA Today states,
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Federal anti-drug officials say the survey indicates that while some
baby boomers who were in their teens and 20s when drug-use rates peaked
in the 1970s are taking their drug habits well into middle age, today's
youths aren't embracing drugs as enthusiastically."
- (Boomers...Push Up Overall Rates)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
According to John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, substance abuse has been viewed euphemistically by this
group of individuals as a rite of passage into [young] adulthood or ‘a
coming of age’. Apparently for some, this has become a tradition
carried on throughout their lifetimes.
-NM
endnotes:
*deconstruction and poststructural are literary definitions for the [post]modern age controlled by the baby boom generation
** 2002-2005 inclusive = 4 years (that means you count all of 2002 and 2005, don't just subtract the numbers, silly!)