To put those numbers in real terms: if last year 3 of every 200 high school seniors ate at least one E pill each, last October, then this year 5 out of 200 high school seniors ate at least one E pill each, this October. Keep in mind that some rural schools have much lower numbers, while schools near big cities (especially on the coasts) have much higher numbers. From a personal vantage point, I would say that about 50 out of my class of 267 at least experimented with the drug, and probably 20 or so were regular users (regular, meaning on a monthly basis). .
You may be asking yourself: "Why is an illicit drug spreading at such a rapid rate?' This is a very legitimate question. The answer lies in the opinions of young people. Experts say, " It is difficult to say exactly how many people are experimenting with the drug (Hernandez 8/2/00)."" As a young person, I will tell you that it is not difficult to say. If you think that drug use is uncommon in most high school environments then you are dead wrong. I went to a private high school, and had friends who went to two different public high schools, and if a student at one of these schools did not use any type of drug him/herself then he/she certainly knew peers who did. .
In high schools, among people who use drugs, there is an unwritten social acceptability rule. In other words there are the drugs that users brag to their friends about getting "high- off of, or whatever, and there are the drugs that even other users look down upon. The most socially acceptable are alcohol, marijuana, tobacco, psycobin mushrooms, and LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), in that order (yes, marijuana is becoming more socially acceptable than nicotine). The least socially acceptable drugs are (starting with the least) are heroin, GHB/Rohypnol (date rape drugs), crack cocaine, cocaine, and speed/methamphetamines. The acceptability of these drugs proceeds in a somewhat structured order: the most accepted is the least harmful, and the least accepted is the most harmful.
