Substance use in the suburbs
Hi all, '82 person here. Me and the family moved to the suburbs around four years ago, and I'm noticing something, and wanted to get other people's experiences/takes on this.
Back in the day (college, early 20's) I certainly enjoyed my share of booze and marijuana, but as I got older, it just started fading from my life. I got more responsibilities, and it just stopped being fun. I asked myself at some point why I was smoking weed again, and got tired of the feeling. I will still have a beer or two socially, but don't smoke anymore.
That's not the case with many of my contemporaries out the 'burbs. It's mostly the men/dads, and they are just looking for any excuse to drink several beers (or other drinks), and hit the vape pen/gummies. It doesn't matter if their kids are around or not. For example - dad daughter campouts, there are some dads who are basically drinking the whole time. Dad coming to his kids birthday party after stopping at the dispensary. Having multiple drinks, shots, ect. . . at any sort of social gathering.
There are definitely some people who I would not let my kids get in the car with them driving.
I honestly don't know how some of these people do it. I'd feel terrible the next day if I had 4 or 5 drinks. And they are doing it multiple days a week.
This is obviously not everyone, but its a lot more than I would expect. I find myself feeling awkward hanging out with some people who are just getting blasted, and not partaking. Many of them hang out together, probably in part to normalize what they are doing. It is causing some difficulties in making friends, but on reflection I'm not sure if I'd want to be friends with some of these people anyways.
Have others noticed the same thing?