It's nothing new.
Human beings have always tried to get high, and they've always found a way to do it, regardless of their surroundings. Whether it be a poppy plant, coca leaves or household cleaners, something has always been handy to quench the never-ending thirst for inebriation.
Nevertheless, the latest drug crazes never cease to amaze.
The newest to land on Alabama's list of illegal substances are bath salts.
Bath salts. No, not the rocks from Bath and Body Works in which you immerse yourself in your warm bathtub after a hard day of studying. These bath salts are potent drugs that produce an intense high and can lead the user to commit potentially dangerous acts, harming themselves and others (See "Bath Salts," A3).
It would be easy to take the moral high ground and say that drugs are bad and that students should stay as far away from them as possible.
However, to take this position would be unrealistic. To assume that a swath of students would suddenly be inspired by a single publication to ditch the bong and instead opt for frozen yogurt and a movie on Friday night is beyond ludicrous.
Regardless, it does not mean that a level-headed criticism of on-the-fringe drug choices is not warranted.
"Fringe" is the only way to describe the bath salts fad. Are simple marijuana and the occasional coke line not enough anymore?
The obsession of drug users to find the next best high is exhausting, but their addiction to drugs is little different than the average college student's addiction to drinking and partying.
How can anyone criticize someone so desperate to get high that they resort to bath salts when they themselves have their own vices they indulge in?
As if it were an unwritten law, it is assumed that drinking the night away at the bar is the only way to end a stressful week of school.
Recuperating at home is never even an option.
If we are truly "tired" from a long week, why do we rage the weekend nights away?
Even those who don't prefer the raging bar scene seek the appropriate level of nonsoberness.
Luckily, there is an iPhone app to help, and those seeking a "safe," drug-free high can do so with the iDose, which produces a trance through music (See "iDose," C4).
Thus, the search for out-of-body feelings will continue, drugs or no drugs.
As stated above, a moralistic pursuit for a world free of the words "drunk" and "high" is not the goal. But there is no reason we can't find out what reality has to offer once in a while.
Consider it, at least.
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