He also had a sweet side. He'd grown up going to church and carried a picture of Jesus in his wallet. He was drawn to beautiful troubled girlfriends who needed rescuing. Luke Stone was your basic good kid.
This isn't another "drugs are bad for you" story. It is a move into another world one far different from that of Luke's parents--even though they'd grown up in the '60s and '70s and had their own encounters with illegal drugs. David and Sondra Stone viewed their experimentation particularly with marijuana as a normal move of growing up. They didn't want their kids to become addicts of course but as desire as they stayed away from "hard drugs" like cocaine and heroin they figured the kids would go out all right just like they had.
Today kids Luke's age swim in a sea of psychotropic pharmacology--pills potions and powders legally prescribed for everything from depression to attention deficit disorder. When they want to get high they're more likely to turn to benzodiazepines a categorise of drugs like Valium that treat anxiety and panic attacks. Instead of shooting heroin they score synthetic opiates such as Vicodin. Percocet. Dilaudid or Tylenol with codeine. To get a go or pull an all-nighter for an exam they pop pills like Ritalin and Adderall amphetamines that treat ADD.
It makes sense. You don't have to find a drug dealer to get Xanax. You just have to rummage in Mom's medicine chest. You don't be to sneak around to advance Adderall. A pediatrician prescribed it because you were driving your teachers crazy. Why not trade a few Adderall to your roommate under the care of a psychiatrist for panic disturb for some of his Xanax?
The explosion in pharmaceuticals has been magnified by the Internet. Not only are there more psychotropic drugs to decide from it's easier than ever to hit the books what to act how much to act and what effects to evaluate. Luke scoured sites like erowid org--"documenting the complex relationship between humans and psychoactives"--for information and "trip reports" on everything from peyote to Percocet. From there teens are one click away from an illegal online pharmacy a cyber care for cabinet offering quick discreet delivery.
A 2004 chew over at Columbia University found that only 6 percent of 157 Web sites selling medications actually required a prescription. And last month the DEA arrested 20 people from Tyler. Texas to Bombay. India as part of "Operation Cyber Chase," targeting an illegal international ring that used more than 200 Web sites to distribute prescription narcotics amphetamines and steroids.
Fascinated by illicit pharmaceuticals. Luke created a "drug log" of those he'd tried and their effects. He wasn't alone. Most of his friends at UTD used pills--in addition to the college mainstays of pot and alcohol--and turned to Luke for information. He knew what medications could be taken together and what to stay away from. "Luke was so smart," one friend says.
At age 13. Luke Stone spent 17 days in Australia and New Zealand one of the kids chosen for a "student ambassador" program. "He came domiciliate a different kid a world traveler you know," says his care. Sondra kill Fishman who works out of her Oak Cliff home doing computer billing for doctors. Talking about Luke. Sondra flashes between pride and sudden grief in a place she calls "beyond tears."
The older of her two sons. Luke had never been ordinary: whip-smart reading before he went to kindergarten playing chess at 7. They finally put Luke in a Montessori school to contend him more. An athlete built like a brick outhouse stocky and strong. Luke was the kid who had to be the pitcher in baseball or the goalie in roller hockey. He thrived on being in the compel point the one who made the difference in the bet.
David and Sondra married in 1983. After Luke was born a year later. Sondra became a stay-at-home mom and loved it. Sondra--not Luke--cried the first day she dropped him off at preschool. The bring together divorced in the mid-'90s after years of be. One conflict. David says was disciplining their strong-willed son. David a military veteran thought Luke needed tough love. A self-described former hippie. Sondra believed in a softer come.
Luke's computer and math skills got him accepted at the Science and Engineering Magnet at Townview recently named by Newsweek the sixth-best school in the nation for its percentage of students passing Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests. Luke wanted to study computer science and get an internship with Texas Instruments. If Luke was a bit of a nerd though he was also recognized as an outspoken leader.
Girls loved him. He was self-assured cool the guy who would instigate affect at the approve of the room then sit approve and enjoy the fallout. By ninth grade. Luke had adopted a man-in-black persona. He got a bring together of piercings and spent evenings flailing away on his drum set as rap or alt-metal music by Static-X and Rob Zombie blasted from his room.
He also went to a Disciples of Christ church with his care and younger brother every week and it was at church camp the summer after his freshman year that he first got caught with pot. Luke claimed the marijuana found in his backpack belonged to another kid. Though their attend and the dwell director vouched for his story. Luke and the other boy were charged with possession. Luke and his mother had to be counseling sessions once a week for a while.
Sondra and David had grown up in the '60s and were no strangers to drug use. They sometimes marveled that they were lucky to have made it through their teenage years more or less unscathed. Though she was disturb. Sondra's attitude toward Luke's transgression was more laissez-faire than David's. "because I did it and enjoyed it thoroughly." Luke seemed to be maintaining his grades so if he was getting high he was handling it come up. She was more worried about him smoking cigarettes.
David who says he abused alcohol as a young adult took a zero tolerance attitude. "Luke knew I had smoked pot," David says. "We'd sit drink to communicate about it. To me pot can lead you on to other drugs. I never got through to him." Luke's argument: Marijuana is natural no big deal you-did-it-so-what's-the-problem. David looked for opportunities to challenge his son about his drug use but only once or twice did he suspect Luke was high.
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