
Suicides, Drug Addiction and High School Football - montrose
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/sports/opioids-suicide.html
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stickfigure
Ironic that high-school football is being looked to as a solution, while at
the same time football is being linked to CTE, depression, and mood disorders.
Not to mention the frequent debilitating injuries mentioned in the article.

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ams6110
It's not football per se of course, it is belonging to a team, having positive
activities to fill spare time, and access to a reliable adult role model (the
coach).

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toomuchtodo
Then form a community service group, not a sports team. Build housing for the
homeless, maintain community infrastructure that has been languishing,
participate in agricultural coops, those sorts of things.

Cohesion is built through the journey through a shared struggle or towards a
common goal. Build some trade skills while you're at it? Bonus!

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higuys032018
What you said sounds lame and boring.

Running fast, yelling as loud as possible, and knocking into other people from
time to time sounds like a great time.

I'm sure "cohesion built through the journey through a shared struggle" reads
very strongly on a resume, but try telling that one girl in class that you're
building trade skills on your way towards a common goal.

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stickfigure
What _you_ said sounds lame and boring.

Snorting a bunch of cocaine and heroin, having unprotected sex with
cheerleaders sounds like a great time!

...thus the article.

Maybe we can figure out something fun that won't kill them?

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anonnyj
Competitive team video games.

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anoncoward111
Sorry, there's better comraderie in a Robotics club than there is getting
spinal chord injuries on the field.

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vanjoe
When I was in highschool and having a rough time (nothing like these kids are
going through) then I really liked hockey because for 60 mins only the game
mattered, none of the other bull shit. I don't think I could get that at a
robotics club, maybe you could.

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ams6110
Yeah it all depends on the kid. Some kids love playing football, others love
hockey, rugby, baseball, soccer...

Or chess club, robotics, band, theater....

There's no one approach that works for everyone.

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anoncoward111
I highly doubt chess club will give me any broken bones. Band, however, did
give me tinnitus (seriously)

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OliverJones
One wonders whether opiod decriminalization and treatment, Portugal-style,
would have a positive effect on this little town.

They seem to have tried everything else. Maybe it's worth a try.

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Aloha
"You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have
tried everything else." \- Winston Churchill

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gt_
I wonder that the reasons given for the suicides are. The article doesn’t have
a single hint as to what they may be. Of course, we can hardly be certain of
the motivating factors, but it seems like a place to start in considering
solution.

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ams6110
I would infer that it's a large number of absentee parents, either working
multiple jobs, or drug-addicted, in prison, etc.

Why that leads to suicide I don't know, but teens don't generally have a great
sense of the long term. If their future looks bleak now, they don't have the
life experience to understand that "now" is temporary and circumstances can
and often do change and work out OK in the longer term.

