New York City had gone through a spell of chilly and brisk weather. However, on this night I was able to go out with only a light jacket on. My friend had taken me to Carroll Park, a spot where young teens from Brooklyn congregate to smoke, drink, and hangout. There were many teens there that night, even in the middle of the pandemic. They kept coming in waves, most with masks but a few sharing cigarettes and joints with their masks pulled beneath their chins.

 At 5pm it was already dark; it was that time of year when seasonal depression comes back around. But the Christmas lights around the Brooklyn brownstones added some cheer to the otherwise dreary season of dead trees and cloudy days.

When we got to the park we met up with a group of teenagers, all around their junior and senior year. There was a girl with blonde hair, a red scarf, and brown boots sitting on a park bench and smoking a cigarette. Next to her were two guys, one with a big furry Russian-style hat. I introduced myself to them; the girl’s name was Ava, she was my age, she was confident; laughing at everything and clearly having a very good time. She was also extremely beautiful; bright green eyes, rosey full lips, she looked like she was out of a high fashion magazine. The two boys next to her were more quiet and nonchalant, overshadowed by Ava’s big and bright persona.

 “Yeah, I think freshman year I decided I was really really bored with high school, it was about a month in. It was not like I had a lot of experience with high school, but yeah I started hanging out with a lot of college kids and I just thought it would be fun to experiment with a bunch of stuff,” Ava told me.

 “So did you do a lot of Adderall or Xanax?” I asked.

 “I did all those. But it was all like I never had a drug of choice, it would always be like one thing for three weeks and then I’d be like I’m bored with this, and you know, move on,” she said. “I don't have a very addictive personality.”

 She told me about a trick she used to not get addicted to anything: every time she noticed herself craving any sort of drug, she would avoid it even if the craving was minor. She would just move onto the next drug instead.

Later we began talking about our lives now as upperclassmen. Ava noted how she eventually got bored with her old lifestyle. She did not drink or smoke weed anymore but still smoked a pack or two of cigarettes a week.

“Do you notice younger kids nowadays using drugs more often?” I asked.

 “I mean, yeah, I have talked to, I mean definitely a lot of the friends I am with that are older, like in their 20s and I have a couple friends who are in their 50s and stuff. I love talking to people so I end up socializing with a lot of neighborhood characters. But when I talked to those people, everyone grew up in the 80s and was like smoking cigarettes at age 10 or you’re like in your mid 20s and you see 13 year olds drinking and you’re like what the fuck.”

 Since she hadn’t really answered the question, I turned to the two guys next to her about drug use. Ava joked that I was an undercover cop and everyone laughed.

“Do you guys know anyone who is addicted?” I later asked- there was a moment of silence. And then, Ava burst out laughing.

 “Oh yeah,” she said.

 “Totally” her friend agreed. “Definitely,” Ava added, for emphasis.

Later on, the guy in the Russian hat sitting next to her told me to look out for a guy they all knew. No one knew his real name, but everyone referred to him as Tennessee.

“He wears like, plaid, and he looks like a hobo but he is not. Really cool guy,” Ava’s friend told me, suggesting to me that I should interview him sometime.

Ava agreed: “I love Tennessee.”

 Tennessee usually hangs out around a deli nearby. He is in his 70s and a cool street figure to teens around the area, and tells them stories about Brooklyn life in the 1960s and 1970s. I said I would keep an eye out for him.

 Earlier I had introduced myself to some lowerclassmen who were willing to speak to me as long as they stayed anonymous, and we discussed their perspective and opinions on teenage drug use too.

 The oldest there was named Mia, a first semester freshman who dressed like a punk kid from the 1970s with ripped stockings and black lipstick. She took the lead in the conversation, discussing her personal experiences with drugs.

 “I did molly a few days ago and I’m pretty sure it was actually meth,” she told me laughing nervously. I asked her if she was alright, she responded with a shrug.

 “I used to drink a lot and then I went to rehab over the summer and then when I came back, I started using a lot more.” She added that she was in a much better place now, drug wise. She was hoping that high school might be better than middle school. I asked the rest of the group about their opinions and experiences on drug use.

 “I’m interested in doing them,” offered Mia’s friend Rebbeca, who was also a freshman. She had only tried the basics; weed and alcohol.

 Next to Rebecca was Sarah, a student in her last year of middle school. She too had only tried weed and alcohol so far, and told me that she would probably wait to start using more hardcore drugs.

 Mia informed me that she knew a lot of kids her age who were part of the drug scene; she said it was mostly “weed, drinking. [I’ve] been with people who were on acid a lot... I started vaping and smoking during 7th grade and now know people who smoke weed at 12 years old.”

 Sarah agreed; “I know of people,” she said referring to younger kids smoking marjiauna on the regular.

 I asked them where they got their drugs from, to which Mia replied, “Older people. You’d probably know who they are.”

 They went on to talk about the college students who sold them drugs. I had never heard of any of them.

 “So do you think that kids are using at a younger age nowadays?” I asked the group. “I definitely feel like it [the problem] has progressed and gotten worse,” Mia said.

 Sarah took the lead on the conversation: “I don’t think it should go any younger. I feel like that would be pretty unsafe. It’s just important for people to be educated on it when they are younger. The more dangerous part is when people don’t know what they are doing.”

Rebecca nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “I agree.”
 
 
 
For privacy and safety reasons, all names provided have been changed to maintain the subjects’ anonymity.