Slap Pals is our skateboarding sub culture attitude to drugs/alcohol evolving ?

[IUTSM]

He got the last word

[Steely Daniel]

Depends where you live I guess. Whenever I go to the park someone is always obnoxiously drunk and the younger kids are always doing blow. Usually, they sneak off to someone's car but depending on how late it is and how many drinks they've had they just do it out in the open. It's kind of a sad small-town scene and pretty much all the regulars have a drinking problem at the very least. No one is ever smoking weed though it's kind of strange.

[L.S]

Like many have said in this thread, i feel like it's more about the average age of a skater rising. The older you get the more obvious the negative aspects of drinking and/or drug use become and the people who do it in their 40's with the same intensity than they did in their 20's stop looking cool and start to look sad instead.
Also, the older you get the harder it gets to actually keep up the level of skating you've used to (whatever that lavel may be) if you're constantly high or drunk. I mean, when i was twenty i could easily stay all night drinking and go skate the next day but now that im forty there's no way im going skating if i have even a hint of a hangover (which can be achieved with about one tenth of the amount of alcohol compared to my twenties).

Still, i feel like the younger generations have to make their own mistakes to learn from them. Even if the attitude has changed a little and the discussion around problems with substance abuse and also mental health become a little more open i don't really believe skaters in their teens will really listen to someone twice their age telling them to take it easy with the booze and whatever else. The curiosity to find out by themselves will always win in the end but hopefully it has become a little easier to seek for help compared to say twenty years ago.

[tkp]

It seems like skateboarding, or society as a whole, has sobered up over these years. Then again, I've spent the past 14 years in a completely different scene (San Francisco) as compared to the first 14 years of my time skateboarding (North Carolina).

Different cultures, but similarities in people encountered.

Growing up in the 90s / early 2000s, weed and alcohol were presented as a thing to be consumed for their wild affects. The "get fucked up" marketing definitely had a lot of people, including myself, sold on the "live fast, die young" mentality.

Nowadays you can go find a sugar free hard apple cider with probiotics, or cure your muscle pains with a 2.5mg cbd / thc gummy. The options for what we put into our bodies has changed.

I spent a good 4-6 years in the sober / "straight edge" (no alcohol / weed) world, and even that led to chasing adrenaline in risky ways. The over consumption of anything can lead one down some interesting, and not always healthy / safe paths. All in all, refraining from partying, and focusing on my health was a positive, but I had some close calls doing "adventurous" shit sober.

Giving people something to live for seems to be a motivator for wanting to remain in control of your body and take care of it.  Then again, there's been a handful of talented individuals in my skate scene who have passed due to harmful drugs.

When I go skate more popular spots in the city, I'm definitely impressed by the amount of people actively skating, versus sitting on the side lines.

[Denim Pizza]

Definitely, I feel more dudes try to motivate each other to stay sober now compared to just getting drunk. I’m still working on myself, I never skate after drinking that’s for sure. Can go months without it now compared to the past. Would like to go years without it at some point but it’s a difficult battle. Social situations are the hardest time for me not to drink.

[Uncle Flea]

I wish I had an in person peer group of skaters to be with.

Normal people don't understand me at all. So much so I find myself thinking am I actually a human?

I have nearly zero thoughts in common with non skaters

You are blessed.

[Cool Ceith]

The entire jaccuzi thing is based around booze and to me looks dated and lame. Sorry Louie you rule but your brand identity is awful

I cringe at every boozy Jacuzzi post, but I'm thinking that Louie is still in his "celebration" phase of starting a new thing.