Yes, details are often murky when there is a large gathering of people partying, especially when there is an abundance of drugs and alcohol.
After Kiely, SS, and other friends were drinking shots around 11:00 pm in the car, the effects may have come on quickly. That might be one reason why Kiely called her mom telling her she would be a little late. Maybe she wanted more time to sober up and say goodbye to friends. Or maybe she stayed longer because SS wasn't yet ready to leave.
It's possible that SS just 'thought' she told KR she had a ride, but forgot. That might explain why she was confused when K called again to ask if she still needed a ride.
It seems that Kiely was looking out for her friends, but nobody was looking after Kiely. I would think someone at least walked her to her car or asked if she was ok to drive. When I grew up, the slogan, "Friends don't let friends drive drunk," was ingrained in our heads.
I don't understand this generation. It's as if everyone is just looking out for themselves.
I'm sure Kiely's friends wish they had done things differently. Hopefully they have learned from this and will be more careful in the future.
From me being at many drinking places and observing people drink…I am usually the designated driver, and we have to live with the fact that substances are around us, and try to operate from harm reduction viewpoint. MOO.
1) the effect of alcohol depends on individual responsiveness, ethnicity, way of metabolizing it and also, how long people been drinking (in phase 2, drinkers might retain high tolerance for a long time)
2) a lot depends on whether they ate before drinking, or not, and what they ate (fatty food is the best, salads won’t do much)
3) do they mix drinks, and in what sequence? Beer to wine to whiskey/vodka is much better than vice versa. Champagne after vodka/whiskey/brandy is very inebriating. I am afraid that at kids’ parties, they drink “whatever comes”, and get drunk soon.
My two cents. I consider alcohol to be much worse that pot, although high-THC pot makes people weird and paranoid. (But impaired in a different way than alcohol, and usually, not that aggressive).
As to other substances, they might have synergistic, or sometimes even opposing, effects, but again, often people don’t even know what they are given. This is the problem of the parties. Participants bring whatever they can get, and end up mixing unknown substances. (There was a moment when neighborhood kids were into Lunesta with vodka, it was a horrible combo.)