To think people are naive re cocaine

I know how common it is, but you’re right, so many people are very naive about it, which is very concerning when they are parents. Even reading this thread, there’s a strong “not in my area”, “not my friends”, “not my social group”, “not the people I know” … and I can tell you, categorically that “yes”, it IS in your area, it is in your social group, your friendship group, and unless you acknowledge and address this it will also be your children.
Your 13 year old son will be playing football with his friends at the park, and they will be approached and spoken to on a semi regular basis to build a “friendship”offered a free vape, free cigarettes, bit of weed, …. coke ….. ecstasy ….. all free at first, then at a very low cost, “pay me next week”
and before they realise it, they’re in debt to some very nasty people. Who will let them off, if they sell it to their friends.
A line of coke will set them back less than a can of Coca Cola, in the beginning.
Be watchful of your children. Keep communication open with them. Ask about their day. Let them know that you are a safe space, someone they can confide in. Be alert for behavioural changes. Educate yourselves about drugs. Know what they look like. Know the signs. Know their street names.

They are a heart attack or stroke waiting to happen.

People mostly use it as a "straightener" when you're drinking. It feels like it sobers you up.

I think you're missing the point. I don't see this as saying "oh do a bit of Charlie, you won't develop a life shattering addiction". It's more like saying "most people who take cocaine do not develop life shattering addictions and this is partly why those around them are oblivious to their habit".

It’s shocking to me. I am really thankful my kids don’t do it. But it was/is? rife in their cohort. We have always been very open , allowed house parties, alcohol at a sensible age. But it’s probably just luck that ours don’t wish to do it.

I’ve never been offered drugs and none of our friends do drugs either. But I’m aware it’s out there. I’m not even sure how the kids that do it even get hold of it ?

I know an addictions nurse who is a heavy heavy cocaine user…

People who think they don’t know anyone who uses cocaine regularly are definitely naive. I 100% agree.

It’s not an insult. I wish I was naive and didn’t notice the saddos in their 30s, 40s and 50s passing things under the tables and running off to the toilets together (women) or coming out of the toilets wiping their noses (men).

I’ve never touched it in my life and because I never have, I’m not offered it and so wouldn’t really have it shoved in my face. It’s not like they taught us in PSE in school where our friends are going to be pressuring us to join in. I only notice it because, well, once you realise, you notice it everywhere.

i would say it’s definitely worse amongst the older people now (those who were partying in the 80s and 90s). The youngsters still partake, but a good number of them are into their fitness and health and go out to the trendy bars and clubs for photos on their socials. Then they go home and eat chicken and salad and have a protein shake. Okay obviously i am exaggerating but you know what I mean.

i know couples in their late 50s who do it at home on a Friday night when watching the telly and I can’t think of anything more sad.

i am a normal person with a normal job surrounded by mainly comfortable working class/ middle class people and this is all completely normal. I am the odd one out for not getting involved.

I was pretty shocked to find a couple of my regulars who are pensioners that do it! Also women in their 50s trying to keep up with their 18-25 year old kids. Never touched it myself but the broad spectrum of people who do is flabbergasting. I did get called a square once for saying I had never touched it.

For those saying the City of London and banking was awash in cocaine in the noughties, I think it depended on the circles. By then the digitisation wave meant most of the “barrow boys” who drank at lunch with brokers and took cocaine to get up were gone. The derivatives newcomers with their phDs were a different breed and not as into drugs (alcohol abuse was rife). I never attended any party where drug use was obvious during those years but of course heard of friends of friends taking it.

That said, a friend who was working in the West End (not banking) at the same time said it was awash with cocaine in her circles. She finds it hard to believe I never came across it.

Same city, different circles. And so it’ll always be.

Cocaine is illegal. That means by buying it you are supporting criminals and adding to the widespread human misery both in the UK and in the countries where it is produced.

It depends on your circles I guess. I'm from a WC deprived area, and it's hugely popular with the hands down the trackies, do a bit of this and that for a living types, of whom there are many. The young people I know well with 'good functional careers' are very into health and fitness and that, plus the ethical issues and the low rent reputation it has around mean they're not interested. There are a few old people I know who do it to feel they're not past it.

One thing though - I am in North America, and coke is a differernt proposition now because it is often cut with fentanyl here. My BIL works in addictions in a fairly rural town a few hours away, and last year for a time there was no real coke coming in to that area at all - people were dropping like flies.

I remember a few years ago a musician i really liked ODed. Apparently he bought coke, and dropped dead having barely touched it after he got back to the hotel. It's massively risky.

This started on the west coast and took a few years to reach the east coast, I would not be at all shocked to see it jump the pond to the UK. Which could change the stakes a lot.

It definitely is very common. I know nurses, teachers, social workers, firemen, etc that all dabble in social cocaine use. It’s so normalised in society! My DH and I have both taken cocaine in our younger years but would not consider it now. We have friends that still take it occasionally and others that have never touched it. But it is more common than many people think. I have had conversations with my parents (in their 50s & 60s) and they are completely oblivious to the commonality of it but most people my age (30s) are aware of it, even if they have never tried it before.

When I was sent to Hospital in an ambulance from home due to heart palpitations before stressy Xmas -I’m 60s , middle-class , mumsy dresser -practically the first thing the consultant asked was if I’d taken cocaine I was surprised That’s Hampstead for you!

I had a very scary moment with a friend who believed people where chasing him down after too much cocaine.

When I arrived to check on him, he barricaded the door, filled the kettle to boil with sugar to throw over the imaginary people, then he asked if they had been in contact with me. I thought he was going to throw the kettle over me, I needed an ambulance but was terrified to reach for my phone, he's a professional drug counsellor now, mediation is his drug.
It took hours before I could ring another friend to call for help.

I grew up in a dysfunctional household, I watched my mother wreck herself on drugs. Started with cannabis and rapidly went downhill from there. I don’t know what she takes or does now as she’s not in my life.
I hate any recreational drugs, I rarely drink and am never drunk. I think it was both a blessing and a curse watching her, I could have so easily gone the other way the same as her.

Two close family members are big drinkers and both do cocaine on those nights, their wives too. I don’t ever socialise with them as being around drugs makes me so uncomfortable, I hate that their kids see this as normal and have/will go onto the same thing.

I know only of two people in my life that I could guarantee have never touched any drugs. Everyone else wouldn’t surprise me. It’s one of my biggest fears about my own children.

And to all of the people who use and think no one knows or can tell - of course we know yes we can tell and yes you are a shit actor and a massive knobhead

Exactly. Everyone who takes drugs starts as a recreational user. Some become addicts. No one can be sure it won't happen to them
I'm sorry this happened to you EmeraldShamrock000. Your analogy sums it up perfectly. No one is immune to addiction. I hope you are doing alright now.

You have a sad life and mix with sad people. If you think that ‘doing coke’ does nothing to impact human behaviour, then you are the one naive.

I am the same age and in the same situation as you and completely agree. I can tell when I’m interacting with someone who’s taken it too but think a lot of people don’t know how to tell and therefore think they don’t know anyone who does it but they do.

Its rife and mixed with all kinds of shit.

My OH is a paramedic and has said the number of younger middle aged people he attends with cardiac arrest has shot up, the common factors with most is cocaine use, and they would have all claimed not to be addicts.

Then there is the social issues that go with it, in Merseyside people including women and children have been killed because of beef between drug gangs. Liverpool city centre is bloody grim after 10pm because of all the coked up clowns.

I’m one of those naive people, I guess. I’ve never touched drugs and if any of my family and friends take cocaine then I’ve no idea about it. This might be a bit over the top for some, but I really wouldn’t want to be around people on any kind of drug, regardless of how socially acceptable it’s become 😬

I think people are so removed as well
from the criminal element of cocaine. We’ve all watched narco’s or the wire or any of the drug related tv series and seen the pure misery it brings. The gangs, the fighting over turf, the intimidation and torture and violence involved in getting it delivered to middle class partygoers is just awful. If you take cocaine you have contributed to that.

Also, there is the health aspect. It seems to have become incredibly common in the last ten years- in ten years time are we going to see a rise in heart failure or related conditions? Maybe not but lots of people seem to take it regularly, not just for parties/festivals but a normal night down the pub. Did anyone see the new series of blue lights on BBC and the issues they raised?

I've lost the post that said it was a middle class drug. It used to be, even 25 years ago the friend I had who used it had money and it was used with his group of private school friends. The price has come down and there is so much if it. It is now cheap. No one in my social circle takes it but the few times a year when I do go out it's obvious when people are using it.

The majority of people aren’t taking it at all! I agree with you the casual use for weekend warriors happens but it’s far from the majority.
And I’ll be honest my mates that do coke absolutely do my sodding head in on nights out!!!