To think people are naive re cocaine

Not just Coke that is really common now but cannabis as well especially the really strong skunk.

I back onto a nature reserve in the nice part of a market town and the number of adults out walking smoking it is crazy.

I wonder if there's something causing a rise in both? Is it too normalised?

That’s crazy

My d worked in a nursery where this was rife among the staff on nights out, she didn't socialise with them but she heard them bragging about it. There were a lot of negatives about the nursery which was a very expensive one.
Before she quit, some of the staff were having a get together after work in the nursery playroom and someone shared out coke as if it was cream cake - It was the manager.
She whistle blew but heard nothing back.😢
Thank goodness she got away from the toxic envioroment.

Oh yeah, it is so so common. More common than people realise. I feel it’s become quite normalised even.

Someone I know who uses now can’t hide it as their nose has collapsed and seeps fluid constantly. It’s not enough to lose your kids over though it seems

For a time in London in my twenties in the 1990’s I was partying hard amongst lots of people who worked in the city. This was via my friend who worked for a fashion designer. Loads of them were doing cocaine openly, my friend and I never took drugs and others did take the piss out of us for not doing it sometimes.

I am not naive about it. I think drug taking is unfortunatley more acceptable than ever. I just hate how people don’t understand how they are contributing to the utter misery of people caught up in the trade and fuelling organised crime.

I am more likely to be found in a nice cafe having a cream tea these days and not back at a house in Primrose Hill slamming tequilas at 4am with Oasis band photographer, those were the days.

If people become ill, die or lose their jobs or friends due to drug taking I don’t care about them. I do care about them wasting public resources.

I agree. I'm really shocked by Lotsnlotsoflove "I'm all right Jack" reply.

In the military they literally watch you take the piss and there is no regularity in it, it can be called if they get an inside tip, so again, your experience is not universal. But yes we do know of people who have failed the test and are discharged within a week, but it’s not overly common and 9 times out of 10
it is younger lads.

Depends. Only a handful of times have I see this. None of my close friends do it.

Oh and op - open use of cocaine was rife in the 80’s and 90’s ditto pills, and had the same devastating effects on many people, they are addictive, cause mood swings, depression, and paranoia, whilst some hold down jobs the spiral is always downward unless they get out

It’s not at all common in my social circle, there’s a woman who is affiliated with my partners local social club, so I know her in passing and went to her wedding reception, seems really normal, albeit a bit loud, her and her husband have decent jobs big house, two small children, I found out they both do and I actually could not believe it.

Hopefully, by your thirties you will have finally grown up and gained more experience of life and come to realise how habitual drug use ruins the lives of the users, those around them and how much damage it does to the communities involved in the supply chain.

Cocaine is far from harmless and kidding yourself that you’re cool with it, is turning a blind eye to reality! I hope the blinkers come off sooner rather than later, for your sake.

I do know it’s common. It doesn’t make it any less shameful, disgusting or vile though. You should be ashamed of yourself. Innocent people are enslaved into misery to give you your pathetic hit.

I would say yes, I probably am naive re cocaine, if your idea of naive just means not being exposed to people using it in the way you are.

I am 100% ok with that.

Then what are you saying?

there is a real drug problem and vaping and weed vapes are just making it worse (I have a teenager) but saying that cocaine is fine and it doesn’t cause you to potentially become aggressive or have longer term problems is naive

maby of your friendship group who regularly take it now will be fine

some won’t

to have it any other way is naive dangerous and stupid and shows your age

Thing is social circles tend to change once you've had kids or moved out of cities etc. I don't know anyone who's regularly going to bars and clubs of an evening, because we have children and socialise at each others houses or in the local pub.

A lot of DH old friendship circle still live the party lifestyle and don't have kids. But most of them live in London or international cities and we've moved to the country

I don't knowingly know anyone who uses cocaine, though it's not something most people I know would tell me even if they did.
If I found out my partner was, I took, would be floored.

But I believe other people on here when they say loads of people they know do. I just don't know those people.

Everywhere I've worked has random drug testing.

I suspect it’s where you go! Nobody openly admits taking it here, cannabis is different, that’s openly smoked in these parts despite not being legal, you can smell it everywhere, especially near the beach at night.

remember compulsory drug testing is common in many occupations too so no way would my dd nor dsd risk it, instant firing , both their dps also are in occupations where they are randomly tested

This

I’m old and boring these days and generally my friendship circle reflects this but I have assumed coke use is pretty prevalent as in the last couple of months I have heard my ex neighbour uses it a lot and a mate found her sons.

Ex neighbour isn’t in a good way though it doesn’t seem to have dawned on her yet quite how much in the shit she is. House been repossessed and she will lose another she has though she doesn’t seem to fully grasp this yet. She also doesn’t seem to realise that she is under investigation by the police for fraud but I guess she will do if they decide to move ahead with their case. I just feel really sad for their son to have 2 parents who have put their coke habit above a stable family life.

I think anyone who takes recreational drugs then describes it as ‘just a bit of’.. should be forced to sit in court for a week and watch the complete devastation it causes to children. To those boys in care who are deliberately targeted by drug dealers to carry cocaine and weed around our towns, to the children of drug dealers whose dads are put away for ten years leaving their mums with no income and no way of providing for them, to those kids who have to carry machetes in our towns and villages because they ‘owe’ a dealer a £5 debt, to all those kids razzing around on illegal Sur-Ron’s wearing balaclavas, making people feel unsafe in their communities..

All of these things are directly attributable to your ‘just a bit of’..

maybe it explains the general increase of rage and aggression in society

Yes. Fully aware of how common it is. Also fully aware that some people use it in a way where they mitigate their risks to thenselves and others. However, this doesn't alter the fact that there are other people who cause great harm to themselves and others with their use of it. If you don't know the damage to health, finances and relationships it causes to not insignificant numbers of people, then it's you that is naive.
It's also nonsense there are no behavioural changes. Here's a few that happened in my house:
Insomnia and problems getting up next day threatening emoyment.
Increased reduction of caution, responsibility and moral code, specifically risking safety of others, criminalisation, neglect of responsibility, unreliability, lying, building debt. All in an otherwise decent person.
Mood swings, intense anger. Depression. Suicidal ideation. Permanent impact on mental health.
Constant sniffles. Sores in nostrils. Permanent damage to sinuses.
Cross addictions to alcohol, sleeping tablets and OTC pain killers.
When this subject is discussed on here, much of the advice comes from people who are far from naive, having lived the worst case scenario. Of course many people won't reach that worst case scenario. However there is no way of knowing if 'your' drug user will be one of them.