to ask you to remind me why coke is BAD

[OilySnatch]

apart from the cost, which can feel, I keep forgetting why it is not a good idea?

pants are not entirely flameproof so please don't go mad with judgemental joy

YANBU

I wish I could wake myself up to the danger/stupidity of it too but somehow it always seems worth it when I come face to face with the stuff.

But personally I rationalise it for myself by saying I take it less than once a month, usually less than once every two months. And never more than a gram. If you have suddenly found your intake jump up so hugely then it's probably worth doing everything you can to rein it in while you're still just about in control.

Its not up to us to tell you whats a lot or not - lots of people use drugs recreationally without problems, but 1-2 grams a week will be costing you £40-80 a week at least. For most families thats a big chunk of weekly disposable money.

Signs that drug use is becoming a problem is

• is it having impact on family finances
• do you prioritise drug use over other things
• are you using more than you used to
• do you hide what you use from friends/family
• do you need to use or feel like you need to use to feel 'normal' or to manage day to day

These are just a few of the signs and if you've answered yes then please give some serious thought to talking to professional.

Is a gram or two a week really a lot? I got through five in one week recently, week before last I think, which was definitely too much. I am a greedy pig, if it's there I can't stop. This is all a bit depressing.

The thing that killed any enticement again for me, was finding out how much coke enters the UK up the bums or in the stomachs of female drug mules from the Caribbean.
One story stuck in my mind. A young Jamaican woman was caught at Heathrow with a stomach full of coke filled condoms. She got 7 years. Her 4 children back in Jamaica became displaced due to her imprisonment. When she finally got home, she tracked down the oldest 3 staying with various distant relatives, but the youngest aged only 6 months old when she left had just disappeared, no one ever tracked down what happened.......

In fact, I believe a good percentage of the female prison population of this country is made up of women from these circumstances.

Obviously if it keeps up or gets worse it will be a big problem. So I need to slow down or stop. Stop I suppose.

I think it's a lot, but take northern's point. I just think it's different to other drugs in that it's so highly addictive. I used to take many drugs recreationally and it's the only one that really scared me and I could see myself potentially having a serious problem with. And that was on less than a gram a week.

A coouple of grams a week is likely to screw your heart in the medium term, as well as give your nose just one big nostril. And you'll not notice yourself become a grade A tosser.

The problems with drug murders & imprisoned mules are an effect of the illegality rather than the drug itself, so personally I discount them. The thought of legal coke is a little scary though.
Good luck with stopping!

best thing to do is go out and watch your friends take it and you are not. you soon realise what a total and utter prat you look and how arrogant and boring you are when you have been taking it

plus its bad for you and all the crap that goes in it is bad for you, long term use makes your teeth rot (look at kate moss), you are likely to develop long term depression and its very hard to get our of the habit of socially taking it.

is hard to resist the odd line though

It sounds like you have a serious, diagnosed mental health condition if you are under a psychiatric team, got anti-psychotics on prescription? Cocaine would usually make such conditions worse wouldn't it? Do you fear that?

Just have a proper look at the profile of your fellow coke fan on this thread if you want to see evidence that coke users are deeply cringeworthily silly and embarrassing.

Ooh. Sorry about my tone TSC. I think talking about it and picking up ideas, like the running, does count as doing something. Yes, I have children. Don't know whether to get defensive about the attention seeking, I could talk to my real life friends but it would alarm them. Maybe unnecessarily.

I've never been wholly convinced by my diagnosis but I do fear hospital and the whole loss of liberty thing. Still feel aggrieved years later. I am scared of depression and the possibility that coke raises the risk of it.

bibbity that isn't kind!

You've got to be cruel to be kind. Am I in the business of being kind?

Actually, I think Jareth's post at 01.42 is as good an answer as any.

You fear going back to hospital (sectioning due to psychosis?) and you fear depression. Coke absolutely puts you at risk of those.

So, a lot of people have reminded you why coke is bad.

What's good about coke?

OP, look come off it who are you kidding? You know you already have a burgeoning addiction, right?. You should knock it on the head.

Coke in particular is particularly vicious psychologically. Like good old Boy George said "it eats away at your soul".

If you stop now, you'll be OK, you can do it.

5g in a week is bad, but you'll do it again if you can, if you have the opportunity.

The thing is though, the high you get from coke is almost just the desire for more coke. It's shit.

Don't do this to yourself.

Coke is fabulous, I used to put it in the babies' bottles, that or sugared tea!

I love cherry coke, and vanilla coke.

And none of us have any fillings.

For me - this is a no brainer. Coke fucks you up. Its illeagal. You have children and should know better. If you can't see all of that and just stop then you are an addict. Get help before it destroys your family. Do you want your children to remember you as a shouty, stressy mummy - my BIL takes coke its so obvious to me when he has been taking it, he is a prize cunt, even my DP says so.

I prefer not to stick products up my nose which almost certainly entered the country via a peasant's arsehole.

Horrible and minging, my friends partner has a nose like Danielle Westbrook.

Waste of money, time and health.

If your're talking about coca-cola I can recommend Tesco rola cola

Pre kids i had a bit of a 'habit' wasnt just coke, E's too, sometimes base, the odd bit of hash for comedowns. I held down a decent full time job, committed relatioship, and a packed social life. One weekend we got through 80 pills in an all weekended. We often did half an ounce a week. We bought in bulk to save a bit of cash but would spend 200-300 a week on drugs. It wasnt a big deal to us, we knew the risks, we much prefered drugs to drink, we only had ourselves to be answerable to. You dont realise how addicted you are until its too late. at first you're not really addicted to the druig itself, more the socialising, then you become addicted to only being able to socialise with the drug, then you start doing it on your own, or in a couple, then you pop back from work on your lunch break to have a gram to steady your nerves before a meeting.....then you realise you've gone to far..... then you cant get off the bloody stuff!

I was quite lucky in that my DH wasnt as into it as i was, so it was easy enough to break away from the crowd for a while to stop, we actually moved country for a bit, that gave us break we needed to take stock, start our family, move back to a normal life. We have the same friends as we did then, some of them still use on a big night out, most dont bother anymore, the rest of life is too expensive to be able to afford it.

I also have a few mental health ishoos, the comedowns will get worse, much worse, you'll need more and more to get an equal high to the last one.. Then you will need even more than that as you dont want to equal the last high, you want to double it! Then the comedowns get even worse so you take a little bit the day after to ward it off a bit, then .....well you can see how it snowballs. But i do have an addcitive personality, i have friends who will have the odd line here and there now and again....you dont strike me as that kind of user though. You sound more like i used to.

Sorry this is long, i didnt want to just pass judgement, I have been there, without the trainspotting lifestyle, owend my own home had a good job, studying....it will snowball and you wont be able to stop it. The odd gram now, not so big a deal, the odd ounce in a months time....well can you afford £1k a month? best start saving if not and you want to carry on :)

Ok, thanks everyone. Should definitely nip it in the bud. Am weighing up whether or not to confess to cpn/consultant and receive whatever the community mental health equivalent of the sacrament of reconciliation is or to embark on various of the plans (like running) and see what distance I can put between me and it.

As for what was good about it, was thinking about that this morning, it was definitely instrumental in helping me make some very good changes that I was too chicken to do before. I suppose it's been my backbone but time to leave it there now.

I've seen first hand what it can do to people; only the very most casual and occasional of users can emerge completely unscathed. Op, you are clearly well beyond this point & will probably need help to stop now. If you don't, the slippery slope is very steep indeed. Please contact NA.

FWIW, "acting out" - i.e., using whilst under the care of mental health professionals is classic behaviour - I doubt you're telling them you're using - probably at some level feel you're "getting one over them" and proving to yourself that you are fine and in complete control. Step 1 might be coming clean with them.

Dishonesty is horrible, not that they have asked recently but omission is dishonest too isn't it? Have sent cpn a text asking if she is free for a chat over phone sometime today, hopefully when she calls I will have the space and time to spill. Or maybe I should just put it in a text message, or wait until I see her later this week. It's hard not to push ahead now have decided to tell them.