Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what are your opinions on social cocaine use?

535 replies

sshroom · 16/09/2014 13:29

I am finding that it is becoming more acceptable to use cocaine socially.

Friends and people that I know take it at weekends, at parties, bars or clubs and sometimes on a night in with friends and a bottle of wine.

These people are teachers, sahms, childcare workers, administrators, financial advisors and social workers so a real mix.

Is it becoming more socially acceptable? Would you have a problem if your friend did it occasionally?

OP posts:
Bogeyface · 17/09/2014 09:37

Laws are made and often changed by men. When they don't make sense (like outlawing weed but freely selling tobacco products) or infringe on people's liberties (like what to put in their own bodies or whether to carry a fetus to term), people can and often do disobey those laws.

So now the right to put mind altering drugs into your body is the same as having the right to a safe and legal termination?!

I'm out.

FlossyMoo · 17/09/2014 09:43

Ronald If they are using it in front of kids as stated in Cotes (they SEE people using it) post then you should contact SS.

Kids hear "Cocaine is terribly addictive. Don't try it or you'll be hooked" but they see people using it from time to time over long periods without being addicted, so they don't believe any other warning they might hear

DefinitleySpeltWrong · 17/09/2014 09:43

I'll try again...Wink

Cote. You evaded my question. Confused Do you think it's ok for people to use coke as things are now?

If I asked you is it ok to murder people then I would not expect you to answer That is a personal decision. I can't tell anyone what their choice must be.

RonaldMcDonald · 17/09/2014 09:44

I would assume by kids that she meant those aged 14-20 within their social circle and not those aged 0-18

FlossyMoo · 17/09/2014 09:46

Well kids to me is anyone under the age of 18 so a child. Over 18 is an adult.

CoteDAzur · 17/09/2014 09:54

I answered your question. I don't think there is anything morally wrong about having an abortion in a country where it is illegal, and similarly, don't see anything immoral about ingesting a substance that is illegal at a certain time and place. People should be able to eat, drink, smoke or otherwise put inside their own bodies whatever they please. If they commit a crime under the influence, they should be prosecuted for that, just like with alcohol.

Re human cost - I have a diamond ring and diamond earrings so don't feel I can lecture anyone on this subject. You clearly can, so I assume you own no diamonds and no electronics & clothes produced in Asian sweatshops.

RonaldMcDonald · 17/09/2014 09:56

I think Cote suggest legalising drug use for anyone over the age of 25
I would posit that she imagines that anyone under that age is a young adult or when younger than that - a kid

It makes sense to see anyone between 18-21 in this way

CoteDAzur · 17/09/2014 09:57

"So now the right to put mind altering drugs into your body is the same as having the right to a safe and legal termination?!"

Not same obviously but definitely comparable - both have to do with doing as you like with your own body.

"I'm out"

Bye Smile

RonaldMcDonald · 17/09/2014 10:00

No fish caught by boats manned by slaves...

I think that I agree with Cote
I think we should legalise and tax accordingly. Then whomever wanted to to could use drugs without the fear of illegality or making the lives of those producing transporting or supplying much worse

Naming some drugs as wrong and others as right isn't helpful

CoteDAzur · 17/09/2014 10:03

I was thinking of teenagers when it said "kids".

I would like to see an age limit of because by then people's lives are more or less settled into a rhythm, with education usually finished and work started, so it is highly unlikely that drugs will take over a person's entire life. That is what I have seen, anyway - people who start as teens tend to be more affected by drug use and those who try them in their late-20s for the first time tend to keep it an occasional indulgence. Also, studies suggest that teenage drug use affects brain structure in was that later and occasional use doesn't.

CoteDAzur · 17/09/2014 10:04

Age limit of 25.

LadyWithLapdog · 17/09/2014 10:04

I agree with Cote.

FlossyMoo · 17/09/2014 10:05

I think there is already enough damaging legal substances available without adding to the list tbh.

I wonder if a legalization of drugs would encourage people to use?
Would the taxes gained from legal drugs be used to support those who's addiction affects their ability to lead their life?
An enormous amount of money is spent on caring for people who's addictions have taken over or they are ill (lung cancer for example) as a result. Would legalization increase the financial strain?
Would it become the norm for children to see people shooting up/snorting a line in Burger King/while waiting for a bus/in a Harvester/Beefeater?

I do not know anyone who refers to 18-25 yo as kids.

TheLovelyBoots · 17/09/2014 10:08

I agree with Cote and RonaldMcDonald.

There's no rhyme or reason WRT the il/legality of the array of drugs mentioned above.

It's also silly to say that people who wouldn't dream of buying anything but fairtrade coffee/chocolate etc are hypocrites because they support a corrupt industry. It's apples and oranges. They can't support a fair-trade cocaine industry, because it doesn't exist. Just like a fair-trade tobacco or alcohol trade wouldn't exist if certain fallible human beings had decided to similarly ban that industry.

LesleyKnopeFan · 17/09/2014 10:14

People act like idiots on it, think they are the far more interesting than they are, talk rubbish and it ruins your septum.

Nobody really knows of the full effects of long term use or damage it passes down to children from past use or whilst trying to conceive.

You could argue that alcohol can make people act like idiots etc and I get that but at least there's a social aspect to it. Snorting powder up your nose of the a toilet cistern is seedy and dirty.

I have an intrinsic dislike for drug use. We are a nation of people with a lot of mental health issues and do wonder what percentage of these issues are as a result of illegal drug use (I accept other legal drugs/drink might be a big factor too).

TheLovelyBoots · 17/09/2014 10:17

Of course we know its long-term effects. It's been around for thousands of years.

Cocaine is done in a loo because it's illegal.

I agree with you that people act like morons when they're on coke. But that's their choice. Walk away if you don't want to spend time with them.

LesleyKnopeFan · 17/09/2014 10:24

I disagree about knowing the long term effects, it is becoming less and less pure and mixed with all sorts and is very widely used now.

Even if it was legal, I doubt that there will be open and comfortable use.

I think that some people are drawn to the 'secretive' aspect of it and like the thrill of it.

I don't have any friends who do it anymore and I did stop socialising with those who do it.

iseenodust · 17/09/2014 10:25

"All forms of drug taking stink imo - it's an industry which supports crime, can have a negative impact on physical and mental health, and destroys communities. I want no part of it, and would be pretty horrified if any of my friends were taking drugs, even occasionally."

^^Totally agree.

DefinitleySpeltWrong · 17/09/2014 10:26

Cote. I am pleased to say I do own plenty of lovely diamonds - they sparkle all the more for me because they are Australian 'argyle' diamonds. (They have microscopic codes lazer etched inside them to prove it) They cost more than open market diamonds but that is a price I am more than happy to pay. If I could not afford this type of diamond then I wouldn't buy them. I buy electronics but I don't think the electronics 'trade' compares to the horrors of the drug trade.

You are talking about a lot of 'what ifs' and 'if onlys' but the fact is that if someone is using coke now the ARE supporting and perpetuating organized crime and drug cartels. They are not taking drugs because they have to they are taking drugs for fun Hmm Obviously, it seems that plenty of people can justify it but I certainly couldn't.

LesleyKnopeFan · 17/09/2014 10:26

Although. I guess if it was legalised the purity problem would be sorted.

TheLovelyBoots · 17/09/2014 10:29

Even if it was legal, I doubt that there will be open and comfortable use.

If you think cocaine is bad, isn't that a good thing?

Although. I guess if it was legalised the purity problem would be sorted.

Yes, we live in an age of "health and safety" to the extreme.

Sallystyle · 17/09/2014 10:30

The only drugs I have tried is pot.

I knew two people who took cocaine when I was younger, about the same time Oasis became popular and they both thought they were hard and arrogant as Liam when they were on it Hmm

To me, it is not socially acceptable and I wouldn't be hanging around with anyone who takes it socially around me. Not my idea of fun and I find people who are overly drunk, stoned or drugged up boring and not at all fun to be around.

I don't care what others do but I don't want to be a part of it myself.

LesleyKnopeFan · 17/09/2014 10:36

Yes, you're right, I'd still not want to see it going on around me but I'm thinking of the future and my kids and if they are going to do it, I'd not want them in a toilet doing it.

I think, for me, as it went on around me in my yoof, I feel quite strongly about it but mostly it's the way people behave on it. Knobby, greedy, secretive, chatty (about rubbish), fake, creepy etc.

I'm prepared to be proved wrong about it but it's just my opinion plus I've name changed and it's making me a bit more brave

TheLovelyBoots · 17/09/2014 10:43

Lesley I totally agree with you. One of my really, really good friends does coke regularly - my husband and I think that she's done so much that her "coke" persona has leaked into her "real" persona. It sounds like you know what I'm talking about. She made such an outrageous comment to me on the phone recently (I'd recount it directly but I worry she's on here) that I called my husband to tell him and he said, Jesus, was she on coke? Nope, she wasn't. (it was embarrassingly self-aggrandizing)

Ultimately, you get similar problems with alcohol. It's not for me to decide what someone gets up to.

RonaldMcDonald · 17/09/2014 10:43

I think that drug use and abuse finds its natural home and limit
People currently shoot up in Burger King and do lines in toilets including police stations and the Houses of Parliament.

Some people find the need to use and abuse drugs to extreme levels. Those people will continue to do so no matter what the legal situation
They have a need that is filled by those drugs
The money that they have spent paying for the drug may as well go toward treating them. Currently it doesn't unless alcohol/tobacco

Raising tax off recreational drug users - which by its name means it isn't serious abuse and actually given the scale causes very few deaths and complications - should be massively cost effective
It would make things safer and cheaper and raise money to pay for the problems drugs cause

Swipe left for the next trending thread