To ask what are your opinions on social cocaine use?

[sshroom]

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?

Drug takers support drug dealers who support drug producers. As previous posters have said look back up the supply chain it should be utterly unacceptable to anyone with a social conscience. I am so shocked that people don't see the connection between demand supply and production. We buy free range eggs because chickens shouldn't be in cages, fair trade bananas to give growers basic rights ethically produced meat yet these same consumers shove cocaine up their nose with no recognition of their hypocrisy.

Definitely not acceptable in my world. I'm maybe exceptionally naive but none of my friends do drugs, not to my knowledge. We go out, drink way too much, some of us smoke/vipe, we're all normal grown up people and nobody does this shit!

I haven't read the full thread so apologies if this has been answered elsewhere. It is perfectly possible to have a heart attack/ changes in heart rhythm which can lead to strokes after one line of coke, less likely but it depends on how your heart is to start with which most people don't know. We get loads of calls to people who have 'taken cocaine and now feel funny' no shit sherlock, isn't that what it's supposed to do?

I have always hated the idea of taking it but more so now when I see the money it costs in terms of resources, the same with all recreational drugs though. I can honestly say, at work, the only time I have been threatened or felt unsafe is with people who have taken recreational drugs, not including alcohol. Combined with alcohol yes, but never just alcohol.

I'm 47, I'd be shocked if anyone I knew admitted they took cocaine.

chrome, you are incredibly naive.

Teachers taking cocaine is acceptable in your circle?, those teachers then go to work and advise pupils of the dangers of drug taking I imagine.

Fuck me, if any of my kids teachers were found to be snorting a prohibited drug I'd go fucking nuclear, where is their fucking common sense and judgement.

I also know two people who have had strokes from taking cocaine. One is partially sighted and has difficulty walking. The other has lost her short term memory and other cognitive functions.

I have never taken coke and nobody in my immediate social circle does, despite the fact that we live in a city. I did have an ex who took it, and christ he was sooooo booooring when he was on it, and even more boring when he was on a comedown. I had to bin him when I found out what was causing all this bizarre behaviour. I seriously had no idea why he kept going off to the loos for ages!!! I thought he had another kind or problem!

Anyway, no I don't think it is any more socially acceptable now. It is laughable how cocaine users try to set themselves above heroin users, as if there is some kind of drug hierarchy.

There isn't - you are all sucked in nicely.

That's the terrible thing. It puts money in the pockets of the most despicable, ruthless criminal gangs imaginable. Those that use murder, kidnap, rape etc as intimidatory tactics, in their countries of origin, to hold on to their power.

Why would anyone want to stick something up their nose that has possibly come out of someones backside. The whole thing is gross.

I know loads of people who have done coke and are casual class A drug users. Doctors, lawyers, CEOs of listed companies, people running their own successful businesses.

Some of them, mostly ones without kids, still do it regularly and have done for 18+ years. So is it more socially acceptable to do coke now?

It became a lot cheaper and more readily available (round here anyway) about 10 - 15 years ago which I think meant more people would do it instead of speed or MDMA. So that might account for its growth in popularity.

Also as you get older you arguably have more disposable income to spend on it so depending on your age you might see it more now because of that.

I was never a regular taker but i stopped dabbling several years ago when I became aware that a) I could drink like a fish on it b) it was dangerous to mix it with alcohol! C) the ethics behind its production.

It really pissed me off that my boss would be foul to everyone on the Monday or Tuesday after they'd had coke on the weekend. I could spot it a mile off.

Parent friends who take it tend to be fairly irregular, like a few times a year. I think they're stupid and probably bury their heads in the sand about the risks.

So for me personally its become less socially acceptable but in general, its been fairly prevalent for years.

Should add a friend was telling me of a friend from uni who took cocaine socially, only on weekends. At 32 my friend went to visit her before she died, in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of her to help her breathe, slowly suffocating to death and in agony. Where the initial cancer was found indicated it was down to her cocaine use. At 32 my friend was pregnant with her 3rd child, she had a wonderful job, home and a lovely dh. As my friend said she had everything and her friend the same age was lying on a hospital with nothing. All because for a few seconds once or twice per week for the past 10+years she had stuck some white powder up her nose.

What a waste of a life.

Apologies, I haven't read the whole thread yet; however, after seeing the utterly devastating effect drugs had on my family, I have zero time for them. I was very relaxed about drug use previously and have tried drugs myself as a teen, but no, not now and hope I can educate my children now to make an informed decision not to take them. My family were absolutely crushed to pieces and have never recovered.

I have also seen (through work) the effects of people taking drugs and the long term mental health problems that some now suffer from. I think if anyone wants to see what could happen from using drugs, visit a psychiatric hospital. It most definitely scared me. It's just not worth taking the risk in my opinion.

On what level
Is this socially acceptable. I have never taken any illegal drugs and neither has my other half. We socialise regularly and none of our circle of friends take drugs. We live in a city so it isn't that we have no access. It's because it's illegal and dangerous.

I don't know if this is true these days, but in the past, how acceptable it was depended a lot on where you lived and what circles you moved in. I was a student in London in the 1980s and until I started work and met more people from outside London, I did not know a single person of my age who didn't make some use of recreational drugs. It was even quite common in my mum's social circle (media types) - this would have been in the 1970s.

So I'd question how recent this is, although perhaps people these days are more likely to admit using drugs.

I know a lot more people who have had their health affected by alcohol than by illegal drugs.

it doesnt concern me what my friends do or take when they go out at weekends, but I dont think coke is a good idea. Its a horrific trade. Ive done it many times and dont anymore. I dont think its particularly socially acceptable in most circles, unless youre George Osbornes social circle obviously, or a a london banker.

I'm quite liberal in the sense that whatever a person chooses to put into their body is their choice, and I freely admit in my younger days to have trifled with many substances. I do find though that Cocaine is one of the worst for 'social' drug use - it tends to turn people into instant narcissists, makes them paranoid in the long run and they tend to easily get greedy with the coke they're using. While I can see why a line on a drinking session appeals I don't find nipping to the toilet every 20 mins for a line to be that sociable.

Sorry not rtft but surely the op is a journalist?

I have known a couple of people who take cocaine "socially", but that's only been information I've had through a third party. I've never seen anyone take it, or been at parties where it's been taken. I wouldn't knowingly associate with someone who took coke (or other illegal drugs for that matter).

It's fairly ridiculous comparing cocaine to alcohol. It's like comparing caffeine to crystal meth. Sure, both are addictive drugs, but not all drugs are equal.

I would also hate for weed to be made legal. It absolutely STINKS, and whilst it might be fine if you live in a nice big house in the country, in reality, a lot of people live in apartment blocks like us. We already have the common halls and stairs reeking of fags (despite people smoking "in their own homes") and can't open the windows for long in summer without the flat smelling.

I don't mind it THAT much, but I would be furious if it was weed - that isn't just affecting your lungs on a sort of long term basis, but it affects your brain and ability to think in the immediate term. I've got a baby on the way. I don't want to have to be running myself ragged trying to keep him from breathing in someone else's drugs.

It's like if by drinking yourself, you were also getting the people near you slightly pissed as well.

The fact that alcohol and fags are legal doesn't mean that we should legalise a whole bunch of other idiotic shit as well.

I know people who only buy Organic and Fairtrade goods from supermarkets etc, yet give their hard earned £ to Cociane dealers for their weekend merry making. Talk about hypocrisy!!!

I think it's disgusting immature and irresponsible

My family has experienced the devastation of drugs firsthand, even the apparently harmless "weed" has altered my family's life forever.

So I wasn't at all impressed by hearing another parent talk about social cocaine use

I don't know anyone who takes cocaine and I've never been offered it myself. I have lived in a capital city since I was 18, went clubbing most weeks until I was about 25 and I never saw or was offered cocaine. I'm now 32 and it most definitely isn't socially acceptable in my circle.

Those that use it: how much does it cost? £40 a gram? £50? Less? That might be a big selecting tool right there - I earn circa £30k and wouldn't consider spending that amount on top of buying drinks, which are expensive enough in pubs/clubs.

I'm not so naive to think that it doesn't happen in my city, but I do think it's still the province of rich nobs here.

If 800,000 people use coke in the UK, with a population of 65 million, then that makes it the drug of choice for 0.01%. So not that prevalent or socially acceptable, no.

I have friends, including some who are parents and some in professions where they might be considered 'role-models,' who take cocaine and other recreational drugs.

Personally I would never take cocaine - I did it once aged about 19 but wasn't impressed but I'm concerned about the ethics of the drug as much as anything. Drugs were very common in my circle of friends in our late teens/ early twenties though and I have taken other recreational drugs. I think my drug days are over now but I took drugs quite a few times whilst working in my first teaching job (during school holidays, never at work or in a way which would effect my work) and I've taken drugs twice since becoming a parent (my DD was not there either time). But the worry of either being caught and arrested or taking something dodgy and coming to harm is too great for me now.

However I still don't see a problem with recreational drug use so long as it's not done by people in charge of children or before/ during work and so long as people aren't driving etc. If it affects your ability to do your job or look after your child, if it makes you engage in risky behaviour or if it becomes addictive or a major expense then it's a problem but otherwise, fine. I guess in that way I see recreational drug use as the same as alcohol really.

Coke is far from a harmless drug and anyone who thinks that is very very stupid.

Coke heads are colossal assholes to be around.

I am convinced that if you need drugs to enjoy a night out then you shouldn't be permitted out within society. It's idiotic, lazy and fucking selfish, and if friends of mine did it they'd not be friends.

I know I sound a bit militant but honestly, I'm 34 with two children and a job I love. What would happen to me if I was caught on a night out with cocaine? I'd lose my job (I work in a school), my kids would probably go onto some sort of at-risk register and my DH would disown me. For a line of coke? I go out with friends often and have never needed marching powder to make the evening more exciting. I pity anyone who does.

I think it's becoming more common - there is far more drug use amongst my students than there was when I was at university myself in the 90s (when it was actually quite looked down on) - but I personally have zero tolerance for it. I have been to the odd terribly fashionable London dinner party where it has been offered - I leave.

Ironically, a lot of the tedious, right-on, social justice warriors I work with bang on about how weed doesn't harm anyone - but have no understanding of the social issues tied up with drug supply, both home and abroad.

Drugs wreck lives - and not just those of the users.

I am not friends with anyone who takes it. Perfectly possible I have acquaintances who do, and I do not know about their drug use.
IME people who take drugs tend to mix with others who take drugs, and so get a distorted view of the number of people taking drugs.

I am convinced that if you need drugs to enjoy a night out then you shouldn't be permitted out within society. It's idiotic, lazy and fucking selfish, and if friends of mine did it they'd not be friends.

Yeah! Bo ya! Couldn't agree more. Nothing I hate more than seeing people smashed on one of the most socially harmful drugs (alcohol). If you have to ingest a mind altering substance (alcohol) to have fun you're a total tool.

Same with nicotine and caffeine, disgusting druggies all cross and moody in the morning before they get their coffee fix.