Or do all 18 year olds take drugs?

[Twistella]

Dd17 hasn't been out much recently. Whr. I asked her why she said that all her friends take drugs. Even going to the pub they might take tramadol or xanax. It's ketamine and Es at a party or gathering. And spliff all the time.

Dd likes a drink but hates smoking and drugs. She is very open with me and I'm normally very relaxed but is this normal? We've discussed trying to hang out with new friends but she seems drawn to the "cool kids". She's at a normal state 6th form.

[Bluelonerose]

Back in the late 90s/early 00 yes most of my friends were smoking weed or pills.
We grew out of it when we were late teens early 20s.

I know 99% of them have a spliff occasionally now but would say no to anything else.

I think you should be proud of your dd.
I bet many addicts only started to fit in with others in the group.

[LemonysSnicket]

No they don't. I have in my early 20s but at 18 I'd smoked weed once and never touched anything else.

[LemonysSnicket]

And I've still never taken a tramadol or a Xanax ....

[Storminateapot]

Mine doesn't, she's very anti. Some of her friends do, but not all by any means.

[Mousefunky]

I was a ‘cool’ kid but I never did drugs. I was offered them plenty of times but always declined. So no, not all teenagers take drugs but I think most probably do.

[Mousefunky]

FWIW my DP took a lot of drugs in his teens and early twenties but he quit a few years ago. Most of his friends (now late twenties) still take them... some teens never grow out of it.

[Gottagetmoving]

By definition, using drugs recreationally when you have a professional job is not intelligent

Does that include alcohol? Or do you not consider alcohol to be a drug?

[Twistella]

I am proud of her.

She's clearly having some sort of crisis but in a good way as she's deleted most of her social media and spent the day working on her EPQ

[drspouse]

Correction:
By definition, using illegal drugs recreationally when you have a professional job is not intelligent, and neither is using legal drugs to excess.

[ZanyMobster]

Rufus well I said I was well informed about using in moderation, I didn't say I actually did use in moderation

[thatmustbenigelwiththebrie]

I'm late 30s and have stopped going out because all my friends take drugs. These are people in ther 20s and 30s with professional jobs, teachers etc, some with kids, but they insist on everything become a coke-fest. It's so boring (and expensive).

I am not anti-drugs and can see that on occasion they can be fun (even if I never do them) but all the time? it's very tedious.

[ZanyMobster]

drspouse ok, fair enough, it isn't an intelligent thing to do either way, doesn't make someone not intelligent though.

I am an intelligent person, have a professional job etc etc, but the other month I did several shots of some sort of brightly coloured drink and was really ill after. Stupid thing to do as I felt shocking the next day but it was a momentary lapse in judgement, I am no less intelligent than I was the day before it. Generally I am a moderate drinker.

[Bouledeneige]

My DD 18 knows people like this - and there are a lot off them - but it's not everyone. One of the problems is kids have the money to spend and some things like cocaine are very cheap.

[Twistella]

Cocaine is the worst imo

[lljkk]

Sitting on train today, lad across me about 18yo, talking very loudly on phone about having loads of coke in pub last night (!!) Lines on the bar... half a kilo... everyone could hear.

[Gaspodethetalkingdog]

A specialist I know has to see people who have taken ketamine - they destroy their bladder - nice start in life at a young age - so stupid

[Verbena87]

At 31 I’ve still got one or two friends who do coke and it makes me - they are the same people who buy fair trade coffee and ‘cruelty free’ make up and I cannot reconcile that with the supply chain/industry that provides cocaine. So yeah, it’s crap.

I think your DD will be fine though. Lots of my friends did drugs in our late teens, I never did. Most of them gradually grew out of it and I now have a brilliant circle of friends.

[goingonabearhunt1]

I'm always surprised to meet someone who has never tried any drugs but maybe it's more common than I think. I went to 6th Form in a reasonably druggy city. Uni was much less druggy though still heard of people getting into it.

[IceCreamFace]

I think different cultures exist. There are certainly groups of friends where drug taking is ubiquitous but it's certainly not universally true across all 18 year olds.

[goingonabearhunt1]

I was out clubbing recently in London and everyone there was on cocaine I'm pretty sure (youngish, early 20s crowd). Dunno how normal that is as I don't go out much anymore, may just have been that particular club/crowd though I imagine it's pretty ubiquitous.

[Verbena87]

bearhunt we’re around if you mean illegal recreational drugs. I do take medication when needed and I drink alcohol (despite my awareness that it’s worse in terms of mortality rates and health impact than lots of other drugs that you can’t buy from the supermarket!) - I’m not fiercely anti drugs at all, just know my brain has some dark corners and is capable of twisting itself up without chemical assistance, so have always preferred to avoid.

[goingonabearhunt1]

I agree verbena i've recently realised this, as I say there was a lot of it about when I was at college which is why I thought it was so common. Esp ketamine which always seems to be such a daft drug to me. I know of someone who had to have one of those bags fitted because she destroyed her bladder (may be an exaggerated story as it's a friend of a friend but reading about the effects of ketamine, it seems plausible).

[Verbena87]

Yep, ketamine seemed pretty ubiquitous in our friendship group about a decade ago now. Never saw the appeal myself - weed and MDMA both made me think “yeah, that looks quite fun”, but never seen the appeal of ket, or indeed coke (I’m more than capable of talking self-indulgent nonsense for hours all by myself!)

[MadMum101]

Ketamine and cocaine as well as cannabis seems to be pretty 'normal' among DD's (20)peers, including Uni friends. She started on cannabis when going out at 17. Introduced by her best friend who's father used to give it to her. Not her best friend anymore thankfully and no pot for a year now as the lectures seem to have got through finally. A 'friend' recently put cocaine in her drink to see what effect it had on her as she was the only one in that circle not doing it, telling her afterwards . Thankfully no ill effects.

She was also offered a lift from someone who subsequently crashed his car while high on ketamine (luckily no one hurt). She opted to go in the other car which was behind and no idea he was on it until he asked someone to pretend to have been driving.

She is totally anti drugs now after that and seeing some pretty horrendous stuff working as a rep abroad earlier this summer. Even quit smoking.

I never tried drugs apart from a single half hearted drag on a spliff at around 20 after pressure from a boyfriend. Never offered any or was aware of others doing any either aside from that.

I think it's much more widespread these days.

[Cheeseandapple]

Convictions not convections.