To ask the truth about your drug use?

[CantStopTheBeat]

This may seem a silly question but since it’s an anonymous forum I’ll ask anyway. I’ve NC.

If you ever experimented or used drugs, what did you use and what made you choose that drug? I want to have an open conversation with my teenage child about why people may use certain drugs and what situations they will come up in but I don’t have a huge amount of experience on it. I know the internet has information but would like some realistic stories from the ladies of MN.

I smoked weed 4 or 5 times as a teenager. I wasn't pressured in the slightest, but while on holiday/at festivals, a few friends offered me some and I just wanted to know how it felt and wanted to join in.

I laughed a lot, and then felt very mellow but I felt like I could hear my heartbeat pounding very loudly in my ears. I quite liked it, but I wouldn't do it again while our children still live at home.

Haven't tried anything else. My friends tried ecstasy, cocaine, acid and it never interested me, they always seemed completely out of control.

I know at least 16 of my cousins on my dads side are heroin addicts. In January I saw a (once close) cousin I hadn't seen in 5 years, she's only 26 but she could pass for 40 after 6 years of heavy drug use. Her hair was falling out, her skin was grey, she lost teeth, all bone.

She looked beautifully healthy and happy the last time I saw her

Started with weed and hash at 16/17. Lots at uni. Speed only once, did nothing for me. Coke I loved and was my favourite.
None of this made me anxious. No comedowns. No negative effects ever.

I believe it only makes you anxious, if that anxiety is within you in the first place.

Why? Because it's fun and it's good to experiment.
I would recommend that everyone tries everything once: from bungee jumping to trying a drug.

I’ve taken most things from age 12-30, ended up with a heroin addiction that lasted over a decade. Started using LSD and cannabis because friends were and I was curious, then carried on because I enjoyed it. Starting using ecstasy etc at 14, again because friends were, so was everyone else in the clubs we were going to & I enjoyed it.
Was assaulted then had a family member diagnosed with a critical illness, so when some friends started using heroin I joined in with that too. Although I was very aware it was a very dangerous and addictive drug, I wasn’t in such a terrible place that I didn’t care what happened to me. The only reason I’m still here is probably because I never ended up injecting and managed to always stay in work, so always had a roof over my head etc. I’ve now been clean for over a decade.

Smoked weed & skunk a bit in my 20s. Enjoyed being stoned but didn't like the actual smoking aspect of it as I didn't smoke usually.
I didn't need to buy any, friends / boyfriends gave it to me.
I didn't make a habit of it as I enjoyed it too much & knew I'd get hooked (I've got an addictive personality).
I was diagnosed with schizo affective disorder in my 30s but I don't link that to my cannabis use as I don't feel I used enough.

I use to binge drink heavily until 2012 aged 36 when I was put on high dose anti psychotics which don't mix well with alcohol.
I haven't had a drink since that year.
I used to love getting drunk & enjoyed drinking cocktails, shots but not wine so much.
I had low confidence & would try to restrict myself to eg two drinks but could never stop & towards the end of my binge drinking days I would lose my memory, & take stupid risks. Once I fell asleep on a car bonnet in the snow without a coat, luckily someone found me before I froze to death!
I do miss alcohol but I try to have a good time without it. It is really hard.

I think a lot depends on your personality. It's ok to experiment if you don't have an addictive personality or have a tendency to mental health problems.
I know of plenty of people who used drugs as youngsters & grew out of it but I also know people who died, went to prison, or got serious mental illnesses as a result of drugs.

Smoked weed as a teenager, because it was forbidden and seemed rebellious.

Took some ecstasy, speed and cocaine very occasionally (maybe 2-3 times a year) in my late teens/early 20s, only when I was offered it by friends/boyfriends. Loved ecstasy the first time I took it, the euphoria was just amazing, but then I took too much and had a bad trip a few months later which put me off. Cocaine gave me palpitations, but speed I loved because I could keep partying and drinking all night long without feeling too drunk.

Never tried anything hallucinogenic because I didn’t like the idea of blurring the borders between illusion and reality.

I've taken the normal recreational club drugs. Speed, E, MDMA, coke. Mostly because I was into clubbing and my mates were doing it. No major bad experiences and I eventually grew out of it. Tried weed but I was more into uppers than downers.

When I was younger the drugs I tried were considered recreational whereas heroin, meth, crack were considered hard "junkie" drugs and I wouldn't have dreamed of touching them.

I’ve never touched any drugs at all. I have been very tempted. The combination of being terrified of them when v young and then having the savvy to know I’d probably really like it has made me keep my distance.
I’ve always loved alcohol. My dad was an alcoholic and I do see that I could go that route easily if I didn’t keep an eye on it. Drugs always seemed a scarier choice.

We're every day for about five years. MDMA, pills, cocaine on nights out for a couple years. Nothing any more, occasionally the odd spliff. It was really fun, I'm glad I experimented and I've had no ill effects.

*weed

Nothing, nada, ever.

I used to smoke cigarettes. That’s it.

In my country - doing drugs gets you the death penalty so we kind of don’t. I never knew what drugs were/what they looked like/various types until I moved to London.

Never tried anything myself, but when I was a student I used to hang out in the flat downstairs with the guys who lived there and they smoked weed quite a bit, so I was exposed.

A few of my friends nowadays sometimes do cocaine and I've been there when they've done it. I don't think it's a good idea and would never do it myself, but I like them as people and don't plan to cut them out of my life because of it.

Pills most weekends as a young teen along with poppers and weed.
Quit them all when fell pregnant with first dc. Had the odd spliff on and off since then and still enjoy one now instead of a glass of wine.
Had a really rough time a couple of years ago and got into mcat and coke for a few months. Didn't like the fact I was spending my days on a come down ignoring my dc so i pulled my socks up and quit them all except weed.

Tried weed when you get. It was nice.
That’s it really.

When younger that should say!!

Was anti everything until a trauma when I was 25 and then got hooked on cocaine. Couldn’t drink without it or even wake up properly without it. Then hooked on sleeping pills in the evening to help come down from it. It almost ruined me but now I’m 31 and 2 years clean.

I've done coke, speed, ash, weed, acid, ecstasy, mdna, ket.
Occasionally smoke weed now when I really need to sleep.
Stopped and started cigarettes
Tried crystal meth and heroin once, threw up.
Loved acid in the right company.
Speed for all weekenders, moving and decorating.
Alcohol drink occasionally.

Smoked a few joints in my mid and late teens and tried coke twice when I was 19/20, was seeing an older man at the time and just went along with what he was doing.

Most things bar heroin. Specialist subject was ketamine which was legal and cheap at the time (tenner a gram vs £40 now). It started off at raves and then ended up as a hobby at home. Then it became difficult to get hold of and the similar drugs masquerading as ketamine were horrible so I managed to stop. Other main hobbies were pills and mushrooms. Pills became far too dodgy though and I couldn't handle the weeks after doing them. Mushrooms were free and easy, except when out of season when you could legally buy punnets of fresh mushrooms from shops. They were always good to make the room melt. The only time they were a problem was when I walked into a bar after doing them for the first time, tried to buy a pint and burst out laughing and got really self conscious and had to walk most of the way home thinking I'd messed myself up. Luckily my head cleared all of a sudden and so managed to get back into it for the night.

I smoked marijuana a bit (not much) in my teens and early 20s, but basically I was very restrained given that all my school friends tried ecstasy and my boyfriend was taking acid at the time. I'm not sure why I didn't join them - if only I could bottle the reason and sell it I'd be a rich woman!

Smoked hash a lot from about 16-20. Tried speed a few times but never got anything from it. Friends would be off their faces and I’d get nothing. Enjoyed magic mushrooms. Hung around with friends that would drop an E or take acid every weekend down the local pub. I tried acid a couple of times, at festivals and had a great time on it but both times took it where I felt comfortable. Grew out of it all aged around 22 and living in a country with strict drugs laws.

Drank alcohol from about 13/14. Stopped at about 19 cause didnt like the feeling anymore, made me feel depressed and anxious.
took ecstacy/mdma at about 17 for couple of years, probably tried it due to peer pressure but i thought it was the best thing ever only stopped because of a controlling bf at 19. Dont think I could deal with the come down now tho tbh.
Smoked weed at 17 too because I just fancied trying it so me and my friend sourced some. Had a few hazy years as a late teen and hung about with a bit of a stoner crowd, it didnt really do me any harm did well at college ect. Probably made me a bit moody and secretive towards my parents though.
I have smoked weed since (with a vape now, no tobacco) apart from when i was pregnant/had a newborn and i love it, helps me relax, think more positive and puts things in perspective when im in a low mood.
I really think cannabis should be normalised and obviously legalised. If people knew what they were buying (strain and strength) it would be much better than the current system.

I smoked a bit of weed and tried mdma and cocaine. I had some good, and a really terrible experience with mushrooms and I would never do that again.

This was all down to a boyfriend who did quite a bit. I was never brave enough to get hold of anything on my own. His mental health suffered which also put me off.

I smoked a fair bit of weed in my late teens, but nothing else. I loved how weed made me feel, and if I could get away with smoking it now, I would as I have a spinal condition and I think it would help no end, but I’m too paranoid about the smell etc.

Spent a few years in my 20s taking too many drugs but not necessarily enough for it to ever become really problematic, smoked weed most days and ecstacy/cocaine most weekends along with 2cb mushrooms, diazepam etc. I don't regret it, I had a good time mostly but I can see it would have been easy for it to have escalated and have became problematic.