Professional people and drug use

[Beebee6]

I work in banking and moved to London a year ago for a career opportunity. I’m in my early 30s and have never thought of myself as particularly naive but I’m genuinely shocked by how many of my colleagues regularly use drugs. By drugs, I'm mostly referring to cocaine. They all talk about this very openly as if it’s a perfectly normal and acceptable thing to do at the weekend, after work or when they have spare time without the kids. On the rare occasions when I have been along to social events after work, it’s always offered around and I appear to be the only one not partaking. None of these people are particularly ‘young’ either (most 30s-40s) and are all very successful professional people, who in my (perhaps judgemental) opinion, aren’t the typical drug using types. Some are single but many have families. I mentioned this to a friend of mine who seemed to think that this is now commonplace amongst many working professionals, particularly in the city. I’m curious as to whether this sort of thing really has become more normal and accepted now?

Absolutely disgusted with some of the comments here especially "drugs being bloody good fun" I wonder how you would feel as a mother if I had to take you into the mortuary viewing room to see your son / daughter lying on a slab but hey no they had "bloody good fun". People like you make my blood boil. We are where we are with drugs they are still illegal in the UK, until they aren't then stupid comments like the aforementioned are immature and pathetic as well as devoid of any real grasp of the devastation drugs wreak on a daily basis.

Absolutely disgusted with some of the comments here especially "drugs being bloody good fun" I wonder how you would feel as a mother if I had to take you into the mortuary viewing room to see your son / daughter lying on a slab but hey no they had "bloody good fun". People like you make my blood boil. We are where we are with drugs they are still illegal in the UK, until they aren't then stupid comments like the aforementioned are immature and pathetic as well as devoid of any real grasp of the devastation drugs wreak on a daily basis.

Agree with this 1000%

Most of the harms related to drug use are actually caused by prohibition, I think we need to acknowledge that humans enjoy altering their consciousness, this is part of human experience which won't go away and we need to find ways to manage it, to minimise the harms

Hi Nothin and LHMB,

It's my comment that you're complaining about, and I stand by it in its context.

Hearhere, I know the research you're talking about and I've met its lead contributor, David Nutt. He's a professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial. I posted a link to some earlier research of his into the harms caused by various drugs back up the thread.

PS Nothin, I should also add that I'm aware of the devastation which drugs can cause from personal experience.

"Again, I know that none of my friends don't partake."

D'Oh! I know that none of my friends take illegal drugs of any kind!

Well if that's the case it really hasn't opened your eyes to the reality of it. I have seen many young people and not so young who have overdosed, or taken one tablet then died or ended up in ICU. I have heard the echoing screams of a family as the life support has been removed she was 17yrs old. They will never ever get over that. Yes maybe many people do take recreational drugs but just because they don't die doesn't mean to say it doesn't alter their life in a negative way. Brains are altered/affected by drugs that is a given especially the still growing brain of an adolescent. NOTHING you say to defend /uphold drugs will alter my opinion. The recreational/ middle class users are all maintaining and enabling the drug dealers in their evil trade.

I went to a talk by Ben Sessa recently, a child psychiatrist who has just piloted a study on the use of mdma in psychotherapy for ptsd and alcoholism. As a therapist myself I find it fascinating and incredibly worthwhile. It's absolutely untrue that 'nothing good has come from drugs ever', don't be so narrow minded.

Also think about all the wonderful art, writing and music we wouldn't have had without drugs!

NOTHING you say to defend /uphold drugs will alter my opinion.

I am the same. Hate drugs with a passion

I am all for research into the good that drugs can do, but I still maintain a zero tolerance towards illegal drugs.

There was loads of research in the US back in the day using mdma and lsd, until prohibition.

jiggles No need to be do condescending. Obviously in a controlled clinical environment they may well help certain medical conditions. I am talking about the rubbish sold on the streets to our children. If you can't understand that then I give up. Until you have seen a young life snuffed out in front if your very eyes you cannot appreciate the suffering that goes on. There is another thread on here about a poor woman questioning whether she should kick her son out. The whole problem is so obviously drug related. All this woman wants is some peace for herself and her son. After reading her post no amount of quoting from some Professor on drugs is going to help her.

Nothininmenoggin if you work in a medical capacity then you will know that people die for all sorts of godawful tragic reasons. For instance car crashes or horse riding or running marathons or skiing. If the people hadn’t have done those things they wouldn’t have died. Yet many many more people do those things and enjoy them and don’t die. What’s the difference?

They are legal for a start, and know and understand the risks.

Tapas for two yes that’s the argument for legalisation isn’t it. Anyway alcohol kills more people than any of the above together and that’s legal

I can't argue with that.

@Inliverpool1 Coke is cheaper than 5 pints in the uk. It’s self medicating

How cheap is the coke or how expensive are the pints you're buying

@jiggles

Also think about all the wonderful art, writing and music we wouldn't have had without drugs

Are you joking? This is a gross thing to say. I think regularly about the people I know who have had their lives destroyed by drugs. From full-blown addiction to soft drugs. All were bright and had a lot to offer. Now they are dysfunctional shells of their former selves who haven't done anything with their lives. Not everyone ends up like this, but from what I can tell the chances are high enough to not make using drugs worth it. (never mind the super violent industry behind it..)

I understand some drugs are being trialled therapeutically, that doesn't mean drugs are cool and we should all hope for the best.

Shiver Yes people have some awful accidents every minute of every day ending in death or serious injury. These people are aware of the risks they are taking as per your example horseriders and skiers. They have usually trained and have the correct equipment for that sport. It is the young and vulnerable that are buying all sorts of shit out on the streets, being told it's this and that when infact it has brick dust and bloody rat poison in it. They don't carry a pharmacy set in their bags to check that they are infact getting what they have paid for instead of some awful concoction that could make them extremely ill or kill them. The difference is that for the many recreational drug users that don't die you are insinuating that they lead a normal life and maybe some of them do. I do believe though that for the vast majority of them their drug taking impacts on their lives hugely, jobs and family relationships being an area where drug taking has devastating effects.

harrietpnCompletely agree and this came from a therapist, God help us then.

Hi there Nothin and LMBH,

I'm certainly not trying to alter your view of drugs. But we do need a different approach to them, because the current one isn't working, by your own evidence. And you should maybe acknowledge that if you reject highly-respected academic research by world-class experts into this in favour of gut instinct and emotional reactions then your view might not be the best basis for policy formulation.

A couple of people have mentioned MDMA/ecstasy. All the research suggests that it is "minimally" harmful for want of a better expression. A very few people's lives are badly damaged and ended by it. But it was that particular drug that David Nutt famously compared favourably with horse riding which also wrecks lives and ends lives. Skiing is a similar example. And the legal drugs that many of us use like alcohol are orders of magnitude more harmful.

And in fact even then, much of the harm of MDMA comes from its status under the current legislation. Kids don't know what they're buying, because it's an unregulated market. And when they use it they're suddenly on the same side of the fence as users of crystal meth, crack cocaine and heroin, and those catastrophically more dangerous things may seem an easier step for them to take.

As another comparison, some aspects of our approach to drugs remind me of my parents' attitudes to sex. Be as authoritarian as possible about it, demonise it, and kids won't do it. In both cases kids will do it, and we need to build our responses around that truth.

I have no idea if any of my friends or colleagues take drugs as they probably wouldn't tell me as I am teetotal, non-smoker and have never taken an illegal drug in my life, so I don't get invited to their nights out, but that;'s fine with me. I do know most of them drink a lot at the weekends and think nothing of drinking in the weekday evenings, as they tell me. I think I am naive, though and it probably happens more than I know about.

The laws exist to prosecute and punish users of illegal drugs but they are not upheld.

The difference is that for the many recreational drug users that don't die you are insinuating that they lead a normal life and maybe some of them do. I do believe though that for the vast majority of them their drug taking impacts on their lives hugely, jobs and family relationships being an area where drug taking has devastating effects

I just don’t think this is true. I work in an industry where lots of people do it and as mentioned up thread I only know of one who ended up with a problem. The rest had kids and toned it down. Normal lives.

I guess there’s probably a big difference in how drug takers fair depending on circumstances though. A professional with a good job and family is more likely to dabble for fun than an unemployed person unable to see a future for themselves

Better to be open minded, calm and curious about someone's drug use and what it means for them as a therapist than cats bum faced, hysterical and judgemental no? I know who I'd rather talk to if I had a problem anyway!

And yes I was joking about the arts, sort of.