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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Are you Generation X? Come here a minute...

125 replies

HennyPennyHorror · 19/09/2019 10:29

Do you find that a lot of our generation are still taking drugs at our age?

Or not?

I was part of the rave scene...got out of it aged 23. Left all that behind...but a LOT of people I know of my age or thereabouts (late 40s) are still taking drugs on a regular basis.

I emigrated 4 years ago but have friends in the UK still and see and hear what they get up to on the phone and social media. Here in Oz, my Aussie DH's mates are all still at it too.

We have numerous acquaintances (not mates) who even take things like meth...these are professional people!

AIBU to think it's all going to come to a head at some point? Like...tonnes of them will die young...people back home still taking coke and Es and all that.

It's not right is it?

OP posts:
mrbob · 19/09/2019 11:29

Gen X. None of us took drugs when we were young (well I mean I had a hash cake once and smoked a couple of joints in Amsterdam) and I couldn’t tell you any one I know my age who takes them now. Even the ones without kids

30to50FeralHogs · 19/09/2019 11:30

I have a very small circle of friends - more of a line than a circle to be fair! - so I don’t know anyone, or at least not closely enough for them to admit it to me, who uses any drugs.

DP however says everyone he knows uses them Confused. He doesn’t even drink and very rarely goes out so I’m confident he’s not joining them, but I know his boss, other colleagues, his ex etc all use cocaine at the very least.

I wouldn’t be averse to the odd joint when the kids are at their dad’s house if I knew where to get any weed, but DP (despite being a prolific joint/bong smoker as a younger man) is totally against it, so we don’t! I can imagine if I were with another man in a wider friendship situation I would probably partake, but nothing stronger than weed and not when I was in charge of my DCs.

RosaWaiting · 19/09/2019 11:30

“So they're not reclaiming it as much as not letting it go.”

But is that so bad? Bear in mind I’m not on drugs, if it wasn’t for elderly mum, I’d feel like a teenager a lot of the time and it’s a lovely feeling.

Original poster
HennyPennyHorror · 19/09/2019 11:31

tvdinnertracks Me too...I mean some of my friends and aquaintences who are Gen x and take drugs still are doing very well indeed...but others not so much. Not sure why some manage careers etc and others don't.

I know lawyers who take meth occasionally! And MDMA. I always thought meth was something you took once or twice and then you were hooked!

OP posts:
Original poster
HennyPennyHorror · 19/09/2019 11:33

Rosa it's bad if it's affecting your health yes.

OP posts:
PookieDo · 19/09/2019 11:34

I’m 39 and yes they are
Well they aren’t my friends but I know people do it
I was in the pub a month ago and a guy in our social group got thrown out for doing coke in the loos

ProfYaffle · 19/09/2019 11:35

I don't know anyone who takes anything anymore. I did move to a different part of the country though so don't really see much of the crowd I hung around with in my 20s.

The people I know now would hesitate to have a 3rd drink on a night out tbh!

Titsywoo · 19/09/2019 11:35

Yes quite a few people I know still do drugs. I only realised a few years ago but cocaine is used a fair amount within my friendship group. I've never really bothered with drugs so I have no interest.

RosaWaiting · 19/09/2019 11:35

OP did you see my earlier post? None of this matters if you’d rather die young. Not a PC thing to say, I know.

BarbariansMum · 19/09/2019 11:36

Oh, tell a lie, my brother is generation x a d has been a heroin addict /polydrug user for over 20 years. But he isn't so much someone who uses drugs as someone totally destroyed by them. He's doing very, very badly indeed.

NiceLegsShameAboutTheFace · 19/09/2019 11:41

I'm Gen X and have never taken drugs (paracetamol and ibuprofen excepted).

Wonders if she's missed out Shock

mytinyfiredancers · 19/09/2019 11:41

I'm 35'so not sure but lots of DHs (predominantly male) friends tale coke on a night out (they are 35-39) and lots of them smoke weed too. All fathers except one.

I have one (ex) friend that still uses coke. She's child free by choice, supposed high flying career woman and speaks about it as it's part of her glamorous existence. I think it's pretty sad tbh.

I've never taken drugs. DH dabbled in his youth but hasn't taken any for years and years and certainly not since we became parents.

Original poster
HennyPennyHorror · 19/09/2019 11:59

Rosa who'd rather die young? over 40's not young anyway...I mean if someone's deeply depressed then yes...I'd understand that urge. But wanting to die young when you're over about 35 is just odd. Youths say it sometimes because they don't understand the finality perhaps...or are wrapped up in their own ennui...

OP posts:
User12879923378 · 19/09/2019 12:03

Early 40s. Lots of people dabbled when we were younger (not me, I've never been a fan of it - I don't like being drunk either). I only know a couple who still do anything and I think that's limited to the odd joint amongst the ones who still smoke.

verticality · 19/09/2019 12:08

It seems to be working just fine for many boomers from the previous generation! I know several family friends who have taken just about everything over lifetimes now reaching in to the 70s!

I think the harm of occasional, recreational drug use is sometimes overstated. It's not the same thing as a serious addiction (which can be very life-limiting) though a certain type of Daily Mail moralist likes to blur the boundaries because it's more convenient and involves less thought if it's totally black/white.

Doobigetta · 19/09/2019 12:09

In my circle, no. But thinking about it, there was a wider group that around 10-15 years ago split in two, divided basically along drug taking/non drug taking lines. That would have been in our late 20s. And having seen a lot of the “druggies” for the first time in years at a wedding reception, I was quite surprised that most of them are still on it. One in particular clearly isn’t destined to make old bones.
And all of them were still the self obsessed, up themselves tossers they were back then as well. Which amused me and my friends a great deal.

Stressedout10 · 19/09/2019 12:10

Gen x here and the only drugs that anyone I know use is weed yet are almost all t total.
Go figure

SVRT19674 · 19/09/2019 12:12

45 here. Our group never did drugs, knew some people at uni who dabbled, but not mi scene. I'm an antidrugs nazi. My brother and friends dropped a druggy friend like a stone. Not interested. My husband wen to a private school and he said drugs of the late 80s early 90s were rife. They even drugged a teacher so they could go out afterhours when away on a school trip. He has pointed out to me ex school colleagues of his. I was shocked. They are in ruins. My hubby looks about 7 or 8 years younger than his age.

dayslikethese1 · 19/09/2019 12:16

I think alcohol is more of an issue tbh. Every wknd I see groups of people in their 40s (as well as other ages) completely pissed and staggering all over the place, vomiting, pissing etc. It's pretty grim.

tvdinnertracks · 19/09/2019 12:18

I think the harm of occasional, recreational drug use is sometimes overstated. It's not the same thing as a serious addiction (which can be very life-limiting) though a certain type of Daily Mail moralist likes to blur the boundaries because it's more convenient and involves less thought if it's totally black/white.

Both of my friends just used drugs occasionally and recreationally.

One had a contaminated e. She was in a coma for weeks until they turned off her life support.

The other took an e and had a massive brain haemorrhage. They're pretty sure it was her occasional usage that caused it. She was in a coma for days then died.

Try telling their parents that the harm is over stated.

RosaWaiting · 19/09/2019 12:24

“But wanting to die young when you're over about 35 is just odd”

In your opinion. (Now I sound like that judge on the Good Wife)

I think more people are okay with dying “young” than you think but it’s rarely said. You talk about impact on health but often people will be using something to get through life, legal or illegal.

I think it’s important to be happy. I think it’s important to respect the choices of others. I do have a rule that there’s no drugs in my flat, but beyond that, I don’t comment in any friends using drugs.

jennymanara · 19/09/2019 12:44

I don't know anyone who takes drugs, except one woman who has weed occasionally.
I think people either seem to mix with the kind of people who take drugs, or don't. In my youth I was on the edge of a group of professionals who all took drugs, it would not surprise me if they are still taking them. But the people I mix with now have either never tried any drugs, or had the odd spliff, apart from one woman who was heavily into drugs while holding down a well paid job and has now given it up.

TommyShelby · 19/09/2019 12:51

Older millennial here but lots of gen x friends. Loads of them regularly take cocaine. Tbh it’s just pathetic really

OddBoots · 19/09/2019 12:53

It's not something I know among my social group but it's sounding like an increasingly better idea, an alternative to paying into a pension given the age of retirement being expected for our generation now.

ScreamingValenta · 19/09/2019 12:57

It's not my experience, but then I have never been into the partying scene. I'm no longer in touch with anyone I socialised with 20 years ago so I don't know whether those who indulged still do so - nor do I care, really. If people want to live fast and die young, good luck to them. Better than lingering around for ages on this paltry, depressing planet.