Justifying taking cocaine?

[josephinebonaparted]

Just seen on another thread that there are a number of posters with kids (and presumably a decent income to afford it) take cocaine recreationally, or hang out with those who do.

Can I ask how they reconcile supporting the cocaine industry, which must be one of the bloodiest and most inhuman trades in the world? Is there a ‘fair trade’ option? Is it because it doesn’t really matter? Or something else?

I appreciate this is going to come across judgy, and I am trying to understand different perspectives. I remember reading about the beheadings, torture etc done in the name of drugs gangs and I don’t know how I’d be able to take coke and feel morally at peace.

I dont think they think about it that deeply

I judge them

They don’t care about it. They only care about having a good time.

Nothing wrong with judging people who take cocaine.

I can't get my head round why anyone would do drugs, especially sniffing something which has probably been smuggled into the country up someone's arse.

As if that’s a thought.

Honestly, I used to love drugs in my younger days... carefree and out all the time. Not every day but now and again. But now I’m married with 2 kids so drugs are something I’ll never entertain again. I don’t understand how parents can take coke or anything like that really. I know some people who have parties with the kids upstairs and they’re all taking drugs upstairs, which is disgusting. I would judge ... I do judge now!

*all taking drugs downstairs

My sister done away with my parents retirement money, sold her house that my parents helped her buy for her and her newborn child for cocaine. When said child was rushed into hospital she was snorting coke off the kids toilet seats and spent many years just been a general waste of space due to her coke addiction. Vile human - for this I have absolutely no interest in drug users - people who try to justify their drug use as recreational or just for fun.

My dealer has assured me that all my cocaine comes from a Worker's Co-operative just outside Taunton and is guaranteed free from cruelty. He tells me that it is produced using the centuries old artisanal traditions handed down from mother to daughter in the villages around the Somerset Levels and is from 100% sustainable sources.

That is why it costs twice as much as my friend Arabella's chang but I really think that you can tell the difference.

A lot of people do things they know adversely affect other people directly or indirectly via the environment and dont care. Take long haul flights. Buy cheap clothes made in sweatshops. Buy palm oil / avocados/ meat. Sell car seats that have been damaged. Feed their overweight kids junk food. Use real hair extensions from unethical sources. Buy things of facebook or Ebay that may have been stolen and don't ask for the original receipt. Buy fake handbags. Etc.

I'm not saying that makes any of it ok but it is widespread and hard to avoid, I wouldnt have a relationship with someone who used cocaine but I dont think I'd not be friends with someone because of it, as most people make some unethical choices

It's the same detachment people feel about eating meat.

Most enjoy a burger or steak without thinking about the cow being killed. They think as far as getting to the supermarket.

People who take cocaine think as far as contacting their dealer, not about the journey that cocaine has been on to reach them.

Fuck that Shit.
I wonder how all the posters who think it's ok to take drugs would feel when their child starts off taking recreational drugs occasional and ends up injecting themselves in the groin because its the only vein they have left.
Or a evil bastard who is so off their heads on drugs murders their child in the most horrific and brutal way.

But that won't happen to all the arseholes who only take cocaine occasionally.

There are loads of industries and businesses that make profit while being immoral.

Do you boycott every company that uses child labour?

Every company that uses slave labour?

Every company that tests on animals?

The list goes on.

The drug industry is horrible of course I agree but it isn't the only one. And people can be very hypocritical when it comes to this.

I also know people who take cocaine whilst their children are upstairs.

It's the same detachment people feel about eating meat.

No it's not

My dealer has assured me that all my cocaine comes from a Worker's Co-operative just outside Taunton and is guaranteed free from cruelty. He tells me that it is produced using the centuries old artisanal traditions handed down from mother to daughter in the villages around the Somerset Levels and is from 100% sustainable sources

What a story!

You are gullible though.

Impossible to justify. I doubt if anyone will come forward to try.

No it's not

Any argument to back that up? I think it was a very valid point tbh. The world is full of industries that exploit people and animals, and most of us use products that fall under that bracket all the time without thinking about it. I would be very surprised if this was an issue many drug users would think about regularly.

Disagree with posters seeking to equate the ethics of buyers buying (or not) from legal with illegal markets.

There are plenty of problems with legal markets and consumption.

But illegal ones are of a different order of harms.

Exploitation is only worth considering when the end product is an illegal substance, I suppose.

With practically any other industry (meat, textiles etc) you can argue that there are at least some ethical players and that you can choose to select suppliers that meet your ethical needs. Additionally, you can argue that these industries provide taxes, innovation/development and legal employment. Without having to decide whether there is a net positive or negative (which surely would be subjective), at least there are some positives for people as as whole.

These can’t be applied to the cocaine industry. Or at least I can’t manage to square it.

Ah, going to double post now.

@Dozer is the death of a person picking coffee beans any less significant than the death of a person producing cocaine? Or is it just because coffee is legal that it causes the distinction? Both seem like the same "harm" to me.

Can I ask how they reconcile supporting the cocaine industry, which must be one of the bloodiest and most inhuman trades in the world?

Same way the porn industry and sex work gets justified, I suppose.

Would like to see the Venn diagram...

If the harms seem the same to you then you’re ignorant about the drugs trade.