Page 3 | Crack - experiences and opinions please.

Emeraldshamrock · 18/08/2020 12:36

Didn't Kitkat change the packaging because the foil was being used to smoke crack? No that was heroin.

FippertyGibbett · 18/08/2020 12:38

A friend of my DS does crack on nights out apparently, they use it to make the night out ‘better’.
Unfortunately what they don’t realise is that it can do irreparable damage to your heart which you only find out about in the future.

oakleaffy · 18/08/2020 12:39

@canigooutyet

Didn't Kitkat change the packaging because the foil was being used to smoke crack?

I think that was heroin... I remember the fussification in the press about it, but foil isn't hard to buy. Some drugs projects give out foil to users {without the plastic backing}

Exchange Supplies stock it. In handy little booklets with instructions in how to use 'safely'.

Since HIV, a lot of drug services work on 'Harm minimisation' rather than draconian measures {that don't work}

Those little gas canisters and balloons are bloody annoying though....

Take your drug litter home with you!

thepeopleversuswork · 18/08/2020 12:39

There are people in all walks of life using hard drugs, sometimes recreationally, sometimes not so much, that can hide it reasonably well and more or less function (until they can't).

I see no reason they wouldn't be using crack really. I've barely come across it in my life but I'm too old to come into regular contact with hard drugs nowadays.

And I suppose if you're doing hand to mouth work it would matter less if you blew out work after a bender than if you were permanently employed.

oakleaffy · 18/08/2020 12:41

Harm minimisation.

www.exchangesupplies.org

AllWeHaveIsNow · 18/08/2020 12:42

@FippertyGibbett

A friend of my DS does crack on nights out apparently, they use it to make the night out ‘better’. Unfortunately what they don’t realise is that it can do irreparable damage to your heart which you only find out about in the future.

My aforementioned doctor brother was saying that if a younger person has a heart attack, the first thing they try to check is if they have been doing coke. I know a lot of people my age (35) and older who do it of a weekend and I do think about their hearts. I'm not a "drugs are bad mm'kay" type (shows age again), but this does worry me a bit. And yes, I think the same about too much booze as well, but coke I think is slightly worse for one's heart? I lost a relative to a suspected alcoholic cardiomyopathy though, so I know alcohol is bad for the heart too.

MintyMabel · 18/08/2020 12:43

I work in the construction industry. I can confirm building sites are not awash with crackheads.

Why would you believe such blatant rumour spreading?

FippertyGibbett · 18/08/2020 12:45

Perhaps it’s coke not crack the friend is doing. I know nothing about drugs and have never had the inclination to try them.

Branleuse · 18/08/2020 12:48

i think a lot more people are crackheads than you might think.
I personally wouldnt trust them. Its skanky and majorly addictive. Its also fucking horrible when i tried it once. I dont see the appeal, but it definitely appeals to a certain type

famousforwrongreason · 18/08/2020 12:49

@Esla1986

First time poster, long time lurker.

Around one month ago, one of our project managers (in the building trade) happen to mention that smoking cannabis, and now crack, is common in the industry. He said that it was because they struggle to get work in a 'normal job', so end up as casual labourers on building sites essentially. I was so shocked (about the crack)!

Then around 2 weeks ago, I recommended a plasterer that we used about 1 year (not work related), to someone. He happened to know this guy’s name (I live in a small city of around 600,000 people). He responded with, 'I wouldn’t hire him, you know that he is a crackhead?'. I actually could not believe it. Yes, he lives in a rough part of town, but I was sure that he must have the wrong guy (family man, mid -40s, 2 kids).

When I had hired the plasterer a year ago, he was recovering from a broken back as he had fallen from the roof of his outbuilding. The chap that I was speaking to then said 'he didn't fall of the roof; he jumped after getting high on crack, thinking that he was being chased!'

I have just been told my aunt, who lets out a flat in our city that she is trying evict her tenants as they are making crack and dealing it from the flat.

I am 33 years old and when I was young crack just was not around. I cannot believe how popular it seems to be now.

How sad for the individuals and communities.

Does anyone have similar experiences? Maybe it is just me and my town!

I'm nearly fifty and crack was definitely around when I was young. I have smoked it twenty odd years ago, and in the words of Superhans 'it's very moreish'. Lots of hardened drug users in the building trade. Many homeless people and people on probation aspire to the trade and they will be supported by probation and the jobcentre to obtain their cscs card and get jobs on sites. There are agencies galore so it's easy to move around once you get found out.

Having a wife and family does not preclude you from taking hard drugs.
I know a very rich builder in our area who's a huge hard drug user as is his vile racist wife. They are absolutely minted, live in a massive house and have a second home in a desirable holiday area. They are some of the most revolting people I know, violent, aggressive and their whole social circle is the same.

wigglerose · 18/08/2020 12:53

Vaguely involved in the construction industry and echo what others have said, alcohol is a major issue, both for management/office based workers and and people working on site. We have a lot of contractors who just go out drinking every single night of the week, particularly if they're living away from home. One bloke quit and went to work offshore to stop him being able to do that. Crack not so much.

AllWeHaveIsNow · 18/08/2020 12:53

@FippertyGibbett

Perhaps it’s coke not crack the friend is doing. I know nothing about drugs and have never had the inclination to try them.

Coke is (was) a lot more common on a night out. It is (was) rife, whereas crack used to be something people did at home and were often addicts. Coke was always a party drug IME and used to be considered less dirty than many other drugs, but personally, I am very against it, due to where it comes from and also the effect it has on people's hearts.

Perhaps this is ignorance, but if I had to choose, I'd rather find out someone I knew and liked was doing coke than doing crack, but I may eat my words!

fleamadonna · 18/08/2020 13:06

I have some personal experience on this subject.

Crack is definitely /not/ a party drug. It does not lend itself to any situation other than desperate, desolate searching for more crack in dark rooms with like minded people that you probably hate and resent. This cycle can only be broken by sleep or heroin. Neither of these will come easily. More anxiety, self loathing etc etc.

I can literally feel it now. It’s a nightmarish existence. From my now relatively lofty position of comfort and security I wonder what hopelessness and despair people must live in to keep welcoming crack into their lives. I have no doubt that lots of seemingly well adjusted people do, though. People hide a lot of shit.

canigooutyet · 18/08/2020 13:07

Thanks all I could really remember was chasing the whatever and a mate pissed off about the change, they were on a lot of different drugs in a variety of forms.

oakleaffy · 18/08/2020 13:12

The last time I has coke {lines} my heart went into serious overdrive.
I was young, fit, slim and it scared the bejazus out of me.

It was terrifying...I don't drink, so it was a NYE 'treat'...But I seriously thought I was going to have a heart attack.

Not dared to take it since.

Coke is very cardio-toxic so I have heard.

Also, very short acting. And very moreish. Not for nothing is it called ''Marching powder.

Far better not.

PegasusReturns · 18/08/2020 13:21

DH runs an architect firm. Spends a lot of time with main contractors. There is a big issue with sub contractors using drugs.

I was surprised when he told me recently.

KarlKennedysDurianFruit · 18/08/2020 13:33

I work in the justice system as does my husband, crack use in the construction industry is a well known issue, as is cannabis and alcohol use on the job, labouring can in hand is still common and issued the only kind of work a male with lots of convictions, no qualifications or professional skills, will be able to get. They are often driven to and from work or around here get the train into London and usage takes place on the journeys too

canigooutyet · 18/08/2020 13:51

Coke is very addictive, that unlike crack, I did enjoy far too much and would go on benders for days at a time. I used to buy bulk but wasted far too much money.
Also had an amphetamine addiction.
Currently got a weed addiction. (I genuinely have an addictive personality and have multiple legal and illegal addictions and have since a child)

My gateway drug was speed when I was in secondary. I used to ace English after a dab or bomb, won several writing competitions as well. Used it over the years when decorating, moving etc. It's also rife in building, roofing, carpenters, painters and decorators etc. Either that or small doses of mdna.

AllWeHaveIsNow · 18/08/2020 13:55

I used to work in restaurants and hotels. I know some chefs were using coke and MDMA. There were really nice places, but I think the need to get through long shifts at all hours, few breaks and the general stress of cooking at that level just meant they relied on it to push through.

Original poster

Esla1986 · 18/08/2020 15:25

@GoshHashana

Thinking back, my decorator could well have been on it judging by how wonky the shelves are!

This made me laugh!

My plasterer was bloody amazing! Maybe the problem was that your decorator wasn't on crack!

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Original poster

Esla1986 · 18/08/2020 15:27

@KarlKennedysDurianFruit

I work in the justice system as does my husband, crack use in the construction industry is a well known issue, as is cannabis and alcohol use on the job, labouring can in hand is still common and issued the only kind of work a male with lots of convictions, no qualifications or professional skills, will be able to get. They are often driven to and from work or around here get the train into London and usage takes place on the journeys too

PegasusReturns & KarlKennedysDurianFruit - that is really interesting and is what our PM said.

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Original poster

Esla1986 · 18/08/2020 15:29

@canigooutyet

Coke is very addictive, that unlike crack, I did enjoy far too much and would go on benders for days at a time. I used to buy bulk but wasted far too much money. Also had an amphetamine addiction. Currently got a weed addiction. (I genuinely have an addictive personality and have multiple legal and illegal addictions and have since a child)

My gateway drug was speed when I was in secondary. I used to ace English after a dab or bomb, won several writing competitions as well. Used it over the years when decorating, moving etc. It's also rife in building, roofing, carpenters, painters and decorators etc. Either that or small doses of mdna.

Wow - have you ever tried getting any sort of help? Although I know that this is easier said than done.

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PunkMudda · 18/08/2020 15:30

I had no idea about crack being prevalent in the construction industry?!

I grew up on a council estate in London and crack was prevalent in the 90s. There were quite a few dealers living on the estate and they were busy round the clock.

On the Mayfair party scene in London 90s-early 2000s I witnessed a lot of ‘Highbrow’ people smoking cocaine in a spliff, which is really just a hop and skip away from crack...

xoxogossipgirl2020 · 18/08/2020 15:31

I know many many many many people who snort coke, to my knowledge, I don’t know anybody who “does crack” (I don’t even know what crack is or how one does it!!!!) were in construction too if that makes a difference!

Emeraldshamrock · 18/08/2020 15:38

I don't know OP like a pp I've had a lot of experience with drugs party drugs.
Although it has been a long time, I live in an area with lots of drug use.
The majority of recreational drug users who use coke, ket, MDMA, weed, spice wouldn't touch crack it has stigma attached to it like heroin, you're not assumed to be a junkie taking recreational drugs, you're definitely assumed a junkie if on crack or heroin.
Crack heads are mental when out of it, they usually are out of it daily, even building sites aren't desperate enough to hire a crack addict despite what another poster assumes, you need to be with it have a brain to work on a site with many H&S procedures.
Drug use yes is everywhere
Crack not so much.