Crack - experiences and opinions please.

[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!

A friend of my DS does crack on nights out apparently, they use it to make the night out ‘better
I'd bet money it is cocaine not crack.

@Emeraldshamrock

A friend of my DS does crack on nights out apparently, they use it to make the night out ‘better I'd bet money it is cocaine not crack.

Why doubt the person's shared experience on here, just because in certain circles cocaine is used as party drug more than crack is?

I won't share for fear of outing myself completely, but I've worked in two professions in my life - one very office-based, travel around the world, consultancy. The other one involving nightlife.

With the second one, I saw crack. I saw people take rocks with them and smoke them before a night out. I saw spice, K, people smoking all sorts. It's hardly beyond the wit and ken of people not to understand this.

@JuniperFather Fair enough though it is hard to imagine they'd have a smoke of crack before a night out it is usually continuous use like cocaine it doesn't last long.
Cocaine is often snorted in nightclubs I can't imagine someone there with a crack pipe.
If I thought my DS was doing crack I'd be very scared for his future I'd probably kill him save him from himself.

My friend's husband is a roofer. She left him after she discovered he was a heroin addict - how he managed to cover it up and work for a couple of years with no one noticing I have no idea. She was told by someone else in the industry that it is quite common among roofers and tradesmen in general. If not heroin then heavy duty painkiller addictions. Not heard of crack being popular though. It surprised me tbh. He's still using despite a few attempts at rehab since she left him. She also discovered he'd done lots of work cash in hand to fund it so she'd not noticed money going missing. He's banned from unsupervised contact with their daughter after he kept showing up high, or failing to turn up, and failing drug tests.

Sorry I meant was, she divorced him.

IMEE crack is very much a party drug and if you think it wasn't you weren't at those sort of parties

Also there's a big difference in a user's perception of themselves as other than a crack head. Like I said earlier much more than other similarly addictive drugs it really lends itself to doing loads in a weekend and then not touching it for ages

So yeah there's a stigma attached to being a crack head but alot of users won't view themselves this way

When I worked in London Coke, ecstasy and cannabis were routinely taken by colleagues and nearly everyone smoked (3 of us didn't). Alcohol was abused most of all though, 2-3 glasses of wine at lunch was normal and more after work, daily. Thankfully for my liver I moved overseas

Chanjer, if you think crack is a party drug you went to some shit parties.

Well every day is a school day. I had no idea. I thought crack was about in the 1980s in New York. Not heard much about it since.

I knew a plasterer who was always on crack. This was about 2007 or so, working on my ex's house. He'd work from like 11pm-5am. Occasionally his girlfriend would turn up as well.

I remember trying to leave the house once but she was sitting on the floor in the doorway rocking away. The plasterer said to me, on seeing my concerned face, "oh, you can just step over her. She won't mind!".

Actually, he may have been taking heroin. But I think it was crack!

Chanjer, if you think crack is a party drug you went to some shit parties.

Not my bag but the idea that it wasn't prevalent on the London rave scene for most of a decade is laughable

I work at the rough end of criminal justice so only see the very negative consequences of crack. It is highly addictive and damaging but people don't tend to start off like that, they want to enjoy their high and they do combine it with work, family life etc. I've tried plenty of drugs in my time but would never try crack having seen the consequences further down the line.

It is scary how many drugs there are out there I'd never even heard of.... (Yes, I'd heard of crack, cocaine, heroin ... but the rest are new to me.) I'm not aware of anyone who regularly takes drugs and the strongest drug I've ever personally seen was cannabis. Never been tempted myself, they say cannabis is a gateway drug but it smells so foul I never could understand why anyone would smoke it.

Anyone working on a legit construction site will be subject to stringent d&a policies, random testing.if you've got one off trades on crack that's different but not a well known / common issue.

It's been everywhere for years.
A few years ago the Head and deputy head of " the best secondary school in the region "
were caught taking crack in a pub toilet.. they weren't a couple but wete also by this outed as having an affair.
They now run a travel company locally.

Crack is a dreadful drug. I know two people very well: one dead at 47 - long term crack user. The other is a family member whose life has been destroyed by this drug. It is absolutely horrific for the family and friends to deal with: lying, stealing, hiding away for days on end so that you think they are dead, no relationship with children, teeth falling out, It is a highly addictive drug that should be avoided at all costs. Very difficult if you’re an addict to get off it.

@Valenciaoranges

Crack is a dreadful drug. I know two people very well: one dead at 47 - long term crack user. The other is a family member whose life has been destroyed by this drug. It is absolutely horrific for the family and friends to deal with: lying, stealing, hiding away for days on end so that you think they are dead, no relationship with children, teeth falling out, It is a highly addictive drug that should be avoided at all costs. Very difficult if you’re an addict to get off it.

We also have a crackhead (or two) in our family. One, privately educated, has managed to hold down several decent jobs until each time she is caught stealing. She has little to no teeth and recently served her first prison sentence. The other is a prolific addict, anything he can get his hands on and is completely ruined, multiple organ failure, loss of continence, perpetual hospital admissions, multiple rehabs and several prison sentences. I also worked with a heroin addict from a 'good' family. Like my addict relatives, he was clearly enabled by his family to support his habit so at that time hadn't needed to go down the route of robbing to support his habit. No idea where he is now though. Despite the narrow view of mnetters, addicts do walk and work among us. Just because it's not your experience, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. There's a big reason why lots of labourers flit from one agency to another and from town to town. They may well be working for reputable construction companies but so many elements of the job are subcontracted out, especially huge jobs such as housing estates, schools etc, that the development company never has anything to do with recruitment or overseeing workers on site. It's very easy as well for a lifelong blagger to walk in and out of jobs, fake id, fake references, genuine references from when life was better etc. It's also easy on big sites to find a spot to jack up or have a cheeky toot on a pipe. People will know, sometimes turn a blind eye, sometimes kick them out.

@famousforwrongreasons - I couldn’t agree more. The family member has worked in construction for many years, although currently unable to work. People have no idea how awful it is.

[quote Valenciaoranges]@famousforwrongreasons - I couldn’t agree more. The family member has worked in construction for many years, although currently unable to work. People have no idea how awful it is.[/quote]
Absolutely. I have worked and lived on the peripheries of hard drug use all my life. Unless you've come across it, it likely does sound extraordinary but it's massively prevalent.
I think also cheap labourers are very expendable and are often only needed for a few weeks at a time, some are hired on a day to day basis, the only stipulation being have a cscs and your own ppe. Very easy to nick or borrow all of those things.