To think there's an unfair stigma around recreational drug use?

[janef001]

I have a female friend who recreationally uses weed, ecstasy and xanax from time to time. They live in a houseshare with two other women.

Last week one roommate couldn't find an Apple Watch and asked my friend if they've seen it. They said no. My friend went to sleep later during the day and overheard the other two downstairs saying "I think x must have taken it for cash, you know she does drugs all the time."

My friend was upset to say the least and especially when the roommate later found it in the next day at the bottom of her clothes hamper near the washing machine.

I know these attitudes aren't uncommon and I've heard my own family who are quite educated express them. I understand the devastation addiction causes but many people take drugs apart from weed and alcohol and don't end up stealing from friends/family/roommates.

I wonder why there's still such a strong stigma

I wouldn’t assume you were a thief though just because you used recreationally.

@SleeplessInEngland completely agree. I would attach the same stigma to someone driving drunk as whilst on drugs.

Illegal drugs mess up your life in one way or another.

Not necessarily. I know a lot of highly educated people with good jobs who take or have taken illegal drugs. Many people can take drugs responsibly.

@AppleBottomRats I actually think they might have thought the same thing if the friend was a notably heavy drinker. My friend’s family member is an alcoholic who stole from various people.

Interesting connection you’ve made though. Why are you comparing recreational drug use, usually meaning socially on the odd Saturday night party, to an alcoholic? The OP didn’t say the post was about a heavy drug user.

Projecting your extreme personal experience onto millions of others isn't a compelling argument.

There's a difference between unfair stigma around drug use and unfair stigma towards drug users.

Drug use and addictions are absolutely devastating disease. Despite what some users may say, the line between "recreational use" and addiction is very blurred sometimes.

I don't think we need to do away with stigma around illegal drug use at all, but increased education around addiction being a disease, how it affects people, what treatment is available and what signs of addiction to look for are, is all really helpful.

Treating people like they're scum because they're drug users is not okay. But normalising or condoning their drug use is not the solution to that problem.

Not many people stop at just one recreational drug.

I wouldn't live with a drug user.

Because alcohol is very cheap and easily available, so you would need to either be drinking it in large volumes or have some other kind of financial issue to steal for it. You can buy beers for less than a pound per pint.

People must live really sheltered lives if they think everyone (or most people) who do drugs recreationally end up an addict and thief. I know plenty of people who have done “party” drugs when they were younger and ten years later they’re living completely normal lives and haven’t bothered with drugs again for years (myself included). It’s like saying everyone who drinks recreationally is going to become an alcoholic, it’s nonsense and hysteria.

An entirely made up statistic.

Yes, a lot of 'reefer madness' on this thread. It's a lot like that episode of Brass Eye.

The stigma exists in order to make middle class binge drinkers feel okay about their habits. If weed or LSD was taxed and sold in Waitrose the stigma would soon disappear.

Have you ever met anyone with drug induced psychosis? I have, and they all started with recreational use of ' a little bit of weed' and ended up as shadows of their former selves. Whole lives destroyed. I realize, of course, not being a complete pratt, that some people are quite capable of doing 'a little bit of weed' and being perfectly fine, but sadly we have no idea if we are going to be lucky or unlucky when we start doing drugs.
My nephew died from an accidental overdose , he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, refused to believe he had it, but self-medicated. He's dead now , what a bloody waste. I don't suppose he thought he would be found,in his kitchen with a needle in his arm .
But still, young people all think they are indestructible.

Weed has become dangerously strong in the past decade. A good argument for regulatation, given illegality seems to do bugger all.

Because, as demonstrated by the majority of comments on this thread, there is a huge amount of ignorance surrounding ‘drugs’. An occasional weekend ecstasy user, or someone who likes a spliff the odd evening, is miles apart from an addicted heroin user who has to steal to fund a physical addiction. Alcohol is a drug. Caffeine and tobacco are drugs. If it’s just the legality that causes the moral hand-wringing then that’s ridiculous, lots of things are lawful and shouldn’t be or illegal and shouldn’t be. I do wish people would have some kind of understanding of what they they’re talking about before they feel it necessary to share their opinions on things.

Mumsnet drugs threads are hilarious. No other threads are quite so ill informed.

I'm just here for the hysteria 😎

On the contrary, the posters I consider sheltered are those who are probably professionals/middle class people in their 30's and 40's who's personal experience of recreational drug use is the odd line of cocaine at a party in their uni days.

The longer you take drugs, the more frequently you take drugs, the more likely you are to become an addict. Addicts are easily able to live for years or even spend their whole lives in denial over their addiction. So it's not a case of there's this black and white line between an addict and a recreational user.

It's not about creating a moral panic. I've seen so many people in my life succumb to addiction. Some have acknowledged the problem and are in the slow, painful, relapse riddled path to recovery. Some are clearly high functioning addicts who will probably never admit they have a problem despite it being evident, and so won't seek treatment.

I'm just really curious about the OP's comment as well - "I've heard my own family who are quite educated express them". What does this mean? Is there any body of evidence or research that has been conducted that shows the majority of people can take highly addictive substances like Xanax "from time to time" and be perfectly okay? Or is the reason there is such a "stigma" around drug use is that it's very evident common knowledge that these substances are highly addictive, detrimental to health and on top of all that supporting organised crime? Why is it woke to be pro drug use instead of anti drug use?

@otherfavourite , it's been strong for much longer than a decade. I met people more than 25 years ago who had drug induced psychosis. ( I say met, I interviewed them as they were homeless upon discharge from a psychiatric unit). The first one I interviewed really was a wreck, he was intelligent, had a degree and now homeless with a lifelong psychiatric condition and also poor physical health. A mess.

Any kind of illegal drug user is an irresponsible bastard imo. The amount of misery and suffering that goes into getting those drugs to your idiot friend is appalling.

The longer you take drugs, the more frequently you take drugs, the more likely you are to become an addict.

Not true of the people I know. But I don't know anyone who does cocaine because it's a really boring drug. Mushrooms and LSD are much more interesting. E and weed are not bad.

Sorry I messaged the wrong poster.

If weed or LSD was taxed and sold in Waitrose then the suppliers wouldn't be enslaving teenagers to grow it nor would they be members of gangs.
Alcohol is cheap enough that, unless you have lost your job through alcohol use, you can't really spend enough on it to make you steal.

My young adult dd has just completed an NHS referral for ADHD having struggled with mental health since puberty. She uses weed since it calms her down and slows the multiple competing distractions that swamp her mind. On the NHS referral form there was a whole section dedicated to drug use - because those with untreated / undiagnosed / poorly managed mental health often choose to self medicate out of desperation. GP has just advised us there is a 2 year wait list to be seen.

Dd doesn't and wouldn't use anything other than weed and is careful to source appropriate stuff (ie avoid synthetic cannabinoids). I can confidentally say that if the NHS wasn't such a shambles, mental health was appropriately researched and supported and she was NT (rather than ND) she wouldn't be smoking cannabis. So yes there is an unfair stigma and also often its not recreational use by unlicensed, self medication

I don’t know if I believe that using weed, ecstasy and Xanax is just harmless fun, to be honest. Of course it doesn’t make your friend a thieving scum bag, but I would probably think (unless she is young and in a short hedonistic, experimental phase) she’s running away from something emotionally and is not a very happy person.

I think the same about people who have to have a drink to enjoy themselves, to be fair.

And I’m definitely not ignorant when it comes to drugs. I was a raver in my youth and did ecstasy, psychedelics and smoked loads of weed. It left me with quite shit mental health in the long run, and set up a pattern of needing a substance to relax, unwind, have fun etc.I used coke in my twenties and then became an alcoholic in my thirties. It’s all the same thing - using substances to change the way you feel.

Life is so much better sober.