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

Heartening to see so many people on here who are pro legalisation/regulation. I mean they must be if they’re decrying the supply side of the illegal drug trade.

I hate druggies. And the worst are the "recreational" ones that think they are different to a smack head. Couple of steps behind. Drugs destroy lives and communities on so many levels both in the countries that are users and the countries that are suppliers.

Congrats on writing the silliest post on the thread yet. As if all this doesn’t apply to alcohol.

This is such a misinformed opinion, that addiction = lack of mental strength.

A poster upthread said that people are largely incredibly ignorant about addiction, and I agree.

But on a separate note, I just don’t believe people using drugs recreationally is harmless. I don’t think it should be stigmatised, but I’d also like to see a society where people didn’t feel they needed to chase happiness in substances. So I don’t think ‘crack on, it’s fun!’ Is the right message either.

I also hear a lot of justification and denial in some posts.Being a middle class occasional coke snorter or hippie magic mushroom user doesn’t make you immune to addiction or things going pear shaped.. You only have to look at all the ‘functioning’ alcoholics in our society of all walks of life to realise that. Functioning alcoholic usually just means they’ve still got a house and a job. Who knows what other damage their use is causing to relationships, health, their mental health? Drugs are the same. You can’t regularly use drugs as a responsible adult without some consequences. I call BS on people who say they take drugs regularly with no ill effects. It catches up with you eventually.

But on a separate note, I just don’t believe people using drugs recreationally is harmless. I don’t think it should be stigmatised, but I’d also like to see a society where people didn’t feel they needed to chase happiness in substances.

History does not auger well for this hope. Virtually all cultures through time have wanted to get off their head on something or other. Perhaps it’s one of the tenets that makes us human, warts and all.

Drug takers are fucking scum. Whether its weed or heroin they’re all as bad as each other. Couldn’t give a shit about where it comes from and the consequences just as long they are ok.

and yes, i will wear my judgment pants all day.

good riddance to each and every one i say. Society would be a far better place without them.

That's not even "judgement" though, it's just plain, disgusting, bloodthirsty, prejudice.

Sure..

There literally is a well known cross over of people who have suffered trauma who go on to had substance abuse issue. Addiction issues have many cross overs with vulnerabilities - I don't understand why you're accusing me of conflating two separate entities when a quick google search will tell you as much.

You're a victim of childhood SA, and a drug user yourself. But because you're "a self made millionaire" the adverse affects don't apply to you?

Your opinion is so ignorant and offensive anyway, it's just not applicable to people in the real world. It's an emotive and unfounded statement to say "people who are addicts lack mental strength". Which is what you are saying by the way, if you are saying people who don't have addictions possess mental strength.

The psychology of addiction and the risk factors are well studied. Yet somehow in this day and age it's still okay to have opinions like "all drug addicts are scum" and "mental strength prevents addiction"

My mind truly boggles

The main victims of the drugs trade are young black men, too many of whom are stabbed to death. Or people in developing countries caught in the crossfire of turf wars (think Colombia or Mexico as examples).

I view those who take illegal drugs as indirectly racist, even though that is not their intent. And I never want them behind the wheel of a car or other vehicle.

No it is not an unfair stigma around those who take recreational drugs. I foster a little boy that has complex learning disability. His mother took recreational drugs throughout her pregnancy and when she was pregnant with his brother too as well as lots of alcohol. The consultant noted in his notes he was born a heroine addict. As a newborn baby he had to be weaned off drugs. We have been told the heavy abuse of recreational drugs most probably led to his learning disability. This will impact him his whole life. So no if you don't want to be judged don't do the crime.

I totally agree.

I'd be in favour of 10 year sentences for anyone caught in possession of illegal drugs. I'd be happy for alcohol to be cracked down on too. Supermarkets shouldn't be able to sell it like they do carrots or bread. It should be restricted to off-licenses. (Maybe supermarkets could still sell low alcohol beer or wine of less than 3%ABV).

I know someone who spent time in a psychiatric ward with cannabis psychosis many years ago, yet dozens of people I know / have worked with who smoke or have smoked cannabis have no mental health conditions. It turns out my friend has schizophrenia that the cannabis triggered, it wasn’t ‘caused’ by it. There is mounting evidence to suggest that’s generally the case. I would suggest the people you interviewed probably had mental illnesses unrelated to any drug use to begin with.

Loads of ND people self-medicate fairly sensible with weed, especially people with ADHD. It can help slow a racing mind and enable sleep, it can help with crippling anxiety and treat pain caused by chronic anxiety-induced muscle tension. The legal options open to most ND people, especially women and girls who are largely undiagnosed, are parlous.

Not everyone is contributing to lurid violent megadeath, either. I know at least three old hippies with various neurodiversities who have been growing their own for personal use for decades. They're not harming anyone.

MN drug threads are always preposterous, though. You can't have a grown-up discussion while people are hyperventilating and catastrophising all over the place.

Nothing disgusting about my opinion.

My opinion is that your opinion is vile, pathetic and ignorant.

Ten years for a bit of weed eh? Why not say 'life' and then you can help me complete my MN drugs bingo card.

This is the shit I love on here, fucked up and bonkers people posting any old bollocks. Bliss.

This.
There's zero point trying to discuss anything like this rationally on Mumsnet. Not recreational drug use, not having a glass of wine on a school night. Christ, even a bowl of cornflakes is a big no-no.

I can’t believe you don’t see how unreasonable you’re being.

The sad truth is that lots of drug dependent people do steal to fuel their addiction. It’s sad your friend’s housemates suspected her, but she must be doing a lot of drugs!

YABVU - most people don’t do any drugs - DH and I never do. It’s a stigma for a reason. Drug driving can kill, many drugs make people violent, it funds violence and exploitation in this country and developing ones. It’s not harmless fun- it wrecks lives. You and your friend are idiots.

This is my experience too.
I grew up on an estate on the Northside of Glasgow, riddled with drug addiction and crime. It was hellish, and I fully understand the background to the drugs trade because of it.
Recreational drug use is something different. It's people who partake once or twice a month, on a night out (or a night in), because it gives some sort of release maybe? They're not, in my experience, stealing for their "next fix". It's a whole different ball game to the drug addiction being referenced on this thread.
I acknowledge that there can be an overlap - some people who dabble in recreational drug use a couple of times a month can and do end up as addicts. In the same way that, occasionally, people who enjoy a couple of glasses of Chardonnay end up as alcoholics.

We'll never be able to have a sensible discussion on this for as long as we can't exercise some perspective.

No reasonable person (as far as I'm aware) is saying that there's no spectrum of drug use and no difference between recreational users and addicts.

What they are saying is that the line is more blurred than a lot of posters are suggesting, and there is also naivety over the fact that "normal" drug users can also slip into addiction.

The thing I take issue with is the outdated and insensitive sentiment towards people with addiction issues, and the "othering" of them perpetuated by, as above, the idea that normal/decent/mentally well people can use drugs with no risk of addiction.

Like all addicts are some kind of sub class of human undeserving of any sympathy or consideration.

I used amphetamine for 20 years as did most of my cohorts on the nsoul niter scene. None of us mugged old ladies or burgled houses. Some shit being spouted by people with no knowledge of a drug scene. Not everyone was like an extra from train spotting.

Drug takers are fucking scum. Whether its weed or heroin they’re all as bad as each other. Couldn’t give a shit about where it comes from and the consequences just as long they are ok. Good riddance to each and every one i say. Society would be a far better place without them.

I recently watched a documentary on drug usage in Scotland. The addicts were clearly people in enormous emotional pain, and I suspect largely very fragile souls.
But don't worry, you get your wish frequently. There were 1,339 drug deaths in Scotland last year, and the figures are on track to be even higher this year. Hopefully that'll make your evening.

Personally, I used occasionally take Class As recreationally, years ago, to no ill effect.

I do have permanent damage from a common prescription medication though. Oh the irony.

@SleeplessInEngland

congratulations on the most pointless post on the thread. we aren't talking about alcohol love