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

Not enough of a stigma, imo. I have a reasonable suspicion that Class A drug use is, in large part, to blame for everything going to shit. Leaving aside the addiction, health, crime & financial risks, drugs make people irresponsible and stupid.

Yes, I have abused my fair share of substances in the past. Yes, it was fun. I went to rehab. While there I met a lot of addicts with massive problems, many of whom were in influential positions.

Well said.

I don't know how much I've said upthread, but pot led to my first ending up in hospital with bipolar. That's part of why I think it's awful, plus a lot of people on it are recognisably impaired in their mental and relationship health due to it. And I can't even passively smoke it. Other drugs maybe are even worse.

Sure - in the meantime absolutely everyone got off drugs - case closed, nothing more to talk about?

@DaSilvaP That'd be nice.

Isn't it cheaper to just go and get random chemicals and inhale those?

Yes I do think people who take illicit drugs are using up any brain cells they have left, and yes these include the people that go 'well my brainy professor was on heroin' or some other such nonsense

I think the opinions about drugs being 'bad' will become more pronounced especially with the generation of young adults that are rejecting drinking alcohol more than ever have.

I would be interested to see what the majority consensus is amongst our 16-25s.

Thank god coffee is legal! I don't think it does as much damage as the other drugs on here.

Anyway, yabu as drug addiction blights so many lives and people do steal to fund their habit.

There needs to be a massive crackdown on illegal drug use. And yes, the government should use entrapment to snare users.

@Florenz evidence suggests that this approach would be ineffective. Treating addiction as a health issue has been shown to reduce all the problems associated with it. But that won't go down well with those who want to see punishment rather than dealing with the cause.

This. People act like recreational drugs use is a private matter than only affects the individual. It isn’t. All drug users are unpredictable and at high risk of ended up ‘properly’ addicted. Their supply of drugs comes off the back of torture and murder, mainly South American street children and trafficked people.

Drugs are fucking disgusting and nobody taking them can ever kid themselves they’re anything more than deeply selfish and vile.

Stealing a few quid from a flat mate is the lesser of their evils to be honest.

I suggest anyone defending their weekend cocaine use watches City of God to find out just how that vile powder reached their pocket. And that’s a fictional film, a sanitised version.

These drugs are illegal. Buying them is wrong as it is directly subsiding criminal drug supply chains.

Do not normalise this. Your friend is doing something wrong even if that is not directly stealing from her roommates.

And if you're the 'friend', give your head a wobble, seek help, start living a fulfilling life.
It's never too late to choose right.

Does using the word recreational sound better to you than illegal?
It starts at cannabis which is bad enough and causes a lot of mental health problems and quite often then the drug taker moves on the classes A and B.
Then nothing is safe from being stolen because the addiction has such a powerful hold and destructive come down that an addict will do anything for the next fix.
Millions of lives are being destroyed because of drug abuse.
People like yourself who normalize it are doing nobody any favours.
Yabu and naive.

You could reverse the question:

Do you think that there is an unfair absence of stigma around legal drugs, especially nicotine and alcohol? Nothing wrong in getting plastered, but getting high - no-no?

You even get the stigma for NOT wanting to get drunk!

You're joking? There's a massive stigma around smoking. And if you're hanging out with people who insist on drunkenness, you probably need new friends.

So .....

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4804802-drunk-thread-anyone

is something I invented, or just seen in some dream?

BTW there is this thing about seeing thing further than just people you directly know. I don't need to be surrounded by drunkard friends to notice the general mood.

Because people who indulge in drugs are scum.