Cocaine - is this weird?

[Creamofthecrop12]

I'll start this with I'm a drugs virgin, don't take them and never have done.
But I do know people who have in their 20s typically and then stopped as they hit 30ish, children or not. They weren't prolific users: weekends only.
I've become friendly with a group of long-term friends (early 40s/late 40s) who seemingly have it all.
They're friendly, good, well-paid jobs, lovely children, nice homes etc. The kids seem well-cared for.
But - f* me - they LOVE drugs. And in a way I'm really uncomfortable with but if I raise will almost certainly see me ousted from the group (I know this happened to a person before me).
There's been multiple occasions on a weekly basis where the children (toddlers and newborns) are kept in the care of both parents at 'family-style' events in the early evening and mum and dad are both doing lines.
Or they are kept up very late while both parents are high.
They also take other class A drugs (not heroin) regularly and the dads will do coke 2/3 times a week - even in the days/weeks after the baby was born.
I think this is odd but I value their friendship.
I guess I'm looking for an objective point of view that this behaviour isn't the norm.
Thanks.

Legalise ALL drugs. It is a nonsense that the most harmful drug to society is alcohol yet it's legal..

Some choose to use it some don't .. the offences caused by it are still offences.

Legalising drugs puts untold gazillions from the justice system saved from the investigation of drug sales and prohibited substances make a market for organised crime gangs...

Does any single person taking an illegal drug say to themselves.. ' this is not legal'.. I won't do it ? No they don't . The only thing it does is to create an illegal market to exploit.

Take that away... and free up the hundreds of police officers investigating county lines and drug importation...

So drugs are now legal... would you now go and buy cocaine at Tesco's ? Heroine at Waitrose ? No. Anymore than I would buy a bottle of Vodka and look after toddlers . Those who are going to do it are going to do it .. law or not .

Prohibition isn't a solution... it just created a market . Look at prohibition of alcohol in the states in the 1920/30s

I work for a Govt department on a county lines team.. for 7 years. I know the reality .

What a terrible upbringing for those children. They don't have a chance :( I'd report it

Do you have children? You seem to have a shitty view of what makes a good parent.

For those who think they are the perfect law abiding citizens doing no wrong..please educate yourself. Many legal products are sourced from countries who exploit people, trafficking, child labour etc, it happens all over the world..so products such as coffee, cloths and yes your precious wine are not all produced under ethical guidances..
Very naive people on here to believe because it's legal it's okay..
Each to their own, go out,socialise,take a line or two if you wish..ignore the narrow minded ones who guzzle back alcohol, binging every weekend and hungover for the days after..

you do understand this statement is only true because certain people in power have decided alcohol is ok and cocaine is not

The people in power decide all of the things that are legal and illegal. Does that mean it's ok to just break the law?

it means that the law is pretty arbitrary when it comes to drugs. There is no health / legitimate reason alcohol is legal when other drugs are not. Alcohol is literally (scientifically proven by the government scientist Nutt) more dangerous that cocaine. Therefore cocaine should be legalised to stop the illegal harmful trade. And on a smaller stage it doesn’t matter if parents have an illegal few lines or a bottle of legal Prosecco does it?

I get where you’re coming from OP. I find it tricky making new friends and like yourself have never done drugs. In different circles you can feel like a ‘Miss Goody-two-shoes’ and where something is normalised it can cloud your judgement, especially when you’re trying so hard to fit in/make friends. I think given the situation with children present, it is the right thing to step away. Also don’t ever let anyone have influence over your ethics. It’s fine to have different ways of living and you don’t have to judge other people’s lifestyles but remember stay true to your values too 😊

it means that the law is pretty arbitrary when it comes to drugs. There is no health / legitimate reason alcohol is legal when other drugs are not. Alcohol is literally (scientifically proven by the government scientist Nutt) more dangerous that cocaine. Therefore cocaine should be legalised to stop the illegal harmful trade. And on a smaller stage it doesn’t matter if parents have an illegal few lines or a bottle of legal Prosecco does it?

The law is pretty arbitrary about quite a few things. Deciding not to care that buying your cocaine funds organised crime and has kids working county lines, on the grounds that you don't think it should be illegal, is pathetic and irresponsible. While cocaine continues to be illegal, there is no excuse for supporting the trade.

You are arguing that coke is fine because it should be legal. In the society we live in using coke is supporting illegal activity. If you use illegal drugs, you are contributing to prostitution, human trafficking, gang wars and the criminal world. You are kidding yourself to think otherwise. Tell yourself its fine because it should be legal. You are in either denial or drug induced brain fog.

I don’t believe for a minute that any exploitation that goes on in producing “your precious wine” - a legal industry generally carried out in countries with high standards of human rights, safety and employment - compares in any way to the bloody trade in cocaine. Before you even get to county lines, there are whole countries (Colombia, Mexico) that have experienced violence and corruption on an incredible scale due to cocaine. Remind me of the last time winemaking cartels were torturing and beheading their rivals.

Arguing that it should be legal and that it’s less harmful to the body than alcohol in no way mitigates the fact that it currently IS illegal and the results speak for themselves.

What must their values be like?

The vast majority of my clubbing friends took drugs in our 20s for about 5 years younger then stopped when they had kids. I think some of them, the men in particular and one man who was quite hedonistic still do it on occasion. I’ve taken the odd line of coke in my 30s and early 40s but very very occasionally.

You don’t need to judge them etc but I’ve noticed that a few people like this if they carry on this way often have health issues later on.

People like other people who normalise what other people think is unhealthy behaviour. People who take drugs/drink until they fall over/have affairs/speed/cheat on their accounts will all say that everyone does it, but that's not true. It's possible to argue that the law is wrong, but it is still the law. Stand by your ethics.

I personally think as long as you know the risks (remember alcohol and cigarettes are also drugs) if you really want to indulge every so often, if you know the risks etc then do it. But for me, and it took mental illness and the death by suicide of my best friend back then, I condone drug taking now.

I was raised by 40 something coke addicts. It’s deeply unpleasant. I was often running around after my younger siblings and their friends children (all 8 years or more younger than me) whilst they were off their tits.

I think it is beyond tragic to take them at any age.

Also - we were all private schooled, naice immaculate homes, well dressed.

Didn’t mean shit really. I have PTSD from it.

I would be up till the early hours as I was unable to get the 4 children to sleep due to the noise, then they’d wake at their usual time whilst our parents were passed out till the afternoon and I’d be back on babysitting duty, trying to clean up the mess the adults and the children had made.

I was exhausted.

There would be frequent rages from all of them too.

I can't believe there are so many skanky druggies on here that think their dirty illegal habit is ok.

I have a family member that works for a small business. Family member is anti drugs. Pretty much everyone in the business is over 40. They spend their weekends partying doing coke. Inheritance that they are living off for some of them. One had a heart attack in their 30’s related to cocaine but has carried on. Most are parents of young children. Cocaine speeds up the heart rate/damages I don’t think alcohol does that….

Oh here f

No. More people need to NOT be calm about all of these things. Jesus.

Look at you with your morals yet you were happy enough for all the children affected by the drugs trade that you were part of to have a shit life. One day maybe it will be your children that it affects, still be happy then ?

Many people on this thread alone have said they used to take cocaine and just stopped.

MY POINT EXACTLY !!

It doesn't matter if they are legal or illegal... if you have the money to cover it up.. you get away with it ...

If you are poor then you get done for child neglect.

Legal:illegal is a nonsense... do YOU know if that is the right environment for children. No of course it isn't. !!

I ask you this ? If drugs were legal would YOU take them whilst in charge of kids ?

The simple answer is no..

So legalise the lot and prosecute people for the consequences in the same way we do for alcohol... neglect/physical/emotional/abuse ... and free up thousands of police officers spending their time on drugs use /smuggling.

It will stop county lines in one fell swoop.

Oh here comes the downers!

I never took any drugs as a teenager bar a line of speed at 19 or so.

When I was 24 I made new friends who went clubbing and the most respectable people I knew took drugs when out. If their bosses had known they’d have been fired. In1990s/2000s loads of young people took ecstasy.

I’d love to be holier than though and judge people but it took me out of my shell and I had fun.

Many people on this thread alone have said they used to take cocaine and just stopped.

Some can just stop, some can't. Organ damage may not show up until later/midlife.