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AIBU?

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Original poster

Drug use- what do you find acceptable?

339 replies

Rachmumoftwo · 27/05/2008 11:55

There is a thread that has touched on this already. What is acceptable drug use in your eyes? Is it OK to smoke a little weed when the children are in bed, or take cocaine on weekends or holidays, or is it totally irresponsible to even entertain the idea of drug taking if you are a parent (or if you are planning to be)?

OP posts:
piscesmoon · 07/02/2009 22:12

I am glad that you brought up the misery of the trade tiredsville-when I mentioned misery earlier I was asked what misery! I am appalled that people with children feel that in the west they can take cocaine for 'fun' and not care that children in Columbia have their water supply poisoned. This doesn't happen in alcohol production.

Leo9 · 07/02/2009 22:30

exactly, pisces and tired. This is not a choice without consequences.

piscesmoon · 07/02/2009 22:40

If you google the production of cocaine you can see the damage that is done to the environment. I have toured a vineyard, it is responsible use of land and production, so is the growth of hops and cider apples etc.

coolbeans · 08/02/2009 00:21

And if one is talking about consequences....I think the ?just one can kill you? line is misleading. If the aim is to stop (esp) young people misusing drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, then it is a dangerous argument to peddle.

Most teenagers and young people tend to think they are invincible ? they have yet to develop the instinct towards mortality and danger. So saying this will kill you is not going to have the desired effect as that is not what is going to happen. Chances are they will go out, take a pill,have a few lines,dance all night and have a great time. If you lie to them and tell them that they will drop dead, then one loses all credibility and they won?t listen to the wider messages.

I went to Uni., and then got a job in the London media ? all of that brings an easy access to drugs, so I, perhaps, have a lax attitude towards them. But, I do very much feel that there needs to be a sensible, fact driven response to illegal drugs and it is not best served by ill-guided hysteria.

naughtalessnickerless · 08/02/2009 00:39

The bottom line for me is, my son is severly physically and mentally handicapped. A bad E to much Coke, to many Vodkas and I might become as disabled as him and who would turn him in the night then.

naughtalessnickerless · 08/02/2009 00:45

oops, sorry I was WAY to preachy there ... but, its how I feel.

ThumbLoveWitch · 08/02/2009 00:56

if you're including alcohol as a drug, then that is the limit of my agreement with drugs.
And while I have a child in my care, I don't get drunk.

When I was a teenager I read H for Heroin, or Christiane F (can't remember which was the film title and which the book) about a German teen who got into weed and then heroin and her story of decline - put me right off.

I used to think that weed was ok for people (not me, couldn't be doing with it) until I had a friend who was quite a heavy user who developed bipolar disorder, quite possibly influenced by his use of the weed. (mental health problems in his family, thought to increase the risk of weed-related mental health probs). Now I think it is more insidious than the rest because of its seemingly milder effects.

piscesmoon · 08/02/2009 08:06

I agree entirely coolbeans with your argument for teens and drugs, they are not best served by ill-guided hysteria.
However, people on this thread are parents and shouldn't be selfishly thinking of themselves and should be mature enough to think of the consequences.
To see what cocaine production is doing to the environment in the Andes read here
It seems obscene to me that people should get safe babysitters for their own children and not care a jot about all the children who can't have a clean water supply because you want to have 'fun'.

alicecrail · 08/02/2009 08:22

I personally don't like the idea of drugs full stop. With kids involved even more so. For me this is because i was brought up in a house full of smoke. I lived with my dad and he would have a joint in the evenings and use a bong sometimes but always got up for work in the morning and took me to nursery. But when i stayed at my mums there were always lots of people there and the bong was going all day long. My sister even ate a small lump of resin aged about 3. To me, this careless, negligent and totally unnaceptable. I know people may argue that weed is better than alcohol, but since becoming a parent i will only have one or two drinks, and even my prescription painkillers i won't take if my dh is not in or if he has had a drink.

spicemonster · 08/02/2009 08:35

Not all drugs are cocaine though. Most recreational drugs are grown/manufactured in Europe and don't involve small children in any way.

piscesmoon · 08/02/2009 08:38

I agree spicemonster but I think that people ought to find out exactly how it is produced first.

Hulababy · 08/02/2009 09:06

For me I don't do any illegal drugs and neither does DH. I hate the idea. Have reasons.

Have done various reading about drugs, etc. as partof teacher training and also when teaching PHSE, etc.

It isn't for me.

spicemonster · 08/02/2009 09:28

I agree piscesmoon that there is a huge wodge of hypocrisy in worrying about the food miles and sustainable source of your dinner and then doing a line of coke

piscesmoon · 08/02/2009 11:27

It makes me think that there isn't much point in always trying to buy fair trade coffee!

HecateQueenOfGhosts · 08/02/2009 11:33

Zero. It's illegal. tbh, I feel it is part of a bigger issue.

I think that we should not pick and choose, as individuals, which laws we will and will not obey.

I know that many do but this is wrong. If you feel that a law is unjust - fight it legally. Once you go down the road of "this law is ok, so I will obey it, I don't like this law, so I will disregard it, I enjoy this activity, so I will hope I don't get caught, I want to live this kind of life, so I will break that law..." then we have a terrible society.

BoffinMum · 08/02/2009 11:40

Read a few pages of posts as this seems to be a huge but also very interesting thread.

I only take prescription drugs. I have never taken illegal drugs even in situations where they have been decriminalised (eg Netherlands).

I would be nervous of what is in them, as they are unregulated, and I don't like the idea of supporting the illegal drugs industry, because it's nasty and violent and linked to things like sex slavery.

Other than that, it's up to individuals what they do as long as they don't expect the NHS to pick up the pieces, IMO.

A further thought. I am currently on loads of opiates for SPD, and the consultant told me that I am ingesting a similar dose to a recovering addict. For me the drugs are annoying and I don't like the whoozy feeling at all. It genuinely confuses me why people would actually do this for fun?

piscesmoon · 08/02/2009 11:40

A good point Hecate-I think it is a bad example to teach your DC that they only have to obey the laws that suit them. If you don't agree with the law then I suggest that you work through the proper channels and lobby to get it changed.

BoffinMum · 08/02/2009 11:46

Yes, but if kids have an understanding of why the law matters and why it is there, then surely they are all the more likely to obey it when under pressure from peers and so on?

I am never convinced blind obedience works.

piscesmoon · 08/02/2009 11:54

In the case of illegal drug use there are plenty of reasons for the law being there!

vanessa26 · 08/02/2009 12:16

Y do people take drugs is their kids not the highlight of their life.
Very occasional drinking is ok, I very rarly drink (like once in a blue moon, i had drink on new yr but was NOT no where near drunk)
My kids are my life no matter what.
If you dont have kids then its up to you what you do but a child relies on their mummy or daddy. By letting them down you are then letting yourself down.

Eve4Walle · 08/02/2009 14:03

I'm with the ones who say no drug use is acceptable.

If you're happy for your kids to smoke weed/take heroin etc, then go shead and do ityourself, because you can't then explain that they can't do it without being a hypocrite.

I very rarely drink these days and I haven't smoked since I had the kids, but these are in the same category I think really.

BoffinMum · 08/02/2009 15:18

I did not spend time in each pg eating nicely and looking after myself, growing healthy babies, only for my kids to fry their brains smoking weed and taking illicit substances later on in life. I make this clear to them. Whether they listen or not is a different matter, of course ...

piscesmoon · 08/02/2009 15:36

Its the hypocritical bit that I don't like. I don't tell my DCs not to do something that I do, although I may say that they have to wait until they are old enough.
I don't think it acceptable to say 'do as I say not as I do'.
Not one person has said that they are going to introduce their DC to their drug dealer as soon as they are 18 yrs old, in the same way that you would have a glass of champagne with them.
I can't stop my DCs experimenting when they are adults, but I very much hope that they don't.

ThumbLoveWitch · 08/02/2009 15:43

Did anyone else see that programme the other night about weed use? And how it affects the development of the brain more in younger teens than older ones? (made a huge difference in mice in terms of memory and cognitive function) I think it might have been Horizon...

piscesmoon · 08/02/2009 15:49

I didn't see the programme but I do know some teens who have been messed up mentally by the use of it. Such a shame as they were all bright boys with a promising future.

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