To think people are naive re cocaine

[Knockonw00d]

I see threads on here all the time where women find out their husband has been doing coke etc and are absolutely floored.
But it always amazes me how oblivious people are to how common it really is. I’m childfree and in my late 20s and i go on nights out almost every week so you get to know all of the other regulars in the bars. I do not know one person that I’ve met through going out that doesn’t do cocaine.

These people have professional jobs Monday - Friday. Some of them I know are teachers, nursery staff, work in the passport office. It is so common.

I also see a lot posters describing a change in behaviour and people suggest it could be drugs. But unless you’re doing things like heroin or spice, cocaine does not make you act in the ways people suggest.

Do people really not know how common casual use of cocaine is in this country?

How sad. Perhaps more jobs should bring in routine drug testing.

It’s common in your social circle. That is all.

Most of, if not all the larger bus companies companies have a random drug and alcohol testing policy, with good reason in my opinion.

Agree, it’s common. The naive responses so far prove your point!
And there will be many more that keep it quiet too

It seems to have grown massively in general use. I work in child protection and have done for years and it seems so much more common now when parents are drug tested in care proceedings for cocaine to show up.
I’m not sure the courts really know how to view this in terms of a risk factor for day to day parenting capacity. I can see that it some cases it has really impacted but I presume lots of users would say they don’t feel it does.

Some people do take coke and manage to get away when minimal effects, but others 100% do have changes in behaviour, I have seen it both professionally and personally.

I know a couple of people who started husking coke at weekends and were ‘fine’ for a long while until they were not and were using daily. Impacted all areas of their lives, work, financially, physically and with their relationships. It was awful for all involved.

I hadn't realised how common cocaine use was until I read so many threads on MN.
I was actually quite shocked yesterday to.hear a news item that talked about the increasing number of deaths from cocaine use.

I think you're right and I think people should really think of the chain of violence and misery that brings it to them before they take it. Children are forced to make it, their skin and bodies ruined, and there are countries in such grip of the drug lords that everyone from politicians to farmers are in danger of being murdered. I wouldn't touch the stuff.

It’s been common for years. Groups of men going to the toilet together then rubbing their noses as they walk back to their seats in the pub, people now openly sniff off their hands in crowds or dance floors.

Irs not my social circle btw i have never touched drugs but you don’t have to have your eyes wide open to see it around you when out and about

I remember many threads on here minimising casual drug use at ‘dinner parties’. But don’t drink more than a drop of alcohol or you’ll be an alcoholic…..

@Knockonw00d I think you are naive as to the effect of taking cocaine - because we all take any form of drug or alcohol for an effect - it changes us

Cocaine literally affects the neuro transmitters in the brain for a dopamine rush it changes personality certainly when using it otherwise what would be the point!

we take any of these substances to feel the affects of them

and yes long term use can have long term effects

I would say not mid 40s I probably am unaware of how common it is because I don’t think about it no one in my middle class suburban friend group does it (or does it anymore is probably more accurate)

but don’t try and pretend a drug that literally affects the neuro transmitters doesn’t change personality

It might be common amongst others but not in my family.

The UK is one of the biggest consumers of cocaine in the world.

For years I couldn't understand how the general population seemed to have so much more energy than me. How did they manage a full working week and then out on Friday and Saturday. Answer is cocaine.

It was very common in my circle at uni and after, so much so it was quite lame actually, people doing it at a normal house party or casual gatherings. Felt like it didn't justify the event often, was just something to do.

Saying that, because its more common than most think doesnt mean it's okay either, nearly everyone seemed to smoke once upon a time bit doesn't mean it was without health implications. The "naive" people finding it unsavoury to be on a drug and spend money on a drug who post on here are usually wives who rightly see it as a drain on finances and their partners being in a state of diminished responsibility.

I don't give a fuck if it's common.

I think dramatically less of anyone who uses it, including my 21yo BIL and SIL who used it in my local pub when we took them out for a meal. They will never be invited again.

I have been in law enforcement for over 20years. The misery of drug dealing, county lines, associated sexual abuse and rapes, the extreme violence, the importation, the dumping of drugs into water courses, the impact on the countries of origin for the drugs..... And people are also only now hearing the risks of things like ketamine and the effects on your bladder, the use of extreme synthetic drugs like nitazenes which has an extraordinarily high risk of death - and you wouldn't have a clue what the substance actually is until your body reacts because you assume your nice drug dealer knows what it is (and most of the time they don't know what it is).

All so some twat can sniff an unidentified white powder up their nose on a Friday night in a quiet local pub because they think they are cool?

Nah, fuck off.

This. I have worked on inpatient detox wards and to suggest coke doesnt have an effect on your brain/behaviour is not only dangerously naive, its laughably false.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2851032/

I suppose it must be quite common otherwise we wouldn't need so many the county lines kids to be abused into doing it.

I think it is certain circles though. I've never met anyone who openly talks about it in real life, but then I'm at an age where most of my friends think a big night is having having a coffee after dessert.

Yes.

My neighbour would be absolutely devastated and shocked if she knew her husband and son regularly take recreational drugs. I don't think she would believe that her son has even seen weed before.

It's just such an incredibly selfish thing to do considering the harms the cocaine industry causes in central and south America. I couldn't look at myself if I supplied demand for cocaine.

County lines kids arent abused into doing cocaine. They rarely even sell cocaine. It's usually crack and heroin.

It is absolutely rife and has been somewhat normalised.

People who think this is just the circle you move in are completely deluded.

It does depend on your social circle. None of my friends do it or have done it. We dabbled with other stuff in our youth but never coke. My husband’s uni friends all do it, they all went into finance or big city corporate jobs and even now in their 40s go out partying like they’re 20 (leaving their wives at home with their kids for long weekends away parting). He can’t be arsed with all that so doesn’t go out with them (and went down a different path so has very different finances to them).

People go on about climate change and veganism and sell on vinted but cocaine all fine

I disagree.
It is an epidemic.
The amount of cocaine being brought in Europe is enough to fill a swimming pool, weekly, there is tons of cocaine intercepted by authorities, its a tiny catch for them.
I rarely socialise in a bar, only for special occasions, cocaine is rampant in bars. The level of aggression is off the scale.
It's a secret addiction as many are white collar workers.
The main Irish coke dealers are multi millionaires living in Dubai, one had his wedding on a 5* Dubai.
Wanted in Ireland and America, Dubai are happy to harbour them.
It's a billion euro business.
Young sellers wearing rolex watches, thanks to white collar workers.
Mass suicide amongst young men, women in their 40's drug related death rates are scary.
An Irish socialite died last year, her very rich family tried to have cocaine removed from death certificate.

The point is that you aren't going to be robbing grannies and selling yourself in the streets for cocaine. You can hold down a job and still have a raging cocaine habit. You won't be still working as a banker with a crack habit.

I have never done it but it is very common. Loads of colleagues have in various professional industries.