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?

But you will still be propping up a murderous industry that makes people’s lives a misery in central and South America,

@Knockonw00d first off it looks as if it is around 10% of the adult population not a majority by any means but a scary increase from 5% when I was young.

and by all means take it just don’t try to downplay both the personal and societal impacts of it

it is you who seems naive

Casual use or not - anyone who buys cocaine is funding and perpetuating
major crime that causes misery. https://www.reuters.com/article/world/wealthy-cocaine-users-funding-slavery-says-former-uk-drug-chief-idUSKCN1B919C/

I would imagine very quiet people who never really done clubbing when young, who never go to gigs and nightclubs would not do it. Like you said - they live very closed and quiet life. But I'm not talking about my actual friends, a lot of whom are now would not even drink much - I'm taking about wider demographic - and the % of people who lead more or less "normal" life during the week do it.

I would also not bet on the husbands of your quiet friends not doing it. Especially if they go out on their own...

You know this isn’t typical though, right? Most coke users just buy a small bag for a night out and pay for it from their wages. No granny robbing or blow jobs involved.

I thought ket was more common these days? I do think people are naive and dont realise how often or how differently it effects different people. There are 3 addicts between mine and DH's family, 2 siblings and a cousin. 1 sibling and the cousin both started out as social users down the pub on nights out

How many sexual assaults are fueled by coke?

I think if you read back on some of @EmeraldShamrock000 ’s posts you’ll find that she does have experience of it.

While cocaine use is common, it’s extremely patronising to suggest that anyone who says people in their social circle doesn’t do coke is wrong or naive. There absolutely are plenty of people who don’t use coke. I don’t, none of my family does. I know people who do or who have done, but that doesn’t mean that because I say I know that the people I mix with don’t do it that I’m wrong.

It’s the same as the “all men watch porn” argument, all men absolutely “don’t” watch porn, even if many do.

I agree. I'm in a city in a high earning profession where according to some posters it's common place. I remember conversations about it, non judgemental, no reason to lie, just curious if anyone had used it. No one, didn't even know where you'd buy it.

It's hugely common these days. People care far more about how they look now and cocaine doesn't affect one's figure the way booze does.
When I was a teenager/ early 20s it was all about alcohol but I've heard it's all about cocaine now from many sources.

I agree recreational use is a lot more common than people think. The problem is over time, it can escalate from a going out at the weekend habit to a more dependent habit and cause financial/relationship/employment problems in the long term. In my experience, people on coke are boring arseholes so I tend not to socialise with cokeheads!

Thats totally beside the point. Nobody is arguing to encourage cocaine use

1 in 10 users will become addicted. No particular type, from a park bench to Park avenue.
"A small bag" there is the minimising of the situation.
Here's a thought, if the lad delivering your weekly bag gets caught or loses his stash, he cannot pay his dealer, and gets slashed or his family home burnt, is that okay?

I’ll be honest, the husbands of my quiet friends are more boring than their wives but I do currently live somewhere small and very dull but without too many very rich people.

my husbands uni friends do a shed load of coke and are arseholes, cheat on their wives etc. We haven’t seen them for years but he still watches the group chats.

Crikey OP. I am not aware of anyone in my social circle who takes it, although I would guess a few ppl I used to work with did. One in particular (and I heard from more than one person he used) had a vicious temper.

Unbelievable.
It often shocks me how educated people can be really daft too.

I think it must vary greatly between social circles. It certainly isn't used by anyone I socialize with. We drink and some smoke weed.
DH works in City finance, and it's supposedly everywhere there. But again, must depend who you hang around.
I don't doubt that it's more common than it used to be, but it's certainly not everywhere.
Anyone I've ever known who does use coke has been a massive twat. Correlation or causation?

I don't think it was very recent or relevant because she speaks with very little understanding of how it works.

On a side note, another thing that has changed is that in my youth, if you did anything other than smoke weed, you were labelled a crack head. Even if you just took ecstacy at a rave. Among my peer group, other drugs were really looked down upon. Even the "clean" ones like cocaine.

That has changed massively in my kid's generation. Even though they operate in a very similar peer group to me in terms of background and we live in the same area, they are more okay with "party drugs" than we were.

I vote for companies to bring in regular drug testing.

They never would in this country because drug use is so rife among all demographics. Surely the first people to be tested should be surgeons when in fact, it is typically relatively low paid jobs where you operate machinery where you can be drug tested.

We..... smoke weed.

DH works in City finance - did he skip the mandatory training on anti-money laundering and proceeds of crime?

You and he are as much a part of the problem as the "massive twats" you're sneering at.

Occasional use of- okay. Parents who are doing it regularly (there was a thread yesterday about one) is absolutely a problem!
I’d do it on a night out occasionally when I was backpacking and did find I’d handle myself a lot better mixing small amounts of coke and alcohol than when I just got really drunk. But now I’m home and a parent I have absolutely zero desire to do coke again.

You're joking me.
I am an active member of NA/cocaine recovery. I have helped sponsor 100's of people going through recovery from cocaine and suppored their families. We have had a huge increase in family members seeking advice for their aggressive addicted loved ones, the mounting debt, the disassociation.
Maybe you should put away the books and have a look at the RL damage.

No actually, no use is okay.