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?

the legalising debate is fascinating. I think where I sit is yes, but let another country do it and take all their learnings, then implement it here 30 years later (like Holland/ cannabis)

no one wants to suffer the consequences of being the early adopter here.

plus there are society changes - there are “worse” drugs than coke that haven’t really “taken off” here or in Europe that have wrecked havoc on other countries. Will there always be thirst for something illegal, and better the devil you know?

It is worth thinking about isn't it?

I am no expert. And I've never taken any drug unless smoking cannabis very occasionally counts.
I don't like cocaine. I don't like what it does to people, I don't like addiction, I don't like the 'god complex' it gives (mostly) men and I wish nobody ever felt like they needed it.

But, people are always going to use it or want to use it and in the unlikely event it somehow ceased to exist, something else similar would take its place.

A lot of the crimes, difficulties, problems, violence etc are not because of cocaine however-they're because it needs illegal activity, because It's illegal-but yes as you've said, would people just want to do something else that is illegal? Would it being legal and accessible make them feel less like it were worth doing? Is it a 'rebel' thing? Who knows.

I remember watching a 24 hours in police custody once where a young cannabis dealer man was killed both other dealers for £3000 cash - which made that day. He lived the life of a homeless person basically, because he couldn’t spend it (had to find a dodgy landlord, couldn’t buy a car etc) I couldn’t help thinking there is no reason for there to be that much money in this.

Not going to disagree with the rest, but cocaine is certainly not a opiate!!
Think this is the biggest problem out there is the lack of education and knowledge about these things.

Not that I'd ever really support it as a massive resource drain and weird invasion of privacy (handing my urine to my employer?) but part of me kind of wishes it was already normal. I heard of an acquaintance who was working in the police who apparently delayed some exam or something because they had to submit a drug test and had taken cocaine too recently. I know I'm shaky on the details but I was appalled

You are totally right of course. It’s a stimulant and alters your brain chemistry in a different way to opiates.

Still couldn’t feel anything when I broke some bones though! 😂 Might as well have been morphine.

Lord knows what it was cut up with. Could have been anything. That scares me now about drugs more than anything.

Sounds nightmarish. As a former cop do you have any idea what would be the best course of action for a country like ours to take? Is it that we increase funding and further strengthen our laws against drugs?

I've always been on the side of legalisation, education and government-registered/regulated supply, but I've never been on the front line.

I think it very much depends on your social circle. None of my friends do it, but we are no longer at the age where we want to go clubbing. I think this is more of a thing for people in their 20s or early 30s (and I know of some people in that age bracket who likely do it). I also suspect that it’s more common in the Home Counties than elsewhere in the country.

Never touched the stuff and never will. The thought of snorting it up your nose is as disgusting as injecting yourself with heroin. So I don't really know much about using it, but what I do know is that perfectly nice friends who then take it, pretty much always turn into total a-holes. Not a good look on top of the addiction and collapsing noses. But you do you.

I don’t especially care whether other people do it or not, but I would’ve thought that Daniella Westbrook is the poster girl for ‘don’t do cocaine kids’.

My bestie is dr at a major hospital in Scotland, his works night out are drug filled; coke and MDMA are the most popular. Even when on shift the next day - surgeons, consultants, everyone and anyone!

But the young people who are delivering your illegal drug are stabbing and killing other young people on the streets. And you need to own your part in that.

Also, once you have an aortic aneurysm you are unlikely to be holding any job thereafter.

I think it's a much bigger issue than legalising it or funding more work against it.

We're now into multi generational behaviour where drug taking, cannabis upwards, has been normalised to a great extent. The communities I worked in were riddled with it even some years ago, and the great British public will absolutely kick back against anything that they see see as infringing their rights, even if it means kids being stabbed to death as a result.

How dare anyone tell someone else that their little visit to the toilet with a friend or weekend sniff is bad for them or anyone else?

I doubt they would listen now, or even care about it. That's where we are.

Parts of this thread are proof of the willing ignorance out there.

I made sure I brought my kid up properly and look after my family. That's all any of us can do, in reality.

No you're just taking what people are saying wrong.

Yes it's people from all walks of society, but it is still only a small % of those people.
For every solicitor/doctor etc who does it there are multiples who don't. Most don't even go to clubs for a start so they're nowhere near the party scene.

I can smell weed every day in my estate, doesn't mean that everyone is smoking it, just that some people do.

I am aware that not everyone does coke.

My only point was/is, that it is not a certain type that do illegal drugs. Nor a certain class. Nor people with a certain background. Nor a certain age.

It's peppered amidst all sectors of society. I'm not 'just' a stripper, I've had many different jobs, I used to work in the force (civilian)--I'll let you finish that sentence.

But in short. Humans do drugs. Humans do coke. A lot of them.

Yes but we know that. It's still the norm not to do it though.

I once took 'stripper classes' from a stripper (for fun) and there was a real mix of people at that too. There's often a mix of people who are interested in doing the same things, but that doesn't mean that everyone or even the majority do it.

When it comes to drugs, they are indeed common, but the people who do them are still in the minority.

That reads as basically the same thing? That it is more normal to do coke than it is to not..I'm aware of that not being the case. I don't feel anyone isn't.

My only point was that some people on this thread (& otherwise) do indeed seem to believe that they've never and would never encounter anyone who does/has done it. It's rare. They're too old, too middle class, too rural too family orientated.

Personally having lived then life I have (obviously as a sociologist encountering many many walks of life and then entering the police later in life) even disregarding the fact I worked in an industry it is associated with, where people feel it accepted, I find that diffifult to believe.

It peppers society, all subsectors of it.

But isn’t that the issue with it, because it is a far more middle class/university education drug that allows the illusion of it not having the same effect as meth or heroin that you can take it and not have any negative effects from it - which is IMO what the OP is intimating.

i mean it has been around for years. Usage of it is probably less now than it was in the late 1800s early 1900s when Coca Cola was invented. I mean it isn’t a coincidence is it that both are called coke.

there is an argument/discussion of course around why we normalise alcohol far more than cocaine and nicotine far more than weed!

How?
I've said it's more normal to not do coke than it is to do it.

I'm aware of that not being the case. I don't feel anyone isn't.
I feel like the OP isn't... hence why she's amazed at how oblivious wives are when they're floored when they find out their husbands have done it.

I think there are clear parallels between the abuse of vulnerable children in the grooming gangs scandal and the abuse of children in county lines.

Perhaps if more drug users whose drugs are delivered by vulnerable children - (especially those nice middle class cocaine users) were seen in the same light as men who rape children or view explicit images of children a few would pause to think about what they were facilitating.

She can correct me if I'm wrong.

I didn't take that as what she meant. I deduced that she thinks some people live in a bubble where they think they'd never come across cocaine use and it is some elusive 'out there' thing that only certain types of people do.

I didn't feel she thought more people did it than dont do it.

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

I think she was very much implying that it's more common than we think and that we're all falsely believing that it causes behavioural issues because we know nothing at all about it, because everyone she meets when she's out is on it and yet all of them are fine......🙄

It depends. Legalising it would mean quality standards needing to be met and taxes needing to be paid. That might make the legal product more expensive than the illegal product, in which case there is still a huge incentive for the black market. I believe there is a similar phenomenon with cannabis in countries where it has been legalised.

I think naivety presents in the things people chose to say and communicate.

For example I have a friend who is staunchly anti experimenting with cannabis (sounds like many posters here) because her next door neighbours mum got her door kicked in by some dealers her son owed money to.

We all know cannabis can end like that, but we also know plenty of people who enjoy a joint on a Friday night or take the occasional gummy and walk away 20 years later unscathed having decided it’s not For them.

The lack of balance in the conversation sounds naive. And it’s what theperson chose to talk about in response to a conversation about cannabis. It does sound naive.

Similar to some of the posts on her about being “brought up right” and “WHY would you do cocaine?” In a tone that just shows a complete lack of experience or emotional intelligence (in regards to this not generally)