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?

Hi - the image is that of a middle class drug, and that's part of the problem. It really isn't, and those middle class dinner party goers, who have exhausted the high from excessive drinking, three cars and nowt in the fridge, being all edgy and enjoying doing something illegal behind closed doors and swinging, yes, it's also common, have sought the next buzz.

I'd love to show them who brings it in, how it's transported and how it ends up at the comfy house on a Saturday night.

I'd like to think they'd be shocked, but I'd probably be wrong.

And, as for legalisation, having watched Johnson at the Covid enquiry and current political cross party shenanigans, I'm not sure I'd trust any of them with the Saturday big shop, never mind legalisation of controlled drugs.

Oh, and if you're using cannabis at home to any regular degree, your neighbours will know about it and, once a cop visits on any sort of enquiry, it's incredible what they talk about over a nice cup of tea.

As the lovely Nick Ross once said, 'don't have nightmares' folks, and stay safe.

It is common now. It has become really easy to get hold of. When I was in my 20s, you needed to know where to buy drugs. Now you just buy them online from what I've seen.

Anyway, most people I knew at university did some drugs, but they all gave it up when they became proper grown ups.

Now, proper grown ups do it too. I personally think it's nuts. It's so bad for your heart. If you're 21 you get away with it, but these big grown ups with stressful work and kids etc, necking wine and doing a few lines? Honestly makes me shudder. I have a few doctors in my immediate family and they say if anyone under 35 comes in with anything heart related, their first question is if they do cocaine.

I'd be "floored" if my husband started doing it absolutely. It may be more common to do it in your 40s now, but it is still really weird (to me) and I would worry about his heart and blood pressure. Wine on its own is bad enough tbh.

Edited to fix typos
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Thanks for replying, but it sounds like you don't know what the solution might be. You've described how we have hit rock bottom.

I'm afraid there's nothing you've said that's shaken my belief that, since we've hit rock bottom (after decades of trying the same approach over and over), we need to try legalisation alongside robust education and safety nets plus regulated and safe supply.

Which is not, incidentally, incompatible with staying tough on black market supply anyway. We could feasibly keep the laws in place which put black market producers, importers and dealers in prison. And even (potentially) still fine users who buy on the black market or maybe make them attend a 'The truth about black market drugs' course like the speeding course I have to attend in a few weeks.

How old are you @AliceMaforethought ? Do you take coke alone?

Spot on. Anyone who watched the documentary on how cocaine is made and the absolute misery it causes from first production to up your nose at a dinner party and still takes it has no morals or heart.

The misery is because it is illegal. There is no more reason why cocaine production and distribution should cause misery than sugar production and distribution.

The reason why cocaine is cut with other drugs is because it is illegal.

If you make something illegal it is because you want to make it less available. Sometimes that doesn't work at all.

The illegality extends the whole length of the supply chain. So those who argue for legalising it in Europe and the US would still have to deal with illegality in producer countries. And legalising it there would not lead to improved conditions for the small farmers. Just look at the Central American coffee producers.

Are you making the same argument about images of child abuse and rape? Just legalise it and the problem will be solved?

The fact is that it is illegal now so it doesn't make anyone who take it less of a cunt if the misery only occurs because its illegal.

There are two ways to solve the problem. One that works and one that doesn't. You talk about all the problems but you don't seem to want to solve them.