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Original poster

Drugs. Which have you tried?

296 replies

spidermama · 01/03/2006 10:09

Everyone's talking about drugs this morning.

These days I'm a regular user of caffeine and alcohol.

I used to be T Total and caffeine-free in the nineties but I did enjoy cannabis regularly and ecstasy and acid less regularly.

I can't imagine taking those these days (with the possible exception of the odd spliff Wink, because I'm too busy with the kids and can't afford to step out of the real world these days.
I also wonder how I'll feel if and when my kids decide to experiment.

How about you?

OP posts:
CoveredInBees · 02/03/2006 09:40

have you heard the song "Blinded by the Lights" by the Streets
about being on E
really very accurate...

expatinscotland · 02/03/2006 09:42

Caffeine, alcohol, tobacco. I'm still addicted to caffeine. I have alcohol every now and again.

Back in the day, in my early 20s, marijuana. That's it.

CoveredInBees · 02/03/2006 09:43

I am addicted to falling in love Shock
it's the pheremones (sp?)

Enid · 02/03/2006 09:54

noddyholder, my brother was also a heroin addict for 3 years, he now doesnt take it anymore but smokes a lot of weed instead which tbh makes him even worse to be around than when he was a smackhead Wink

luckytobealive · 02/03/2006 10:07

Enid and Noddyholder. I wqould say that both your brothers were both extremely lucky (as was I). But we 3 are the exceptions and not the rule.

It is different in different people but I have observed that, once heroin (or other members of the opium family, synthetic or otherwise) really takes hold of somebody then they will probably never be free of its grip. It’s the "monkey on your back" for the rest of your life. But that stage hits different people at different times - if you get out before then, you are very lucky. They are also very lucky however to be alive as the biggest risk health wise with heroin is that it causes overdoses - that is what kills you. What makes it very very different to other drugs is the fact that, within a very short time of taking it, you will find that you feel physically uncomfortable without it (cold, unwell etc) which maeans that even if you are not taking it every day you will be "counting" days until your next hit, just because it makes you feel so "well". That is the danger of physical addiction.

As for me now I wouldn't even take pethidine when giving birth. Why expose myself and, besides, I couldn't think of anything worse than being stoned at one of the most important times in my life.

I used to absolutely love Speed now I wouldn't touch it, similarly with Es - they send me into a depression afterwards and I just don't think a couple of hours of "fun" is worth it. I personally think e's are very bad for realtionships - all that "false love", its such crap I hate it, its an insult to real love.

sibdoms · 02/03/2006 10:40

then - skunk, e's, speed, lsd, coke, alcoho, fags and prozac all together - not a wildly good plan with a history of mental illness. Some dark, dark days ensued.........it's a wonder I left university alive, let alone with a 1st class degree. ( I think they felt sorry for me).
now - sugar alcohol caffeine and I had a fag the other night, first one in a year.

I would prefer my kids not to touch drugs because of the mental illness history, but I don't think I can BAN them, I can only inform them and strongly recommend. I regret time and opportunities wasted, but not the experiences themselves iyswim.

podkin · 02/03/2006 10:45

Amongst other early uses, including an appetite suppressant, E 'lived a fleeting clinical life as a tool for forming bonds of trust between psychotherapists and their patients'. I have to say that when my DP has taken E, he has opened up and been able to talk about the abuse he has suffered as a child. I am not sure that I would advocate the use of E as a psychoanalytic tool Wink, but under the right circumstances it can be very relaxing and encourages you to open up (some would say, 'talk shite'...). I reckon I have personally become more confident after years of using E - you lose your inhibitions and I think it carries over to 'real life'. Of course, this is all personal experience, but interesting stuff. I do agree about the false love thing though.

ruty · 02/03/2006 10:45

so that's why i didn;t get a first.. i never touched drugs at university. Wink

dinosaur · 02/03/2006 10:53

Well, not crack or heroin.

Haven't decided yet what to tell kids.

sibdoms · 02/03/2006 11:00

that'll be it ruty. Grin.

riab · 02/03/2006 11:03

Dope, Caffiene (the way I got through college but i now only drink tea with the occasional latte), smoked about 4-7 cigs a week for 3 years or so, still enjoy an occasional (ie about 4-7 a year!) cig or cigar but never in house.
Mushrooms - that was NOT fun!
Abuse of prescription sleeping tabs and codiene.
Alchohol - never been a heavy drinker and doubt I ever maxed out my weekly limit except on very odd ocassions when i was about 18. Now only have about 3 drinks a week but would never give it up - prefer quality over quantity.

re DS, We'll be doing what the french do and introducing him to wine and light beers with meals from age 12/13 so alchohol isn't a big deal. I acutlaly have a bigger problem if he is a heavy drinker or smoker than if he smokes dope. DH has a list similar to mine but minus the Codiene/sleeping tabs and plus Coke/E.

zephyrcat · 02/03/2006 11:04

Between me and DP I don't think there's anything we haven't tried apart from heroin - and I think he may have even smoked that once but I'm not sure. For the first year of our relationship we had a fantastic time and our weekends consisted of mostly E's and cocaine. I was always a bit scared though and was very aware of only being around people that I 100% trusted and never got anything from an 'unknown' or dodgy source - not that that excuses doing it of course!! I would love to go back and do it all again but we both agreed to never touch a thing again from the moment I fell pg with DD and we haven't - not that the temptation hasn't arisen!
I've only ever tried acid once and I have to say it was absolutely fantastic!! I was with my best friend ever who is from America and does it all the time so she reassured me that she would stay with me all night and make sure it didn't go 'bad' - it didn't and I love thinking about all the things that happened that night and I often sit and talk with dp about things that happened to us on acid - would make a brill thread!! Grin

I'm not sure where I'd stand on the children wanting to try anything. I would rather they felt comfortable enough to be honest with us and let us know what they were doing so that we could make sure they were safe - although of course I'd rather they never did anything at all!! We have friends who have smoked cannabis in the house as long as they've had kids and now their teenage kids smoke it too at home - that's always shocked me.

NotQuiteCockney · 02/03/2006 11:06

I worry a lot more about my DSes and alcohol, than about drugs. We have a lot of alcoholism in my family. I've always been very very aware that addiction is possible, and always dropped any substance if it seemed to be becoming a habit. (Much as I miss acid, it was never something I wanted more than every 6 months, which isn't really much of a habit.)

I'm hoping that the UK drinking culture will have changed by the time my boys are big enough to be drinking, but that's probably just wishful thinking.

The drinking culture here is my biggest problem with living in the UK. I have nothing against a bit of booze now and again, but the need to get paralytic on a regular basis boggles and annoys me.

Eulalia · 02/03/2006 11:18

Did the usual teenage drinking, bit of cannibis. Tried coke twice and speed a few times. Had a few good nights on E with clubbing etc but it was very rare. Never tried magic mushrooms after someone close to me had them and had a 'bad trip'. Put me off taking anything hallucinogenic. Never missed it as I have often have fantastic vivid dreams, very colourful and usually quite pleasant.

Been a social smoker in the past but never a proper one. Only thing I have now is a glass or two of wine/beer and maybe a puff of a joint and I mean a puff as more than that makes me stupid Grin

fastasleep · 02/03/2006 12:04

Ooooh just remembered I can join the ranks of spidermama etc as I've had ketamine so there!

Ok so I'd broken both bones in my arm and it was horribly twisted with a bone poking out so they tanked me up on morphine and ketamine and had to re-jig it whilst I was still awake, but I still had it, so there!

It gave me very odd painful flashbacks! But at the time everything went sort of pink and floaty like, and someone was screaming about her arm in the distance.... lol

acnebride · 02/03/2006 12:17

sorry have read most but not all of thread.

this terrifies me; i'm never taken much of anything (tried hash brownies twice and never felt any effect); dh has smoked cannabis in the past; but there is an extremely strong family history of cannabis use leading to mental illness. dh has bipolar disorder and as a result lost his original career and has suffered for 18 years, his sister has schizophrenia after a serious skunk habit for several years. i am so scared of ds even trying cannabis as he doesn't have the genes to stand it.

So please, for the sake of my ds Grin can you talk to your children about drugs in terms of 'even if you can get away with it, someone you share your drugs with may not'

luckytobealive · 02/03/2006 12:31

"'even if you can get away with it, someone you share your drugs with may not' "

That is a very very good point you make! If you have a propensity to mental illness, in particular schizophrenia (IMO) taking cannabis and esp. acid is playing russian roulette with your mind.

NotQuiteCockney · 02/03/2006 12:38

I don't actually recommend acid to people. I say it suits me. It is clearly my best drug. (I actually find it relaxing. Something is obviously very odd about my brain chemistry.) I've had nasty roommates try to give me a bad trip, and it was still fine.

If people are curious about hallucinogens, I suggest mushrooms, as I think they're a better introduction to these things.

ruty · 02/03/2006 12:39

yes i'm not keen on ds smoking hash because there is history of depression in my family. have to try to explain to dh, he thinks it is harmless. don't suppose anyone has any links?

luckytobealive · 02/03/2006 12:43

I always thoguht long term heavy cannabis use was more of a depression trigger whereas it is the schizophrenia thing that I think can happen really suddenly esp. in teenage boys. Bright lovely boys I went to school with who were "fine" at 14, were basically doomed never to live "within" normal society again due to mental illness by 18 years old - triggered in two cases I am thinking of by a combination of cannabis and acid - although one case the guy was abit older, about 21.

mousiemousie · 02/03/2006 12:48

Did a fair amount of most things in my 20's but regret it now...am sure I am more stupid than when when I was younger, maybe not due to drugs but now I will never know if I caused it myself!

Stopped taking anything at age 30 but might start again when I retire at 65 Smile

RachD · 02/03/2006 13:39

Was permeanently stoned all through the six years of uni - wrote 2 dissertations whilst being stoned - having had my first joint at 15.

Tried speed once, at uni.. Didn't do anything for me.

Never took E. My brother split one with his bf, on bf's 21st birthday party and brothers bf was paralysed from neck down. Brother fine. How do you explain that ? Funnily enough, never interested myself !!

Didn't take anything for years.

Then introduced to coke, in late 20's.
Still take a tiny bit, occassionally.
Love it.

ruty · 02/03/2006 13:53

coke is the one thing i've been offered that i've turned down. I think it must depend on the personality of the takee. I would probably be unbearable on it, and i have seen a few people equally unbearable on it at parties who don't stop talking about themselves. But then again not everyone reacts to it the same. Also, i just don't like the idea of snorting something up my nose, though someone persuade me to snort vodka once! Shock

ruty · 02/03/2006 13:55

not trying to insinuate it has that effect on you rachD, you're probably a much nicer person than i am! Wink

RachD · 02/03/2006 14:11

probably not ruty, I'm horrible Wink
god, no offense taken.