£500 a month on cocaine?

[namechange101321]

Can someone tell me if this is a lot in terms of recreational cocaine usage?

I've just discovered H is spending this much on cocaine a month. He says he's fine and it's part and parcel of working in banking in London and it's just recreational but I feel like it sounds like a lot?! More than recreational/occasional usage and moving in to addiction territory...?!

He is tee-total, faithful, likes to exercise.. so this is his only 'vice' but I don't want it getting out of control.

I'm a complete novice and know nothing about cocaine so if someone could provide some insight I'd be grateful!

Have name changed for this, obviously.

hmm...I worked in investment banking in London for 15 years and managed not to take it at all

I mean, it went on, but it wasn't part and parcel. That sounds like a lot of minimising to me.

All for his own personal use or to share?
It's not much , coke is really expensive.
I'd be worried about it being a regular / long term thing though, that suggests dependency .

I think you're right @ItsJustTheOneSwanActually my H is certainly minimising ☹️ but I don't know how big of a problem he has. I don't mind anyone dabbling I'm occasional drug use but £500 a month sounds excessive, although I could be wrong as I have no idea how much £500 buys or how long it should last etc.

£6k a year on class A drugs sounds like a lot to me.

Is anyone seriously this naive ?

It is a significant amount and likely to be causing him long term health problems. The benefits he gets from exercising & being tee total will be extinguished by regular cocaine use.

@FilledSoda all on his own 😳 We live in Centra London, I don't know if prices are a regional thing and it's very expansive here as opposed to somewhere else in the UK and also if dealers know people like my H are good for the money so rip them off.

Erm - nothing to do with working in banking in London. Most of us manage to get through the day without putting things up our nose.

OP, I agree with AnyFucker. Are you really that naive? While you might not know how much it costs, surely you know that £500 per month is a lot? It would be a lot if you were buying perfume or shoes or alcohol or chocolates - why do you think it might not be a lot of cocaine? You know it's not something only millionaires can buy.

I couldn't be doing with him taking any at all, but spending £500 on it and minimising it? No way.

@AnyFucker I haven't posted in AIBU, I'm posting in Addiction support so please be gentle.

Ok..... a gram of coke is about £100 for fairly decent stuff in London so that’s a gram and a quarter a week which tbh isn’t a lot at all in terms of consumption. On a night out you could do a half to one gram alone ( more too but I never have!) so it doesn’t sound like he’s a daily user- think £350-£500 a week would be more the figure then. Keep an eye on it for it getting any more frequent.

Depending on the quality £500 worth is anything from 5-10 grams a month so let’s say he is using 1.5 grams a week- that’s roughly 15 lines a week.

Sounds all a bit sad to be honest. What are your next steps going to be?? Do you have kids?

Tell him to demonstrate it’s not a worrying amount by not doing any for a month.

That's a lot to be spending on recreational drugs yes. You could have a bloody good holiday on that money and still loads leftover.

"Ohyesiam

Tell him to demonstrate it’s not a worrying amount by not doing any for a month."

👆 This. I recently did this with my OH (booze not coke). He got extremely defensive, had a strop, muttered for several days and generally shocking behaviour. I ignored it. After a week, he has admitted maybe he needs to cut back and has swapped to alcohol free beers with just occasionally drinking if with mates or his dad.

£500 is a) a lot of money,
b) even if means "only" doing a gram/1.5g, it is still that much every week/month - that there is a habit
and c) it is of course illegal. What happens if he got a criminal conviction?

I've done enough things in my misspent youth so am not naive in this but it has to be take seriously - the police are more after the dealers usually but they will take action on a user occasionally.

Thanks everyone. H seems very nonchalant about it all and says he can stop at any time so I suggested we open a joint bank account so I can see where all the money is coming and going and keep an eye on things to which he agreed. I'm a SAHM with 2 small DC for those asking.

Anyfucker don’t be cruel.

OP- honest question- why does this worry YOU? Sounds like you can afford it.

You say he’s teetotal. That’s quite unusual for a city party animal and IME quite unusual for someone to take coke without alcohol at all. Is he doing it whilst socialising in the evenings?

Anyfucker just go back to relationships and get your thrills there like usual.

This is addiction support for someone trying to gather information, if you can’t help, go away.

That's at least 4-5 purchases a week, unless he gets big rocks at a time. Otherwise, yes that's a lot. He's not a social sniffer, or an occasional taster, he sounds addicted

And it's £2k a month that could be savings, holiday money, expensive clothes, meals out etc. Sounds like it's a priority for him

That's at least 4-5 purchases a week, unless he gets big rocks at a time

Bollocks - even when I was doing coke (over 10 years ago) a gram cost £60 and a gram was about one night out. So maybe he's doing it 5 or 6 times a month if it's on nights out, I guess I was doing as much and I never got addicted.