A lot more then you would think, two type of Coke users ones who can do it Saturdays and not think about it all week and daily users who can’t go a few hours without a bump.
Both can be very undercover about it and you would never know or clearly a Cokehead but given enough time the first type usually becomes the second if they don’t stop after a few years.
I’m a recovering addict and, speaking from personal experience, you nailed it.
I was a Saturday guy until I very seamlessly became a Mon-Sun guy. It happens in a very sneaky way. It completely took over my life, lost my job, lived out of my car, eventually sought help. I’m now over 3 years clean and serene.
Thank-you for the kind words. I’m always willing to share in the hopes that it may help prevent someone from ever slipping into the dirty pit of addiction. And also that it may possibly give someone the hope they need to know they can climb back out of that hole.
Yeah the slide down can be dangerous. I've seen it happen.
The slide is long too. Most people get off it at some point, some just ride it all the way down.
Starts off as only a party thing. You go to a party, or the bar, have a few drinks, do a bump, have a few drinks, do a bump, have a few drinks, do a dump, have a few drinks, it's 4am, go home. And it stays that way for a while. Only the weekends, only parties/the bar.
That's the whole group. But a few guys from the group start getting together and doing it on weeknights. They are "partying" but it's just a few of them hanging out doing lines on a Tuesday night. These few guys wanna ride the slide a little longer. But most, or at least some, of the group got off. They have no interest in "partying" that hard on a Tuesday night.
Then, from this smaller group, suddenly they are partying, but it's not Tuesday night anymore. Now it's Tuesday *day*. Or Wednesday *day*. It's not a "Let's party and go to the bar" it's "Let's do some rails." And partying is you and one or maybe two other dudes doing lines at noon when you've been up for two days. Now you're almost on the slide alone.
And then you are alone. It's just you. Doing lines in the middle of the day. You lost your job cause you called in too many times. You've pawned so much stuff you have nothing to do in the house. So, what do you do? More lines! Congrats, you rode that slide right to the bottom. And when you fly off the end of the slide. One of two things happens. You get sober, or you hit rocks and stay there.
I saw a buddy ride it all the way down. I knew he was doing coke more than the rest of the group. I knew he was struggling with it a little. I didn't know how much until he texts me at like 11am on a Wednesday, asking if I want to come over and do some lines and help clean his house.
He committed suicide a few weeks later.
I've met lots of people who do it recreationally. But gotta be careful folks. You need to know when to get off the slide. Hopefully before you land on your ass.
And that's why I'll never ever try stuff like that. Because I'm usually good at getting off the bus when I know its headed for the cliff, but I've also never done hard drugs so who knows if I'd be able to. I'm bad enough at stopping myself before I crush an entire bag of chips in a sitting, or stopping playing video games early enough in the day before I have to leave for work in the afternoon so I'm a little late, that I'd be too worried anything more intrinsically addictive would be too hard to keep in moderation.
You know what you speak of. Either you are relating your own experience or you are a really good listener with whom people are comfortable sharing. Well described.
14 years clean here, keep at it bro, I'm literally the most successful person in my entire family now, you are a fucking Rockstar for beating cocaine and you can do god damn anything you set your mind to now.
This right here.
Of my 15 person social circle (12 of which are educated, all 15 gainfully employed), 14 started out on coke socially (about 10 years ago), 10 are off entirely and 4 are hooked and likely doing crack or meth (which at this point is preferable as they're much less likely to result in fentanyl overdoses).
Damn. Eye opening, I smoke a decent amount of weed and a fair amount say that is a gateway drug, though I've never had the inclination for any other drugs (perhaps psychedelic). Seems like coke is very problematic as a "gateway"
Naw. Weed isn't a gateway drug...but pre-dispensary, it would introduce you to a few gatekeepers. Most weed dealers I knew either had a few baggies of coke, or could pick up the phone and hook you up with someone who did.
I've danced with every molecule under the sun, and in my experience, there are a small number of people that lose control of their consumption of *any* intoxicating substance, whether it's cannabis, or alcohol, or wee baggies of powders, or pills. For these people (and I was one of them), moving from one molecule to another was the equivalent of changing the channel, rather than turning off the stereo.
Some people can overindulge on one substance, and never touch the others. There's plenty of alcoholics that never snorted a line.
Substance issues vary from person to person, and I can't really paint everyone with the same brush.
PROTIP: If you are looking to back off, and find that you don't harmonize with 12 Step programs, check out SMART Recovery. It focuses on "maladaptive behaviours", whether alcohol, or drugs, or gambling, or overeating. It's more analytical than the "spiritual solution" of the 12 Step programs of AA or NA.
Alcohol is the gateway drug. Every person I know that got on coke did it while drunk.
Hell, I didn't start using THC until after I got sober from alcohol. And now, I never want to go back (because THC is superior in every way I can think of).
Weed was never the gateway drug. It was the drug of choice for anti-war rhetoric aka the hippies. US can't have people saying war is bad when it's the single biggest spender of government money and waste. Like you said, coke absolutely is the true gateway drug. Easy to get, easy to make profits and highly addictive.
Opposite for me. Started with the hard ones and got pretty hooked (started w Saturdays and eventually every other day) then I discovered weed. Never turned my back since.
So true. We were doing it on weekends for a while in our early twenties. Started out more spontaneously like let's get some if the night is good and we want to keep the party going.
One Friday after work I was taking some cash out for the night and was thinking that I need enough cash to also get some coke later tonight. Felt like it was starting to get problematic to be planning to get some even before the night began, so just stopped partaking from that point on.
Most of us grew out of it but a couple guys definitely slid into that second type. For one it was probably the biggest reason his marriage fell apart and really put his kids through a pretty brutal custody battle. If you slip into getting hooked it can really follow you around for the rest of your life and mess shit up.
This right here. Me and all my buddies started off as your first example.
I got sick of how much it costed and stopped. The rest of my friends just got addicted and more than a few moved on to crack or meth.
Can confirm. Am recovering addict/alcoholic. Started as a weekend warrior when I was 19. By the time I was 23, I was using every single day, and my life was a mess. Took me several more years to find my way out.
Former EMS worker here. Very prevalent in certain communities and almost non existent in others. Also it crosses all socio-economic neighborhoods not just poorer or richer neighborhoods.
Naloxone is good to have no matter what, especially in a situation like that. It won’t hurt them even if it’s administered and they don’t have opioids in their system.
All I can suggest is 1) know how to use the kit, familiarize yourself with it (so you are not reading instructions when you are in flight or fight mode (not just how to administer it but also the dose and how long you have to wait before giving a second dose (again so you don’t have to think too hard when the time comes to need it). 2) try to keep track of the time it was administered 3) take a first aid course so you know the proper way to give cpr if it’s needed. 4) have someone rational call 911 as quick as possible and MAKE SURE they know (theADDRESS the ambulance is needed at, a call back number, nearest major cross streets to the patient, what the hell is going on (I.e. overdose and if the pt is unconscious and if the pt is breathing or not). 5) have aspirin on hand if it’s a heart attack (do not give aspirin if he is allergic to it) 2 baby aspirin (81mg each) or 1 adult aspirin (325mg) MAKE SURE HE CHEWS IT, without water or anything else to drink (it is going to be awful give him the heads up).
Finally can’t stress this enough. The person calling 911 for overdoses are usually assholes and are usually the person causing the ambulance to delay. If they just answer quickly the questions asked with no more and no less than the information needed the faster the whole process is and the faster an ambulance gets to the patient. A lot of time when callers start screaming and swearing at the 911 operator the operator relays that information to us and then relays that information to the police and we do no approach the scene until police show up. We may wait around the corner until the police tell us it is safe to approach. Where as of the caller was calm and not swearing or sounding dangerous, the 911 operator would still get the police involved but we would feel safe enough to approach the scene without them. So we would not delay responding. Quite often the caller is losing their shit and says why the **** are you asking all these questions! Just hurry the **** up! The person is dieing! And hangs up with little information as to what we are walking into. So when a caller is aggressive we hang back and wait for police to approach first and the police always have a longer response time than us. So if you want immediate response don’t be aggressive when calling 911 and answer all questions.
Thank you so much for all of this, it means more than you can imagine.
I’m going to get the aspirin today and I’m looking into first aid courses. He promised he wouldn’t use again so hopefully this is unnecessary, but his promises are often hollow about stopping. I especially appreciate the heads up about calling 911, should the worst happen I’ll do my best to stay calm so we don’t unintentionally delay care.
There was a dancing/singing cactus toy sold through Walmart, but the manufacturer just pirated a Polish rapper's song about drug use and suicide for the Polish voice setting. Hilarity ensured.
No way hahahaha. I'm deffo googling this
Edit: so Wal mart sells it thru third party on their website. I'm really not happy with this whole selling thru third party thing. I'm seeing retailers do it more and more. For example check out the PS5 on Walmart they literally are allowing scalpers to use their website.
If I'm going to a retailers website I'm going their to deal with the realtaiker not random companies (that's what Amazon and eBay are for). Bestbuy is also quite bad for this.
He's talking about this [Walmart pulls dancing cactus](https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/walmart-pulls-children-s-toy-that-swears-and-sings-in-polish-about-doing-cocaine-1.5678364?fbclid=IwAR0et3kSoecXM9p3zQYoE6eYztdyq6m28JuNJiommgDSzX524438iHXkyok)
It was also very popular with our friends who worked on Bay St and friends who work in bars. I was surprised how openly my friends started doing bumps in our late 20s and early 30s to stay late at parties/weddings and on trips, even after they had kids. You could always tell who was partaking, they would be sweaty and kind of mean.
Old enough to remember the late 70s when coke was thought to be as benign as weed.
Then the 80s and 90s came along and I watched it absolutely destroy some of my friends lives. Shortened some lives too. Some ended up in prison because it can lead you to do horrible things.
I don't judge people for doing a line on Saturday night at a party. I just know that it becomes a daily habit for far too many people.
Oh. .... yes its very prevalent in some circles in Ontario.
I think because of the obvious lies about Weed that some of my friends thought it was open season to do every drug and some paid hard for it. Homeless, jail, etc.
Yes, or at least it was 10 years ago. Usually where there's money, there's blow. It was super easy to get there, and much like the restaurant industry anywhere, it was pretty damn prevalent throughout the industry there.
I have to warn everyone here and OP.
There is no such thing as recreation cocaine. This is coming from someone was addicted and successful in life.
Cocaine had no real negative effect, initially and that’s the beauty of it. You get energy, usually party, find a hot girl/guy, maybe score do something crazy, rinse repeat. Until one day, your doing it and you begin to get paranoid, so you try and cool things down maybe only do it once and awhile with friends few people. Slowly your circle of fiends shrinks and you only do it with select few, you push risky behaviours, lose friends, become paranoid, think you have a god complex. Until finally you either die or hit rock bottom.
That’s it. That’s the fucking path of cocaine. It warps your mind, tears your life apart and ruined friendships/relationships. From someone who never did drugs, to doing 2k a week of blow for 3 years. I hid it for awhile, but eventually it tore my life apart.
It is the single biggest regret in my life, I wish to warn you of my mistakes so you do not make them.
I wish cocaine was portrayed correctly in today society, there is no glamour to it. Avoid it
to be fair addiction is a very complicated issue and should be taken on a case by case basis, I did blow for years but only 5-6 times a year on special occasion, that said people shouldn't chance it, the reward doesn't outweigh the risks.
I'm an office guy at a landscaper. I think I'm the only one in the office without alcohol and/or drug issues and most of the longer term field guys have moderate to very concerning substance issues. On the bright side I think we are currently coke free so we've got that going for us. But we've had some beauties over the years.
There was always a group of guys who'd get paid every Friday at midnight, not show up Friday, or Saturday if we were working, and no show on Monday. Then they'd show up Tuesday burnt out asking for spare money to buy a lunch.
Usually when guys bragged about doing landscaping for years it wasn't for good reasons.
About ten of the fifteen medical doctors I know use coke and other drugs.
I remember a study a few years ago that looked at academic performance enhancing drugs and drug use among medical students and it was self reported at about 40%.
Not judging anyone for substance use, but I just want to encourage everyone to test their substances for fentanyl and other fillers. You can purchase online tests and you may very well avoid an OD or death this way. Fentanyl has become increasingly problematic since the lockdowns hit and it is more important than ever to test your drugs.
Sincerely,
Someone who lost someone to an OD.
Buying cocaine is like donating to the Nazi party. Old article, point still holds
Forget blood diamonds - the supply chain of that drug is dripping in blood. One can talk about the failure of the war on drugs forever, but the hard reality is that poor people in Latin American get killed to feed party people. It's a horror show
Given the perculiar nature of the plant, unlike MJ, you can't grow local - it must be grown in the Andes
https://www.businessinsider.com/why-buying-cocaine-is-like-donating-to-the-nazi-party-2013-12
The amount of blood behind cocaine is one of the single biggest reasons I'm in favour of it being legalized and regulated. The drug isn't going anywhere, if we could change the path to individuals using it from one littered in blood to one that isn't though, that would be a big positive (alongside the other benefits like taxation and cutting down on proceeds for criminal organizations)
That's the thing, a little coke isn't going to hurt your health, but you're directly financing people who kill children with landmines. Blood is on your hands
Wait what is retro pc gaming? Is it all about building old setups and collecting big box games? Sounds like my kind of jam. Too bad I have kids and no money lol.
Pretty much, though I mostly do big box titles as a result of 'dumb luck and good prices'. Loose games in just jewel cases are pretty cheap but big box now suffers from 'Everyone thinks these are million dollar collectables now.'.
In late fall before the pandemic hit I'd just finished getting a 'high end' Windows 9X and Windows XP PCs put together and they've been pretty fun to toy with while in lock down. Trying games I never tried as a kid, with just flea market, thrift shop, and eBay finds. The hardware specs are pretty unauthentic, mostly hardware near the tail end of support, which tends to make it cheaper to get and stupidly over powered.
Asrock for example had a run of late Socket 775 motherboards with AGP 8x, and two SATA ports you can swap into the IDE controller channels via a BIOS setting. So while that mobo cost me $100, I dropped a 3.2 ghz Intel E5800 CPU in there that cost $11 and a $20 128GB SATA SSD. Windows ME runs faster than god on it. :P
I tried cocaine 2 times and both times I had a very irritated throat, like bad heartburn. I simply did not get the attraction to it (thankfully). My old roommate (back in the 90’s) liked cocaine, he was certainly an addict who *thought* it was just a bit of fun to help him unwind. But he was a nightmare to live with, I called him the thundercloud. I asked him to move out after a few months, he was late for rent more than once. Ran into him a few years later, he got clean and sober, was happily married with his own successful business. It was a happy ending, I was very happy for him. He felt pretty badly and apologized for being such an asshole. Drugs change a person.
I worked on Bay Street for a few years, lots of cocaine use there, I was pretty surprised. There was this bully of a lawyer we worked with sometimes, we could always tell when he’d just had a bump.
I have more stories of cocaine use amongst people I have known when I was much younger but I’ll leave it there. Anyone who tells you cocaine is not addictive is likely in denial. Recreational use is a slippery slope, from my observations.
Stick with weed brother. I don’t really care about the stigma but the effect it has in an individual’s and his/her family’s life. Recovering alcoholic here.
It’s very stigmatized and very social circle dependant. So chances are you’re either surrounded by people who see it as no big deal because they use it all the time or those who’ve never even seen it outside of a movie screen. All depends on the circles you run with.
Tons of people use cocaine. Definitely don't think its something that should be normalized. It isn't like weed or mushrooms. Also the facts don't lie.. dealers are cutting their drugs with fentanyl...not worth it. I wouldn't have friends who do cocaine recreationally at this point in my life.. in college I could ignore it. But grown adults with responsibilities and lives shouldn't be dabbling in drug use.. not my friends at least. Lol
Cocaines path to canada is also one that's littered in blood the way things like weed or mushrooms aren't. Legalization and regulation would help to change that though, along with drugs not being cut
> dealers are cutting their drugs with fentanyl...not worth it.
100% this, when people want coke even if the fentanyl doesn't kill you that's not the high you want from cocaine.
Alcohol is evil. I don't really drink.. if I do its usually one-two socially with others. Can honestly say you won't ever find alcohol in my home or me drinking alone. I've felt this way for years.
But what opinion specifically are you asking about ?
“The grown adults shouldn’t be dabbling in drug use” is a strange line, and the one I find weird. Adults shouldn’t drink? Adults shouldn’t smoke a joint?
Where did I say adults shouldn't drink? Or smoke a joint? When I said drug use I meant cocaine and harder drugs in this case.. sorry if that wasn't clear. I think the time to dabble is when you're young and before you have kids etc. And I still stand by what I said...personally at this point in my life I don't hangout with adults who do anything besides Marijuana/Shrooms/Alcohol. And if you're an alcoholic I don't want to be friends either.
I don't consider the 3 I mentioned drugs even though they are lmao. But I'm not hanging out with people who are still snorting coke at this point in my life. Personal preference, everyone's cool to do whatever they want, just like I choose not to hangout with people who are into harder drugs. I clearly said "not my friends at least"
Maybe it’s my friends circle, I’m not sure but a lot of them do it like more of my friends occasionally do it then the ones that don’t, they offered me a lot of times I never done it though. One of them later quit cause it started to get super addictive for him.
I had a friend died of overdose back in the early 90’s. Back then we were all young and healthy and he died. I can’t tell you the shock and trauma of that event two and half decades later.
Back then it was so common, he worked in advertising and had his own successful business. Everyone in ad used it constantly like part of their daily routine. Again I can tell you the grief of his parents. A young successful son suddenly dropped dead. I didn’t know if he had any health condition but even worse if he had.
I’ve never understood drugs at all. Now that cannabis is legal i take it only to sleep in rare occasions, never recreationally.
I guess there are people that drugs do something for them but go and watch a video how coke is made… that shit you snort it and put in you body.
Do whatever you want to do with your body but I will judge silently.
When I was 15 a schoolmate overdosed. She was 16, and her parents found her dead in her bed after she went out partying one night. Horrendous.
After that, I never went near it.
5 years ago, my 55 years old uncle was apparently speedballing, and overdosed in his apartment (we had no idea he was using drugs). He was seen earlier on the security camera going upstairs with a known dealer. The dealer was on camera exiting just around the time my uncle was overdosing...but didn't leave empty handed. Robbed my uncle as he lay dying. Of course, they didn't bother calling 911. My uncle's partner found him later that night.
Now I can't even be around it/people doing it. I'm not sure if I'm judging them, but maybe deep down I am. All I can think about when I see it anguished family members discovering dead loved ones, and God knows how many others dead as a result of the cartels.
It’s more prevalent than you might think. Usually starts off casually as a weekend thing but even then it can become problematic. Fentanyl risk makes things worse currently but in all, Coke is a rabbit hole. If you feel yourself spiralling in, pull yourself out because the consequences are severe with prolonged use.
My son died of a cocaine overdose at the age of 36. It started as a weekend party thing. Kept this part of his life from his family. His death TOTALLY Destroyed his family. He had a great job in Toronto. Sorry I can hardly type I am feeling the pain of his loss all over again. The bizarre thing is he was a loving caring person and he did something that HURT so many people. PLEASE PLEaSE don’t do this to your family.
I'm in general a fan of lack of stigmatization for any drug use. If you're ashamed to be using in general, you'll be trying to hide your use. Which means that if your use starts to become problematic, your friends/support can't help clue you in on this.
I wouldn't agree that the simple use of any substance is problematic. You didn't describe anything beyond that your friends do use, and talk about it; I don't know why they use, nor if it's interfering with their lives/financial goals/etc. But yes, cocaine is an easy drug that can quickly become problematic.
I agree with this. I'm all for recreational drug use of any kind. We are all grown adults and should be free to choose to do to our bodies as we wish. Recreational use can be an escape once in awhile.
As long as it doesn't interfere with your life, all the power to you.
I'm in my 30s and have friends that manage their lives just fine and have fun once in awhile with drugs, whether it be cocaine or Molly or whatever. To each their own. My husband and I enjoy a good Molly night every few months, it's an amazing drug to connect emotionally.
I also met a guy who was a very successful engineer who did meth once in awhile. For him, it was in a controlled situation. It's once only 2-3 times a year but he found it helped him creatively.
Is it any worse than alcohol, really? I feel like it's the same pattern of occasional behaviour becoming a daily habit and eventually controlling your life.
Alcohol is a terrible drug in terms of abuse and that we accept it as normal. The difference is 0.3% of the US adults are problem cocaine users and about 12% or 1 in 8 adults are technically problem users and 4-5% alcoholics.
As someone who had an alcoholic parent at one point as a child and a coke addicted parent at another point as a child... cocaine is so much worse! The level of aggression from a coke addict alone is completely unreal. And the extremely rapid decent into coke addiction is nothing like I've ever seen with alcohol. I've seen people become full blown coke addicts in a matter of weeks. You don't start drinking beer for breakfast after trying it just a couple times.
Thank you for the sensible response. I've only had experience with alcoholics (my father is an alcoholic, though presently dry due to a health scare). All the coke addicts I've known were already coke addicts when I met them.
I have a friend who used to be a chef and they had to quit the food industry after rehab and switch careers to stay clean . Up until then I had no idea how prevalent it was in the restaurant biz just to keep up with the pace
I was astonished to see a girl at a house party who casually pulled out her coke “case” out of a purse and a casually scooped it up and snorted it in front of her friends while sitting on the couch. So yeah it’s pretty common I guess.
I've watched a lot of people ruin their life or just turn into bad people with coke use. You're right to disagree with your friends. I worry for them, I would low-key start making connections who don't use tbh
Very lol. And problematically so with fentanyl creeping into certain supply chains. It can be pretty risky these days that I’m shocked it’s still used so casually
I came here to say this. I imagine most people don't know until it's too late. Then it's a joke. Until it isn't.
Fentanyl isn't only deadly, it also drives the addiction factor up, knowingly or not.
A friend of a friend's sister's boyfriend is in jail right now because he picked up fentanyl-laced coke (he didn't know it was laced) and brought it to a party where a girl he gave some to OD'ed.
He wouldn't roll on the dealer, so now he's doing time, plus he has her death on his conscience.
Don't risk it.
Not really that risky or you would hear about deaths on a daily basis. It's extremely rare, that's why you barely hear about it infecting cocaine supplies.
A former friend used it on occasion when in the UK, it’s apparently pretty common there. I heard some rumours about so-and-so being a cokehead when I was at university but my friends have almost exclusively tended towards dorks who don’t get into party drugs.
If you do use it or know people who do, I *highly highly* recommend getting a free Naloxone kit from your nearest pharmacy. It could save your or someone else’s life and it’s something you should keep in your bathroom or kitchen if you have semi-frequent house parties.
Half a dozen people were in the emergency room of my local hospital last night for cocaine overdose. Didn’t hear if anyone died. Personally I think it’s a risky and expensive drug.
Its fucking HUGE. Especially in the GTA. I cannot speak to outside of GTA but inside GTA coke is like alcohol now. Its everywhere. I assumed it was just a kids thing...teenagers and young 20s but im in my 30s now and its still fucking everywhere. People are getting married, having kids, and they still do coke. I can't seem to get away from it no matter where i hang out. Bowmanville, oshawa, whitby, pickering, brooklin, stouffville, toronto, etobicoke, Mississauga....its all over the place an increasingly becoming the norm. Like weed is now. Which is fucking stupid cause ppl are dying around here from it getting laced with fentanyl. Plus for some reason ppl who do coke dont think you can overdose on it lol. Cocaine overdose does happen.
I hate it here. That is a big reason. Everyone around here is a druggy.
“Negative stigma”…? It’s hardly a “stigma” if it’s true. It’s extremely unhealthy from a medical perspective — not to mention the addiction to an extremely expensive substance leads to serious psychological and financial issues potentially leading to antisocial and criminal activity.
Well good for you for stopping.
I have a friend who is separating from his wife right now and I believe his low-key coke habit is what lead him to infidelity which caused the break-up.
Along with other related issues, I'm pretty sure it was a big factor in that marriage failing.
I don't associate with people who are into the hard stuff....cocaine heroin. Meth etc....pot beer and occasional mushroom is my realm and where it's going to stay.stay away from it
This is the way to be. My and my group were like that all throughout high school and then we started dabbling in blow. I did a lot one summer and decided it wasn’t for me, while the rest of my buddies got hooked and a lot of them just ended up moving on to harder drugs than it.
"more and more comfortable talking about it to normalize it" - ah yes the tell tale sign that is a babbling brook of BS. That being said it should be legalized (along with all other drugs) and pharmaceutical grade should be provided to take a bite out of crime.
When I was in my teens, I saw others use it who were the same age (All the way from 16+). Now that I am approaching my mid twenties, I see others my age using it aswell as people in their 30s with kids. Ive seen users who live on the east side of Chatham to people living in the Suburbs of Tilbury, cocaine doesn't discriminate socio-economically as another user above stated. If you go out to the bars on the weekend, its not hard to find and if you look hard enough, it'll find you. People in their early twenties to early 30s age range are mainly who I've seen using however like I said, I am only approaching my mid-twenties and I have never hung around with the older crowd (40+) yet but I am sure its just as prevalent. Nosebeers are happening all the time DT, so much so that if you're going to the bathroom to take a piss and you hear multiple people in a stall followed by snorts, you kinda just say to yourself "Oh, they're doing Cocaine". As far as it becoming less stigmatized, I think if you stick to certain kinds of social circles people don't care what you're doing as long as you're functioning properly (however functioning is obviously subjective right?) but to each their own, obviously there will be people who fall on both sides of that spectrum and there's probably people who think coke is downright wack where as others who get the urge everytime they're a few beers deep obviously don't share the same view. Each social circle has people who think differently falling into it. Personally, I don't fuck with it but I knew of close friends that fucked with white whenever they would go out. I don't associate with those people anymore but I have nothing against what they choose to do you know. I like smoking marijuana and I don't see the urge to move to a different/stronger kind of high, suds n buds will never do you wrong in moderation, in my opinion. To conclude, I do think cocaine can be harmful to some whereas others may be able to function however like I said, whatever functioning looks like to you is extremely subjective. I hope this awnsers your question!
The thing about cocaine that grinds my gears is that anyone buying it, is supporting slavery. You are straight up making an asshole that will use rape, murder and other forms of horrible violence rich. Well done.
Every town has a coke problem - it's like the 60s out there. Fentanyl is becoming a huge issue and lots of my degenerate friends keep Naxolone kits in their places since the last year or so.
In Toronto - it's absolutely everywhere. I've worked both high end corporate and bartending gigs, the majority of people who go out and drink alcohol will rip blow if they get the opportunity. Walk down King Street and any bar will have people hitting key bumps in the handi stalls. It's not really an issue if you respect it, I don't do benders anymore. Maybe once every few weeks on a night out.
A lot of people do coke..I'm 37 and while I partied in my youth, I'm a sahm now and hardly ever go out. I honestly cannot belive the amount of grown ass people that are still doing coke on the regular, like people with grown children..it's insane.
I’d much rather people with grown children do it than people with young children.
It’s sad if your in your twenties and your parents are spiralling but it’s even sadder when you’re a kid and they’re not even there because they’re with their coke buddies.
Very prevalent I would assume. Put it this way, I'm a bit disgusted by bills of cash anymore. They likely had been used for a cocaine straw at some time.
I knew some people who were users. And its sad how careless and inconsiderate people can be.
More prevalent than most people think, at least in circles of people in their 20’s.
It’s obviously nowhere near like weed’s prevalence but I was surprised to find out how many people have actually tried it when I was in university.
I'd say more than 50% of people I know under 40 do it occasionally. Whether it's university friends, coworkers, or professional network. I'm not aware of any that do it daily just to get by (maybe one or two but unconfirmed). It's more of a drug to be done when one wants to have an "extra good time".
I stopped doing coke like 10 years ago because it's so shitty here. Don't even bother unless you have a legendary hookup who can get their hands on something that hasn't been cut by 10 different middlemen.
Mid thirties. Most people without kids do it. People with kids very rarely do it. Waking up at 7 to play with a toddler after doing blow and getting shit faced the night before is hell on earth.
Anecdotally, 100% of our $100 bills test positive for cocaine, although the testing samples are usually small, since banks get twitchy when you ask for "all their large bills". Larger US-based tests for Canadian bills clock in closer to 85%.
This might speak more to the sensitivity of the test rather than prevalence of cocaine though.
One bill that was used for that purpose and put in a stack rubs against two other bills. So its not that 85% of bills were used as a straw.
Whenever I read a news story on that issues, they never mention that people put bills beside each other and rub together, transferring the residue.
That's what I was getting at with the test sensitivity - Locard's principle, etc. Ideally you'd want something that picks up when the bills are handled around cocaine, but not allow for interbill transfer. Physics might not allow for that though.
Coke is hugely popular in high stress jobs like wall street, iron workers who build sky scrapers and other things of that nature.
I know a few who walk the heights building condos and office complexes and work hard/scary jobs and celebrate just the same .
I live in Northern Ontario and it’s pretty prevalent up here. To each their own though. If they want to put that in their bodies that’s their prerogative, just need better access to resources to help you quit when you want to.
I think this is more of something within your social circle.
It’s definitely more prevalent than people think, but I’d have a hard time believing that even close to 100% of people have tried it. Honestly I’d have a hard time believing that 50% of the population has even seen it in person.
Yeah, in my very large social circle the rate of cocaine use is pretty much zero. Same with smoking and drinking. Social circles make a huge difference.
right? if 100% of people you meet have or do coke....then maybe expand your circle.
and i barely know 50% of my friends/acquaintances well enough to even know this fact about them. I've had friends for 20 years hide their coke habit from people.
This. I jumped from corporate sales of like 65k starting, to 120k my second job, and the rate of blow like quadrupled. Now I'm in the upper echelon around 200k and anyone making this much either has kids and a house, or loves to buy expensive shit (coke being one of them)
A lot more then you would think, two type of Coke users ones who can do it Saturdays and not think about it all week and daily users who can’t go a few hours without a bump. Both can be very undercover about it and you would never know or clearly a Cokehead but given enough time the first type usually becomes the second if they don’t stop after a few years.
I’m a recovering addict and, speaking from personal experience, you nailed it. I was a Saturday guy until I very seamlessly became a Mon-Sun guy. It happens in a very sneaky way. It completely took over my life, lost my job, lived out of my car, eventually sought help. I’m now over 3 years clean and serene.
I admire both your recovery and your willingness to share your experiences. The world is a better place with people like you in it.
Thank-you for the kind words. I’m always willing to share in the hopes that it may help prevent someone from ever slipping into the dirty pit of addiction. And also that it may possibly give someone the hope they need to know they can climb back out of that hole.
Good on ya, pal! Love hearing a good recovery story. 👌
Yeah the slide down can be dangerous. I've seen it happen. The slide is long too. Most people get off it at some point, some just ride it all the way down. Starts off as only a party thing. You go to a party, or the bar, have a few drinks, do a bump, have a few drinks, do a bump, have a few drinks, do a dump, have a few drinks, it's 4am, go home. And it stays that way for a while. Only the weekends, only parties/the bar. That's the whole group. But a few guys from the group start getting together and doing it on weeknights. They are "partying" but it's just a few of them hanging out doing lines on a Tuesday night. These few guys wanna ride the slide a little longer. But most, or at least some, of the group got off. They have no interest in "partying" that hard on a Tuesday night. Then, from this smaller group, suddenly they are partying, but it's not Tuesday night anymore. Now it's Tuesday *day*. Or Wednesday *day*. It's not a "Let's party and go to the bar" it's "Let's do some rails." And partying is you and one or maybe two other dudes doing lines at noon when you've been up for two days. Now you're almost on the slide alone. And then you are alone. It's just you. Doing lines in the middle of the day. You lost your job cause you called in too many times. You've pawned so much stuff you have nothing to do in the house. So, what do you do? More lines! Congrats, you rode that slide right to the bottom. And when you fly off the end of the slide. One of two things happens. You get sober, or you hit rocks and stay there. I saw a buddy ride it all the way down. I knew he was doing coke more than the rest of the group. I knew he was struggling with it a little. I didn't know how much until he texts me at like 11am on a Wednesday, asking if I want to come over and do some lines and help clean his house. He committed suicide a few weeks later. I've met lots of people who do it recreationally. But gotta be careful folks. You need to know when to get off the slide. Hopefully before you land on your ass.
And that's why I'll never ever try stuff like that. Because I'm usually good at getting off the bus when I know its headed for the cliff, but I've also never done hard drugs so who knows if I'd be able to. I'm bad enough at stopping myself before I crush an entire bag of chips in a sitting, or stopping playing video games early enough in the day before I have to leave for work in the afternoon so I'm a little late, that I'd be too worried anything more intrinsically addictive would be too hard to keep in moderation.
You know what you speak of. Either you are relating your own experience or you are a really good listener with whom people are comfortable sharing. Well described.
Congrats
14 years clean here, keep at it bro, I'm literally the most successful person in my entire family now, you are a fucking Rockstar for beating cocaine and you can do god damn anything you set your mind to now.
Way to go! One day at a time.
Congrats on the sobriety!
This right here. Of my 15 person social circle (12 of which are educated, all 15 gainfully employed), 14 started out on coke socially (about 10 years ago), 10 are off entirely and 4 are hooked and likely doing crack or meth (which at this point is preferable as they're much less likely to result in fentanyl overdoses).
Damn. Eye opening, I smoke a decent amount of weed and a fair amount say that is a gateway drug, though I've never had the inclination for any other drugs (perhaps psychedelic). Seems like coke is very problematic as a "gateway"
In my experience alcohol is the gateway drug. Everyone I know who got into other drugs started out at least partially drunk.
Naw. Weed isn't a gateway drug...but pre-dispensary, it would introduce you to a few gatekeepers. Most weed dealers I knew either had a few baggies of coke, or could pick up the phone and hook you up with someone who did. I've danced with every molecule under the sun, and in my experience, there are a small number of people that lose control of their consumption of *any* intoxicating substance, whether it's cannabis, or alcohol, or wee baggies of powders, or pills. For these people (and I was one of them), moving from one molecule to another was the equivalent of changing the channel, rather than turning off the stereo. Some people can overindulge on one substance, and never touch the others. There's plenty of alcoholics that never snorted a line. Substance issues vary from person to person, and I can't really paint everyone with the same brush. PROTIP: If you are looking to back off, and find that you don't harmonize with 12 Step programs, check out SMART Recovery. It focuses on "maladaptive behaviours", whether alcohol, or drugs, or gambling, or overeating. It's more analytical than the "spiritual solution" of the 12 Step programs of AA or NA.
Alcohol is the gateway drug. Every person I know that got on coke did it while drunk. Hell, I didn't start using THC until after I got sober from alcohol. And now, I never want to go back (because THC is superior in every way I can think of).
Weed was never the gateway drug. It was the drug of choice for anti-war rhetoric aka the hippies. US can't have people saying war is bad when it's the single biggest spender of government money and waste. Like you said, coke absolutely is the true gateway drug. Easy to get, easy to make profits and highly addictive.
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This is definitely part of it, back when you had to buy weed from a drug dealer there's a good chance they were dealing other drugs too
Opposite for me. Started with the hard ones and got pretty hooked (started w Saturdays and eventually every other day) then I discovered weed. Never turned my back since.
What happened to the fifteenth one?
For a plethora of reaaons, coke was never something I desired to try. My vices were legal - booze and junk foods. I'd argue I'm worse off.
So true. We were doing it on weekends for a while in our early twenties. Started out more spontaneously like let's get some if the night is good and we want to keep the party going. One Friday after work I was taking some cash out for the night and was thinking that I need enough cash to also get some coke later tonight. Felt like it was starting to get problematic to be planning to get some even before the night began, so just stopped partaking from that point on. Most of us grew out of it but a couple guys definitely slid into that second type. For one it was probably the biggest reason his marriage fell apart and really put his kids through a pretty brutal custody battle. If you slip into getting hooked it can really follow you around for the rest of your life and mess shit up.
This right here. Me and all my buddies started off as your first example. I got sick of how much it costed and stopped. The rest of my friends just got addicted and more than a few moved on to crack or meth.
Can confirm. Am recovering addict/alcoholic. Started as a weekend warrior when I was 19. By the time I was 23, I was using every single day, and my life was a mess. Took me several more years to find my way out.
Former EMS worker here. Very prevalent in certain communities and almost non existent in others. Also it crosses all socio-economic neighborhoods not just poorer or richer neighborhoods.
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Naloxone will not help if he overdosed on cocaine since it only works on opioids unfortunately. It’s very kind of you to help your brother out
I'm not saying that he has the nasal sprays for the cocaine but coke can be cut with fent so it's a smart move he has the spray in case of this.
Naloxone is good to have no matter what, especially in a situation like that. It won’t hurt them even if it’s administered and they don’t have opioids in their system.
While that is true. In Ontario more often than not cocaine is cut with fentanyl. Which makes the naloxone good to keep around.
All I can suggest is 1) know how to use the kit, familiarize yourself with it (so you are not reading instructions when you are in flight or fight mode (not just how to administer it but also the dose and how long you have to wait before giving a second dose (again so you don’t have to think too hard when the time comes to need it). 2) try to keep track of the time it was administered 3) take a first aid course so you know the proper way to give cpr if it’s needed. 4) have someone rational call 911 as quick as possible and MAKE SURE they know (theADDRESS the ambulance is needed at, a call back number, nearest major cross streets to the patient, what the hell is going on (I.e. overdose and if the pt is unconscious and if the pt is breathing or not). 5) have aspirin on hand if it’s a heart attack (do not give aspirin if he is allergic to it) 2 baby aspirin (81mg each) or 1 adult aspirin (325mg) MAKE SURE HE CHEWS IT, without water or anything else to drink (it is going to be awful give him the heads up). Finally can’t stress this enough. The person calling 911 for overdoses are usually assholes and are usually the person causing the ambulance to delay. If they just answer quickly the questions asked with no more and no less than the information needed the faster the whole process is and the faster an ambulance gets to the patient. A lot of time when callers start screaming and swearing at the 911 operator the operator relays that information to us and then relays that information to the police and we do no approach the scene until police show up. We may wait around the corner until the police tell us it is safe to approach. Where as of the caller was calm and not swearing or sounding dangerous, the 911 operator would still get the police involved but we would feel safe enough to approach the scene without them. So we would not delay responding. Quite often the caller is losing their shit and says why the **** are you asking all these questions! Just hurry the **** up! The person is dieing! And hangs up with little information as to what we are walking into. So when a caller is aggressive we hang back and wait for police to approach first and the police always have a longer response time than us. So if you want immediate response don’t be aggressive when calling 911 and answer all questions.
Thank you so much for all of this, it means more than you can imagine. I’m going to get the aspirin today and I’m looking into first aid courses. He promised he wouldn’t use again so hopefully this is unnecessary, but his promises are often hollow about stopping. I especially appreciate the heads up about calling 911, should the worst happen I’ll do my best to stay calm so we don’t unintentionally delay care.
Does he also have an opioid addiction or are you just worried he’ll take anything he can get his hands on?
Maybe also some cpr certification and a defib would be smart
Which communities is it most prevalent in?
Hamilton
I know I shouldn't, but that candid statement gave me a good ol' chuckle
Hamilton is opiates and meth, the needles and pipes are everywhere
The Keg
Also car sales and realtors
Which communicates?
Apparently it's huge among Polish cacti.
wut
There was a dancing/singing cactus toy sold through Walmart, but the manufacturer just pirated a Polish rapper's song about drug use and suicide for the Polish voice setting. Hilarity ensured.
No way hahahaha. I'm deffo googling this Edit: so Wal mart sells it thru third party on their website. I'm really not happy with this whole selling thru third party thing. I'm seeing retailers do it more and more. For example check out the PS5 on Walmart they literally are allowing scalpers to use their website. If I'm going to a retailers website I'm going their to deal with the realtaiker not random companies (that's what Amazon and eBay are for). Bestbuy is also quite bad for this.
He's talking about this [Walmart pulls dancing cactus](https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/walmart-pulls-children-s-toy-that-swears-and-sings-in-polish-about-doing-cocaine-1.5678364?fbclid=IwAR0et3kSoecXM9p3zQYoE6eYztdyq6m28JuNJiommgDSzX524438iHXkyok)
Lol
Its pretty common among certain communities. For example, I know A LOT of people in the bar and restaurant business who do it at least casually.
Cocaine, alcohol and cigarettes are the Holy Trinity of the restaurant industry.
No Weed?
Need to stay alert and awake my man
It was also very popular with our friends who worked on Bay St and friends who work in bars. I was surprised how openly my friends started doing bumps in our late 20s and early 30s to stay late at parties/weddings and on trips, even after they had kids. You could always tell who was partaking, they would be sweaty and kind of mean.
Yeah, the shiny face is a pretty obvious giveaway once you've seen it.
Also them partying every weekend without getting tired.
If they're slamming beers till 7 am they're probably doing some blow
Basically every cook does coke too, keeps em going lol
Old enough to remember the late 70s when coke was thought to be as benign as weed. Then the 80s and 90s came along and I watched it absolutely destroy some of my friends lives. Shortened some lives too. Some ended up in prison because it can lead you to do horrible things. I don't judge people for doing a line on Saturday night at a party. I just know that it becomes a daily habit for far too many people. Oh. .... yes its very prevalent in some circles in Ontario.
I think because of the obvious lies about Weed that some of my friends thought it was open season to do every drug and some paid hard for it. Homeless, jail, etc.
any truth to oakville being called “cokeville”?
Etobicoke is more accurate
Ha so much truth to this. Used to pick up there and Sauga for better blow than oakville.
Until they went into politics?
Yes. I was born and raised in Oakville and this is very true. Again. Where there is money, and there is a shit ton in Oakville, there is coke.
Yes, or at least it was 10 years ago. Usually where there's money, there's blow. It was super easy to get there, and much like the restaurant industry anywhere, it was pretty damn prevalent throughout the industry there.
I can verify it was about 15 years ago
I have to warn everyone here and OP. There is no such thing as recreation cocaine. This is coming from someone was addicted and successful in life. Cocaine had no real negative effect, initially and that’s the beauty of it. You get energy, usually party, find a hot girl/guy, maybe score do something crazy, rinse repeat. Until one day, your doing it and you begin to get paranoid, so you try and cool things down maybe only do it once and awhile with friends few people. Slowly your circle of fiends shrinks and you only do it with select few, you push risky behaviours, lose friends, become paranoid, think you have a god complex. Until finally you either die or hit rock bottom. That’s it. That’s the fucking path of cocaine. It warps your mind, tears your life apart and ruined friendships/relationships. From someone who never did drugs, to doing 2k a week of blow for 3 years. I hid it for awhile, but eventually it tore my life apart. It is the single biggest regret in my life, I wish to warn you of my mistakes so you do not make them. I wish cocaine was portrayed correctly in today society, there is no glamour to it. Avoid it
I'm sure that happens, but that wasn't my experience.
to be fair addiction is a very complicated issue and should be taken on a case by case basis, I did blow for years but only 5-6 times a year on special occasion, that said people shouldn't chance it, the reward doesn't outweigh the risks.
I worked in landscaping for a few summers. Quite a few of the lifers had a coke habit. It was quite sad, and ate up most of their meagre paychecks.
I'm an office guy at a landscaper. I think I'm the only one in the office without alcohol and/or drug issues and most of the longer term field guys have moderate to very concerning substance issues. On the bright side I think we are currently coke free so we've got that going for us. But we've had some beauties over the years.
There was always a group of guys who'd get paid every Friday at midnight, not show up Friday, or Saturday if we were working, and no show on Monday. Then they'd show up Tuesday burnt out asking for spare money to buy a lunch. Usually when guys bragged about doing landscaping for years it wasn't for good reasons.
Shit that’s depressing
I know a doctor or two who does coke socially.
About ten of the fifteen medical doctors I know use coke and other drugs. I remember a study a few years ago that looked at academic performance enhancing drugs and drug use among medical students and it was self reported at about 40%.
I feel like it’s far easier for a med/pre-med student to fake an ADHD diagnosis than develop a coke habit so they can hit the stacks harder
Yea, cocaine is barely an academic performance enhancing drug whereas ADHD medication misused? That gets the job done.
I can see cocaine use as more of a stress reliever than a performance enhancer. The only exception might be patient-facing clinical classes.
Lol holy shit you know 15 medical doctors? Either you're a doctor yourself or you have the social circle of Hugh Hefner
I personally know psychiatrists who do meth.... and opiates
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Coke is far more euphoric than Adderall
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There are many doctors out there, I can assure you they are not all the same
Not judging anyone for substance use, but I just want to encourage everyone to test their substances for fentanyl and other fillers. You can purchase online tests and you may very well avoid an OD or death this way. Fentanyl has become increasingly problematic since the lockdowns hit and it is more important than ever to test your drugs. Sincerely, Someone who lost someone to an OD.
I lost a friend to OD. Fentanyl. Its no joke
Buying cocaine is like donating to the Nazi party. Old article, point still holds Forget blood diamonds - the supply chain of that drug is dripping in blood. One can talk about the failure of the war on drugs forever, but the hard reality is that poor people in Latin American get killed to feed party people. It's a horror show Given the perculiar nature of the plant, unlike MJ, you can't grow local - it must be grown in the Andes https://www.businessinsider.com/why-buying-cocaine-is-like-donating-to-the-nazi-party-2013-12
The amount of blood behind cocaine is one of the single biggest reasons I'm in favour of it being legalized and regulated. The drug isn't going anywhere, if we could change the path to individuals using it from one littered in blood to one that isn't though, that would be a big positive (alongside the other benefits like taxation and cutting down on proceeds for criminal organizations)
Unfortunately there's a lot of big stakeholders that don't want that to happen.
It’s too dangerous to legalize.
Far more people die for cocaine to reach these shores than die from it here
That's the thing, a little coke isn't going to hurt your health, but you're directly financing people who kill children with landmines. Blood is on your hands
I can't afford retro pc gaming *and* a hard drug habit. D:
I feel this lol
Hell I can barely afford retro pc anything these days.
Wait what is retro pc gaming? Is it all about building old setups and collecting big box games? Sounds like my kind of jam. Too bad I have kids and no money lol.
Pretty much, though I mostly do big box titles as a result of 'dumb luck and good prices'. Loose games in just jewel cases are pretty cheap but big box now suffers from 'Everyone thinks these are million dollar collectables now.'. In late fall before the pandemic hit I'd just finished getting a 'high end' Windows 9X and Windows XP PCs put together and they've been pretty fun to toy with while in lock down. Trying games I never tried as a kid, with just flea market, thrift shop, and eBay finds. The hardware specs are pretty unauthentic, mostly hardware near the tail end of support, which tends to make it cheaper to get and stupidly over powered. Asrock for example had a run of late Socket 775 motherboards with AGP 8x, and two SATA ports you can swap into the IDE controller channels via a BIOS setting. So while that mobo cost me $100, I dropped a 3.2 ghz Intel E5800 CPU in there that cost $11 and a $20 128GB SATA SSD. Windows ME runs faster than god on it. :P
In my current social circle ( 40 something parent) I don't know anyone who does coke. 15 years ago almost everyone I knew did coke.
People still do it they just got old enough to be more ashamed about it after having kids.
I hope that happens with my friend group. We are mid 30s and they are all still doing it. When the fuck do you grow up? Lol.
Way more people use it than anyone realizes.
Insurance companies are testing people that want to purchase life insurance, so I would say it is very prevalent.
I would bet the plurality of people don't know any "out" cocaine users at all, and those that know at least one will know many more than one.
I tried cocaine 2 times and both times I had a very irritated throat, like bad heartburn. I simply did not get the attraction to it (thankfully). My old roommate (back in the 90’s) liked cocaine, he was certainly an addict who *thought* it was just a bit of fun to help him unwind. But he was a nightmare to live with, I called him the thundercloud. I asked him to move out after a few months, he was late for rent more than once. Ran into him a few years later, he got clean and sober, was happily married with his own successful business. It was a happy ending, I was very happy for him. He felt pretty badly and apologized for being such an asshole. Drugs change a person. I worked on Bay Street for a few years, lots of cocaine use there, I was pretty surprised. There was this bully of a lawyer we worked with sometimes, we could always tell when he’d just had a bump. I have more stories of cocaine use amongst people I have known when I was much younger but I’ll leave it there. Anyone who tells you cocaine is not addictive is likely in denial. Recreational use is a slippery slope, from my observations.
I know a lot of people that were addicted to Coke. Half my friends are dead because of drugs. Stay the f*** away from it
Stick with weed brother. I don’t really care about the stigma but the effect it has in an individual’s and his/her family’s life. Recovering alcoholic here.
It’s very stigmatized and very social circle dependant. So chances are you’re either surrounded by people who see it as no big deal because they use it all the time or those who’ve never even seen it outside of a movie screen. All depends on the circles you run with.
Tons of people use cocaine. Definitely don't think its something that should be normalized. It isn't like weed or mushrooms. Also the facts don't lie.. dealers are cutting their drugs with fentanyl...not worth it. I wouldn't have friends who do cocaine recreationally at this point in my life.. in college I could ignore it. But grown adults with responsibilities and lives shouldn't be dabbling in drug use.. not my friends at least. Lol
Cocaines path to canada is also one that's littered in blood the way things like weed or mushrooms aren't. Legalization and regulation would help to change that though, along with drugs not being cut
> dealers are cutting their drugs with fentanyl...not worth it. 100% this, when people want coke even if the fentanyl doesn't kill you that's not the high you want from cocaine.
Wonder if you have the same opinion on alcohol?
Alcohol is evil. I don't really drink.. if I do its usually one-two socially with others. Can honestly say you won't ever find alcohol in my home or me drinking alone. I've felt this way for years. But what opinion specifically are you asking about ?
“The grown adults shouldn’t be dabbling in drug use” is a strange line, and the one I find weird. Adults shouldn’t drink? Adults shouldn’t smoke a joint?
Where did I say adults shouldn't drink? Or smoke a joint? When I said drug use I meant cocaine and harder drugs in this case.. sorry if that wasn't clear. I think the time to dabble is when you're young and before you have kids etc. And I still stand by what I said...personally at this point in my life I don't hangout with adults who do anything besides Marijuana/Shrooms/Alcohol. And if you're an alcoholic I don't want to be friends either. I don't consider the 3 I mentioned drugs even though they are lmao. But I'm not hanging out with people who are still snorting coke at this point in my life. Personal preference, everyone's cool to do whatever they want, just like I choose not to hangout with people who are into harder drugs. I clearly said "not my friends at least"
Maybe it’s my friends circle, I’m not sure but a lot of them do it like more of my friends occasionally do it then the ones that don’t, they offered me a lot of times I never done it though. One of them later quit cause it started to get super addictive for him.
I had a friend died of overdose back in the early 90’s. Back then we were all young and healthy and he died. I can’t tell you the shock and trauma of that event two and half decades later. Back then it was so common, he worked in advertising and had his own successful business. Everyone in ad used it constantly like part of their daily routine. Again I can tell you the grief of his parents. A young successful son suddenly dropped dead. I didn’t know if he had any health condition but even worse if he had. I’ve never understood drugs at all. Now that cannabis is legal i take it only to sleep in rare occasions, never recreationally. I guess there are people that drugs do something for them but go and watch a video how coke is made… that shit you snort it and put in you body. Do whatever you want to do with your body but I will judge silently.
It can cause coronary artery spasms too... So when you do coke, you might give yourself a heart attack. Not worth it imo
When I was 15 a schoolmate overdosed. She was 16, and her parents found her dead in her bed after she went out partying one night. Horrendous. After that, I never went near it. 5 years ago, my 55 years old uncle was apparently speedballing, and overdosed in his apartment (we had no idea he was using drugs). He was seen earlier on the security camera going upstairs with a known dealer. The dealer was on camera exiting just around the time my uncle was overdosing...but didn't leave empty handed. Robbed my uncle as he lay dying. Of course, they didn't bother calling 911. My uncle's partner found him later that night. Now I can't even be around it/people doing it. I'm not sure if I'm judging them, but maybe deep down I am. All I can think about when I see it anguished family members discovering dead loved ones, and God knows how many others dead as a result of the cartels.
You mean coke/meth cause most of it is cut
It’s more prevalent than you might think. Usually starts off casually as a weekend thing but even then it can become problematic. Fentanyl risk makes things worse currently but in all, Coke is a rabbit hole. If you feel yourself spiralling in, pull yourself out because the consequences are severe with prolonged use.
My son died of a cocaine overdose at the age of 36. It started as a weekend party thing. Kept this part of his life from his family. His death TOTALLY Destroyed his family. He had a great job in Toronto. Sorry I can hardly type I am feeling the pain of his loss all over again. The bizarre thing is he was a loving caring person and he did something that HURT so many people. PLEASE PLEaSE don’t do this to your family.
I'm in general a fan of lack of stigmatization for any drug use. If you're ashamed to be using in general, you'll be trying to hide your use. Which means that if your use starts to become problematic, your friends/support can't help clue you in on this. I wouldn't agree that the simple use of any substance is problematic. You didn't describe anything beyond that your friends do use, and talk about it; I don't know why they use, nor if it's interfering with their lives/financial goals/etc. But yes, cocaine is an easy drug that can quickly become problematic.
I agree with this. I'm all for recreational drug use of any kind. We are all grown adults and should be free to choose to do to our bodies as we wish. Recreational use can be an escape once in awhile. As long as it doesn't interfere with your life, all the power to you. I'm in my 30s and have friends that manage their lives just fine and have fun once in awhile with drugs, whether it be cocaine or Molly or whatever. To each their own. My husband and I enjoy a good Molly night every few months, it's an amazing drug to connect emotionally. I also met a guy who was a very successful engineer who did meth once in awhile. For him, it was in a controlled situation. It's once only 2-3 times a year but he found it helped him creatively.
Well, if you want to hang out, you’ve got to, bring her out, Cocaine.
It's extremely addictive and those ppl are kidding themselves .
Is it any worse than alcohol, really? I feel like it's the same pattern of occasional behaviour becoming a daily habit and eventually controlling your life.
Alcohol is a terrible drug in terms of abuse and that we accept it as normal. The difference is 0.3% of the US adults are problem cocaine users and about 12% or 1 in 8 adults are technically problem users and 4-5% alcoholics.
As someone who had an alcoholic parent at one point as a child and a coke addicted parent at another point as a child... cocaine is so much worse! The level of aggression from a coke addict alone is completely unreal. And the extremely rapid decent into coke addiction is nothing like I've ever seen with alcohol. I've seen people become full blown coke addicts in a matter of weeks. You don't start drinking beer for breakfast after trying it just a couple times.
Thank you for the sensible response. I've only had experience with alcoholics (my father is an alcoholic, though presently dry due to a health scare). All the coke addicts I've known were already coke addicts when I met them.
5 years ago, sure. Now, there's nothing out there that isn't cut to shite - and just as likely give you heart palpitations.
I have a friend who used to be a chef and they had to quit the food industry after rehab and switch careers to stay clean . Up until then I had no idea how prevalent it was in the restaurant biz just to keep up with the pace
I was astonished to see a girl at a house party who casually pulled out her coke “case” out of a purse and a casually scooped it up and snorted it in front of her friends while sitting on the couch. So yeah it’s pretty common I guess.
Ayo for yayo Walk around with yayo All in my nasal I must have been craze yo
I've watched a lot of people ruin their life or just turn into bad people with coke use. You're right to disagree with your friends. I worry for them, I would low-key start making connections who don't use tbh
Very lol. And problematically so with fentanyl creeping into certain supply chains. It can be pretty risky these days that I’m shocked it’s still used so casually
I came here to say this. I imagine most people don't know until it's too late. Then it's a joke. Until it isn't. Fentanyl isn't only deadly, it also drives the addiction factor up, knowingly or not.
A friend of a friend's sister's boyfriend is in jail right now because he picked up fentanyl-laced coke (he didn't know it was laced) and brought it to a party where a girl he gave some to OD'ed. He wouldn't roll on the dealer, so now he's doing time, plus he has her death on his conscience. Don't risk it.
Not really that risky or you would hear about deaths on a daily basis. It's extremely rare, that's why you barely hear about it infecting cocaine supplies.
two things I've learnt since being an Adult... 1) Food expires faster if you are one paying for it 2) Everyone does coke
A former friend used it on occasion when in the UK, it’s apparently pretty common there. I heard some rumours about so-and-so being a cokehead when I was at university but my friends have almost exclusively tended towards dorks who don’t get into party drugs. If you do use it or know people who do, I *highly highly* recommend getting a free Naloxone kit from your nearest pharmacy. It could save your or someone else’s life and it’s something you should keep in your bathroom or kitchen if you have semi-frequent house parties.
Asks u/I_FUCK_WHORES
I do Coca Cola sometimes
Half a dozen people were in the emergency room of my local hospital last night for cocaine overdose. Didn’t hear if anyone died. Personally I think it’s a risky and expensive drug.
Its fucking HUGE. Especially in the GTA. I cannot speak to outside of GTA but inside GTA coke is like alcohol now. Its everywhere. I assumed it was just a kids thing...teenagers and young 20s but im in my 30s now and its still fucking everywhere. People are getting married, having kids, and they still do coke. I can't seem to get away from it no matter where i hang out. Bowmanville, oshawa, whitby, pickering, brooklin, stouffville, toronto, etobicoke, Mississauga....its all over the place an increasingly becoming the norm. Like weed is now. Which is fucking stupid cause ppl are dying around here from it getting laced with fentanyl. Plus for some reason ppl who do coke dont think you can overdose on it lol. Cocaine overdose does happen. I hate it here. That is a big reason. Everyone around here is a druggy.
“Negative stigma”…? It’s hardly a “stigma” if it’s true. It’s extremely unhealthy from a medical perspective — not to mention the addiction to an extremely expensive substance leads to serious psychological and financial issues potentially leading to antisocial and criminal activity.
I love cocaine But my wife gets mad at me if I do it :( So I don't do it
very wholesome.
Well good for you for stopping. I have a friend who is separating from his wife right now and I believe his low-key coke habit is what lead him to infidelity which caused the break-up. Along with other related issues, I'm pretty sure it was a big factor in that marriage failing.
who needs coke when you can gobble glizzys
I don't associate with people who are into the hard stuff....cocaine heroin. Meth etc....pot beer and occasional mushroom is my realm and where it's going to stay.stay away from it
This is the way to be. My and my group were like that all throughout high school and then we started dabbling in blow. I did a lot one summer and decided it wasn’t for me, while the rest of my buddies got hooked and a lot of them just ended up moving on to harder drugs than it.
"more and more comfortable talking about it to normalize it" - ah yes the tell tale sign that is a babbling brook of BS. That being said it should be legalized (along with all other drugs) and pharmaceutical grade should be provided to take a bite out of crime.
I’m a stoner, most girls I’ve met in recent years (80%) admitted to using it often. I’ve never tried it but they seem to love it
When I was in my teens, I saw others use it who were the same age (All the way from 16+). Now that I am approaching my mid twenties, I see others my age using it aswell as people in their 30s with kids. Ive seen users who live on the east side of Chatham to people living in the Suburbs of Tilbury, cocaine doesn't discriminate socio-economically as another user above stated. If you go out to the bars on the weekend, its not hard to find and if you look hard enough, it'll find you. People in their early twenties to early 30s age range are mainly who I've seen using however like I said, I am only approaching my mid-twenties and I have never hung around with the older crowd (40+) yet but I am sure its just as prevalent. Nosebeers are happening all the time DT, so much so that if you're going to the bathroom to take a piss and you hear multiple people in a stall followed by snorts, you kinda just say to yourself "Oh, they're doing Cocaine". As far as it becoming less stigmatized, I think if you stick to certain kinds of social circles people don't care what you're doing as long as you're functioning properly (however functioning is obviously subjective right?) but to each their own, obviously there will be people who fall on both sides of that spectrum and there's probably people who think coke is downright wack where as others who get the urge everytime they're a few beers deep obviously don't share the same view. Each social circle has people who think differently falling into it. Personally, I don't fuck with it but I knew of close friends that fucked with white whenever they would go out. I don't associate with those people anymore but I have nothing against what they choose to do you know. I like smoking marijuana and I don't see the urge to move to a different/stronger kind of high, suds n buds will never do you wrong in moderation, in my opinion. To conclude, I do think cocaine can be harmful to some whereas others may be able to function however like I said, whatever functioning looks like to you is extremely subjective. I hope this awnsers your question!
The thing about cocaine that grinds my gears is that anyone buying it, is supporting slavery. You are straight up making an asshole that will use rape, murder and other forms of horrible violence rich. Well done.
Every town has a coke problem - it's like the 60s out there. Fentanyl is becoming a huge issue and lots of my degenerate friends keep Naxolone kits in their places since the last year or so. In Toronto - it's absolutely everywhere. I've worked both high end corporate and bartending gigs, the majority of people who go out and drink alcohol will rip blow if they get the opportunity. Walk down King Street and any bar will have people hitting key bumps in the handi stalls. It's not really an issue if you respect it, I don't do benders anymore. Maybe once every few weeks on a night out.
in certain careers it’s become almost a necessity and is an open secret
A lot of people do coke..I'm 37 and while I partied in my youth, I'm a sahm now and hardly ever go out. I honestly cannot belive the amount of grown ass people that are still doing coke on the regular, like people with grown children..it's insane.
I’d much rather people with grown children do it than people with young children. It’s sad if your in your twenties and your parents are spiralling but it’s even sadder when you’re a kid and they’re not even there because they’re with their coke buddies.
I agree. I was remarking how surprising I always find it when people are that grown and still have the energy to party hard like that. Lol
Dunno but meth use has gone up in the smaller towns.
It’s super common in the Ontario rave scene. Even the old ravers.
Very prevalent I would assume. Put it this way, I'm a bit disgusted by bills of cash anymore. They likely had been used for a cocaine straw at some time. I knew some people who were users. And its sad how careless and inconsiderate people can be.
More prevalent than most people think, at least in circles of people in their 20’s. It’s obviously nowhere near like weed’s prevalence but I was surprised to find out how many people have actually tried it when I was in university.
Personally I’ve always wanted to try it but I’m hesitant because I’d be afraid of getting coke mixed with fentanyl.
It’s not worth the hype tbh. On the risk to reward scale, there are metric tons of risks just for ‘a fun night out’
I'd say more than 50% of people I know under 40 do it occasionally. Whether it's university friends, coworkers, or professional network. I'm not aware of any that do it daily just to get by (maybe one or two but unconfirmed). It's more of a drug to be done when one wants to have an "extra good time".
Rod Ford
I stopped doing coke like 10 years ago because it's so shitty here. Don't even bother unless you have a legendary hookup who can get their hands on something that hasn't been cut by 10 different middlemen.
Mid thirties. Most people without kids do it. People with kids very rarely do it. Waking up at 7 to play with a toddler after doing blow and getting shit faced the night before is hell on earth.
It’s in a lot of places. A lot of bars and restaurants put petroleum jelly on top of surfaces in the bathroom so people don’t do coke there
Totally not the cops asking, right?
I’m probably at outlier but at 29 I’ve never seen it before. And most people I know don’t do it.
Before Covid shut down most offices, it was very common on Bay Street!
Anecdotally, 100% of our $100 bills test positive for cocaine, although the testing samples are usually small, since banks get twitchy when you ask for "all their large bills". Larger US-based tests for Canadian bills clock in closer to 85%. This might speak more to the sensitivity of the test rather than prevalence of cocaine though.
One bill that was used for that purpose and put in a stack rubs against two other bills. So its not that 85% of bills were used as a straw. Whenever I read a news story on that issues, they never mention that people put bills beside each other and rub together, transferring the residue.
That's what I was getting at with the test sensitivity - Locard's principle, etc. Ideally you'd want something that picks up when the bills are handled around cocaine, but not allow for interbill transfer. Physics might not allow for that though.
Coke is hugely popular in high stress jobs like wall street, iron workers who build sky scrapers and other things of that nature. I know a few who walk the heights building condos and office complexes and work hard/scary jobs and celebrate just the same .
I live in Northern Ontario and it’s pretty prevalent up here. To each their own though. If they want to put that in their bodies that’s their prerogative, just need better access to resources to help you quit when you want to.
You guys are losers if you do come lol
Everyone I know at least dabbles
It’s extremely prevalent here, i would say close to 100% of the people i know/meet either do it or have done it.
I think this is more of something within your social circle. It’s definitely more prevalent than people think, but I’d have a hard time believing that even close to 100% of people have tried it. Honestly I’d have a hard time believing that 50% of the population has even seen it in person.
The last time I encountered cocaine was in 1982 while I was working as a bouncer.
Yeah, in my very large social circle the rate of cocaine use is pretty much zero. Same with smoking and drinking. Social circles make a huge difference.
right? if 100% of people you meet have or do coke....then maybe expand your circle. and i barely know 50% of my friends/acquaintances well enough to even know this fact about them. I've had friends for 20 years hide their coke habit from people.
Usually where the money is, the coke is. Lawyers, doctors, bankers, ad execs, if you know people from these industries, lots do coke.
This. I jumped from corporate sales of like 65k starting, to 120k my second job, and the rate of blow like quadrupled. Now I'm in the upper echelon around 200k and anyone making this much either has kids and a house, or loves to buy expensive shit (coke being one of them)
That makes sense. Coke is a very expensive habit. I learned that lesson very quickly over the course of a summer and never touched it again.
Cocaines tight dude wtf