I’ve never tried the stuff. But I have friends (at least 3) who have done it pretty regularly. In fact, when I used to go to the clubs, they would do some to maintain their energy levels. They were never out of control and were more “normal” and “personable” than drunks or potheads could ever be. Basically, it just kept them wide awake and social. And they had strict rules about how much they could use in one night and they never used it during the week. They also never used it 2 weekends in a row.
Now they’re all in their late 20s or early 30s and seemed to have suffered no ill effects. No addicts or failures in the bunch. I now wonder if my policy of not using it really helped (I just drank and smoked weed occasionally). I could’ve been on the side of the guys who wanted to keep partying and stay out later instead of the side that was tired and wanted to go home. When I used to ask them what a coke high was like, the general consensus was that it was like a super strong caffeine rush.
So I now ask the question: Why the big deal about cocaine? I know its addictive but so are caffeine, cigarettes and alcohol. And we trust people not to abuse those substances. What makes cocaine different?
“Early mornin’, half past four, cocaine knockin’ on my door.
Cocaine, runnin’ round my brain.
Cocaine’s for horses, not for men. They say it’ll kill me but they don’t say when.
Cocaine, runnin’ round my brain.
Come here, baby; come here quick. This ole’ cocaine like to make me sick.
Cocaine, runnin’ round by brain.” - Dave Van Ronk
“Early mornin, half past four, cocaine knockin’ on my door.
Cocaine, runnin’ round my brain.
Cocaine’s for horses, not for men. They say it’ll kill me but they don’t say when.
Cocaine, runnin’ round my brain.
Come here, baby. Come here quick. This ole’ cocaine like to make me sick.
Cocaine, runnin’ round my brain.” – Dave Van Ronk
Coke habits don’t always go bad, but when they do, the results are awful. I’m not going to say your friends were “lucky”, but it’s a damn good thing they managed their use as carefully as they did.
There are serious health hazards that you can easily look up, but the saddest aspects of the coke user turned to the dark side are emotional and psychological. It is very rare to see a cigarette smoker center his entire life around the acquisition, preparation and consumption of tobacco to the exclusion of all other endeavors. You don’t often see a coffee drinker selling his ass on the street because the humiliation of the act is inconsequential in his mind when compared to the need for the drug.
As to your doubts about refraining - I had friends / acquaintances who, on a very testosterone / drunken night played a round of Russian Roulette. No one ‘lost’, and they stopped after one go’round. Sure, they have bragging rights, a sense of camaraderie shared by few, etc. But it was (and they know it themselves) a very stupid thing to do. The downside is obvious. (Though they might have gotten a Darwin Honorable Mention). Did I miss out on anything? Sure. To deny the adrenaline rush of the moment and the after effects that came from playing would be a lie. But it would also be a lie to deny the nature of the risk they took. You gambled the way you saw fit. Just because you don’t see any negative consequences now doesn’t mean that the potential wasn’t there.
As to the detrimental effects of cocaine addiction - Caffeine and nicotine are much easier to get in our society. (Remembering that we are in GQ, not GD, I am going to try and answer this accepting today’s society and laws for what they are.) Cocaine, on the other hand, is relatively difficult to buy. Sure you can find it on lots of street corners, and maybe one has a long-term good connection, but the inherent risks and difficulties associated with the importation and movement of the drug are reflected in the price. As you become more and more addicted (i.e. your tolerance builds up) your exposure to the risks of procurement also increases. You are either meeting your dealer more often (more chances to be arrested) or you are buying larger quantities (more reasons to be put away for longer).
In addition to the risk of incarceration, you will inevitably face financial difficulties. Eventually, the increased consumption will cost more than what you have for expendable income. (This is speaking in the general sense. I don’t think Bill Gates would encounter such a problem, but he is in the minority.) The cocaine habit (left unchecked) will deplete savings, and become prohibitive to monthly bill paying. Where a user goes from there, and what methods they choose to alleviate said financial problems vary from person to person. But the difficulties associated with extraction from these financial worries are obvious.
Those are the major pragmatic, non health-related reasons why cocaine addiction is not a good career choice. Just because your friends got away with it doesn’t mean you would have. Just because the folks you knew didn’t become addicted doesn’t mean they don’t know someone who did (and could have been you). Addiction is not something you can switch on and off, it is not something you realize the morning after it happens. It is something you realize happened a while ago, and it is now too late to prevent it from occurring. You chose not to do it then - it was a good idea at the time, no reason why was a wrong choice.
Use of caffeine and tobacco goes back centuries. Use of alcohol goes back thousands of years. And these are stimulants used and abused by the power elite, the masters of Egypt, Rome, Arabia, Rome, Holland, Paris, London, New York, and Los Angeles…not by llama-farmers hanging off the cliffs of Macchu Picchu.
Cocaine wasn’t distilled from coca leaves until the late 19th century, and it got a bad rap before it had been around for too many years. Freud wanted to use it to treat morphia addicts, but it didn’t work too well. Poor black people in the US got hold of it, which led to racist attacks against coke abuse, and there was a real fad for it among Glittering Young People in England in the 1920s. For a while, dentists used it as a local anaesthetic. Again, better substitutes were found.
For a while, coca products WERE promoted as nerve tonics…All the history of Queen Victoria and her coca wine, and the original formula for Coca-Cola, don’t need to be repeated, do they?
i’m not sure that i agree that we trust people not to abuse alcohol or other drugs. in fact, i’m pretty confident that people abuse those things frequently. cocaine is different in its effect and its administration. it’s also harder to stop using in a binge than the others. it’s not easy to stop feeling so good and happy when you know that the coming down effect feels so crappy and that you’ll probably have a bad night’s sleep and be congested the next day. you want to put that off as long as you can. many casual users just keep snorting until the immediate supply is gone, then reluctantly try to go to bed, or just stay awake feeling jittery and depressed. when there’s more to do, it’s real hard for some to restrain themselves, especially people who don’t understand addiction. the effect cocaine has of elevating the heart rate and blood pressure can damage blood vessels and cause clogged arteries down the road for frequent users. it’s probably not much different than alcoholism or nicotine addiction.
I know a few people who can’t be trusted not to abuse cigarettes, but that also depends on what you mean by “abuse”. A Swiss army knife can kill you if you abuse it, and towels can be fatal if consumed in large quantities[sup]‡[/sup]. Cocaine is a substance that, if you consume just a grain or two more than your personal system can cope with, can stop your heart from beating.
Cocaine is a controlled substance for much the same reason [sup]‡‡[/sup] that sodium pentathol & sulfuric acid are. The general populace doesn’t have practical use for these substances & if used carelessly (or by somebody who doesn’t know what the consequences are), they can kill you. Further, cocaine can place you into a state of mind where you might unintentionally kill somebody. Would you like the lady who drives your children’s school bus to be stoned (on anything for that matter) when your kids step on board?
And if you want to say that recreational uses should be considered as practical, then why not include sulfuric acid too? I bet you can etch some cool designs into manhole covers with that stuff.
High on the list of people crusading against cocaine, et al. are people who have almost been destroyed by it. As others have pointed out, it can ruin lives. IMHO, it’s just another toxic chemical substance.
[sub]‡Appologies to Douglas Adams.
‡‡ Sure there are other reasons too, but these are the ones at the top of my list.[/sub]
Thanks for the responses so far. Just for clarification purposes, I’m not contemplating using it in the future. Perhaps, I’m just slightly regretting not trying it in the past.
OK, so in response to my OP, the big deal is the potential it has to cause individual and social problems.
But the question then becomes: Who has ultimate control, the person or the drug? My friends showed that the person does. They never allowed themselves to become slaves to the drug. I never asked them this, but I assume that they would claim that the drug would only control you if you let it control you. So how is it any worse than alcohol?
A minor British soap star recently had a large chunk of her septum fall out due to prolonged cocaine use. The photos I saw were not pretty, I assure you. She was due to have reconstructive surgery, but she tested positive for cocaine use shortly before the operation and the doctor refused to perform the surgery.
Any drug that you keep using even after it’s caused part of your body to fall off can’t be that good for you…
Yep, that’s the question. Unfortunately, you have to ask yourself that question every single time you do an drug (I would include alcohol in that list, although I would not include caffiene. So sue me). Answering that question incorrectly has horrible consequences. Your friends had the right idea about the amount of control required to be able to do coke on a regular basis. With out those rules, the risks of damaging your life are very high. With those rules, the risks are high, but calculated.
Cocaine is not physilogically addictive. It has nowhere near the addictive characteristics of nicotine, for instance. It is psychologically addictive, and that can be just as bad. Interestingly enough, it has been recently found that cocaine modifies the part of your brain that controls bad behaviour.
“Large caffine rush” understates the impact. Slight euphoria, sense of self-confidence, more energy. It isn’t a sledgehammer type of drug, like X or acid; you know it is there, but it doesn’t alter your entire reality the way that some drugs do.
So, the cool thing is, you’re more self confident and, thus, have an easier time chatting up people. The down side is, it makes you paranoid and impotent. Ironic, really.
To be perfectly honest, you didn’t miss much, and you avoid taking a chance at ruining your life, and you saved a few brain cells.
I know several people who have had a habit for some time. Several of them have regular nosebleeds and are more likely to get colds. Also, one in particular basically got a bunch of holes in her sinus cavity.
I had it a few times in the 70’s, back when we all really didn’t think it was a big deal. I thought it was rather a bummer: it did make me more talkative, and I definitely noticed this effect in others who were using, but it actually dulled me in a way. I seemed to be more alert, but
my motor coordination was adversely affected. At that time
I would often practice guitar along with whatever was being performed on SNL, MTV, or whatever, and it was like I just couldn’t get my fingers to play the notes.
Fortunately I didn’t like it well enough to form a habit.
Rereading my post, it seems that I may be advocating use of cocaine. I am not. I’m merely trying to address to OP’s question about his friends.
Also, there is one other scary thing about coke. Some people lack the enzyme to process the stimulant. These people die immediately after doing small amounts of the drug. Its not quite russian roulette, since the odds of survival are slightly better, but it is a good reason not to start.
Jackknife- FWIW, your friends seem to have their heads on straight. However, don’t judge cocaine use/abuse based on this small sampling of users.
Most drug addicts will agree that they didn’t wake up one morning and say “I think I’ll enslave myself to a controlled substance today” or “I would like to turn all control of my life over to this bindle.” But that may be exactly what happened.
IIRC, cocaine is indeed physiolgically addicting, but I could be wrong.
And I also have no septum at all. Mine didn’t fall out all at once, but the results are the same. On the outside, my nose looks completely normal. But just inside (maybe 1 cm), there is a big fuckin’ hole. If you shine a flashlight up my nose, you can see it in both “nostrils.” I live in fear of taking a blow to the face, because it could shatter my nose, as there no longer any supporting structure underneath.
Gross? You bet. But it’s nothing compared to how it got that way. It started out a a dent in my septum, right near where the end of the straw was when I snorted. Didn’t really care until there was actually a hole there, but it was just a little one, so hey, these things happen. So basically, coke ate a big hole in my head, and yet I did not quit. Could not quit for quite a while after that, actually.
I won’t go into the details, but suffice to say, cocaine seems to derail more lives than it enhances. Your mileage may vary.
Just as some are prone to alchoholism some are more susceptible to cocaine addiction. The thing is, you can only drink so much before you passout and have a hangover the next day. With cocaine, you can do it, and do it, and do it, and do it. And some people will. Until they run out of money or OD.
If you’ve never tried it, its real simple: DON’T. Because if you do, and you are one of those people, there is absolutely no going back. Not ever.
I am an alcoholic. I am a coke addict. I don’t use these drugs anymore. I’ve been clean from coke for over 12 years, and I haven’t drunk alcohol for about 10 or 11 years.
Coke is insidious. It feels really good, and it takes so little to feel good. At first. With my addictive personality, I quickly found myself spending $100 to $200 a week on it. (This was a lot of money to me, I only made about $11 an hour.) Somehow I couldn’t pay my bills. I borrowed from everybody, pawned stuff, didn’t maintain my car. I would call in sick every other Monday after payday (paid every 2 weeks). I had a 3 year old child to take care of, and I barely paid his day care, I was always late paying. I got to where snorting wasn’t good enough, and started shooting up. I still didn’t think about the fact that I was addicted. I shared needles with unsavory people. (I am lucky I don’t have AIDS.) I almost lost my job.
I’m not very religious, but I had an epiphany of sorts. While flying high late one night, alone, (I had broken up with my live-in boyfriend in an attempt to quit), I had a vision. I was probably close to OD’ing, but Jesus showed me a scene where I was laying dead on the floor from an overdose and my son trying to wake me up. This vision shook me so bad that I quit. I did it maybe two more times, but that was the night that I realized I was killing myself. I never went to therapy. I just decided. Same with alcohol. I was a violent drunk, and one day decided this was not the life I wanted to live. No treatment or AA.
Now is the time to quit cigarettes. I haven’t been as successful, but I will do it.
Certain people just can’t handle ANY kind of drug. If any of you feel like you might have a problem like this, just believe that if you want to stop, you can. Just decide what’s important to you.
Thank you for sharing your personal stories with us. Clearly, not everyone survives the experience unscathed. And unfortunately, there are others that have suffered a fate even worse than yours. I’m glad that you participated so that people reading this thread who are thinking of using the drug can see the example that I’ve presented as well as the opposite. Thinking back, it was irresponsible of me to only present the “success story”.
This site has before-and-after pictures of Daniella Westbrook, the soap star referred to above, who lost her septum due to cocaine abuse. You have to click on the “before” picture in order to see the “after” picture - it’s that sickening.
As for me, I’ve always found the personalities of people on coke to be reason enough not to do it.