How accepted was the practice of openly using cocaine in the 80s?

[GrandWino]

My wife worked for a really big ad agency in Chicago ten or fifteen years ago and she said that most of the creative staff were constantly doing blow in the bathrooms.

[Saintly_Loser]

@Vita_Beata

I was a representative of a Wall Street firm working with institutional investors in the 80’s. Anyone suspected of using illegal drugs would have been fired immediately. It was a competitive environment; gossip would have outed most people sharing any substances in any location. Openly snorting at a fine restaurant sounds like creative fiction, in my humble opinion.

I worked at two major Wall Street investment banking firms in the 80s. At least on the trading desks, cocaine use was (barely) discreet during working hours, but widespread.

[Vita_Beata]

@Saintly_Loser

I worked at two major Wall Street investment banking firms in the 80s. At least on the trading desks, cocaine use was (barely) discreet during working hours, but widespread.

Wouldn’t it be funny to find out that I was working with a bunch of dang cokehead traders? Ignorance fought, indeed. :eek:

…PMing Saintly Loser…

[DrDeth]

I was sorta in "the biz’ during the pre-aids Hollywood of the early 80’s, late 70’s.

I saw open use just once at a crazy Hollywood Hills party.

People would just wink & nod, make some sort of motion and go off to a corner, etc otherwise. I’d call it an “open secret”.

[kenobi_65]

@Bob Ducca

My wife worked for a really big ad agency in Chicago ten or fifteen years ago and she said that most of the creative staff were constantly doing blow in the bathrooms.

I, too, was at a large ad agency in Chicago at that same time. Never saw it. Either I was blind or oblivious, the creatives at my agency were just more circumspect, or we had a very different culture at our agency.

[Typo_Negative]

@WhyNot

As someone who’s never done coke, I find this fascinating. Why do you suppose that people doing coke don’t want to share, while people with weed and mushrooms and LSD are always looking for buddies to do it with? Is it merely a cost thing? Mushroom and LSD are really hard to find, and pretty expensive (but I have no idea what coke costs). Or is it due to the different effects of the drugs, do you think?

Off the top of my head…cost.

Weed and shrooms were inexpensive. I used to be able to buy acid for 3 bucks a hit and be high for 6 hours.

But coke could drain your wallet pretty quickly. Back in 80s it went for 80-100 bucks a gram for decent stuff and it did not last long.

[John_Mace]

Some people just can’t handle it, or rather can’t be social with it. You always knew who it was OK to share with and who not: It’s cool to do a hand-off to Bill, but if you give it to Greg, you’ll never see it again. Some people just can’t stop, and others are able to stop any time. I was lucky to be in the latter group.

It would be a truly wild party when the coke was lined up on a table in the kitchen or living room. Usually a subset of folks would remove themselves to a bedroom or bathroom and indulge there. But I never lived in Hollywood or Manhattan, so maybe things were different there.

[DrDeth]

@John_Mace

It would be a truly wild party when the coke was lined up on a table in the kitchen or living room. …But I never lived in Hollywood or Manhattan, so maybe things were different there.

Yes, truly wild. Yes, Hollywood. And even there- uncommon.