I’ve heard a lot recently about how using the drug ecstasy even once can change your brain chemistry and lead to long term depression and personality disorders. Is there any problem of this magnitude with occasional cocaine use? What about heroine?
The only negative thing I have heard a bout these drugs is that they are addictive and can occasionally lead to heart attack in rare cases (in the case of cocaine.)
Russian Roulett also is usually not bad for you…except for that ONE time.
I’ve known a lot of people who have used coke, all of them upper middle class professionals. I’ve come to the conclusion that cocaine is very bad, even for occasional use. What stuns me most is the number infrequent users I know who have problems with their sinuses.
There is plenty of evidence that it can land you in jail and / or lead to plenty of other problems.
Yeah…maybe everything will be fine…until you get that one bag cut with powdered bleach. Or worse. And no matter what, there’s the chronic nosebleeds.
pk, that rocks. Great analogy, and perfect for talking to the kids about drugs. Thanx.
I remember Dr Dean Edell making the comment on his program that there was no evidence of any bad side errects of using cocaine in its natural form.
The key is “natural,” which is the coca leaf, typically chewed by the Indians. It wasn’t until the White Man started refining it and concentrating it that it became deadly.
Here’s what Britannica.com has to say about the subject.
Remember it back in college. I did it a few times. Enjoyed it. But shit! I would do a bump or two and go out drinking. I never fiended it. I certainly had the opportunity to do as much as I could not afford, but I didn’t. But I guess about 1 in 4(or 5) could not handle it. They became real assholes, sometimes scary. Crank (meth) is much worse.
As far as long term effects, I’m sure that it can not be good to the heart to get it racing so much. OD’ing from too much coke is a real possibility in the present.
I don’t think I’d recommend it to anyone who is not 100% sure that their heart is a-ok and has an ekg to prove it. Even then, it’s probably still risky.
define: “moderation”
…in the sense that people can casually control how they use any addictive substance.
“What about heroine?”
Ummmm, only if you have sex with her too much.
Even a most cursory effort at research would have given you a basic idea on how each of these drugs exerts its effects. From that, you can work out yourself why it’s not such a good idea to indulge in them for recreational purposes.
Cocaine can cause myocardial irritability, which may trigger a potentially fatal arrhythmia. Heroine depresses the entire central nervous system, including the cardiorespiratory centre. Hence, heroine deaths result from respiratory failure.
It doesn’t take a Rhodes scholar to see the negative consequences of either drug.
He’s right, it comes down to odds. And you’re never sure what your downfall might be. Some people become drunks, some gluttons, and some diet to death.
There’s lots of ways it can start and lots of ways it can end up. Nothing is always safe.
If you have a reliable, clean source, and you know that you aren’t the type who gets addicted to it (you should know the first time you party with a good amount of it, if you keep wanting to do more after you are already high you WILL get addicted if you keep doing it), it seems fairly safe for me. Thing is, you will never know if you have the kind of brain that will develop that craving until too late.
For a while almost all of my friends did cocaine, and with a good sample of cocaine users you can see how it effects different people. I knew people who only did it every other weekend when they got paid, but did it EVERY time they got paid, I knew people who would be perfectly cool until they did one line and suddenly they are calling everyone they know to get more, I knew people who could think of nothing else.
I personally didn’t care for it much, basically used it to keep awake and so that everybody else wouldn’t seem so hyper to me. I’m kinda strange with stimulants, though, I will get the alertness from them but rarely the feeling of pleasure, the rush, maybe my pleasure center doesn’t respond well to unnatural chemicals. 19 out of 20 times I did coke it was just like drinking about 5 shots of espresso, but occasionally I would get that rush (and not always from doing particularly large amounts) and it kinda scared me - I was glad I didn’t get that every time or I might have gotten hooked.
Ever heard of Len Bias?
Knead, you beat me to it.
Bias was a top athlete with the world before him, and cocaine killed him.
I had a friend who was a regular cocaine user. He told me the stuff was harmless. We buried him three Summers ago.
He was 51. All of his brothers are still alive and past the age of 51. The only difference is–he did the coke.
His was a (kind of) natural death. Early, but natural.
One girl I knew blew her brains out when she was 35.
One of the side effects of coke use is depression.
Poopah asks we define moderation.
As far as cocaine is concerned moderation might be as anesthetic drops used during eye surgery.
I gotta say, I am amazed at the tone of the responses. Before I go on, I will state that I’ve never done coke, and I’ve never had the urge (I prefer to chill rather than get hyped).
But let’s just look at the numbers: According to the NIH, in 1996, 1.7 million Americans were monthly cocaine users. http://www.thebody.com/nih/cocaine.html In typical USA government anti-drug propaganda style, the NIH lists all the medical dangers from coke, but don’t give statistics on the likelihood coke users will suffer those symptoms. However, even if 1 in 4 (the guesstimate by cooldude is accurate, that’s about 425,000 people a year who get addicted/die/get serious medical problems. I think this would make the local paper.
I’m not advocating using coke, but I am constantly pissed off that the govmint lies to us, and especially our kids about the dangers of drug use. Worse, I think it’s counterproductive.
When I was in HS, I remember a chart given to us about major illegal drugs and their effects. All of the “effects” listed were unpleasant/bad. I, and most of my friends, thought “bullshit.” If all these drugs only had bad effects, no one would use them. They had to be lying to us, which made us that much more likely to disbelieve them when they told us the real negatives to drug use.
Sua
Hear it’s better if you smoke it.
Handy, define “better”
Caveat: I have pretty severe ADHD, so stimulants of any kind don’t really chemically affect me the way that they do most people. They following is based solely on my own experience.
If you’ve got a good, clean source, and a pretty good handle on the rest of your life, occasional coke use isn’t any more dangerous than getting rip roaring drunk once and awhile. People who have a tendency towards addiction will ALWAYS find something to be addicted to, whether it’s cough syrup or LSD, whether it’s physically addictive or not.
Coke actually mellows me out. I still get the energy, but it’s more like getting really, really, good speed, without any of the undesirable side effects. I already have an adderall prescription, so I’m pretty used to the effects of amphetamines.
I never actually pay for coke, either. Mostly cuz I’m a band, and somebody is always willing to give me a few lines during a gig. I also lived with a dealer for awhile. He wasn’t 21 yet, so he would occasionaly drink my beer in exchange for chompin one with me. I wouldn’t be able to afford a really good jones, anyway, with the amount of money I make.
On the other hand, I turn into a paranoid, idjit asshole when I smoke the smallest amount of weed. So I generally don’t do it.
If you can handle it, doing a few lines once or twice a month isn’t gonna kill you. If you can’t handle it, stay the hell away.