Questions for recreational drug users

In My Humble Opinion
1

It’s fairly clear from reading these boards that there is a sufficient number of recreational drug users here to ask a few questions. As I have never imbibed anything more potent than alcohol, and am unlikely to, I have a few questions about illegal drugs.

How much do you spend monthly on recreational drugs? What percentage of your disposable income is it? Do you consider this a large amount?

Do you worry about getting “busted” when you purchase them? Do you take precautions against them being discovered in your home?

Do you have a regular source of the stuff or does your supplier vary?

Do you stick to only one kind of drug or you do you take different kinds depending on mood, cost, etc.

As I have always had the opinion that there was some sort of relation between smoking and drug use (although I’m unsure of which is cause & which is effect), do you smoke tobacco?

Is there some event that you could anticipate that will mark the day that you quit drugs (birth of a child, for example).

Did doing one kind of illegal drug make it easier to try something different later? (Yes, a “Gateway” drug question)

Note: I’m not trying to encourage anything illegal here - this is intended as a “lifestyles” question.

2

This depends entirely on the individual. Some people, including some of my close friends - I am in my 30’s - smoke pot and have never tried anything else. Granted the percentage of people my age who indulge in the occasional joint is smaller than when I was in my early twenties or late teens. I personally indulge maybe twice a year. When I was in college at times it was twice a day, but that was almost 10 years ago.

I am sure some younger posters will come by soon and tell you their trials and tribulations with the pipe weed, LSD, mushrooms, heroine, crack, coke, smack, crystal meth, uppers/downers etc…etc…

But if you are like me and grew up in the eighties you probably just smoked a little - or a lot - of pot and enjoyed the occasional philosophical moment of clarity.

3

Belrix - just out of curiosity if you do not use anything - even anything as mild as marijuana - why are you asking such pointed questions?

4

Really, it’s a “lifestyles” question. While I’m not planning to use such stuff, I’m still blatantly curious about those that do.

My neighbor, when I lived in a townhouse, grew marijuanna in his attic. A coworker was an admitted MJ user but claimed he would quit when kids came along. I’ve always wondered about whether having drugs in the house would add a touch of paranoia about being caught.

The smoking question came from a news report about those that are quitting. There’s 15 people sitting in a circle of folding chairs and I’ll bet at least a dozen of them had burning cigarettes in their hands.

I’ve asked gay lifestyles questions before, and I’m not planning a change that way either :).

5

Lifestyles, hmmmm. I am an instructor at a small private college in New England. I’m 33 years old. I own my own my own home, I’m married, I have a dog.

My best friend, didn’t finish college, works as a computer help desk tech, and smokes lot’s of pot. He is the classic life long bachelor.

I occasionally indulge in the taste of nut’s n’ honey, but not nearly as much as when I was in college.

The psychologist in me, says different people behave differently with different drugs. Do I worry if I am sitting on my back porch and my buddy smokes a joint whilst we grill and have a nice summer eveing BBQ? No. Am I worried the cops are going to come and bust us all for one small joint? No.

Then again we are adults.

Do the kids down the street worry about growing MJ in their house? Probably, but then again they are in college, and they are having loud parties and carrying on all night long.

How about the people who are all cloak and dagger about getting coke or weed? Do they worry about getting caught? Probably.

My friend has been buying weed from the same guy for 20 years, is he worried about it? No.

Do you see the lifestyle differences I am outlining?

6

I’d like to chime in on the subject of pot as a ‘drug’ - have you drawn a line between alcohol, nicotine, and tranquilizers, on the one hand, and ‘everything illegal,’ on the other? I question that premise.

I would suggest that the lifestyle of a habitual user of pot has a lot more in common with a habitual user of nicotine than it does with a habitual user of acid or crack.

Also, in my experience, marijuana use has been no more a predictor of other drug use than nicotine has. In other words, if I meet two people at a party, one a smoker of cigarettes and the other a smoker of spliffs, I would be unable to determine (with that information) which would be more likely to use harder drugs.

And finally, to point out that ‘fears of getting caught’ and ‘fears of the gateway effect’ have far more to do with the status of the drug than with any characteristics of the drug itself.

7

I quit a few months ago but I’ll answer as if I was still doing them.

How much do you spend monthly on recreational drugs? What percentage of your disposable income is it? Do you consider this a large amount?

When I did drugs most recently (smoking weed only), I spent app. $40 every other week on them when I had a steady supply. When I have all I want I generally smoked about a quarter-ounce a week. For a while several years ago I semi-regularly used cocaine, and that drove the figure up significantly - at one time I was probably spending at least $500 a month on drugs, but this was at a time when I had a LARGE disposable income - I was making $60,000 a year and paying $275 a month for rent, app. $90 a month for car insurance, and had no other bills. I was not doing all that coke myself, I hardly ever did it alone so it was at most half of what I was buying. The weed was consumed almost completely by me, as most people I knew who smoked had their own, and I smoked as much of theirs as they did of mine.

Do you worry about getting “busted” when you purchase them? Do you take precautions against them being discovered in your home?

Yeah, there’s always a bit of a worry, but you do what you can to minimize risk. If I’m carrying more than I can eat between the time I see the cops lights come on and the time I pull over, I hide it very very well. I’ve been pulled over while carrying before and I did not get caught.

At home I kept the paraphenalia and drugs in the same place, and was always very aware of where I left it. If there was ever an unexpected knock on the door, it would all be put away if it was not already.

My fears have always been reduced by the knowledge that if I ever did get caught, as a first offense I would not get any jail time (except maybe a night or weekend before I made bail). I promised to myself that if I ever did get that first offense I would quit.

Do you have a regular source of the stuff or does your supplier vary?

It’s varied, depending on reliability. When I had a dealer who almost always had it and could be reached regularly, I used that one almost exclusively, though many times I had a list of 3-4 people I could try I would try, and sometimes the one I went to first depended on what I wanted - for instance, at one time I knew a guy who sold $2 joints and $20 bags only, skimpy for the price but he was ALWAYS available and always had some, another person who sold $10 bags that were a good deal but he was hard to get hold of, and another person who could get me really good deals but only in amounts of $50 or more. Who I went to would depend on how much I had to spend.

Do you stick to only one kind of drug or you do you take different kinds depending on mood, cost, etc.

I stuck to one drug almost exclusively. I usually only did other drugs with other people.

As I have always had the opinion that there was some sort of relation between smoking and drug use (although I’m unsure of which is cause & which is effect), do you smoke tobacco?

No, I do not. I’ve known lots of weed smokers who don’t smoke tobacco, too, but I’ve never known someone who does cocaine or speed who doesn’t smoke tobacco. I have my own theories on this.

Is there some event that you could anticipate that will mark the day that you quit drugs (birth of a child, for example).

As mentioned before, I would quit after my first drug bust. I also decided that I would probably quit if I became extremely wealthy.

Did doing one kind of illegal drug make it easier to try something different later? (Yes, a “Gateway” drug question)

In a way. After I ‘discovered’ marijuana I developed a keen interest in illegal drugs and read a lot about them. From what I read I decided that there were some drugs I would try if I got a chance, and others I felt were too risky.

8

Ok, I’ll take a shot at your questions.

  1. My and my wife both smoke pot daily and are average monthly expendature is around $200. We are taking steps to cut that figure because that’s a car payment. Can’t tell you what those steps are for my own protection though.

  2. We don’t worry about being busted because we don’t put ourselves in a position to be busted. We receive our wares off of longtime friends, don’t go to street corners or people we don’t know etc. We don’t smoke outside our home so we never have anything illegal on us just in case we should get searched for whatever reason. In short, we don’t engage in very risky behaviour.

  3. We have a couple regular sources.

  4. We stick only to pot.

  5. Yes, we both smoke cigarettes.

  6. As I get older, my drive to smoke seems to be getting less and less (in my mid-twenties). So I expect the day will come when I just don’t feel the urge to smoke anymore. As of now, it’s purpose is the equivalent of a nightcap to me.

  7. I ran the whole gambit of drugs when I was younger. My wife never did anything else. I think a risky personality and the wrong friends have more to do with it than anything.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask for a clarification on anything.

9

Oddly enough, one of my friends who does every drug under the sun doesn’t smoke tobacco.

It seems like it’s a lot easier to smoke up (marijuana) when you are in college. Drugs are always around. Everyone is living with little groups of friends and pretty much knows everyone else. There’s always parties to go to. Although you do always have that one dickhead who’s like “If I smell smoke again I’m calling the cops!”

As you get older, people separate, you start working and have to put on a professional image or have other responsibilities. It gets tougher to maintain a network of people you trust to get stuff from and many people are reluctant to use more high-risk sources (like the crack dealer across town).

Plus, when you are younger, it’s cool to hang out in ratty clothes, doing bong hits with your pals or some girls while listening to Pink Floyd, Dave Mathews Band, Snoop Dogg or whatever music is appropriate for your age and demographic.
So I guess like anything else, unless you are an adict or something you eventually grow out of it or you cross that line from immature young person to sketchy older guy who won’t grow up.
Or so I’ve been told.

10

  1. I spend ~$50 a month, if anything. That’s probably in the neighborhood of about 10% of my disposable income.

  2. Nope. I have friends who are much more frequent users than I am. The majority of the time I do anything, it is with them and their things. If I do get anything, I get from them. I would never buy from someone I didn’t know. I do not worry about anything in my home. If I have anything, I put it away when not in use. Unless there was a warrant to search my home, no one would ever know. And, in the grand scheme of things, I am about as little as a fish as there is, so it doesn’t worry me.

  3. When I smoke weed, see # 2. I have ordered some pharmaceuticals from overseas as well.

  4. Weed and pills. I have a pretty rich history with other things, but I don’t like to do much else these days.

  5. Yes, smoke cigs.

  6. Completely? Who knows. I can see additional responsibility meaning that I do less of things, but if I do have a child, I will likely stop mostly, but can see still doing it on special occasions a few times a year. I don’t think there will be a “day that I quite drugs”. I think I will just continue to find them less and less fun as the years go by (as has happened over the last several) until I just taper off completely at some point.

  7. Nope. Although, as far as the “gateway drug” idea goes, I think that the war on drugs is actually harmful in this regard. After a kid smokes pot a couple times and realizes that he isn’t pregnant, didn’t shoot anyone, that he didn’t run over a little girl at the drive through, and that he’s not dead – his next thoughts begin to wander into “Well I wonder if (acid/coke/meth/X/smack) is as bad as they say, or if it was all lies like they told me about weed?”.

Also, this about doing other drugs:

Is right on the money.

11

I’ll answer your questions as well…

I don’t spend that much on drugs, maybe £50 a month - i spend far more on alcohol!

I don’t really worry about getting caught by the police, although i do take basic precautions. Its a bit different here in the UK anyway - the police here are after dealers, not users. I would probably be more concerned if i lived in the US.

I generally buy off the same people.

I smoke weed sometimes, and take ecstasy when i go out clubbing, usually 2 or 3 times a month. I sometimes do other drugs too, but not that often.

I’ve noticed that people who take drugs tend to smoke. My guess is that they are on average slightly more adventurous than normal, which is why they try drugs, and cigarettes too.

I don’t think there will ever come a specific day when i stop taking drugs. I’ll probably just take them more and more infrequently.

I think there may be some truth to the gateway drug theory, but only because once you’ve done one illegal drug, its not such a big deal psychologically to do another. Its the illegal status that makes it so. There’s nothing inherent in smoking marijuana that makes you want to take any other drug for example. If you made marijuana legal, it would be as much of a gateway drug as alcohol or nicotine.

I don’t know what your preconceptions are about people that take drugs, but they are probably incorrect. I don’t know anyone who conforms to the drug taker stereotype you see in films etc. Most are just normal people who happen to take drugs, theres no “drug taker lifestyle”.

12

How much do you spend monthly on recreational drugs? What percentage of your disposable income is it? Do you consider this a large amount?

I don’t do any anymore, but I never spent a lot of my income on anything, mostly because I was never habitual and preferred the cheap stuff (acid, crystal).
Do you worry about getting “busted” when you purchase them? Do you take precautions against them being discovered in your home?

I did, just tried to be heads up about it, they didn’t last long enough to be discovered:)
Do you have a regular source of the stuff or does your supplier vary?

I was a social user so it varied.
Do you stick to only one kind of drug or you do you take different kinds depending on mood, cost, etc.

Preffered stimulants and psycho actives, but pretty much would put what ever was available into my system.
As I have always had the opinion that there was some sort of relation between smoking and drug use (although I’m unsure of which is cause & which is effect), do you smoke tobacco?

I did when I used, as did most people who used that I knew, and there may be a connection, but I don’t know what it is.

Is there some event that you could anticipate that will mark the day that you quit drugs (birth of a child, for example).

Yep, birth of a child is what did it for me. New years meant lots of coke or crystal until baby made three, now I don’t do nothing.

Did doing one kind of illegal drug make it easier to try something different later? (Yes, a “Gateway” drug question)

I don’t know, I started on acid (before drinking, pot, or even cigarettes) so I would probably skew the sample if you know what I mean.

13

Pot is, minimally, a mind-altering substance. I realize on the scale of drug effects that it’s pretty mild. I would also agree that alcohol & nicotine are also drugs - although with milder effects, IMO. (I realize that alcohol can get you really messed-up but the visible effects of one joint are more measurable, in my experience with friends, than the effect of a beer. Having a joint at lunch is different that having a beer at lunch).

The obvious difference between alcohol, nicotine, & pot is obviously one of legality - without arguing the validity of that legality since this isn’t a GD post. Tranquilizers are borderline since they are illegal without prescription.

Another aspect of illegal drugs is their cost - although some of the posters above make me think that the out-of-pocket costs for at least casual use is probably in the same range as other, more legal, vices like cigarettes & beer. This revelation was a surprise for me.

mooka, I know it’s a mistake to generalize that there’s a “drug taker lifestyle”. I know that everybody who takes drugs won’t end up on a Cops episode. I know, as a man who drings, about what this particular vice costs - I know how much a two-pack a day smoker spends and how they live. I’m just ignorant as to how this other aspect of life is.

I’ll just sit over here & try to be non-judgemental.