They aren’t wrong, you can mitigate a lot of the harm that illegal drugs cause by just decriminalizing/legalizing them and regulating them.
Not to mention drug prohibition in general has a long history of just being a way to oppress various minorities & disadvantaged people
Yeah Portugal is a great example of decriminalisation. They had more or less immediate positive results
I think trying to downplay the harm of long-term heavy cocaine abuse is not good. Bing a hardcore alcoholic destroys you just as much as being a hardcore coke-head. Like cirrhosis of the liver there are many issues that arise from long term abuse. Destroying your nose if you snort (like most do). Moving on to other forms of intake like crack or injecting it has it’s own problems. And let’s touch on cocaine psychosis for a minute. The majority (as many as 85%+) of long term heavy users will experience a psychotic episode. For a while I worked at a drug rehab place and saw my fair share of lifelong cokeheads coming clean. Pretty much every last one of them had some form of neuro-divergence known to be associated with long term use. Lot’s of schizoid disorders. It’s depressing to see them try and get their lives together but also struggling with this new element they’ve developed that was either brought on or at the very least accelerated by their addiction.
ALL THAT SAID we absolutely must decriminalize (at the very least) and treat addicts and users with compassion. Occasional drug use can be fun and part of experiencing what life has to offer. Addiction and abuse is a healthcare issue and people suffering from that need help, not arrest and incarceration.
Sorry I should clarify I’m not trying to downplay the dangers of drug abuse. I was just talking about the downsides of prohibition specifically and not drug abuse as a whole.
Alcohol is worse than most drugs tbh.
Alcohol is worse by a huge margin, too. The only thing that comes close is opioids afaik.
And absolutely benzos
Source: ex-xan head
bit idea: cocaine sommelier leading a coke tasting for a group of businessmen
great Hexbear username idea
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I’ve never tried it and everyone who has done cocaine says I shouldn’t. I’ve drank whiskey and i understand the fact that it ruins countless lives; I don’t think you can really say having a glass of whiskey is like doing a line of coke, can you?
Totally anecdotal but I worked in bars and raves for most of my 20s.
I’ve done coke many times, and have never paid for it. For years, if it was offered, I would do it all with the generous patron and then the next day, not crave it at all. We would reminisce about all the fun we had on coke and never once did myself or any of my friends think “we need to go get some more.” Some stranger would share at the bar or club maybe a couple times a year and when it was gone, that was the end of it. During this same period, we got absolutely wasted drunk many times a week, usually daily, and quite a few people I know got DUIs. I was also addicted to tobacco and smoked weed every day. Around a dozen of my peers died from opiates and several dozen others went to prison or were killed by some alcohol or drug related crime.
Only one person I’ve ever met had a coke problem, and they were injecting it. I’ve known many crack addicts and many more meth addicts. I have personally interacted and done drugs with literally thousands of people, it was a part of my job. I’ve heard of other people with coke addiction through friends and they were almost always very wealthy business people, lawyers and other similar types
I don’t want to downplay addiction, it is a personal thing, and cocaine is really bad for you for other reasons, particularly your cardiovascular system and nose if you snort it. But of all the drugs I’ve personally done and been around, it has done the least amount of harm by far than anything else aside from psychedelics and weed.
My only experience is with people who no longer use cocaine so my sample is likely biased toward those who saw it as a problem
I never had a problem with it, but the moment i had some blow in my system there was always a little voice encouraging me to find more
Never got too serious in to it, but i can see it becoming a huge problem for lots of people
Yeah, the best thing to do on stimulants is more stimulants, even if you don’t like stimulants. Taking more stimulants to deal with the side effects of stimulants is the name of the game
I do think doing cocaine is a problem for health reasons aside from potential fir addiction, I just don’t think it is any worse than alcohol, and in my experience alcohol is definitely worse. Probably because it’s so widely promoted and available
No, alcohol has caused infinitely more damage in my life than coke ever has. I can do coke the way most people drink. Coke won’t cause you to seize to death withdrawaling from it.
Idk much about them. How easy is it to OD on coke?
The lethal dose I’m seeing in studies is about 7 grams, or about 95mg per kg of body weight. So like $600 worth of Cocaine on the current market. The real danger of coke right now is it being mixed with fent or other drugs, because if you snort fent like coke you will overdose. Coke is less immediately dangerous, but because it doesn’t immediately fuck up your life as bad as alcohol it’s also quite mentally addictive. It’s not that I’d necessarily suggest trying coke, but I’d definitely compare it to alcohol more than almost any other drug.
Overdosing on cocaine alone is rare, and generally doesn’t result in death (but it’s not like it’s never happened). If you OD on fentanyl while high on cocaine, it’ll be counted in the statistics of cocaine overdoses, which inflates the statistics you’ll see from the CDC.
Cocaine does cause heart damage though, especially when combined with alcohol. If you snort it it can cause nostril damage, but there’s other ROA’s. The withdrawal really isn’t that bad compared to basically any other drug.
Well if you see how the sausage is made … You wouldn’t want to smell the fumes :) But happened to get my hand on a 60 gram rock pure Bolivian once. Took me 2 months (also sharing with anyone who wanted) gave away the last bit before border crossing… did survive but unsure if I would today :)
I guess framing it as one glass of whiskey vs one line of coke was a bit silly. I didn’t really take to drinking so i guess the pull of a “hard drug” seems more uncontrollable in my imagination. I appreciate the perspective.
If you want my view, I’d consider alcohol one of the hardest drugs after doing absolutely everything. Nothing makes you as stupid as fast, nothing has quite as bad of withdrawals (in high doses ofc, low doses are pretty okay as far as withdrawal goes), nothing else is as cheap and available as everything else (enough vodka to ruin your life is only about $4 in my state) . Back when I was addicted to fent, I couldn’t go to a fent lounge to nod out, I essentially had to do it at home. Alcohol? I can drink walking home from the liquor store, and nobody will look twice. The social acceptance of alcohol has made it worse than any other drug, and trust me I quit fentanyl and benzos at the exact same time once. I got through that withdrawal, but alcohol? I put myself through that withdrawal way too often. This is something that is widely accepted as having the worst possible withdrawal (at high doses) and has a lethal dose that’s fairly attainable that’s legal. Yeah, at that point, coke, what is pretty much the destructive version of cigs, isn’t that harmful. Someone quits coke? Oh shit, they’ll be craving it like crazy for 5 days (not dissrespecting stim withdrawal, by god I’m hopelessly addicted to nicotine, the mental side is super awful and arguably worse than being downer sick) not a big deal. You quit liquor or benzos too fast, you’re gonna die without some sort of medical supervision.
Like I said in another comment, I’m not neccesarily suggesting you try coke or alcohol or any of the drugs I’ve mentioned, but the main danger is the criminality of these drugs. I would have been a fully functioning member of society over all of my addiction phases except for alcohol if I had a way to get my drugs without having to drive all the way across town and paying most of my paycheck every week to just not stay sick. Even with Phenibut being so cheap, the only issues I had were withdrawal and criminality. I have seizures while drinking, and I have them from not drinking too, go figure. I have them even when I’m sober long term, it’s more something I was born with than something I developed. But my abuse of downers is what probably triggered the worst of my daily life symptoms, including long term auto immune symptoms at this point. Coke probably does less overall damage to your brain than alcohol, however that isn’t to say that coke doesn’t do damage to your body. Both are quite harmful to your body, I’m not a doctor and can’t say which is worse. But the general conception that alcohol “isn’t that bad” is the most bullshit and harmful thing I’ve seen in the mainstream.
I’d say it varies from person to person. This is all anecdotal but I’ve known people who are just casual coke users who indulge occasionally and I’ve known people who have died because of alcohol.
Personally I’d never try cocaine for a whole host of reasons (0 regulation, no idea what I’m actually taking, I’m the type that would get addicted) but I’m still in favour of it’s legalization/decriminalization. Of course ideally this would be alongside education programs (not DARE style scaremongering)
My reasons for not taking cocaine are the same as yours. I don’t think it should be criminalized either. I guess my position of ignorance thought one “dose” of cocaine was more likely to get you hooked than one “dose” of alcohol. That’s not very materialistic off me
I’m an outlier I think. I’ve done coke a bunch, but I only do .15 or so per night of getting just zooted off’a it. I find it very easy to stop doing it. But I test my stuff (test kit, fent strips, and purity ampules) and when I do get it from the person, it’s extremely pure. It’s so much less fiendy than something like MCAT for me. If I have some around, I’ll do it often, but only a little every day. If it’s not around, I don’t crave it.
I have good friends that have a WILDLY different experience with it and would go broke if they also had a potentially infinite supply.
I can control my lines, but I can’t control my beers. If there’s a beer in my hand there’s beer in my mouth.
Not in an alcoholic way, like I can just not drink, but if I’m at a party I drink beer because it’s something to do. Cocaine isn’t like that. Then agian I have ADHDThey call em nose beers for a reason
Whisky is to a line of coke what a light beer is to chewing on coca leaves. If that makes sense. I would say whisky and cocaine are on the same level. I agree with el presidente
Alcohol is more difficult to quit than cocaine. You can actually die from alcohol withdrawals, if you’re a severe alcoholic.
I’ve done coke a few times. It’s fun and if someone offers I’m not gonna turn it down but I’ve never even really thought about buying any. My relationship with alcohol is another story.
The “legalize it” trope but on coke is a fun thing to imagine
The fuck?
I’m pro drug liberation but also coke is my enemy. over 2 years clean thankfully 🫡
Consider “off it” or “without” or “distant”. “clean” implies the opposite is “dirty” which IMO is puritanism nobody should have to live with.
Anyway congrats and well done, comrade
Isn’t sugar more addictive than cocaine or something like that?
It’s natural, it’s from the earth.
Based?
Cheers I’ll drink to that
Coca leaves, absolutely. Or if it was possible to just make low dose cocaine infused beverages. It’s the higher recreational dosages that create cardiotoxicity.
Only problem is people would absolutely find ways to extract and concentrate the cocaine from the leaves/candies/beverages. Buuuuut… it honestly might not be worth it for the equivilant of a single recreational dose. And if they marked it up high enough it there would be no incentive to do so, even if bought in bulk. Imagine a single beverage with like 5 mg in it costing $5. Single recreational dose (one line) is between 30-70 mg (from dancesafe), so hours of kitchen chemistry and 30-70 dollars for a single tiny line.
It is a cleaner stimulant then caffeine in the sub 5mg range. But honestly I don’t like the idea of more stimulants forced into our hustlegrind capitalism culture
So get ready everyone for a synthetic analog produced by a techbro: Coming to a Gas Station Near YOU
Or if it was possible to just make low dose cocaine infused beverages.
And we’ll call it cocaine cola. Cocecola. Coca-Cola… Hang on a minute…
we could call it Coca-Cola 1899 edition
My adhd ass would like easier stimulants actually
Yeah same I have been taking some frighteningly experimental ones. They work great, almost no side effects but are probably devastating my organs.
yeah we saw what they did to yerba
My president
🫡
