Cocaine: how bad is it really?

[spookie]

At my new place of employ, I have been offered coke the last 4/6 nights I've worked (I'm a waitress at a strip club). Sometimes it's the other waitresses, sometimes the dancers, sometimes the customers - but it seems 80% of the people there are coked up on a regular basis.

 

I have yet to say no because I didn't realize it would be such a regular thing when I started doing it, but now I'm thinking I should put the brakes on lest I get addicted.

 

On the other hand, I enjoy it, see nothing wrong with recreational drug use, and I don't feel any compulsion yet so I don't feel I am getting addicted so....

 

My question to all of you is how bad do you think it is, really? In terms of long-term side effects and potential for addiction. I don't feel ANY compulsion to keep doing it yet - in fact I'd prefer to smoke pot over snorting coke any day - but the one thing that worries me is that I LOVE the comedown - which would make me a very satisfied cokehead.

[Citizen Erased]

Talk to a doctor about this. None of us are qualified to advise you on such a huge decison as to take drugs.

[jtalia]

No doubt that coke causes you a sense of euphoria. After you use it for a while, it depletes your neurotransmitters and you start to have "downs" like being sad. Then you will start to take more of the drug to counteract that to get you "high" again. Once you get addicted, and you will, it will be very expensive to maintain your habit. The higher the dose you take when you are addicted, you will start to become paranoid and having hallucinations. The longer you take it, the more risk you have for having fatal cardiac arrhythmias and seizures. Which can lead to death!!!

 

So, I suggest you kick the habit before you get started............

 

I have a cousin that can't seem to kick it. It is a viscious cycle.

[spookie]

No doubt that coke causes you a sense of euphoria. After you use it for a while, it depletes your neurotransmitters and you start to have "downs" like being sad. Then you will start to take more of the drug to counteract that to get you "high" again. Once you get addicted, and you will, it will be very expensive to maintain your habit. The higher the dose you take when you are addicted, you will start to become paranoid and having hallucinations. The longer you take it, the more risk you have for having fatal cardiac arrhythmias and seizures. Which can lead to death!!!

 

So, I suggest you kick the habit before you get started............

 

I have a cousin that can't seem to kick it. It is a viscious cycle.

 

Thank you. That sounds scary and is precisely the response I was looking for.

 

Funny how harmless it seems when you get started.

[jtalia]

It does seem harmless and it feels good when you first start. But you will become "immune" to it after awhile and start to require more of it or something stronger. Then you will be a full blown drug addict. It must not be a good idea if you are questioning it. Peer pressure is hard to avoid sometime. Don't let them get to you if you so choose to decline it.

 

Good luck to you!!

[shadowofman]

Just don't start buying it. No matter how much you want it, don't make it part of your regular consumption. The high is really really good, but it's not worth the addictive capabilities of the substance. Keep it special occation.

[Ocean-Blue]

Like with most narcotics and stimulants, you won't know you're addicted until it's too late.

 

Stop while you still can.

[Woggle]

I would advise you to stop while you can because not only is coke dangerous but you might go on to other drugs when Coke no longer gets you high. I have known addicts who ruined their lives and almost all of them started out the same way you are doing right now.

[dbtmarley]

No doubt that coke causes you a sense of euphoria. After you use it for a while, it depletes your neurotransmitters and you start to have "downs" like being sad. Then you will start to take more of the drug to counteract that to get you "high" again. Once you get addicted, and you will, it will be very expensive to maintain your habit. The higher the dose you take when you are addicted, you will start to become paranoid and having hallucinations. The longer you take it, the more risk you have for having fatal cardiac arrhythmias and seizures. Which can lead to death!!!

 

So, I suggest you kick the habit before you get started............

 

I have a cousin that can't seem to kick it. It is a viscious cycle.

 

 

Very true!

 

 

Spookie,

 

I think when you asked the question you knew what the responses would be and this concerns me. Be careful, all I can offer is my own experience with something that at one time controlled my every waking moment.

 

For 2 years I did not feel the sun on my skin. For 2 years I did not laugh or find many things all that enjoyable. For 2 years I lost the trust of all my friends and family. For 2 years my paranoia was so mounting I can remember peeking under doors to see if someone was coming.... My addiction to coke caused this. It did not start that way, it slowly and deceptively progressed that way.

 

That was 18 years ago this past May... to this day I can't believe I was able to stop. I was 18 when I became addicted and only used it without worry of stopping for 5 months... the other part of the 2 years was full of treatment centers, NA rooms, and relapses...

 

Do yourself a favor and part with the blow.

[underpants]

Spookie,

 

I am fairly open minded with things. However, I would strongly recommend that you do not embroil yourself in any manner with this drug.

 

You are young and seem to have a problem with impulse control. Work on that and carve a healthy future for yourself.

 

When I was your age I had a couple of people make statements to me that convinced me to not do that drug. One guy said 'unders, don't do it...you will like it too much'. Another time everyone was doing it at a party and I watched all of the people change before my eyes (not a good change IMO). I was offered it and just said thank you but that is not my scene. I decided to go for a walk on the beach. The next day one of the party attendents who had dropped out of college and worked in a fast food establishment asked me why I did not want to do it (as he snorted his morning line). I responded that I just did not have much of an interest in it. He looked at me with sad bloodshot eyes and said "I wish I could say that".

 

Don't do cocaine. I have lost many, many friends due to that drug. Sadly, I have just discovered 2 more people that I keep at arms length as there lives are spinning out of control due to what was once a weekend activity now becoming a daily activity.

 

If you decline the line. Eventually they will cease to offer it to you (more for them). When I worked in bars I never knew that some people were doing that drug. Later, I laughed with a co-worker and commented about how they must not have liked me very much to not offer it to me. She responded with 'No, Unders, we just knew that you did not partake in it". Works for me.

 

Stay in the gateway my child. Chances are you will see many friends pass through that gateway over your life. Just because someone else jumps off a bridge does not mean you need to as well.

 

Are you still enrolled in college?

[Trialbyfire]

In my industry, cocaine addiction is rampant. I've seen so many bright and beautiful people with incredible future potential, turn into coke addicts. These same people have done horrendous things in order to maintain their habits, including jail time for white collar crimes.

 

I've been to more than enough parties where cocaine is kept in a large bowl, next to the canapes or crantinis. No, I don't partake.

 

Stop it spookie. It's one more thing you don't need. You can barely afford food for yourself, nevermind getting involved with a HIGHLY addictive drug.

[blind_otter]

Count me as one of the people who very nearly destroyed her life due to cocaine. It's an awful drug. And the worst part is that when you start, it seems so fun and not that bad. Like everyone else said, the addiction creeps up on you before you notice it.

[littlekitty]

Lots of good advice here Spookie. Listen to it, please!

 

Coke will drag you in and have you in grip before you know it. It's a powerful drug, and it changes you.

 

The nice high will go, and a different one will take it's place. And from there, it's all downhill to oblivion.

[american-woman]

Please stop this drug while you can. My sister has ruined her life and her children's life with this drug. Please take the wonderful advice you are getting here and PLEASE don`t think it won`t happen to you.

[spookie]

I appreciate all the thoughtful and lengthy responses.

 

I suppose when I wrote the first post I knew what everyone would say but I wanted my own thoughts confirmed. Of course I have heard the horror stories, have been warned all my life regarding how addictive it is, but I guess I always viewed cocaine as a myth of sorts until I came across it first-hand. In person coke seems far less harmful, which is what had me confused. I had always wanted to try it once or twice, and in the bathroom stall of a strip club with another drunk waitress seemed like the perfect opportunity, but it just wasn't as GREAT as I thought it would, which made me wonder if I even could get addicted. I mean, it was fun, but I didn't feel all that euphoric or high. I was just uninhibited and unafraid, like if I'd been drinking, yet clearheaded all the same. Which, actually, thinking back, actually was great.

 

Anyway, I am not going to do it again.

 

I should probably look for a new job, too. Being wasted every night and drunk-driving to and from work sounds like a disastrous lifestyle even to me. Plus it's starting to take an emotional toll on me, to be honest. Being surrounded by lecherous old men and wasted topless chicks for 50 hours a week is killing my ability to properly relate to people.

[EnigmaXOXO]

Another shout out from yet another family shattered and destroyed from the fallout of cocaine, alcohol and heroin addictions. Fortunately, ex husband and daughter STILL alive. But the road to recovery nearly killed ALL of us ... and that goes for extending family, friends and everyone connected to the addicted in some way.

 

Stay strong! Fighting the temptation to use is a whole lot easier before you ever try than after it's already snuck in and taken over you life.

[Sunblast]

Cocaine is very commonly used but is very addictive. Very many dancers and strippers use it, and many people use it, lawyers in particular. It feels very good at first, but here's one way to limit addiction.

 

Set a limit for yourself and don't go over it -- and know that if you ever do, it means you're addicted. It's sold in grams. Have a limit -- one gram. Fifty bucks. You don't need to start with that to get a high, but if you start using it and one gram isn't enough -- lay off of it for a while. Never EVER go over that amount in one week, say, or one 5-day period. This way you can't cheat.

 

You party up with .5g, fine. Months later, 1g isn't enough? Drop it. Flush it down the toilet and chill for a few months -- T-total, no coke at all. Then you can try again.

 

***

 

Note to people who are gonna yell at me for explaining this. IF SHE IS AROUND IT, SHE WILL DO IT. It's very hard to keep working as a stripper or sometimes a waitress and being the only obvious T-totaler around all the other users.

 

And when she is gonna do it, it's BETTER that she get solid advice here than "IT'S OKAY JUST -- SNIFF -- TRY IT -- SNIFF -- AHHH IT'S GOOD STUFF." So don't get on her or my case with your Puritanism.

[spookie]

Cocaine is very commonly used but is very addictive. Very many dancers and strippers use it, and many people use it, lawyers in particular. It feels very good at first, but here's one way to limit addiction.

 

Set a limit for yourself and don't go over it -- and know that if you ever do, it means you're addicted. It's sold in grams. Have a limit -- one gram. Fifty bucks. You don't need to start with that to get a high, but if you start using it and one gram isn't enough -- lay off of it for a while. Never EVER go over that amount in one week, say, or one 5-day period. This way you can't cheat.

 

You party up with .5g, fine. Months later, 1g isn't enough? Drop it. Flush it down the toilet and chill for a few months -- T-total, no coke at all. Then you can try again.

 

***

 

Note to people who are gonna yell at me for explaining this. IF SHE IS AROUND IT, SHE WILL DO IT. It's very hard to keep working as a stripper or sometimes a waitress and being the only obvious T-totaler around all the other users.

 

And when she is gonna do it, it's BETTER that she get solid advice here than "IT'S OKAY JUST -- SNIFF -- TRY IT -- SNIFF -- AHHH IT'S GOOD STUFF." So don't get on her or my case with your Puritanism.

 

I don't think most posters here are puritanical.

 

Thanks for the advice I guess but I did stop doing it and I've no intention of restarting. It was good - GREAT - but I know the risks and I just don't see the point of taking them if I don't have to.

[Sunblast]

If you can manage to quit using and keep working as a waitress or a dancer, then by all means do it - it's healthier that way. Where I'm from - San Diego - it's a lot harder for the dancers here, many of whom have to sell.

[sb129]

Fifty bucks. Thats cheap. Its £50 a g here.

[Storyrider]

As others mentioned in different words, long term use of coke will deplete your serotonin levels so that it is hard to feel happy about "normal stuff" anymore. You will have anxiety attacks and feel nervous and jumpy for no reason. The lining of your nostrils will deteriorate and you'll get nose bleeds all the time. Not fun.

[confusedsole]

I think it has alot to do with your will and the company you keep. If you know that you will continue to be offered it, i think you will continue seeking it. I have used it recreationally in the past and never had an addiction problem with it (when i am not using). I made sure I used it all in one night so I wouldn't have just a little left over to get me thinking about getting more the next day. Think of all the bad things it brings, it makes people evil. Sneaking around not letting anyone else know they are doing it so they have more for themselves. And the people who know you have it and are all of a sudden your best friend following you everywhere thinking you are doing a bump without them. It makes people nuts, absolutely nuts and honestly the last time I did coke I ended up in jail. It wasn't the coke that led me to jail but it was a contributor. Something I stay away from now and I'd advise the same to anyone who is questioning themselves about using it. Obviously you are thinking its wrong, so why do it.

[Jade 02]

I am no angel,but it can get as bad as taking a life.

[LoveLace]

I've known more people to be addicted to this drug than any other, unless you count cigarettes! It's potential for addiction is huge. However I do know many people that have gone by the "recreational" rule for years without becoming addicted, because they don't buy it for themselves, and they only do it once in a blue moon if it happens to be around and offered.

 

But in your situation, you work in a setting where it's going to be everywhere, all of the time, right there for your taking. So it's definitely best to try and ignore it all together; I'm sure 99% of the users at the strip club are not just "recreational" users, so eventually you wouldn't be either, although you might keep telling yourself that...I even know very addicted people who somehow still see themselves as "recreational", I guess that's supposed to mask the real extent of their addiction.

 

I've had friends turn into real *********s because of the addiction too, cuz it really screws with your moods and makes you irritable while not using. Not to mention long-term consequences, like having a stroke because of bleeding in your brain!

[Dboo103]

No disrespect but watch this show intervention it will amaze you at how people act on drugs. Most of my friends smoke weed but I choose not to I like to stand out don't do it because it's there think o how bad it will hurt the people you love. Think about your future/ kids you don't want them to be like that! Thats one drug you should stay far away from plus it will make you age much faster!!! Good luck mama