Dating a recreational drug user

[InbetweenDreams]

It definitely depends on the person, in my case I latched on to it pretty hard and it essentially changed who I was...I lived to get stoned... Not everyone is like that, some people don't even get stoned... Some people get sick... Really just have to be a good judge of character. I know a guy who's 71, plays guitair, takes a shot of whiskey and hits the bong and is perfectly fine doing that at 10 am....he's also retired and can do whatever he wants. I just generally avoid guys who try to do the Bob Marley thing, it's one thing if you toke up on the weekend... making it an addiction like myself well that's a whole different thing.

[meridannight]

What begins today as occasional can become tomorrow a massive, overwhelming addiction.

People with serious addiction issues can begin to steal to support their habits, lie to cover up their activities, and even use their bodies to secure another high. Your present boyfriend may not be at all near this place in his life today, but he may wind up there tomorrow.

you are completely wrong. do you even listen to yourself? it reads like a monologue out of some drama film that distorts reality to achieve its own subjective opinion on drugs. this is not how drug use works, fine-one-day-massive-overwhelming-addict-tomorrow. this is complete nonsense. you are sensationalizing and exaggerating to the point of ridiculousness. there is no real physiological truth to anything what you've said there.

first of all different drugs have a very different addiction potential. and let's get some definitions out of the way: addiction is psychological and it happens when the subject uses in a compulsive, relapsing manner despite negative consequences. dependence is physiological and happens when the subject develops a physical tolerance to the effects of the drug, and this is something that is characteristic of many different drugs, and happens even with sympathomimetic vasoconstrictors and bronchodilators, to quote a couple of examples. it's a characteristic of a lot of drugs and is completely separate from psychological addition.

heroin users are not equal to cocaine users in terms of psychological addiction. cocaine users are not equal to marijuana users. and none of so far quoted are equal to nicotine users in terms of addiction. hallucinogenic drugs and dissociative anesthetics develop no addiction in their subjects at all. and nicotine is the most addictive substance in the world, more addictive than heroin or cocaine combined.

In terms of numbers affected, addiction to nicotine exceeds all other forms of addiction, touching more than 50% of all adults in some countries. Nicotine exposure occurs primarily through smoking of tobacco which causes associated diseases that are responsible for many preventable deaths.

Although dependence invariably occurs with chronic exposure, only a small percentage of subjects develop a habit, lose control and become addicted. For example, very few patients who receive opioids as analgesics desire the drug after withdrawal. And only one person out of six becomes addicted within 10 years of first use of cocaine.

my quotes above are taken from this book:

Basic and Clinical Pharmacology

the medial community recognizes this.

stop spreading misinformation and your own panicky fears. your post above has no truth applicable to drug users in general, only paranoid delusions.

[meridannight]

Pot is one thing, there are arguements for it as well as against but of the demons that be its a lesser evil.
Drugs like cocain, meth etc... , DO NOT MESS WITH ANYONE THAT TOUCHES THOSE TYPE.

overreaction, misinformation, and no education on medical pharmacology, neuroscience, and drugs in question.

[InbetweenDreams]

[MENTION=21405]meridannight[/MENTION] I have to agree with you there. I know what pot did to me, but I know it probably won't do that to you. Hard drugs like cocaine or meth, eh those are going to grab you a lot harder... In the case of pot and cigarettes, they are pretty much in your head addictions... coke, meth, that sort of that probably carries varying degrees of physical addictions...especially people who get on prescription pain killers... I had a friend who was into that stuff and thankfully they got out of doing that...

[meridannight]

i would also like to inform everyone of this:

WHO suppressed on cocaine study results

the Guardian article

WHO report suppressed

in the 90s the World Health Organization conducted the largest study to date on cocaine, its use, and its effects on users. it got suppressed by the US government by threatening WHO with pulling the funding to them if they published that report. i have that report on my computer, i read it years ago. the basic conclusion in that report is that occasional cocaine use is not associated with serious risks or harmful effects to its users and most users who do use cocaine successfully control their use.

i have also studied drug use, neuroscience, pharmacology, and drugs like cocaine, amphetamines, benzodiazepines, alcohol and nicotine in particular, in depth for years. and none of the reactions (that's what they are) posed by [MENTION=23157]RevChasBM[/MENTION] and some others here who have reacted analogously to him have any objective truth to them.

WHO study itself is available here:

who-unicri-cocaine-project-study-1995.pdf

[InbetweenDreams]

I don't think cocaine use was (at least in my case) really the point... I don't know any cocaine users myself but I think the point here is educate yourself about drugs and be a good judge of character. I think one's character is the most important thing, it all boils down to how they handle themselves. If they become a "monster" who to say they wouldn't have become a monster anyway.

Everyone needs to lighten up on the subject, everyone has their own opinions...even if they're utterly inaccurate as irritating as it is.

[meridannight]

I don't think cocaine use was (at least in my case) really the point... I don't know any cocaine users myself but I think the point here is educate yourself about drugs and be a good judge of character. I think one's character is the most important thing, it all boils down to how they handle themselves. If they become a "monster" who to say they wouldn't have become a monster anyway.

it was the point of this thread since the original poster asked advice about dating a guy who uses cocaine (and ecstasy). this is why i am basing most of my posts around cocaine, and why i posted the link to cocaine study by WHO.

the other responders have brought other drugs into this discussion, which is fine when you want to talk about it more broadly. but it should be borne in mind that other types of drugs have little relevance in terms of safety, dependence, addiction, and pharmacology to cocaine.

quoting experience with marijuana doesn't help someone who wants to know how safe cocaine use is, no matter how thorough your experience with marijuana is. quoting experience with methamphetamine doesn't help someone who wants to know how safe cocaine is. quoting experience with LSD, ketamine, inhalants, benzos, alcohol --- none of that helps someone who needs information on safety of cocaine. all of these drugs have different pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics in the body. of course we can talk about them, it'll be an interesting discussion and of help to some people, but let's not confuse it to apply to what the original poster needed advice about. let's not create a misunderstanding for the OP that responses other than those pertaining to cocaine have any relevance to his situation.