I'm living in 1980s Miami here or something...everyone's doing Coke.

[HEyHEY]

Is everybody doing coke these days except for me? "Did I miss a fucking meeting?" Seriously, I have posted like three times now about discovering friends that are doing coke. Now last night I find out my best friends little brother is doing it, I don't know how mouch or often. And I am sworn to secrecy by the guy who told me.

The thing is, I have have known this kid since he was in his mom's tummy. And, everyone else can go and snort themselves silly, but this kid, I just ain't letting it happen. I'd love to march up to his place and pound the shit out of him. But my buddy who told me, made me swear to keep it low-profile and we will just monitor the situation. I'm not even supposed to know, cause this kid knows if I know I will tell his brother and then we'll have a real shit storm on the way.

But I think my friend is right, just keep close tabs, maybe he's just experiementing. But at the same time I don't want it to get out of hand because I knew and didn't do anything. AH what to do????

[Sean Reynolds]

1. I know the feeling. My old HS was full of coke heads.

Two of my friends were REALLY into coke, were when I graduated in 2002. Not sure if they still are, cause they never moved on to college.

[HEyHEY]

3. that's what's weird

No body I knew, after junior high, touched the stuff. Now it's like I'm discovering left right and centre that people are doing, not like all the time, but sometimes...that's one time to many for me

[Syrinx]

2. that whole thing about "experimenting" just kills me

Like, is he keeping notes, and monitoring his vitals and stuff? :)

[HEyHEY]

4. Well if his brother finds out, his vitals won't be doing well at all

I really need to find out the frequency of this

[matcom]

5. get him OFF of it NOW!

i got hooked in the 80's. i am hooked this very minute even though i haven't touched the stuff SINCE the 80's.

coke is the reason i joined the Army.

don't wait until he is blowing $3k up his nose every month. TAKE IT FROM ME THAT IS TOOOOOOO LATE!

my wife knows that if we ever walk into a party and they are cuttin' lines, WE LEAVE IMMEDIATELY.

i wouldn't be able to resist it.

my .02 (from EXPERIENCE)

[HEyHEY]

6. how would I even go about it?

[sandnsea]

7. Matcom is right

I was just getting ready to post... "You might even want to 'interview' some drug counselors for the long haul so you can get their advice on how to handle it. Someone who is strong on 12 steps and short on 'why' he uses. This could get very unhappy and I feel for you."

[matcom]

8. BEAT HIS FUCKING ASS

if you have to. just get him OFF of it!

know why i walked into an Army recruiters office with NO NOTICE? got a fucking pistol shoved in my mouth cause of coke.

know what i did when said pistol was between my lips?

kicked the fucker in the balls. was too coked up to even be scared.

i could SHOULD be dead thanks to coke. not to mention that my addiction could SHOULD have killed me outright.

do you know what its like to wake up in the morning and IMMEDIATELY roll over to snort the line you left on the nightstand the night before?

it fucking SUCKS.

[trumad]

14. I loved the shit big time back in the early 80's...

I grew up in Miami and started snorting the shit during the Cocaine Cowboy days.... Coke was plentiful and cheap plus my ex-Business partner was a dealer...

I have done pretty much every drug known to man kind and ANYTHING involving Coke, albeit straight lines, free-base, crack, etc is pure Evil... Fortunately for me I was able to cold turkey the shit and haven't touched it since 1985...

Hey Mat...I was wondering where you got your Neurosis from? ;-)

[matcom]

15. now you know brother

now you know :)

[catzies]

27. You too grew up in Miami with the cocaine culture? ME TOO.

Oh man, it was everywhere, wasn't it?

My auntie was a huge dealer in the 70s -- AIDS killer her in the late 90s and my mother raised her son. It was in the girls' bathrooms of my junior and senior high, and atI16 was club-hopping in the late 70s when the legal age was still 18.

*Shakes head, looks around, is happy to still be here*

[spotbird]

9. Drugs go in and out of style.

People started doing coke in the 80s because it was supposed to be harmless. It was as if this perfect drug was invented just for that wild time. Everyone knew that it wasn’t even addictive. As time went on and it became obvious that the stuff was not only addictive but it put a freggen hole in your septum so the excitement for cocaine wore off. That’s the last I know of fad drugs except what you hear in the media, but it sounds like there was a heroin phase, ecstasy is real popular and it may be time to cycle through cocaine again. The song is even back in play.

It certainly isn’t harmless, but there isn’t much you can do about your friend if it really is only experimentation. There is a line some people cross and it may eventually become clear that he needs help.

One time a friend got in real trouble with drugs while we were young. I was the designated nark because those closest to her knew I had more nerve than the rest of them. I called her parents even though she was in her early 20s at the time. Eventually she thanked me. I don’t know that she was ever truly angry at me for doing it, but maybe she was. It was an emotionally costly move for me at any rate. I was vilified by some others in that group, but I thought at the time (and still think) that they must not have known how desperate the situation had become. Either that or they didn’t give a damn about this person.

Good luck.

[matcom]

11. coke IS addictive

its MENTALLY addictive. when i finally go off of it i did a thesis on the effects of the drug. your mind tells you you have to have more, NOT your body.

coke is the perfect drug in every way. you can function, your reactions aren't impared and you can drink a shitload of booze without (really) feeling the effects while your on coke.

its fucked up shit. take it from a "coke head"

[joeybee12]

18. Coke IS addictive--especially Diet Coke!

Although I am especially addicted to diet cherry coke--they have taken it off the shelves here in Denver. The bastards!

[spotbird]

21. Well, whatever part of you keeps telling you to come back for more

people are driven. I said I thought it was addictive because I agree that it is. But as a former coke head you must remember people who were able to walk away.

The problem is that before you start using you don't know which group you'll be in and it isn't a choice.

on edit:

You may have missed the second sentence of my first paragraph, "As time went on and it became obvious that the stuff was not only addictive but it put a freggen hole in your septum so the excitement for cocaine wore off."

[HEyHEY]

19. they really do rise and fall

It's all a big cycle

[Kamika]

10. "And I am sworn to secrecy by the guy who told me"

well aslong as youre just telling 20.000 people about it i guess its cool

[matcom]

13. not the same Kamika

he came here for help and i for one am damn glad he did.

coke ain't pot. its really nasty shit

[HEyHEY]

17. And MAtcom

Thank you, I think I am going to call my friend who informed me and say, "fuck monitoring, we need to find out more about this and get him to stop."

I really, don't wanna let this go.

[HEyHEY]

16. Come on Kamika

It's not as if, I'm posting names

[SPICYHOT]

12. i think youshoul go and talk to him

this is a very serious matter, experimenting now get really bad later, is very easy and fast. Don't hesitate if you love your brother.

[lcordero]

20. Have the other guy ask him to look at these links

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=sexual+dysfunction+cocaine&spell=1

also have the other guy ask him how light his wallet feels.

[curse10]

22. Thank god I don't know any coke heads

pot heads? tons of them. But coke is evil shit.

[Mika]

23. Tell your friend..

Tell your friend that if he wants to keep his teeth he better stop it right away.

I'm a dentist. In Miami. I've seen the damage done. Its VERY expensive to repair and/or replace your dentition. Coke does damage to polypeptide chains and calcareous cell formation (essential to maintainence of stable soft tissue and soft maxillo-facial/palatal bone structure and connective tissue). Also, the super alkaline PH of coke turns saliva into an etchent, which, over time, will strip the enamel off teeth. The WORST thing one could do with coke is to rub it on your gums, as is popular. Of course, in doing coke your blood becomes more alkaline too, which etches/leaches almost all minerals in your body, over time.

Its bad shit for one's body (including one's brain).

[tridim]

24. I'm so glad I got through the 80's without trying it

Because I KNOW I would have liked it. Addictive personality.

Pot, shrooms (10 times) and acid (4 times) is all I ever tried. Pot is the only one that was worth it. Well, shrooms were cool, but I dont miss them at all.

I had a few friends that were cokeheads. They ALL burned out and screwed up their lives.

[Nikia]

25. Make him stop

I know this is antedotal, but I came to know a coke head. He became addicted right before his son was born. While his wife was having the baby, he spent the rent money on coke. She soon left him and made it difficult for him to see his son. Since then, he continues to use large amounts of coke. A former friend of his who grew up around a lot of coke heads said that he has never seen anyone else do more coke in one sitting. Almost his entire check is garnished because anytime he has money he spends it on coke. He is a drug dealer now to afford his habit. At 35, he had a heart attack. He promised to quit but within a couple of months was back to doing it again. He was frequently moody after using it all night and then coming to work. One day he got fired from the job that he held the longest, just over one year, because he beat up a co worker who he thought was laughing at him. He continues to use coke even though he has lost all the positive people in his life, cannot keep a job, a place to live, and is risking his health. I had wanted to be his friend at one time, but none of these events had any effect on him. He wishes that he never tried coke. I know other people who have tried it and have been able to quit easily and others who had a harder time quitting but were influenced by events that proved its negative impact on their life. You don't know if your friend will become an addict but long term coke use leads to death and despair. You need to help him end it before it has a major impact on his life.

[Booberdawg]

26. You don't just "experiment" with coke.

Pot and booze, maybe. But with coke you are "using"!

Never touched it myself and never will, although I was a heavy drinker, but I do have a couple addict brothers who have basically wasted their entire adulthoods because of heroin, coke, crack, mesq, whatever the hell it all is that they take. They are 41, and 50, and have never held a steady job and currently live with my step mother.

Don't get me wrong, my brother's are good guys and I love them and they me, but drugs have ruled their lives and they've never overcome it. They are bums. That hard shit ruins lives. It's tragic.

Stop it NOW, before it's too late.

Linda

[Ellen Forradalom]

28. It's the 'sworn to secrecy' part that disturbs me.

A lot of bad situations have gotten out of hand because they were kept secret.

This is serious. It needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later. If this kid becomes an addict, will his parents be grateful to know that people know but didn't say anything?