Is cocaine use ever just recreational?

Sounds like a problem. Like he likes it a bit too much. Addiction is complicated and for some people it’s like playing with fire in a dynamite factory.

I have done a lot of it (I think I paid for it once. That is the great part of it. Once you are high you share ).

I had some friends that would need a bump to get out of bed in the morning. I was totally fine just using it once a week with friends to party. If I had a endless supply of money it is pretty much all I would do.

As much as I loved it I would have never sucked dick for it.

I wouldn’t really worry until they are asking to sleep on your coach.

No. Cocaine can lead to many serious health issues and if he is using it “recreationally” then he is probably addicted. Smoking weed would be recreational because there have not been any reported deaths for smoking it, and it doesn’t usually lead to any serious health issues unless the user already has one, and it can be used for medicinal reasons. Cocaine isn’t something people should be messing with, and it does more harm than good. It doesn’t have any long-term benefits unless the user considers spending their life in constant need for that first high that they will do anything to get more of the drug a benefit.

Some people might have a very high tolerance for drugs and it will take them a while to get completely addicted, but I don’t think that’s a very common scenario., at least when it comes to cocaine.

Can people use it recreationally? Yes. But hiding it can be a sign that there’s a problem. Or it might not. The reality is that, either way, you can’t stop them if it’s what they want to do.

Yes, I used it recreationally. I did not get addicted to cocaine, I used it to augment my drinking.

I’ll ask you this as a way to evaluate if it is “bad” or “good”; substitute the word alcohol for cocaine in your question. That will tell you if it could be okay or not.

Alcohol causes many more problems than cocaine, and is much more damaging to your health.

As to his hiding his use from you- is he hiding from many people, or just from you because of your disapproval? And are you a sign I ant person in his life, like a partner or sibling? Or are you a casual acquaintance. If he is open about it in general, but not around you because of your criticism, it may not be an issue. If you are his girlfriend or relative, then it is a sign of him becoming dependent.

Any time someone does something addictive, like drinking, certain drugs or gambling, there’s a risk of becoming addicted. Every time it’s a gamble. Some other factors come into the whole thing, like mental illness and genetics.

Yes. Anything can be used recreationally.

As an aside: cocaine is, in my experience and view, the most useless drug ever. Then again, I was always more into thinks that make you drift, not things that speed you up.

@Darth_Algar I always felt like doing cocaine just makes you feel like doing more cocaine, rather than being an exceptional high.

In the 1970’s the streets of Miami were paved with coke. Pure, uncut powder right off the boat from Barranquilla. It was everywhere and it was being used as currency in some cases. Waiters always had it because they were often tipped in it. It was the day of the disco and if you walked into any one of them on South Beach, you saw people doing lines on mirrored table tops and in booths everywhere. You could go into any bar or discoteque and someone would offer you a line. If you didn’t know any different, you would think it was as legal as beer. This was before freebasing and long before crack.

Needless to say, I could do a line anytime I wanted and I did. Usually on the weekends. Recreationally. But for a twenty minute high at 80 bucks a gram, no fucking way would I ever buy it and never did. This is what probably saved me. I’m one cheap motherfucker. If none was offered, I didn’t go looking for it. I still know a few people from that time. We lost a couple to addiction, but most of us simply grew out of it. It died with disco as far as I’m concerned.

I haven’t done coke in years. The last time, a girlfriend shared some with me and I felt a bit of a burning sensation in my nose and at the back of my throat, not the the familiar, immediate numbness throughout my airway. It was also a more bitter than I remembered. The rush was harsher and lasted longer. I asked her if this was what she would consider a coke high and she said that was the way it always felt to her. She was from the Midwest. I figure she had been doing coke cut with Meth.

That’s the problem nowadays. You never know what it’s cut with and you never know what you’re going to get. I wouldn’t touch a line today with a ten foot pole. And it is addictive.

I would say no, but I know too many people who actually are capable of regulating their vices. The group that fascinates me are the people who only smoke cigarettes at parties. The thing I find consistent in such folks, regardless of whether it’s coke, grass, cigarettes, even heroin, is that when the occasion arises where they are invited to indulge, they never have or provide the drugs themselves.

I found this information on a drug detox centre’s website:

”What are the Characteristics of a Recreational User?

A recreational drug user can easily say no to situations where drugs are offered to him. This is primarily because he or she sees the use of drugs and alcohol as potential problems that could ruin his life.

He generally has good relationships with family, friends and coworkers who are primarily non-users. He or she enjoys these relationships.

A recreational drug user doesn’t depend on the drug for personal power, such as he would never think of taking them for gaining extra confidence, for libido power or for hope.

He or she also rarely thinks about drugs and the next high during the day.

He or she is wise with money, thinking twice about using hard-earned cash for drugs when other expenses are calling for the funds.”

The trouble is an recreational user can easily slide into becoming an addicted user

Hey thanks everyone. Its kind of what I thought but I wanted to hear everyones opinion on the matter. The person I’m talking about, when he doesn’t have money its not like he’s selling his stuff to get money for it, and it doesn’t seem to bother him anyway. But when he’s got money he doesn’t have a problem blowing money on a couple grams a week and to me thats really expensive. Especially when he’s told me himself that “it’s not even worth it”. Now he’s dead broke and I’m curious how he’s going to pay for his child support and upcoming mediation meeting. But its not my problem so I’m not saying anything.

I think it helps to deconstruct the question a bit. Just because something is used recreationally doesn’t have anything to do with other aspects of its use, except in the mind of someone making or accepting an excuse.

To try to make “it’s just recreational” into what it’s trying to mean, you need to change it into assertions that are what that implies, and test those. The recreational part is meaningless to the actual assertion, so ask if it’s possible, say, to use cocaine without… whatever you are really concerned about. Addiction? Health issues? Trying to cover up personal issues? Being in denial about the risks to your life and freedom?

There are many people who have tried cocaine one or more times and stopped and now don’t do drugs. Someone with an ongoing pattern of using cocaine though hasn’t got to that point yet. And even if a user does get to that point, they were still someone who had an issue that had them take those risks, those issues may still be around, and there may be effects on them later in life. Although US information on illegal drugs may be suspect due to the Orwellian War On Drugs, here’s one site’s description of the effects of ongoing cocaine use .

Reconstructing the question to answer it, I therefore would say basically no, because cocaine does serious stuff to a person and involves non-recreational risks. Those risks are there even if someone tries it once and never uses it again. If someone is regularly using it, I’d say that person has at least one major issue there, and saying it’s “just” recreational is a cover-up and/or self-delusion.

Yes.

If you enjoy the way it makes you feel, can use it on occasion and not develop a dependency on it then sure, why would you not consider it recreational?

Almost certainly. The range of human variability is unbounded when it comes to susceptibility to addiction

In the 1970’s and 1980’s I (along with many of my peers and siblings) indulged in cocaine for recreational purposes. I watched many of them become addicts, but I also watched some try a few times and then turn away.