Anonymous wrote:I don’t think cocaine use is normal or common. It is high-risk in general for several reasons, but as PP said, it can be laced with fentanyl, which is deadly.

It's common and normalized in the circle OP's child is in. In 15 years, they will have either stopped, or died.

A few things!
I went to Bucknell in the early 2000s (I am currently 44) which I'm sure everyone who is familiar, is aware that plenty of people did coke recreationally there. It was not viewed as a big deal.
Of those people, a portion of them continued to use coke after college- mostly the crowd that went to NYC to work in finance. The other portion who went on to grad school, or a different field of work besides finance, all pretty much stopped.
Of the people who continued after college- as far as I can tell, most of them tapered off and stopped by their mid 20s.
For the people who did not taper off and stop by their mid 20s, one of a few things happened. One of those people is now in jail, due to massive psychiatric issues that he didn't have in college. I don't know if the drugs led to them or not, but, I am quite sure they didn't help. Four of them are dead- three of classic overdoses, within the past few years, and one of a heart attack/ heart problem of some kid, that person had an on and off eating disorder along with her coke habit so it's likely they both contributed.

Why did so many of them die back to back in their mid to late 30s? Was it the cumulative effect? Was it that they kept taking more and more, and had moved onto harder drugs that I didn't know about? (less likely, IMO, since they continued working and being outwardly "successful"). Was it that the coke is now laced with fentanyl? Highly likely, in retrospect.

The takeaway- your kid is already in the group that didn't quit right after college. If they stay in the group that doesn't quit within the next couple of years, they're going to end up in the group where over half of them are dead by 40. Or, if the coke is laced with fentanyl, they'll be dead much quicker.

Feel free to share this with them word for word. It is all 100% true. I, too, thought that doing coke at parties was no big deal at 19, and I completely agree that tons of people did it and everyone seemed fine, and it was normalized. Make them fully aware that a large portion of the people that did it in college , like them, have already stopped since they have moved on to other environments (law school, med school, other fields of work, other cities, etc). They're in the shrinking group that still uses it, and it will keep shrinking, and eventually it will start shrinking not because they're gradually growing out of the habit but because they're dying. The people I know who died were all happy, smart, successful, popular, attractive. It didn't protect them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think cocaine use is normal or common. It is high-risk in general for several reasons, but as PP said, it can be laced with fentanyl, which is deadly.

[b]Oh it's definitely common, just depends on the circles you're around[/b]

Lots of coke being done at my kid's top20 college. My sophomore sees it at a lot of parties.
It's very, very common among young people in 2025. My child is in ROTC and can't touch it as they're drug tested.

My son, who started to smoke weed in college recently, says at least he's not doing coke or pills like some kids do. I was shocked he was so open...

Our rule: No drugs or druggies in the house. and yes, OP you should have a conversation with your son!

Junkies all around us.
Not much you can do OP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think cocaine use is normal or common. It is high-risk in general for several reasons, but as PP said, it can be laced with fentanyl, which is deadly.

Oh it's definitely common, just depends on the circles you're around

Lots of coke being done at my kid's top20 college. My sophomore sees it at a lot of parties.
It's very, very common among young people in 2025. My child is in ROTC and can't touch it as they're drug tested.

I'm the poster you responded to and I didn't even want to be flippant, but it's real. Also a great idea to never touch the stuff due to cross contamination.

Also, maybe wall st. isn't as coked up as the 80s, but they're mostly on Adderall or some other stimulant.

I'm the poster you're responding to and I agree. I think DCUM posters are super naive. I have 2 college students and both have seen coke use in college and have high school friends who use it at their respective colleges. These are all "good kids", strong students from good, professional families in the DMV--grads of public, private and Catholic high schools. They were a mix of partiers and non-partiers in high school (so it's not just the high school "fast" crowd). It's shocking how prevalent cocaine use is and how casually it's used. In my day and age as a student no one did hard drugs at all. Thankfully my sophomore is in ROTC and can't partake and my freshman is not a partier. I am keeping my fingers crossed. Hard drug use makes me very nervous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think cocaine use is normal or common. It is high-risk in general for several reasons, but as PP said, it can be laced with fentanyl, which is deadly.

Oh it's definitely common, just depends on the circles you're around

Lots of coke being done at my kid's top20 college. My sophomore sees it at a lot of parties.
It's very, very common among young people in 2025. My child is in ROTC and can't touch it as they're drug tested.

I'm the poster you responded to and I didn't even want to be flippant, but it's real. Also a great idea to never touch the stuff due to cross contamination.

Also, maybe wall st. isn't as coked up as the 80s, but they're mostly on Adderall or some other stimulant.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think cocaine use is normal or common. It is high-risk in general for several reasons, but as PP said, it can be laced with fentanyl, which is deadly.

Oh it's definitely common, just depends on the circles you're around

Lots of coke being done at my kid's top20 college. My sophomore sees it at a lot of parties.
It's very, very common among young people in 2025. My child is in ROTC and can't touch it as they're drug tested.

Just tell them to take adderall instead

Anonymous wrote:"UUUGGGGGHHH" you're taking this way too lightly every single drug is now laced with fentanyl especially coke.

I mean, coke is bad and that is enough to not use it. But the fentanyl thing borders on myth...first, it is highly unlikely you'll get laced anything unless you're a teenager buying off the street. Two, most dealers are not wasting good fent and potentially killing customers with laced drugs.

That's really upsetting. However, your DC is an adult and will go through all kinds of things that will eventually be okay, or not. I remember being upset at the possibility of coffee breath.

What a total loser

Have you actually talked to your kid? I would try to start a conversation to understand how often he is doing this and how much he is spending. I would focus on not just the danger to his health, but also the danger if he gets arrested. I would also talk about how the guys on Coke at age 22 often don’t end up rich, happily married guys by 40 assuming this is of interest to him. If he does become addicted, he will burn out and get fired. Even if he doesn’t go full blown addicted,the more stable guys (and gals, but frankly, mostly guys) aren’t going to look at home as the guy to promote.

Everybody remembers who the coke heads are for years to come. I still vividly remember which guy asked me if I wanted to snort coke off his ass in the bathroom at PJ Clark’s in 1996 on the upper east side. I was totally unimpressed and still am today.

Anonymous wrote:Finance/IB/Consulting guys do LOTS of coke. Is this news to you? At least it's not as crazy as it was back in the 80s

That's total bs.

Anonymous wrote:I would not do anything in this day and age. Fentanyl is everywhere. I’m not out of touch either.

+1M this isn't the 70's.

"UUUGGGGGHHH" you're taking this way too lightly every single drug is now laced with fentanyl especially coke.