Anonymous wrote:Cocaine use is common, it has just gone from high rent to low rent … crack is “wack” category stuff

In the 80s if you were in the presence of cocaine you were with some rolling homies

As recently as a dozen years ago my son bought what he called a dime bag (??) for an upcoming graduation weekend at a US Lake, but I was cleaning out his room because he’d been drunk the night before and got careless about it, and I found that.

I took that

A few years ago I found it again and I even texted a pic to him and he was like “Oh my Bob Mom you found it” … a decade later.

I tried it same day. No real interest. Tried it again the 2nd day, rolled up dollar bill on a mirror and everything.

No interest. I just didn’t get the appeal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry also 15:09

Cocaine today is bottom barrel dirt cheap and it’s Russian roulette style often cut with fentanyl. I have a son in his 20s who is in LE and it’s the fentanyl.

Instead of getting the initial energy rush from the cocaine they expect, they end up going over a roller coaster hill and nodding off instead.

Today’s coke market is as different as the market for weed is today. Your gramma bubbie is buying weed today

Wait... you're aware that coke these days is laced with fentanyl, and yet you found a mystery dime bag in your adult kid's room and proceeded to roll up a dollar bill on a mirror and test it out? I am equal parts horrified and fascinated.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry also 15:09

Cocaine today is bottom barrel dirt cheap and it’s Russian roulette style often cut with fentanyl. I have a son in his 20s who is in LE and it’s the fentanyl.

Instead of getting the initial energy rush from the cocaine they expect, they end up going over a roller coaster hill and nodding off instead.

Today’s coke market is as different as the market for weed is today. Your gramma bubbie is buying weed today

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is OP. Thank you for this very real world perspective. I plan to share it with my kid.

In summary this applies to binge drinking as well. Highly prevalent during the undergrad years...by 30 most have stopped or seriously cut back. Those who have not are likely alcoholic...they may have been already as early as college but we're disguised among the high prevalence in college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is OP. Thank you for this very real world perspective. I plan to share it with my kid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Specifically coke. College grad, great job at a great company in the early career program with year long mentoring, etc etc, living in a major city independently, their friends are in the same industry or finance/ib/private equity or consulting (MBB) - I guess they all do it - that’s what I learned hanging out with them last night. Not sure I can DO anything. They all said It’s Fine We’ve Got It On Check. Uggggghhh. Anyone BTDT. Do the kids give it up eventually?

This is where you went wrong. Thinking that these were great jobs and great companies when they have a horrible culture and do nothing good for society and conveying that a high salary makes a great job to your son.

Anonymous wrote: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:Specifically coke. College grad, great job at a great company in the early career program with year long mentoring, etc etc, living in a major city independently, their friends are in the same industry or finance/ib/private equity or consulting (MBB) - I guess they all do it - that’s what I learned hanging out with them last night. Not sure I can DO anything. They all said It’s Fine We’ve Got It On Check. Uggggghhh. Anyone BTDT. Do the kids give it up eventually?