Nah, I'd say most have at least dabbled with grass and the white powder.

Really heavy stuff, especially the sort that needs injecting then I agree, some in this case.

The problem with cocaine is that you can get away with it once or twice. It's very easy to take and it's relatively safe, available and isn't instantly addictive. I'll be honest if I were twenty now, I'd be tempted after a few pints, whereas I'd never dream of sticking a needle in my arm.

Really , you’d be tempted , to take a power that you haven’t a clue how it’s been mixed or tampered with or what the hells in it , be a Shepard n not a sheep I say and stay away . Funny thing is kids are moaning about the Covid vaccine saying they don’t know what’s in it , but are quite happy to Chuck a pill down their throat or snort a powder thats come from a drug dealer . No good things come from taking so called recreational drugs long term of any kind .

Absolutely disagree as ex Investigator and involved in the combat of drug supply you are way off the mark. I am not going to go into figures but I have a good idea how much gear and of what type goes into major parts of the UK. This is a defined almost stable market for most gear although it fluctuates with trends and age groups as you identified.

So looking at the end user pushing a bit of Columbian marching powder up their nose for a hit or cooking it into crack which is highly addictive. Cocaine is a very lucrative market for drug gangs around the world although the vast majority starts its journey from South America, from production to up the nose its nothing but misery, slaves in South America forced to grow it for a pittance by the drug lords, exported around the world enforced with killings and corruption. Local crime all over the world and everyone bashing it down so they can make a bit of extra cash. On the end crime victims and an addict in many cases.

Brown can be injected or again tooted etc.
mainly from the Middle East and Afghanistan, its bashed with all sorts of rubbish by the time it hits the streets such stuff as brick dust in my experience and all sorts of other unpleasant compounds to make a bit of extra cash. On top of this is the overdose rates not sure what they are at the moment but in my experience when they talk about bad batches of heroin people over dose from then more often not this is linked to the purity to be blunt if its not bashed its ore likely that someone will OD on it.

MDMA unfortunately I have had the displeasure of seeing this in its worst form on a young person, when we talk about vulnerability we all are accustomed to tablets, well MDMA is usually in tablet form, it looks like a tab we are used to taking them so people see nothing wrong until or unless you are one of the unfortunates who cannot handle it or again depending upon the batches chemical make up.

So looking at the above there is a market in younger people and executives for coke

Party goers MDMA (as a generalisation)

Crack and Heroin highly addictive drives low level crime and local misery.

Obviously lots more but there is much more to illicit and I stress illegal drugs than shave a spliff or a line

Good gawd man I thought you was more intelligent than that

Off the high horse.

I said when I was 20 and p*ssed, just being honest, I was daft at that age especially after a few drinks.

Of course, I wouldn't know, I'm 58 for heaven's sake and have led a life. I'm just being honest, that's what you're like at that age, especially when drunk and with people. It's also a bit hypocritical, be honest, how many times at age twenty did you drink way too much? Because Alcohol can be just as deadly.

Cocaine is generally safer because you don't ingest or inject it, sure it could be cut with talc but that's not going to kill you. In fact, perversely the purer cocaine is the riskier it gets.

I'm totally anti-drug but I'm also VERY anti-drink when done in excess, I detest the idea of getting hammered! But it's not me I'm on about. Also, we come from a very different age, it's very hard to connect with two generations below you and know how they think and feel.

Finally, I said 'tempted', that's not the same as 'definitely' is it? Any of us who say they wouldn't at least have been 'tempted' at aged 20 is either lying or was never truly young, actually doing well that's a different thing.

Jeez, are we all in blank brain mode super preachy mode today.

I hope I am more intelligent than that but as I told Ketty I'm 58 now so I should be. I'm thinking of how I was at 20, cocky, daft and with a belief that I was indestructible and could get away with almost anything.

So yes it would have tempted the 20-year-old me, just like fags and alcohol did or are they any different? Luckily it was never available so I'll never know and neither will you.

Why does being honest about human frailties trouble people so much?

You do realise that your avatar represents all those things that are bad about society and more, you seem confused.

And again, a staggering overreaction, do some people continually live in Lorraine Kelly mode.

I agree with all that, I'm sure you are correct but it has nothing to do with my point, you're just pushing out facts and figures.

But all that doesn't interest a lot of 20-year-olds when out on the lash does it?

I'm not condoning it, I detest drugs and would never use them for all the reasons you give but I sure as hell seem to have a better grasp of human nature than some.

The massive illegal drugs industry wouldn't exist if gullible and mainly young people weren't feeding it, that's the plain fact. I'm afraid that at aged 20 I may have been one such dunce but then I seem able, to be honest about myself.

Thats not a staggering overreaction then?

No, it's not, it's how I was at aged 20, it's how a lot of young adults are now and always have been. You have actually visited the real world?

Very few people have the wisdom they have at 58 when they are 20, so if I'd been born in 2001 and not the early 1960's I'd now be in a position where I'd have to make a choice and I probably would be tempted, not to say I would but it would be there. What I can't do is apply the knowledge I now have to my 20-year-old self, life doesn't work like that.

It's just another attempt by Vasty to put himself in a position that he thought might make him one of many and popular.
Sometimes it's best not comment on a subject you know nothing about.
Vasty what you don't know you tend to make up.

I still don't agree that most young people take cocaine. Or have even dabbled.
Some do, and some do a lot.

But it looks like a 58 year old judging the younger people by the standard of the yob you see on West Gate after hours.

It's certainly a problem but and as said, a lucrative business, but these days you can't even say 'most' drink to excess.

no no no!

I'm judging myself aged 20, I can't judge others as such, however, I don't think I was that different to most.

Tempted I keep pointing out is not the same as doing, but the number of drugs available today I find it hard to believe that the temptations are not so much greater.

I'm pretty sure I know better than anyone what I would or might have done aged 20. So unless you've shadowed me my entire life then do shut up. You really have just made yourself look a total fool.

If you're not actually going to join the debate then why bother, your comment has nothing to do with anything I've said, just pathetic virtue signalling.

Oh and do tell us all what your great knowledge is regarding drug use? This is a forum, you don't need to have a Degree to comment on any issue you wish.

Vastman what you have said as a 20 year old takes courage so respect .Never went near drugs .My two children have not done drugs,though as a 19 year old my son said he had been offered them after a night in Wakefield.Know people from a decent back ground who became addicts. and now in there 40+ years are struggling with life ,deppretion in and out of work ext .It's a big problem that will not go away