Drugs of all descriptions are always going to cause a difference of opionion like this for one reason only. Lack of credible information. That goes for both user and non users alike. I agree with whizzer that an informed and adult debate in this country regarding drugs is well overdue but fear that any such debate would be overshadowed by the personal and mostly ill-informed views held by the participants. Personally my views on drugs have changed over the years. I'll admit that in the past they held no fear for me and I wholeheartedly embraced the chemical generation and to be honest had a fantastic time. However, I would be be a little less than honest if I said that the amount of time I've spent on nights out with uncle charlie or the once regular weekend diet supplement of disco biscuits had no long term adverse effects. The trouble with the ANTI lobby is that most normal people know that scaremonger tactics are just that, it's like saying to a kid that if you drink beer before your 18 your head will fall off. Naturaly the kid will go and get a can of beer, drink it without their head rolling off and continue to drink from that point forward with a cynical view of any warning.
Surely a more sensible approach is whats needed.
The opening post of this thread speaks volumes. To me it says - Do as you do but there is a chance that anything that you choose to to put into your system can kill you. Sounds like good advise.
Far too many people think that if it's legal it OK and if it's illegal it's the work satan. Remember that South Africa once had a law that was socially acceptable that with hindsight was utterly wrong.

The problem with choices and mistakes as regards to drug use is that some choices are forgiving and some are not, Hard drugs do not forgive.

A couple of beers is forgiving, the worst you get is a hangover. You have to drink an awful awful awful lot to die from it, and abuse it wilfully and deliberatly for it to affect your family, in that case there is something wrong other than just the drug alcohol. Smoking whilst it gets you horribly in the end is a drug that lets you get away with it for a very long time. Cocaine, is a gamble, usually you'll come out fine, same with Excstacy, You just need to get a bad one once however and because its illegal there are no follow ups or guarantees that the stuff your using is safe. Heroin however is not forgiving in the slightest. Heroin despite being made as a substitute to the addictive qualities of Morphine has been abused and is wrongfully categorised with recreational drugs in my opinion. That stuff is poison pure and simple.

All of these things are lumped under the title recreational drug, and i think people would agree with me in saying that there is a big difference between drinks at a party, weed in an armchair and cocaine and heroin in an alley.

I sympathise with the guy and his family and what i am going to say is not in direct relation to them.

A callous attitude is needed in some cases as regards to different degrees of drugs and drugs use. It is widely condemned again and again and again for a reason. Whilst users need support and help, we still need to remember that despite it being a result of peer pressure or thrill seeking or whatnot, people are still more informed now than they have ever been, and still they continue to experiment, People aren't trying these things because they are ignorant of the effects, Its the complete opposite. They want the effects. In terms of making a choice they are knowingly making a bad one. I can sympathize but not much.

Forget about marijuana and other small fry stuff, im talking about heroin, cocaine and other ugly goddamn things. Seeing the devasatation this shit does to people makes me wonder why every single parent isn't out there with a shotgun right now killing every goddamn dealer they come across and encouraging everyone else to join them.

Im in favour of the callous simple outright condemnation attitude adopted by communities, I feel it may help combat the peer pressure revolving around it, or take some of the glamour away from it. If people promote an intolerance, instead of a passive live and let live attitude to it we might make it rub off on the kids.

Kids learn intolerance from their parents, why don't we finally put that ugly trait to good use and add drug dealers to the list. Not victims. Dealers.

all i can say is what a waste ... i feel for the guy, and the people he has left behind - no-one knows how their life is going to pan out ...

First off I'll start by saying that this topic has gone way overboard! It started as a simple post to state what happened to someone who took a line of coke and died and has almost turned into a lynching post because someone had the balls to stand up and say he did not feel sorry for the guy that died!

Yes I said he had the balls to say that. Most people will say how sorry they are and mutter 'What a dick!' to themselves.

It doesn't matter whether you are an occasional user or a full outright addict, if you know the dangers then its your own life you're risking and not thinking about those you will leave behind should the worse happen. Do you feel sorry for someone who gambles with money and looses it all? You're more likely to say that he was stupid and not feel sorry for him. So when someone gambles with their own life why do some people take the moral high ground and condem someone else for saying they don't feel sorry that person?

I lost my younger brother a few years ago to drugs, so I can speak openly from an effected family. HE chose to do drugs, HE chose to steal from family and friends to feed the addiction, HE knew the dangers of drugs, yet he still carried on even after he was sent down for a while and claimed to be clean when he came out. Which he appeared to be. And yet within a few months of being clean he went back it. Now I know it was an addiction and falling off the wagon is the easiest thing to do.

Now ask me do I feel sorry for my own brother? I can answer honestly and openly that I DO NOT feel sorry for him. Howevr, what I do feel sorry for is the loss of the person he was BEFORE the drugs.

I feel sorry for people left behind, especially the kids who loose a parent through drug abuse, but not the person who abused it.

I know Ringer2 very well and have known him for about 20 years. He's not heartless, he just tells you what he thinks. If someone can't handle that then the easiest thing to do is ignore him. I don't always agree with him on matters but we respect each others views. And isn't that what this forum is about?