i think there's a lot of confusion about cocaine. is it in the pile of drugs to try, or the pile to avoid?

it may be the only one in the "depends" pile. really. nothing else is "depends". everything else is binary.

marijuana: harmless
lsd: not harmless, but go ahead, if you're in a safe space.
e: make sure it's actually e. but it's just serotonin. it can't actually hurt you - if it's e.

heroin: evil.
meth: evil.
crack: evil.

cocaine: meh....?

see, and here's the reason why: it's the underlying conditions. you could use it socially for years and never have it hurt you, or you could destroy your whole life in the space of a week. what cocaine is is a catalyst, in ways that those other drugs aren't.

so, no - you can't really blame it on the drugs. you have to blame it on depression, or loneliness or some chemical imbalance. fucking your life up on a cocaine binge is always a symptom and never a cause. but, it's also a fucking violent catalyst under the right (wrong?) conditions. careful thinking aside, it doesn't make the outcome any less horrific.

i've avoided it. but i've seen it, too. i don't need to prove to anybody i can handle it. i'm comfortable in the realization that i probably couldn't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJyQpAiMXkg