Can you use drugs and still be successful?

noubliezjamais

We always hear that drug use impedes any chance of being a productive citizen let alone being successful. Do you think this is true or not?

Drugs to mean stuff besides alcohol, weed, and psychedelics. So left with the moderate - highly addictive stuff like ghb, coke, benzos, mephedrone, ketamine, morphine, meth etc..

I have relatives in the U.S that get prescribed vicodin, adderral and valium. So far none are in huge debt and more importantly on the streets.

Also heard that of the people who try drugs like heroin, only about 10-20% get addicted.

TheValeyard

Russian and Chinese athletes do very well out of it.

Rubberchikken

you probably can be successful, as successful to me is very subjective. however, you would be stupid. just my opinion.

D3V!L

Im a fully functioning heroin addict. I've been holding down a well paid job for years on it.

JohnnyFlash

Possibly, but almost certainly not.

Get a lot of stoners who proclaim that they are successful, until you find out they work in IT support or a record shop. I

c.p.w.g.w

D3V!L wrote: »

Im a fully functioning heroin addict. I've been holding down a well paid job for years on it.

Are you genuine? I do find functional heroin users fascinating

tony1kenobi

Hollywood.

Teddy Daniels

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Possibly, but almost certainly not.

Get a lot of stoners who proclaim that they are successful, until you find out they work in IT support or a record shop. I

As long as they can finish their sentences they are successful in my book

tuxy

Murray TheDemonic TalkingSkull wrote: »

Russian and Chinese athletes do very well out of it.

I think you mean all top athletes, the difference is in China and Russia it's state sponsored and in other countries it's team sponsored

D3V!L

c.p.w.g.w wrote: »

Are you genuine? I do find functional heroin users fascinating

No of course not

I do work in IT though and throughout my decades in the business I came across plenty of functioning hard drug users. It's very very common at all levels.

banie01

Depends on the level of use and addiction IMO.
Also age is a huge factor, the recovery powers of youth are vastly underrated!

Take something as simple as Ephedrine.
I lived in Spain for a few years in the early Noughties.
Usual working week was 60hrs, 6 out of 7 nights.
I usually worked from 6/7pm thru to 4am. Then out for a few drinks after work.
The amount of people who would work hard, drink more, party and then head to the chemist for a box of Ephedrine before work the next night!

24 tabs was @€;2.50 and they were the stand by drug to get people through work, until they went out and partied on harder stuff
Delighted it's not available OTC anymore.

Then ya had the muso's who were spending €150 a night on Charlie...
It is not a sustainable life, ya burn out and crash hard!

c.p.w.g.w

D3V!L wrote: »

No of course not

I do work in IT though and throughout my decades in the business I came across plenty of functioning hard drug users. It's very very common at all levels.

A friend of mine is in the guards and his met a couple of functional heroin addicts. He said it's very hard to comprehend it.

One fellow, gets the dart/train into phoenix park, shoots up, passed out and comes around in town for work...mad

Atoms for Peace

Lance Armstrong.

micky jammy delahunty

c.p.w.g.w wrote: »

A friend of mine is in the guards and his met a couple of functional heroin addicts. He said it's very hard to comprehend it.

This is because, a lot of the homeless drug addicts you see, tend to have far greater problems than drugs. Such as mental health issues.

Functional addicts. . . . I had a manager one time years ago, and it took me months to figure out his slightly odd behaviour. . . It was because he was very drunk at work, all the time. And that's basically how he hid his drunkeness, by being drunk all the time.

noubliezjamais

micky jammy delahunty wrote: »

This is because, a lot of the homeless drug addicts you see, tend to have far greater problems than drugs. Such as mental health issues.

Functional addicts. . . . I had a manager one time years ago, and it took me months to figure out his slightly odd behaviour. . . It was because he was very drunk at work, all the time. And that's basically how he hid his drunkeness, by being drunk all the time.

I wonder how he coped with needing to urinate. Was drunk at my last school exam on vodka but had to hold it in a fair amount.

tuxy

noubliezjamais wrote: »

I wonder how he coped with needing to urinate. Was drunk at my last school exam on vodka but had to hold it in a fair amount.

Perhaps alcoholics bodies adapt reducing frequency they need to urinate.

Arghus

I'd imagine successful drug users are a bit more common then we are led to believe.

noubliezjamais

Going a bit off the topic, is it just me or do people of african descent in Ireland use drugs the least? In my class, it seems that drug use is most common in order of Irish/European lads followed by Asian/SA and then African lads hardly use them.

yabadabado

noubliezjamais wrote: »

I wonder how he coped with needing to urinate. Was drunk at my last school exam on vodka but had to hold it in a fair amount.

I presume he used the bathroom to urinate.

yabadabado

c.p.w.g.w wrote: »

A friend of mine is in the guards and his met a couple of functional heroin addicts. He said it's very hard to comprehend it.

One fellow, gets the dart/train into phoenix park, shoots up, passed out and comes around in town for work...mad

They was supervised heroin clinic in Liverpool back in the 80s .And many of the clients visited it for a dose before they went to work each morning. In a supervised environment with a doctor giving a proper known dosage it seemed to work .

tuxy

riclad

I think you can use cannabis and still work the same as anyone else ,
provided you use it after working hours,
maybe a few times a week, like some people go to the pub and have
5 pints but it does not effect their work as they drink
after 8pm, or at weekends .
I can,t comment on drugs like e or cocaine as i do,nt know anyone that
uses hard drugs .
It depends on your age and level of maturity ,
i would not advise anyone under 21 to use any drugs at all .
like the saying goe,s everything in moderation .
The problem with drugs is they are expensive and additive so they can take over your life,
and become harmful to your health and your lifestyle .

Colonel Claptrap

noubliezjamais wrote: »

I have relatives in the U.S that get prescribed vicodin, adderral and valium.

I'm on a similar concoction of pain killers and sedatives - some of them controlled substances.

I have debilitating constant pain going back years which has surged in recent months so I use pain medication to get me out of the bed and into the office every day. I'm highly functioning and successful in my job - once I've taken my pills.

Without them I can't walk or sleep.

I'm an addict. I only realised recently. When I leave it a long period of time (12+ hours) between a certain tablet I get massive withdrawals. Nassau, anxiety, headache, tight chest, irritability.

I've spoken to my doctor about it. We've reached a juncture. Continue with the pain meds, enabling me to live my life, and ultimately become addicted, or sign me off long term sick in a world of pain at home with nothing to do. I decided to continue with them despite my fears of addiction. The come downs are truly awful.

I have a rough year ahead of me as the underlying condition can take a while to get under control again. At that stage I will need to wean off the meds slowly under supervision of my GP. There's talk of a group or program to help me. Mental health services too.

To meet me you would just think I'm a normal office worker, neighbour, or guy beside you on the bus.

50c for a hostel bud?

tuxy

riclad wrote: »

I think you can use cannabis and still work the same as anyone else ,

What about heroin once a month would that work?

https://youtu.be/4xhdPmu2dEA?t=19

micky jammy delahunty

noubliezjamais wrote: »

Going a bit off the topic, is it just me or do people of african descent in Ireland use drugs the least?

Yeah. . . A lot of Africans are very Churchy and straight laced. . . A minority like to party.

In my experience......People who are too straight laced, generally are not that "successful"...They lack the craziness to drive them in their field of endeavor...

Something happened in Italy years ago. A TV show set up a kind of fake interview with politicians outside the parliament. One of the crew, posing as doing makeup took swabs of their foreheads, and they sent the swabs to a lab....A huge, really huge number, tested positive for all kinds of drugs.

There was a bag of cocaine found in the toilets in the Dail a few years ago.

I wouldn't advise anyone to try cocaine, but it's only a minority of users who develop a problem.....but those problems can be awful, up to and including death.

rgodard80a

tuxy wrote: »

Perhaps alcoholics bodies adapt reducing frequency they need to urinate.

An alcoholic doesn't mean you're drunk all the time in work.
I remember seeing a program on Rte about people coming home every weeknight and drinking a bottle of wine, and more during the weekend.
They don't get hangovers so they can shake it off the next morning and go into work.

andekwarhola

Without sounding blidingly obvious, it depends on the extent and the timing. A few pints at weekends isn't going to affect your career whereas being an alcoholic will. I presume drugs are the same.

rossie1977

Ask the highest grossing movie star on the planet

dd973

micky jammy delahunty wrote: »

In my experience......People who are too straight laced, generally are not that "successful"...They lack the craziness to drive them in their field of endeavor...

[/QUOTE

Disagree somewhat with this, look at people in the football world like Harry Kane or Michael Owen, the personalities of a plank of wood yet this also ensures they're never in the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong stuff, this temperament works for loads of people whilst others are self saboteurs.

tuxy

rossie1977 wrote: »

Ask the highest grossing movie star on the planet

It's all diet and hard work, don't you follow his instagram?

Richard Hillman

Ozzy Osborne.

Pero_Bueno

Joe Rogan, gets stoned every day and makes millions from his podcast.

micky jammy delahunty

Disagree somewhat with this, look at people in the football world like Harry Kane or Michael Owen, the personalities of a plank of wood yet this also ensures they're never in the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong stuff, this temperament works for loads of people whilst others are self saboteurs.

Yeah...It kinds of depends....but most often, a plank of wood, is just a plank...Which comes back to cocaine....It's the worst drug you can give to a very straightlaced person, because they don't realise the power of the drug or its' craziness....Coke dealers love giving free samples, because hitting pay dirt, is getting a taste to a person who can't put two and two together......And this is why there is an opioid "crisis" in America...This not the first time there's been this kind of crisis, before it was with Valium, something like Fentanyl is literally 50 times worse than heroin. What the "crisis" is, is straightlaced white Americans dropping dead in their thousands. Keith Richards and Shane Mcgowan are still in rude health.

Ipso

Pero_Bueno wrote: »

Joe Rogan, gets stoned every day and makes millions from his podcast.

You’d want to be to listen to Russel Brand for a few hours.

sk8erboii

c.p.w.g.w wrote: »

A friend of mine is in the guards and his met a couple of functional heroin addicts. He said it's very hard to comprehend it.

One fellow, gets the dart/train into phoenix park, shoots up, passed out and comes around in town for work...mad

Certain drug addicts have drive to do their jobs, get paid so they can spend it on drugs. I knew a guy who at the height of his heroin addiction worked three jobs to support his habit.

When he came off it, he slowed down and got a low effort job.

nocoverart

You can use DMT to traverse other dimensions, think bigger OP.

The_Kew_Tour

Seen young Garda in past take all types and never did them any harm

stevenR84

I know plenty on methadone who are successful

emilymemily

I think we only really hear of the people who get so addicted they cant function, I think it is possible to take drugs and be successful and not everyone who takes substances gets addicted, addiction has allot to do with genes/brain chemicals/personality types and traumatic experiences than the substance itself. Someone who gets addicted to alcohol or meth could easily get addicted to any substance.

micky jammy delahunty

stevenR84 wrote: »

I know plenty on methadone who are successful

Successful methadone dealer?

stevenR84

a friend of mine does crack cocaine once evry 8 weeks for the past 5 years, and she sees it as going out for a drink, as she doesn't drink. She's never got addicted.

endacl

stevenR84 wrote: »

a friend of mine does crack cocaine once evry 8 weeks for the past 5 years, and she sees it as going out for a drink, as she doesn't drink. She's never got addicted.

She just does it for the crack?

noubliezjamais

stevenR84 wrote: »

a friend of mine does crack cocaine once evry 8 weeks for the past 5 years, and she sees it as going out for a drink, as she doesn't drink. She's never got addicted.

What does she work as? There's also this belief I've heard that most drug users are working class.

To be honest, this thread is ****ing confusing. On the one hand you'll have some Irish people say that they know people completely destroyed by drugs and anyone who thinks they can be functional are morons, then on the other hand you have this thread.

suicide_circus

yes it can be done and there are a lot more than you'd think. its a certain personality type that can pull it off - impulsive but still good at deferred gratification.

Lux23

I've known several high functioning drug users, on over €100k a year and what f**ks me off the most is that they work with machinery! Engineers and the like.

I can't even have a drink on a Saturday because I will still be hungover on the Monday!

petes

stevenR84 wrote: »

a friend of mine does crack cocaine once evry 8 weeks for the past 5 years, and she sees it as going out for a drink, as she doesn't drink. She's never got addicted.

Once every 'eight' weeks?

El Weirdo

tuxy wrote: »

Perhaps alcoholics bodies adapt reducing frequency they need to urinate.

It's not the amount of alcohol that makes you need to piss, but the amount of liquid the alcohol is in. This is basic primary school level shit.

yabadabado wrote: »

They was supervised heroin clinic in Liverpool back in the 80s .And many of the clients visited it for a dose before they went to work each morning. In a supervised environment with a doctor giving a proper known dosage it seemed to work .

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2015/05/the-case-for-prescription-heroin/

pauliebdub

Its possible to hold down a job and be successful but from my experience drug users tend to be very weird, prolonged drug use screws up their brains.

Tombo2001

Think about what that question means.....

What is successful?

It means you can functionally do your job.......now......for the next ten years.....

What about when your 70? How will you be affected then.

People - particularly on social media - tend to look at life in the context of where they are right now.

Your health will be negatively affected in the medium to long term if you are regularly consuming narcotics or pharmaceuticals - be they over the counter, prescribed or as a result of lifestyle choices - that are a not an absolute necessity for treating specific conditions, e.g. high cholesterol.

There is nothing in this that constitutes "successful".

CrankyHaus

Loads of high flyers in the professions who drink and do cocaine to excess most nights. Plenty of them burn out, some get sensible and settle down, some double down on it after their first divorce or seperation and in late middle age eventually become the old lech who everyone feels sorry for.

Less common are the high functioning stoners. The type of motivated people who get baked regularly or even all the time and still get stuff done. I couldn't imagine doing it myself but I know one or two and their work ethic is impressive. I saw one I knew on the Late Late pitching his product and he was smoked out of his box, Tubs didn't seem to mind.

People doing hard drugs like heroin while holding down a job definitely exist but they're much more under the radar. I doubt many can keep it up for more than a few years.

dundalkfc10

CrankyHaus wrote: »

Loads of high flyers in the professions who drink and do cocaine to excess most nights. Plenty of them burn out, some get sensible and settle down, some double down on it after their first divorce or seperation and in late middle age eventually become the old lech who everyone feels sorry for.

Less common are the high functioning stoners. The type of motivated people who get baked regularly or even all the time and still get stuff done. I couldn't imagine doing it myself but I know one or two and their work ethic is impressive. I saw one I knew on the Late Late pitching his product and he was smoked out of his box, Tubs didn't seem to mind.

People doing hard drugs like heroin while holding down a job definitely exist but they're much more under the radar. I doubt many can keep it up for more than a few years.

Agree with this. I know many functioning stoners (morning/lunch time joints etc) working as Accountants, Teachers to name 2