Can you use drugs and still be successful?

noubliezjamais · 23-04-2019 09:21PM #1

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 · 23-04-2019 09:21PM

Russian and Chinese athletes do very well out of it.

Rubberchikken · 23-04-2019 09:24PM

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

D3V!L · 23-04-2019 09:25PM

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

JohnnyFlash · 23-04-2019 09:29PM

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 · 23-04-2019 09:30PM

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 · 23-04-2019 09:30PM

Hollywood.

Teddy Daniels · 23-04-2019 09:30PM

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 · 23-04-2019 09:31PM

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 · 23-04-2019 09:36PM

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 · 23-04-2019 09:38PM

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 · 23-04-2019 09:39PM

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 · 23-04-2019 09:57PM

Lance Armstrong.

micky jammy delahunty · 23-04-2019 09:58PM

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 · 23-04-2019 10:20PM

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 · 23-04-2019 10:22PM

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 · 23-04-2019 10:23PM

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

noubliezjamais · 23-04-2019 10:25PM

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 · 23-04-2019 10:31PM

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 · 23-04-2019 10:34PM

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 · 23-04-2019 10:36PM

riclad · 23-04-2019 10:38PM

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 · 23-04-2019 10:40PM

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 · 23-04-2019 10:42PM

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 · 23-04-2019 10:44PM

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 · 23-04-2019 11:32PM

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 · 23-04-2019 11:39PM

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 · 23-04-2019 11:40PM

Ask the highest grossing movie star on the planet

dd973 · 23-04-2019 11:40PM

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 · 23-04-2019 11:44PM

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 · 23-04-2019 11:50PM

Ozzy Osborne.

Can you use drugs and still be successful?

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