Which European country has the least stigma in regards to personal drug use?

[Safrolette]

I'm sure it's us. Among young people, I've rarely met someone my age who is dead against drugs i.e. stigma even if they don't take them themselves.

I'm inclined to agree. I'm in my 20's in LDN and even those who are not drug users themselves are not against it in any serious manner at all, they simply don't happen to enjoy consuming psychoactive substances. Rarely do I meet people my age IRL who are really against drug use.
That's assuming we're talking about "light drugs" like weed or "party drugs" like MDMA though. Obviously there's a lot more stigma towards heroin and crack. But cocaine is seen as pretty casual among most.

I agree about the UK being a country where recreational drug use has very little or none at all stigma for a large number of people

Czech Republic, specifically Prague. 2 Grammes of Crystal meth? Misdemeanour, not criminal.

Really? Wouldn't have thought of that, Czech Republic and Prague as hard partying places?!

 

[Wilson Wilson]

I'm over 25 and I am well aware of what Xanax is thank you very much!

In fact, I was probably getting fucked on Xanax before you were even born

You young 'uns think you know it all...

Haha you know what I mean. Outside of us "drug nerds" your average Joe Public in the UK didn't even know what Xanax was a few years ago. They may have vaguely recognised the name from a reference somewhere but that's about it.

Now pressed bars have become the hot new thing they're most popular amongst the youth who listen to rap that hypes the stuff up. The older generations in the UK prefer Valium as their benzo of choice.

Middle aged drug users in our fine land also really love speed whereas youngins prefer coke. I always find it funny when an older person (usually women I've noticed, not sure why) mentions how great amphetamine is assuming I'm unfamiliar or even better says "did you know you can actually get prescribed speed?" and I respond by showing them a blister of dexxies

The Xanax thing though is something that really has grabbed my attention as a very interesting trend because it was basically memed into existence as far as the UK scene is concerned. Suddenly one of the fastest growing drug trends in the UK is a benzo that isn't even prescribed on the NHS and it's being used by a generation who previously used pretty much only uppers and barely even know what benzos are... it's fucking mad when you think about it.

Like mephedrone for example came out of nowhere in a sense, but in context it came from an MDMA and coke draught happening at the time so it filled an existing demand. With Xanax there is no such case. It's not replacing anything, it's literally that in a few years suddenly my generation has decided it likes benzos now. I was boshing benzos before it was cool and no one knew what the fuck I was even on about. Had I gone to uni just a few years later I'd have been a cool kid with my Xannies.

I predicted this would happen after the PSA wiped out the RC benzo scene but no one paid much attention at the time. I found that odd too. Benzos were the biggest sellers on the RC scene by far and they have huge addictive potential but the media and government both largely ignored them. Only now that Xanax has become a trend have the media and government started caring about the rising benzo scene. It's been in the works ever since etizolam hit but the rappers helped a new benzo trend truly hit the mainstream culture.

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

Haha you know what I mean. Outside of us "drug nerds" your average Joe Public in the UK didn't even know what Xanax was a few years ago. They may have vaguely recognised the name from a reference somewhere but that's about it.

Now pressed bars have become the hot new thing they're most popular amongst the youth who listen to rap that hypes the stuff up. The older generations in the UK prefer Valium as their benzo of choice.

Middle aged drug users in our fine land also really love speed whereas youngins prefer coke. I always find it funny when an older person (usually women I've noticed, not sure why) mentions how great amphetamine is assuming I'm unfamiliar or even better says "did you know you can actually get prescribed speed?" and I respond by showing them a blister of dexxies

The Xanax thing though is something that really has grabbed my attention as a very interesting trend because it was basically memed into existence as far as the UK scene is concerned. Suddenly one of the fastest growing drug trends in the UK is a benzo that isn't even prescribed on the NHS and it's being used by a generation who previously used pretty much only uppers and barely even know what benzos are... it's fucking mad when you think about it.

Like mephedrone for example came out of nowhere in a sense, but in context it came from an MDMA and coke draught happening at the time so it filled an existing demand. With Xanax there is no such case. It's not replacing anything, it's literally that in a few years suddenly my generation has decided it likes benzos now. I was boshing benzos before it was cool and no one knew what the fuck I was even on about. Had I gone to uni just a few years later I'd have been a cool kid with my Xannies.

I predicted this would happen after the PSA wiped out the RC benzo scene but no one paid much attention at the time. I found that odd too. Benzos were the biggest sellers on the RC scene by far and they have huge addictive potential but the media and government both largely ignored them. Only now that Xanax has become a trend have the media and government started caring about the rising benzo scene. It's been in the works ever since etizolam hit but the rappers helped a new benzo trend truly hit the mainstream culture.

Yeh, you're actually bang on there mate. I've seen a worrying upsurge of Xanax use with my daughter and her mates. I've tried to warn her about the addiction potential and the fact they could be all sorts of snide shit, but she thinks I'm talking rubbish - which is a bit rich coming from the generation that thinks an eighth is 2g (if you're lucky). True about speed as well. Whenever I ask these young buggers if they can get speed, they look at me like I'm a fuckin alien!

 

[Wubb]

Yeh, you're actually bang on there mate. I've seen a worrying upsurge of Xanax use with my daughter and her mates. I've tried to warn her about the addiction potential and the fact they could be all sorts of snide shit, but she thinks I'm talking rubbish - which is a bit rich coming from the generation that thinks an eighth is 2g (if you're lucky). True about speed as well. Whenever I ask these young buggers if they can get speed, they look at me like I'm a fuckin alien!

^^ I had this recently, trying to find a stinking bag of base is almost impossible for the average 18-25 yr old, but yet in the next breathe I'm offered Lean, and its even better when you mix it with a bar or two.....uhh.....Yes because that's the same as a quarter of speed aint it, I don't even like sprite.

 

[Wilson Wilson]

Yeh, you're actually bang on there mate. I've seen a worrying upsurge of Xanax use with my daughter and her mates. I've tried to warn her about the addiction potential and the fact they could be all sorts of snide shit, but she thinks I'm talking rubbish - which is a bit rich coming from the generation that thinks an eighth is 2g (if you're lucky). True about speed as well. Whenever I ask these young buggers if they can get speed, they look at me like I'm a fuckin alien!

It is a worrying thing indeed. But in my experience young people are getting wise to the addictive potential when they see what it does to others. I've had my usual weed dealers offer me Xanax and someone else in the room will say "careful with that shit I see people popping them like sweets and they get addicted fast and don't know how fucked up they are."

And I find if I mention to someone I'm using Xanax they'll warn me it's dangerous or addictive. Obviously I don't use it like an idiot but I am happy people my age are aware of this stuff enough to warn me about it.

Maybe show your daughter that Vice documentary on the pressed bars see if she pays more attention to that. Do teenagers trust Vice? Not a fucking clue honestly. But they lab tested one of those bars and showed it contained caffeine and diclazepam and talked to some teens about the withdrawals so it is actually pretty decent especially for a Vice video. Beware it contains cringey amateur mumble rap.

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/d358xv/watch-xanxiety-the-uks-xanax-epidemic

^^ I had this recently, trying to find a stinking bag of base is almost impossible for the average 18-25 yr old, but yet in the next breathe I'm offered Lean, and its even better when you mix it with a bar or two.....uhh.....Yes because that's the same as a quarter of speed aint it, I don't even like sprite.

Mate it is madness... I can promise you right now almost no one my age is into good old speed anymore. To be honest though I can see why. Those who have tried it got very cut product that was mostly caffeine and that's pretty typical of most "speed" these days. Taking a load of caffeine with maybe a little amphetamine in there if you're lucky is not a pleasant experience. When people my age talk about speed that's the context they talk about it in. I tell them I'm prescribed pure speed not the street crap but they don't really know what I'm on about. It's the older lot who go nuts when they find out dexxies still exist.

But just as you said these kids will take "lean" and fake "Xanax" containing a mix of RCs because they heard Future rap about it. Almost none of those morons even know that you can buy codeine linctus OTC in this country either, they'll buy it off some cunt on Snapchat for a huge markup instead. Nor do they even know what a benzo is. When someone was talking to me about Xanax I asked if they were into Valium and they had no clue what I was on about. I said it's another benzo and they asked me what a benzo was. These goons don't even know what they are taking. All they know is it's "cool."

I'm sounding like an old man now waving my fist at the damn kids these days but seriously I can't stand ignorance. If you're going to use addictive drugs at least know what you're taking.

On the bright side this is probably the reason almost all the pharmacies near me have started knocking out codeine linctus again. It's almost a tenner a bottle but that's still the cheapest method of obtaining 600mg pure codeine (no paracetamol etc). And I metabolise my codeine pretty well so I'm happy to enjoy that while it lasts. Did the rounds last week and got four bottles. Will do the same later today just waiting for a package to turn up first.

The bars are seriously concerning though. If you look at WEDINOS there's two results for bars pressed with clonazolam. And these bars are notoriously uneven in their dosing. Anywhere from 1-5mg. Imagine getting a 5mg hit of clonazolam. That is downright fucking dangerous. Back when it was an RC I tried 0.5mg clonazolam pellets and just one of them had me out and I am no benzo noob. You have kids out there taking it without even knowing what it is or at what dose now.

I always tell people don't trust bars, they are all fake. Xanax is a benzo and it's addictive but if you are going to do it anyway at least buy real pharmaceuticals so you know what you are putting in your body. Some dealers are selling Ksalol as well so at least there is some real pharma alprazolam doing the rounds too. I think with the low quality presses going around and the stories people hear they thankfully become more wary of the shitty bars.

 

[Wubb]

How on earth did you get a script for dexxies ? I'm not gunna lie I'm insanely jealous, I'd give my right arm for that script, it works a treat for cluster headaches too, sadly my GP didn't find that a sufficient reason to doll them out.
Hahah yeah you gotta laugh at the caffeine what smells like speed trick, you take a gram but are fast asleep by 2am, give me 2 grams of real speed I'll spend 5 days awake easily.

I've seen people pay up to ?60 for a bottle of 'lean' because it contains promethazine as well, seriously kids these days don't even what a fucking antihistamine is, even though there constantly glued to their phones there too retarded to Google the word promethazine,but like you said if Future drinks it then it has to be dank right ? Don't get me started on the so called Xanax bars.

 

[Wilson Wilson]

How on earth did you get a script for dexxies ? I'm not gunna lie I'm insanely jealous, I'd give my right arm for that script, it works a treat for cluster headaches too, sadly my GP didn't find that a sufficient reason to doll them out.
Hahah yeah you gotta laugh at the caffeine what smells like speed trick, you take a gram but are fast asleep by 2am, give me 2 grams of real speed I'll spend 5 days awake easily.

I've seen people pay up to ?60 for a bottle of 'lean' because it contains promethazine as well, seriously kids these days don't even what a fucking antihistamine is, even though there constantly glued to their phones there too retarded to Google the word promethazine,but like you said if Future drinks it then it has to be dank right ? Don't get me started on the so called Xanax bars.

The only way you will ever get a dex script is with an adult ADHD diagnosis. You're only going to get one of those privately. Costs a few hundred quid. The good news is private ADHD specialists hand out dex like sweeties and unless your GP has a reason to distrust you (drug abuse on your record) you should be able to get it transferred over to the NHS without too much hassle. For me it was simply a matter of making an appointment and showing the private script to get an NHS version printed, done and dusted, but I have a long relationship of trust with my GP. My mate got his own dex script privately like me but dealt with a GP he didn't know, took him a few months of typical NHS bureaucracy but he got the script transferred in the end.

You can of course just use the private script but you pay a fortune if you do this. You pay ?100 a box instead of the NHS prescription charge.

I've been diagnosed with ADHD since I was a kid but it truthfully makes no difference even if you weren't. They do not take it into account, adult ADHD is a separate condition in the UK and it is diagnosed entirely separately from childhood ADHD.

I'm honestly surprised there's not more scripts around because it was so ridiculously easy for me to get it done and even my mate who had to go through the proper official route only had to wait a couple months for the NHS to sign off on it. If you have a clean medical record and a few hundred quid you're pretty much set. And the NHS is surprisingly relaxed about stimulant scripts as well. Very strict on downers but don't really give a toss about the uppers.

As for promethazine don't even get me started, you would be surprised (or probably not) at the number of kids who think promethazine alone will get you high. The ironic thing is the reason promethazine is in the US syrup is to discourage people from taking too much because promethazine is downright unpleasant in high doses. The clean codeine linctus we get is far nicer and it is 15mg/5ml vs. the US 10mg/5ml.