Noding in a more
personal style, the cocaine
high feels... well, pretty great, but it's nothing to ruin your life for. Posting for the sake of the
curious, here is the
opinion of one noder, who has taken the drug only a handful of times.
Upon
snorting the damned stuff, one may soon expect a hideously irritating post-
nasal drip and an
anaesthetized sensation that says "ah, must be at the
dentist's office" in one's sinuses and often in the roof of one's mouth as well (this sensation can last an hour or longer from one line). Shortly you will notice that you cannot
stop talking about absolutely anything, and to absolutely everybody. You might feel like you've just had a great
pep-talk and are ready to take on at least some of the world. Strangers who would normally be
intimidating become your favourite conversational targets. There is no
visual element such as hallucinations, and the "rush" is not similar to the full-body-tingly-luvvy feeling of
ecstasy, either. The main target of cocaine is, weirdly enough,
confidence.
Two elements contribute to its effectiveness. First, the stimulant itself boosts your energy and your confidence, allowing you to temporarily forget all the
things you hate about yourself and all your social doubts. Then, as you talk to people, a kind of
positive feedback loop emerges, because you notice that the other person is more interested in you than usual, and altogether seems more charmed. This is not to say that you'll always come across as an
arrogant bastard - usually one feels happy to be among other people, and can even get a bit affectionate towards the whole
human race. You could go to work on this drug and be extremely productive (until you have to take a week off for
reconstructive surgery on your
septum). In fact, if you're in
advertising, you probably do.
After the first time I tried coke, I tried talking to people - strangers and acquaintances alike - with the same level of self-assuredness and energy as when I'd been high, and the results were really quite funny. You don't need the drug to be the kind of movie-star
personality, because if you exude confidence, you will get an appropriate response from other people (that's right, they start the "
we're not worthy!" chant immediately).
If you take a lot, you feel extremely great. The downside? The rush doesn't last very long (so you have to keep snorting), and how great you feel now is directly proportional to how low,
insignificant, and generally crap you will feel later. Plus, it's relatively expensive. To those who are interested, I'd say there's not much harm in doing it
once, especially if you're smart enough to limit yourself to one line, just to see what it does
in a nutshell. Used sparingly, cocaine can be fun. Used often enough, this drug can turn you into an idiot with no sense of self outside of a bag of white powder. I know a lot of people who might do it once or twice a year; likewise I know others who do it every week. Just ask yourself whether you're the type of person who will remember how to have a
good time without it afterwards, and act accordingly.