Subject: Cocaine story in Colombia (long)
From: [email-masked] (David Ashley)
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 09:23:56 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.drugs

A few years back I went on a trip down south through Mexico, Central America,
and then to Colombia and Ecuador. It was great fun, and a very rewarding
experience.
 
In Guatamala I met an English guy named Nigel that had been in Colombia. He
said that he had traveled from England, going to Brazil, then through
various countries, and ending up in Colombia. Nigel told me that along the
route he met locals that became his friends, and often they used Cocaine.
Nigel said he had been afraid of Cocaine, having been brought up in the
typical "drugs are bad" environment. He was afraid that if he tried it he'd
become addicted. Eventually he saw that although his friends used it, they were
not addicted. He tried it, and he liked it. He told me that he used it
daily for a couple of months. I asked him if it was hard to stop. He said it
wasn't.
 
Now I left him and I kept heading south. He told me of a place called the
Hotel Miramar in Santa Marta, Colombia. It's east from Cartegena. He said
it's a place where gringos can go and use cocaine, and not really be hassled.
Somewhere along my trip I decided I wanted to try cocaine if I had the
opportunity.
 
I made it to Colombia and ended up in Santa Marta. The Hotel Miramar was a
fantastic place because it's a gringo hangout. My spanish was decent but
I could never get close to the natives because it was too cumbersome
talking in their language, and very few Latins speak English. Colombia has
a reputation of being unsafe so not many tourists go there, so if you're
travelling around the country you feel like you're the only gringo.
 
So it was nice to meet up with other travellers in the Hotel Miramer. There
were people that stayed there for months or years, and then the others
that would come for just a day or two. I ended up staying there for a month.
I was waiting for mail from home, and also I was enjoying the company of
other travellers.
 
During this time I tried cocaine, and decided I liked it. I would snort the
cocaine only. I'd typically use it with other travellers, then a bunch of
people would get together and just talk or hang out. I'd usually start
using it in the early evening, continue over about a 6 hour period, then
I'd stop and go to sleep. I never used it as a pick-me-up in the morning.
I got in the habit of only using it when I already felt pretty good.
 
There were other people that used it a lot more--they would keep going for
more than a day or two. I thought this was silly because even though you
don't feel sleepy, you know your body wants to sleep, and I didn't want to
push it. Also there's not much point in using it for longer periods, as
the effect seems to diminish. I would build up a tolerance so that as the
time wore on I'd have to take it more and more frequently (over the 4 or 6
hour period in the evening). As I say, I'd usually be with other people when
using it and we'd sometimes go out in the night for walks. While in the Hotel
you feel perfectly safe using it, it's not a good idea to carry it around
town with you--you never know.
 
I figure that over the month I used the cocaine maybe 15 or 20 times. I liked
the feeling it gave me. It completely eliminates any feelings of inhibition,
so you feel comfortable talking about anything. You also feel fascinated
by what other people are saying, although I would prefer to talk. You feel
really good, like the cocaine is tickling your pleasure center. You feel
energetic. You wouldn't get hungry.
 
After a month I decided that the surroundings were getting stale, so I left
to go to a neighboring beach called Park Tayrona. It's a really beautiful
place and a lot of gringos hang out there as well. I didn't do any cocaine
while here but I didn't miss it either. There was no feeling of dependency.
Cocaine was more of something you did when it seemed like a good idea--not
because you felt you needed it. It was something that you'd use when you're
already having a good time--it would kick you up into the next level of
enjoyment.
 
There was immeasurable pot available also in Colombia. I used to smoke a
little but didn't really smoke enough to get over the munchy/can't concentrate
stage. Other people constantly smoked the stuff. I never really understood
the allure. I figured that the best time to use it was when you were hungry
and wanted the local food to taste like a king's banquet :^).
 
The only problems I had with the cocaine was frequent pain in my nose.
I was told this was because it wasn't pure, or that it was amphetamine and
not cocaine. Over my trip I tried cocaine many more times and it seemed
always a variable experience, depending on where I got it. Also my opinion
of what "good" cocaine was never matched anyone else's. One guy gave me some
of what he said was the best he had ever used in his life, and it had no
effect at all on me. I later decided that what I had called cocaine before
was some kind of amphetamine, and what this guy called cocaine was really
cocaine (pure), and that for some reason it didn't work on me. This guy
used to smoke it also (freebasing) and I tried that several times but never
once had any significant effect, although he was flying. After several
times when someone would tell me "try this, this is the best" and it did
nothing for me, I decided that the substance I had liked before was no
longer available and I stopped testing.
 
At no time did I ever feel any withdrawal symptoms. Also I never used it
every single day--I would stop for a day or two after each day or two of
use. And I never used it for a period longer than 6 hours.
 
I feel my experience with the drug hasn't been harmful at all. Instead it
destroyed a lot of myths I had absorbed in the United States culture. I
learned that the substance had absolutely no addictive qualities at all.
Then I decided that the biggest problem was since it was illegal down there
as well (at least if you got caught you'd have to pay a bribe to make the
cop go away) you never knew "exactly" what you were getting. The danger of
the drug was never the pure part but what you ended up getting that was
called "cocaine". I believe my experience with the cocaine has improved
me, and I believe everyone (provided they're adults) should have the same
option to experiment. The only improvement I could suggest would be fixing
the situation so you know what you're getting every time, instead of it
being a crap shoot.
 
Since Colombia is the source of this stuff, it's certainly going to be
cheaper. I never paid more than $4 or $5 a gram, and typically paid $3.
Of course I believe it wasn't quite as pure because I'd use a gram over
an evening, and from what I've heard about stuff in US that's A LOT. Since
Colombia I've never used any of the stuff. My thinking is I've heard prices
in the US are $100 per gram. At the time I was taking it I felt that it was
barely worth the $4 a gram. There's no way I'll pay 25 or 33 times what I
could get it for down there.
 
Pot was also much cheaper. I saw a guy buy perhaps a half pound for something
like $7.00. It's truly a weed, and isn't really illegal. Pot is so cheap you
never have to buy it--it just gets passed around by people that keep their
own supply.
 
Wages in Colombia are so low compared to wages here, the locals have to
pay almost the same proportion of their income to buy cocaine as Americans
would have to in the US. I never really saw any evidence of massive
drug addiction in Colombia. Almost 100% of the drug use seemed to be by the
gringos that were visiting.
 
I've decided that I believe drugs should be legalized. I believe that
we've all been victims of a horrible propaganda campaign. I believe
it would be much better if drugs were legalized, regulated (for purity), and
also perhaps taxed a little to cover costs of chronic abusers. I believe it
is a good idea to travel, because you find out interesting things, like
perhaps the USA isn't really as free as you might have thought. In Colombia
the police don't really care if you use illegal substances--they just use it
as an excuse to sweat a bribe out of you. They're not interested in throwing
you in jail, they just want some of your yanqui $$$. Yes, the system is
very, very corrupt.
 
Colombians were probably my favorite people. The country is beautiful and
the people are very friendly. Although Colombia has gotten a bad rap in
the news, this is unjust. While a few drug kingpins control a lot of the
politics in the country and are ruthless murderers, the Colombian people
are almost entirely very warm, intelligent, friendly people. It is truly
a great country.
 
When I came back up through Mexico and went through the border crossing at
Tijuana, I told the officer that I had just flown up from Cartegena, Colombia.
He then checked me out a little more thoroughly than he would have if I'd
only been in Mexico--he checked my drivers licence and then looked at my
backpack in the xray machine. I don't think he had me unpack it. But the
guy said that Colombia wasn't a good place, and the people were screwing
us over. His statement simply is not at all true.
 
One other interesting point: As I understand it if I'm outside the
US I am no longer bound by US laws, but must obey the laws of the country
I'm in--but that country enforces them and the US doesn't care anymore.
I was told by Germans that their laws are binding on them no matter where
they are. For example if they get caught in Colombia using drugs and are
punished there, the Colombian government will inform the German government,
and send them home, and when they get to Germany the German government will
then pushish them again. I thought this was rediculous. 

-- 
David Ashley
[email-masked]