Experiences with Cannabis and Ecstasy & Other Party Drugs
Preferred Name: Dee Jay
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Background:
Dee Jay is studying for a tertiary degree. He’s single and lives with his parents. He describes his ethnic background as ‘Asian’: he was born in Australia and his parents were born in Asia.
Brief Outline:
Dee Jay started smoking cannabis daily in his early twenties while at university, and taking MDMA and cocaine with friends on the weekends. After about a year, he started to think he was taking these drugs too often so he reduced his cannabis consumption to a few days a week, and took a break from taking MDMA and cocaine. About a year later, he began to think smoking cannabis had become a ‘habit’ and decided to further reduce his consumption. He now says he has a more ‘balanced’ approach to consumption, restricting his cannabis smoking to weekends, and taking MDMA and cocaine only on special occasions.
In his second year at university Dee Jay began to feel that his life ‘revolved around’ taking drugs. He says he felt a ‘craving’ for cannabis and thought about smoking as soon as he woke up in the morning. But when he smoked, he found he no longer experienced the calm, ‘on-top-of-the-world feeling’ he had when he first started smoking and was concerned that it was affecting his physical fitness. Around this time he was caught by the police with MDMA when entering a music festival and he says this experience marked a ‘turning point’ for him: he decided to take a break from taking MDMA and cocaine and stopped going out with his friends on the weekends. Over a few months he also reduced the number of days a week he smoked cannabis but felt as though ‘something was missing’ on days he didn’t smoke.
A year later Dee Jay went travelling overseas for a few months. During his trip he didn’t take any drugs and began to reflect on his cannabis consumption. He felt that smoking had become ‘a habit’ and he resolved to further reduce his consumption. When he returned to Australia, he attended a meditation retreat at the suggestion of a friend. He found meditating reduced his desire to take drugs, but says he doesn’t want to stop altogether as he’s enjoyed many ‘happy times’ when taking drugs and feels these positive experiences have made him more ‘open-minded’.
Dee Jay says he now has a more ‘balanced’ approach to drugs. He smokes cannabis on Friday and Saturday nights as a ‘way of relaxing’ after a busy week. He’s resumed taking MDMA and cocaine with his friends every few months on special occasions. He intends to continue his current pattern of consumption, organising it around his studies and other activities.
Now in his final year of university, Dee Jay says he’s both nervous and excited about entering full-time work, and beginning a ‘new chapter’ of his life. He’s focused on maintaining his physical and mental health by hiking and meditating. He hopes to be successful in his work to gain more freedom and financial independence, and eventually buy a house.
When Dee Jay (M, 24, studying, party drugs and cannabis) started university he became ‘curious’ about drugs and began taking MDMA and cocaine.
In high school, probably about year 11 or 12 […] everyone was going to parties, drinking alcohol and whatnot […] but then I had to kind of concentrate with school back then. But then once I got into uni I just let loose and then one thing led to another. Well, I started with weed first and then I just got very curious […] It was just a whole new world […] Probably about six months in, that’s when I started popping the pills or MDMA and then cocaine came a bit later.
Dee Jay was caught by police with two pills at a music festival and he now takes measures to conceal any drugs if he expects to see sniffer dogs.
I have had a lot of contact with the police in terms of when I go to festivals. I have been caught before as well at a festival with […] two pills in my pocket […] That was also the turning point actually because I was so lazy by not concealing the drug. And I just walked in thinking it was a breeze and after I got caught, that was a big wake-up call for me. So in a way it was kind of good. It was like the catalyst. But in another way, I don’t really like the police and the way they interfere […] I only ended up getting […] a one-year good behaviour bond actually and then after that, it’s not on my record […] So if […I’m going to] a festival or any event where I think they will have sniffer dogs, I would […] conceal [any drugs I have on me…] but if it’s like a club, I would just carry it in my pocket, because more often than not I don’t think there are sniffer dogs around a club.
Dee Jay recommends accessing drugs from a trusted person and striking a balance between drug consumption and other activities.
I think personally […] people should take drugs. But at the same time, I don’t think drugs are for everyone. I have seen a few people who have been affected negatively by drugs, not let’s say by addiction, but more so just they had a very bad trip or a very bad experience. But in saying that […] I think it’s always good to try new things, and definitely, if you are going to do it, do some research and try it from a trusted person. Don’t just get it from some random guy on the street. Do it more so because you really want to do it or experience it, not so much [because of] the peer pressure [from] your friends or anything. Other than that […] I guess [I’d suggest] doing it in a very balanced manner. I know it’s very hard to commit to that because once you find something new, you just want to keep constantly doing it, but I think life is all about balancing. It’s all about a balance, you know, too much of one thing is bad. Too much of not having one thing is also bad so that’s pretty much it.