HOW WIDESRPEAD IS RECREATIONAL DRUG USE IN POLAND?

Are drugs expected at most of the parties Polish teens and 20s attend? Roughly (on the basis of casual observation) how many use only booze, only drugs, both or none? (The latter case might occur with a driver.)

Does the host typically say: beer is in the fridge, the bar is over there, and the maryjane, hash and crack are on that little table near the window. Or do people mostly bring their own?

Does this vary from region to region (eg more in Gdańsk, less in Legnica), or in big cities as opposed to rural areas?

No... Personally I tried soft drugs only a few times and that's a totally useless sh*t, vodka is 100 times better. Out of hundreds people I've known only 2 or 3 got into series problems with drugs. 90% of them have never taken anything or tried only several times, the rest for some period of time were smoking or taking some pill once a while but later (except a few weed smoking hippie) gave It up. Generally there's a problem with drugs in Poland but smaller than in most of Europe or USA. And any quantity of drugs is illegal here, so unless somebody has some connection It's really not easy to buy.

Some Polsih newspaper and online reports I have read in recent eyars (don't ask me to cite the exact sources) suggested drug dealers were poised outside of many Polish schools ready to sell their wares for pupils' pocket money. Maybe it's just journalistic hype?

why not, you would sound more credible:)

Polish drug use tends to differ a lot from use in the US.

Two big differences:

1. more directly tied to problematic family relationships (this is the dark side of strong family ties, people expect too much from family members leading to mutual disappointment and resentment and parents often have trouble communicating with their kids in anything but orders and commands)

2. using uppers to study for exams like matura (and university finals) the Polish tradition is to goof off for most of the year and then cram like crazy for a week or two at the end, and amphetamines make that easier

When I was in secondary school during one of the last terms I remember that at one moment most of the class pupils smoked pot in various forms, by most I mean around 32 from 35 pupils present at the school trip. Most of them of course tried once or twice, but around third of all students smoked for a longer period of time, around 10 people snorted amphetamine or coke, ate shrooms or did some other stuff, probably lsd, xtc.

Grass or hash were extremely easy to get there were usually at least few people in the class that were able to get it.
During high school years I only knew about few people seriously addicted to different drugs from my former ground school - but nobody addicted to heroine which I heard was a common thing in poorer Warsaw districts.

For today I think that availibility might have only increased, and younger kids are trying soft drugs such as pot.

I can't agree with mafketis - most people in Poland do drugs during relaxation time (pot) or parties (pheta, coke, xtc), without any family reasons.

The same with use of boosters such as pheta during studing.. people use is more often for long all week parties now than for exams..

Actually I was referring to problem users (addicts) rather than occasional recreational users there, I could have been clearer.

Well, you said "drug use" which indicated you meant just "drug use", the same with amphetamine for exams... that didn't sound like you were refering to problem users :) The only real drug addicts I knew started with recreational use of pot and after some time just couldn't stop. I remember one of my mates who said he's gonna look for pot in a litter bin after I told him I had thrown some away into the bin...

Who really knows, other than police officers and those in close contact with this issue? My guess would be that there's a much bigger drugs scene in Britain but that's just conjecture.

Discussions on drugs invariably involve a large dose of BS.

I was speaking from experience. So you can count on that It's not some newspapers satistics or some random people who are just suspecting stuff despite not growing up in Poland and dealing with these things in daily life.

I agree that most Western European countries have more developed drugs scenes, probably because of communism in Poland and things like drugs arriving much further in time..

Aha, ok. I appreciate your honesty as too many go in for sensationalism these days.

Seanus, after attending Polish secondary school I can say with hand on my heart that is how most of them look like or even worse (that was around 8 years ago), at least here in Silesia..

I believe you as I have no reason to doubt you :)

Anyone in Poland still make 'kompot'?

Why, do you enjoy mixing drugs in with it? Yes, kompot is quite popular from what I gather. I've tasted different kinds and I like them all.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_heroin

He is talking about a poppy derivative made at home sometimes here in Poland.

OK, on 12th Augsut at 10.43 a.m. I read on the Interia news portral, or was it Onet, or maybe, Gazeta online, or TVN24... The poitn is that I'm am not a walking computer that officially registers every snippet of imformation that zips by me.

I just remembered one thing, there were many "glue sniffers" on the street of Gliwice and Katowice at one time many years ago.. walking around with plastic bags, complete wrecks.. I can't notice them anymore anywhere..

Mak cake is also a poppy derivative :)

I haven't seen any glue sniffers here in Gliwice. Maybe that's because I'm on glue and don't notice them ;) ;) ;)

Let that be a lesson to anyone who wants to sniff glue.
Sniffing glue kills! or at very least confirms your an idiot.

I'm still here ;) ;) Joking aside, it's a mindless activity. You leave yourself exposed to all manner of ills.

I think some clarification needs to be made.
Alcohol is a recreational drug, smoking cigarettes can be.
Smoking marijuana, sniffing glue and smoking crack are very different from each other also.

Perhaps a more precise question from the original poster would enable us to discuss this better.
"Illegal physically addictive" drugs are possibly what you are talking about?

Exactly because of vodka is the drug abuse less in Poland.The same persons who become alcoholics are likely to become heroin addicts if they don't drink.(heroin was first used in the treatment of alcoholism).

I used love mak when I was growing up. My aunt grew it for home use to use in cakes, pastries, bread etc. I poured it straight in my mouth from the ripe cones until she told me not to eat too much because I'll get a headache... I don't remember feeling anything 'funny" after a few cones, so i don't know how much it takes to feel any effects.

Anyway, drugs are for losers. I tried some variety of 'grass' when i came here, but it didn't do much for me. I enjoy a couple of beers much better, a 'drug' of choice for me. lol.

Mak has a wonderful moist quality to it. That really makes for a good cake IMHO. Just like miodownik.

I also plump for alcohol (and get plump after it :(). I make a point of sampling beers from around the world. The latest were from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland.

I got a good laugh from my time in Tallinn. We stayed at this one hotel with two fridges side-by-side. They have two national beers which were written. Saku and Le Coq. Saku Le Coq, LOL. Very recreational in my book :)

Well, occasionally some idiot may try to do that but It's a matter of days when he is taken down. Generally If you don't know the right people It's difficult to buy drugs just like that on the street. Of course there are drugs in schools but not that some ugly guy stands outside the school and sell It, It's rather some kid who knows the dealer, buy from him for himself and sometimes also "załatwia" the stuff for others.

Are bongs popular in Poland?

I dunno about the rest of Poland but in Silesia I've seen bongs in few pubs and you can buy them in most tobbaco shops.

What about hash pipes? I tried those as a teen and got a helluva bad throat. Pink Floyd sounded very good though :)

Never seen anyone using them, they usually use a "bottle" or "bucket" technique. You take a plastic 2L bottle cut it in half, fill the lower half with water, you take a top half cut out from a 1,5L bottle, put a cap with little wholes on the mouthpiece, in the cap you place tobacco or whatever you want, and while kindling the tobacco or whatever you've put in there you raise the upper half. The smoke leaves between the water and the upper half and is ready to get inhaled in one thrust of the upper part... cheap and ingenious device ;)

heh.. and I'd be scared shitless during the middle part of Echoes ; )