One in 7 women use drugs like cocaine and speed to lose weight

One in SEVEN?! Really?
Yes, I tend to be a bit naive about things like this. I made it through college without ever smoking a cigarette, let alone exploring any kind of drug scene, and was also voted Runner Up for Most Gullible in high school (or so I was told). But my eyes were opened to this whole snort-to-shed-pounds thing when, while speaking at a Big 10 university this spring, I approached a young woman who was crying in the audience after my presentation. As it turns out, she was a freshman whose friends were all using cocaine in an effort to stay slim, she told me between sobs.

"The week before Spring Break," she recounted, "none of them wanted to eat. they all were like, 'I'm just going to do coke this week so I can look good in my bikini.'"

My jaw literally crashed to the floor.

So I guess I shouldn't be so surprised by this new a study of 2000 women conducted:by the UK Magazine NOW, which shows that one in seven women use drugs like cocaine and speed to lose weight. That is just so messed up.

The study also found:
3 out of 10 admitted to making themselves sick after eating
1 in 10 said they would get a gastric band to control eating
75% opted for "fad" lose-weight-fast crash diets.
26% used laxatives to try to lose weight.
33% said they would give up sex if they could be thin forever.

When will this madness stop?

Thanks to BISJ for the tip.

Comments

Yeah, from my surfing of ED forums, a lot of girls actually use drugs and other methods of purging to keep the weight off. It's pretty scary when you think about it, but it's everywhere too o_o;

As horrible as it is to do hardcore drugs to lose weight I suppose it makes sense in a way...Eating disorders generally lead to depression and the drugs may temporarily help with that as well as suppressing appetite in a big way. Plus, people with EDs tend to have addictive personalities which I've heard is a key component in staring/abusing drugs.

But even when I had my ED back in high school I never even considered using drugs like coke or speed to try and help get me skinny...

Yeah, in the ED clinic they told me that the majority of women with EDs also have other addictions (alcohol was a biggie too. So was speed.) It really surprised me. Now, however, I am not so surprised by the lengths women will go to lose weight. It's the "thin at all costs" mentality. I do wonder, though, what a similar study would turn up in the US. It would be nice too to do a more controlled study. Got some extra research funding Leslie?? ;)

So sad and yet very true as the majority of the girls at my college used cocaine as well. Even sadder was the fact that most of the girls refused to quit even after they realized how bad cocaine was for their bodies because they feared the "recovery weight" more than they feared death. I'm so thankful that I had sports to keep me balanced.

It's really sad. Some women would rather be dead than fat.

Well, it is Britain we're talking about here, home of the waif. People literally used to make fun of me when I ate salad for my lunch at work (because I like salad, that's why). In the mornings I frequently saw kids on their way to school munching on chips and Cokes for breakfast. I am not at all surprised to find that girls are including drugs in their dietary regimen, especially in Britain, where an ounce of fat is the end of the world. I've heard my husband's parents call his 25lb weight gain 'disgusting' to his face, so you can only imagine what they're saying to the girls.

As for the US, I never came across any girls using drugs for weight loss/control, er, most of them seemed to use them for the, ah, enjoyment factor...

It's alarming what people will do to lose weight. Drug use to stay thin is common in the modeling and Hollywood worlds. It's saddening to see how people harm themselves in dangerous ways in order to be pretty.

um, why did nobody tell me I spelled "jaw" as "draw"? Help me, people!
I think the comment about women with EDs having addictive personalities was insightful - thanks, Annie!

as a recovering addict one of the hardest part of getting clean off of both cocaine and meth has been the weight gain, it's a major issue. Cocaine and Meth both increase your metabolism incredibly, at one point I lost 45 lbs in about 45 days, it was amazing. I gained back all the weight with in about the same amount of time when I got clean (2 years ago), It's a huge trigger for many of us. Go into any rehab in this country and you will find women putting on the pounds.

First and foremost, during my twenties my biggest problem was gaining weight! Furthermore, with the excelerated energy levels you had back in the day; who in their right might would take something that would cause you to go in overdrive?

In the U.S. it is quite common for women to smoke to keep their weight down and cocaine has always been the drug of choice for models and actresses concerned about weight. Even t.v. newscasters have been known to dabble in coke to keep weight off as you can be fired for gaining weight in t.v.
As for the last comment, in the U.S. increasingly teens and young adults are not naturally thin anymore, hence all we've been hearing about obesity. I'm way past 30 and way thinner than all the 20 somethings I work with. Most are signifigantly overweight and overweight people often lack energy. Frankly I think we have gotten so far away from eating properly (fast and processed food) that youngsters often don't know how to eat healthy and when they gain weight they choose the least healthy ways to lose it especially since the standard for women is so unrealistic.

i use cocaine to loose weight because other ways just seem imposible

I'm 19 and have been thinking seriously about using cocaine to loose weight. On my first night of college three girls approached me about using cocaine with them, I passed then because I was scared but since Ive been in school Ive found it incredibly easy to get drugs, and have bee experimenting quite a bit. I tried cocaine once and had a positive experience the boy i did it with has been using for 5 months and has lost over 50 lbs. I know it sounds sick but once I found that out it really made me want to use, Ive been fat most of my life and have gained significantly over the past three years, I am 5'6 and 250 lbs I need to loose atleast 100 lbs to be normal. i know their are alot of health risks involved in drug use and have been reading a lot on cocaine and speed but right now im at the point were id rather be addicted to a drug then food.

mcclaty, while using cocaine will be a quick fix to your weight problem, it will come back and bite you in the butt twice as hard. I've read about people coming off cocaine and gaining weight and more back. The best way to try and lose weight is a careful diet and exercise regimen. If you think your weight is that big of a problem/health risk, you should talk to a doctor and they can probably help out with a plan.

I have weighed 125 the majority of my adult life, and have been drug free for 10 years as well!I did alot of trveling to Ny twice,& Miami over this last summer & gave into doing coke because nearly every person was doing it! LOL I only did it two weeks..that's it!
Since being back home in the southern states I haven't even been around it! I have gained 25 pounds since returning & the doctors don't know why!I don't over eat at all & am fairly active!hmm must have been getting off coke because I did do an insane amount every day...but it was free also! So my advice is of ur thinking about doing it to lose weight...think again...unless you have the cash to support ur habit it'll be alot,don't care if u get caught with of & go to jail! Or you can always just sleep with people so you can get ur diet fix..which I saw alot of pretty woman skinny women willing to do!now I have 25lbs to lose & have to come up with a kik ass diet & exercise regimen..just to get back to normal! If that doesn't work..coke I'm coming back.sad.

Slow weight loss is the way to go. Healthy choices are long-term. It's sad to think that women are choosing drugs to lose weight. In the end they'll be left with a drug problem and the weight will surely come back.

I actually use drugs at the weekends and I find it an effective way to stay slim. Alcohol and ciggarettes are far more damaging than recreational drugs.
Im from the UK, maye things are different over here. I just dont see what the big problem is.