Almost every day at home, more often during exam periods to help keep me up all night and to concentrate. If you’re partying, you party hard and, needing to study, it just helped me to stay focused. Afterwards, though, I suffered huge memory loss: I couldn’t find my keys, my phone, what I was studying... I would stay up for days and then I would just sleep for, like, two days straight. 

 

My dad caught me. He noticed that I was acting weird, staying in my room, so he Googled the traits of a drug addict and every sign pointed to me. He took me to the hospital for a urine test. Of course, I didn’t pass. He was really upset and cried. I reduced my drug use after that but never really quit until I just realized it was time I should grow up and get a job.

 

 

It’s almost as easy as ordering a drink in a bar. You just notice anyone who’s inhaling ya dom (nasal inhaler)—that’s a sign he’s on ecstasy. Police won’t go into the popular bars—especially on RCA and Thonglor. They just don’t.

 

B3,000 for one gram.

 

I started when I was 20. When I take ecstasy, I feel so chilled, drunk, blurred, pleased. Sometimes I just like to look at the light. The feeling lasts for a couple hours if you get the good stuff. But if not, I just take ketamine (B1,500-B3,500 for a bottle) together with the E (ecstasy) to keep me high. It’s got an anesthetic effect and will get you really high; out of this world. You can’t see or walk well. Driving is impossible. Sometimes, your eyes just bulge. It’s really out of control.

 

Friends. It used to be common to get it from a waiter or waitress. Mostly now it’s other partygoers. Sometimes they just come ask me or you can tell from the ones inhaling ya dom (nasal inhaler). They’ll sell it from B500-B1,200 depending on quality. You have to check the color or the texture of the pill. And at these upscale bars that are filled with rich kids, like in RCA or Sukhumvit, I think they’ve already paid off the cops.

 

Cocaine is too expensive as sometimes it goes for up to B5,000 a gram. And I don’t want to buy the cheap stuff. Too much baking soda and your nose will bleed. 

 

A few. One of them is really off—depressed and hallucinating. She says she sees ghosts all the time. Another one is in shock and another one on ketamine keeps saying he’s a god. I’m trying to limit myself. Too much ketamine is dangerous.

 

Yes. I fear that my brain will be damaged, but every time my friends ask, I just can’t help it. It’s a social thing. I’m a bit better now, actually. If you talked to me before, I was a bit lost. I never knew where I kept anything. Now I’ve learned that I need to sleep and eat well after taking drugs.

 

 

By my dad, yes. My friends came over and started to get really high and too cheerful. My dad caught on. He took me to the hospital for a urine test. He didn’t blame me or my friends; instead, he strangely thought it was my pee chong (Chinese belief in bad luck year) and took me to various temples.

 

Lately, I’ve seen many people using Five-Five, which is a sleeping pill. It will calm you down and get you not too high. It’s a nightmare in the world of drugs—I have some friends taking whole packs of Xanax (medication for anxiety) and LSD that comes on a stamp. It’s quite hardcore, though probably less so than heroin. Pure hallucination. It’s expensive, too, at B8,000 for four stamps. Others are using an anesthetic spray that’s for football players. It’s a crazy nightmare.