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I remember all the little "coffee stirrers" with the comically tiny spoon like ends. Of course the explanation was it's for stirring your coffee or adding a lit

I remember all the little "coffee stirrers" with the comically tiny spoon like ends. Of course the explanation was it's for stirring your coffee or adding a little sugar. Though who adds a tiny bump of sugar to their coffee? Turns out it was for coke and they were commonly available everywhere. The McDonalds ones were semi famous for that. Its similar to those little fake flowers in a glass tube on counters in corner stores which make great crack pipes (same with those short cheap tire pressure gauges). Or the cheap looking socks they oddly sell which are useful for tie off before shooting heroin.

prepend 5y ago
> those short cheap tire pressure gauges Oh funny, I wondered why they had so many of these at the gas station by the checkout. I bought one and it was terrible for telling my tire pressure. I could not understand why so many people wanted to measure their tire pressure.
- kccqzy 5y ago
  Same. I promptly threw it away and bought an actual tire pressure gauge from a car dealer.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  You're on a list somewhere.
- JasonFruit 5y ago
  Same. Mine flew apart on first use, and now I feel naive.
- 13of40 5y ago
  Many, many years ago, naive me bought my girlfriend one of those roses at a 7-Eleven, and I still remember her response: "Oh, Honey, you bought me a craaack pipe!" We're not together anymore.
  - gaoryrt 5y ago
    sad story
- qq4 5y ago
  Plenty of people, including me, fill tires with free air at gas stations which gets them in the door. It's not surprising that cheap tire pressure gauges would be sold near the checkout, unrelated to drug use.
  - selimthegrim 5y ago
    Usually the air nozzle has one built in these days (maybe only the pay ones)
    - londons_explore 5y ago
      They'll surely all allow some kind of measurement, otherwise someone will overfill their tyre, burst it, and then sue for the fact the explosion has left them with brain damage. Car tyre explosions are pretty deadly...
- aswanson 5y ago
  Lol
jmacd 5y ago
I live a life of ignorance.
- brutusborn 5y ago
  Ignorance is bliss.
  - frankfrankfrank 5y ago
    Except that it heavily contributes to supporting foolish policies and the bliss quickly wears off and requires ever increasing amount of ignorance to achieve the same bliss … see today's policies for reference.
    - brutusborn 5y ago
      We are talking about different "ignorance". I.e. ignorance of the drug underworld vs social ignorance of policy makers To get "true" knowledge (lack of ignorance) on the suffering of drug abuse, one must experience it in some way, so avoiding this experience is the "ignorance" that leads to the "bliss" Or at least that is my interpretation of the saying :)
tomerv 5y ago
Those all sound like urban legends. The coffee stirrers are for ... stirring your coffee. They look like a small spoon just because that shape works well for stirring the beverage.
- howLongHowLong 5y ago
  The glass rose is definitely for smoking crack. Else why is it ofen sold as a combo with a peice of (also-required) chore-boy. 5 bucks for both. Usually on the same shelf with the round-ended meth pipes which dont seem to require any cover but being called "oil burner"
  - derefr 5y ago
    Don't forget the modern incarnation, borosilicate-glass "reusable drinking straws." Now up-market grocery stores can get in on the action!
    - pessimizer 5y ago
      Not that they can't be repurposed, but imo the main reason for those is that it's hard to tell when your steel straw is dirty.
- MisterTea 5y ago
  https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/642413/mcdonalds-cocaine-spoon-controversy https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/642413/mcdonalds-cocaine... The others were listed in a similar article. The small tire pressure gauge was told to me by a friend who at one point had a crack habit and used said items to smoke crack and said it was a well known item to use for such a purpose.
  - tomerv 5y ago
    Your original comment makes it sound like the main purpose of the small spoon is for cocaine - "Turns out it was for coke". But it's not "for coke", it's for stirring your coffee, and it's just that cocaine users found an alternative use for it. The article makes this pretty clear.
jowsie 5y ago
The socks are for huffing paint/other solvents. Most junkies won't even need to tie off, and if they do they'll buy the shoelaces that are sold right next to the socks!
wonderwonder 5y ago
There is a whole other world going on right in front of me that I had no idea existed.
- vmception 5y ago
  yeah a lot of people are dying right now from fentanyl polluted cocaine, and it is fairly obvious from the reports but every thread goes the same way: "its so insensitive to suggest this person I respected did drugs, how dare you!" ++20 comments of arguing <toxicology article comes out>: It was fentanyl in their cocaine. until this aspect of supply chain control gets taken seriously by the government without worrying about acknowledgment equalling condoning, the ignorance is going to keep perpetuating because the education was done so poorly. abstinence-only education doesn't work.
  - wonderwonder 5y ago
    Saw that there is fentanyl laced pot in US states now, especially in Connecticut which is very surprising as Connecticut is a legal state. Articles were all light on details so I wonder where the marijuana is purchased from. I would be surprised if it was a dispensary. If not a dispensary though, why are people buying pot from street level dealers when anyone can just walk into a dispensary and buy lab tested legal marijuana?
    - vmception 5y ago
      > If not a dispensary though, why are people buying pot from street level dealers when anyone can just walk into a dispensary and buy lab tested legal marijuana? Many frameworks are doing heavy ID data collection in the stores, instead of just glancing at your ID. This makes a lot of people uncomfortable, whether it is an anti-establishment user avoiding the government their whole life, to school teachers or religious leaders, or one of the 20 million Americans working for the federal government let alone someone with a clearance or a federal contract. Secondly, the cost and punitive taxes are high to many people.
      - 5y ago
hinkley 5y ago
I feel like this is a parable for A/B testing without considering the consequences. For McDonald's, straws and stirrers are provided gratis, so you aren't succeeding if you raise demand for the stirrer. If a stirrer sold you more coffee, then it was a success. Just like the thicker straw sold more shakes (some of their competitors never figured that out, and one wonders if they ever actually talked to a customer or just sat in smoky meeting rooms bullshitting all day). However coffee being a stimulant, there is probably some overlap between the two demographics. It'd be hard to track if a lot of stirrers left with a coffee drinker but were unused for coffee. So perhaps in fact they did sell extra coffee to cocaine users and just patted themselves on the back for the increased revenue.
derefr 5y ago
> little "coffee stirrers" with the comically tiny spoon like ends The real industrial product, that these are the "recreational version" of, is the lab scoop or lab spatula. See e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Aozita-Pack-Lab-Spatula-Nickel-Stainless/dp/B07XJPJJM3/ https://www.amazon.com/Aozita-Pack-Lab-Spatula-Nickel-Stainl... If you do your own compounding of supplement powders, nootropics, etc. into gelcaps, you probably own one of these. Bonus fact: there's a brand of lab scoops with a very fun name — the scoopula (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoopula https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoopula). It's so fun to say that that's just what many people call lab scoops, not realizing it's a brand.
- feintruled 5y ago
  Love the product description! "Works great for scientists or people working with small amounts of the powder "
tinus_hn 5y ago
I don’t understand why you would sell that; are crack addicts really a worthwhile demographic to attract as costumers?
- SturgeonsLaw 5y ago
  A glass tube bought for $0.50 and sold for $5.00 is a 1000% ROI
  - tinus_hn 5y ago
    But it’s also just $4.50. I wouldn’t like to attract crackheads for that.

prepend 5y ago

> those short cheap tire pressure gauges Oh funny, I wondered why they had so many of these at the gas station by the checkout. I bought one and it was terrible for telling my tire pressure. I could not understand why so many people wanted to measure their tire pressure.

kccqzy 5y ago
Same. I promptly threw it away and bought an actual tire pressure gauge from a car dealer.
jacquesm 5y ago
You're on a list somewhere.
JasonFruit 5y ago
Same. Mine flew apart on first use, and now I feel naive.
13of40 5y ago
Many, many years ago, naive me bought my girlfriend one of those roses at a 7-Eleven, and I still remember her response: "Oh, Honey, you bought me a craaack pipe!" We're not together anymore.
- gaoryrt 5y ago
  sad story
qq4 5y ago
Plenty of people, including me, fill tires with free air at gas stations which gets them in the door. It's not surprising that cheap tire pressure gauges would be sold near the checkout, unrelated to drug use.
- selimthegrim 5y ago
  Usually the air nozzle has one built in these days (maybe only the pay ones)
  - londons_explore 5y ago
    They'll surely all allow some kind of measurement, otherwise someone will overfill their tyre, burst it, and then sue for the fact the explosion has left them with brain damage. Car tyre explosions are pretty deadly...
aswanson 5y ago
Lol

jmacd 5y ago

I live a life of ignorance.

brutusborn 5y ago
Ignorance is bliss.
- frankfrankfrank 5y ago
  Except that it heavily contributes to supporting foolish policies and the bliss quickly wears off and requires ever increasing amount of ignorance to achieve the same bliss … see today's policies for reference.
  - brutusborn 5y ago
    We are talking about different "ignorance". I.e. ignorance of the drug underworld vs social ignorance of policy makers To get "true" knowledge (lack of ignorance) on the suffering of drug abuse, one must experience it in some way, so avoiding this experience is the "ignorance" that leads to the "bliss" Or at least that is my interpretation of the saying :)

tomerv 5y ago

Those all sound like urban legends. The coffee stirrers are for ... stirring your coffee. They look like a small spoon just because that shape works well for stirring the beverage.

howLongHowLong 5y ago
The glass rose is definitely for smoking crack. Else why is it ofen sold as a combo with a peice of (also-required) chore-boy. 5 bucks for both. Usually on the same shelf with the round-ended meth pipes which dont seem to require any cover but being called "oil burner"
- derefr 5y ago
  Don't forget the modern incarnation, borosilicate-glass "reusable drinking straws." Now up-market grocery stores can get in on the action!
  - pessimizer 5y ago
    Not that they can't be repurposed, but imo the main reason for those is that it's hard to tell when your steel straw is dirty.
MisterTea 5y ago
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/642413/mcdonalds-cocaine-spoon-controversy https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/642413/mcdonalds-cocaine... The others were listed in a similar article. The small tire pressure gauge was told to me by a friend who at one point had a crack habit and used said items to smoke crack and said it was a well known item to use for such a purpose.
- tomerv 5y ago
  Your original comment makes it sound like the main purpose of the small spoon is for cocaine - "Turns out it was for coke". But it's not "for coke", it's for stirring your coffee, and it's just that cocaine users found an alternative use for it. The article makes this pretty clear.

jowsie 5y ago

The socks are for huffing paint/other solvents. Most junkies won't even need to tie off, and if they do they'll buy the shoelaces that are sold right next to the socks!

wonderwonder 5y ago

There is a whole other world going on right in front of me that I had no idea existed.

vmception 5y ago
yeah a lot of people are dying right now from fentanyl polluted cocaine, and it is fairly obvious from the reports but every thread goes the same way: "its so insensitive to suggest this person I respected did drugs, how dare you!" ++20 comments of arguing <toxicology article comes out>: It was fentanyl in their cocaine. until this aspect of supply chain control gets taken seriously by the government without worrying about acknowledgment equalling condoning, the ignorance is going to keep perpetuating because the education was done so poorly. abstinence-only education doesn't work.
- wonderwonder 5y ago
  Saw that there is fentanyl laced pot in US states now, especially in Connecticut which is very surprising as Connecticut is a legal state. Articles were all light on details so I wonder where the marijuana is purchased from. I would be surprised if it was a dispensary. If not a dispensary though, why are people buying pot from street level dealers when anyone can just walk into a dispensary and buy lab tested legal marijuana?
  - vmception 5y ago
    > If not a dispensary though, why are people buying pot from street level dealers when anyone can just walk into a dispensary and buy lab tested legal marijuana? Many frameworks are doing heavy ID data collection in the stores, instead of just glancing at your ID. This makes a lot of people uncomfortable, whether it is an anti-establishment user avoiding the government their whole life, to school teachers or religious leaders, or one of the 20 million Americans working for the federal government let alone someone with a clearance or a federal contract. Secondly, the cost and punitive taxes are high to many people.
    - 5y ago

hinkley 5y ago

I feel like this is a parable for A/B testing without considering the consequences. For McDonald's, straws and stirrers are provided gratis, so you aren't succeeding if you raise demand for the stirrer. If a stirrer sold you more coffee, then it was a success. Just like the thicker straw sold more shakes (some of their competitors never figured that out, and one wonders if they ever actually talked to a customer or just sat in smoky meeting rooms bullshitting all day). However coffee being a stimulant, there is probably some overlap between the two demographics. It'd be hard to track if a lot of stirrers left with a coffee drinker but were unused for coffee. So perhaps in fact they did sell extra coffee to cocaine users and just patted themselves on the back for the increased revenue.

derefr 5y ago

> little "coffee stirrers" with the comically tiny spoon like ends The real industrial product, that these are the "recreational version" of, is the lab scoop or lab spatula. See e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Aozita-Pack-Lab-Spatula-Nickel-Stainless/dp/B07XJPJJM3/ https://www.amazon.com/Aozita-Pack-Lab-Spatula-Nickel-Stainl... If you do your own compounding of supplement powders, nootropics, etc. into gelcaps, you probably own one of these. Bonus fact: there's a brand of lab scoops with a very fun name — the scoopula (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoopula https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoopula). It's so fun to say that that's just what many people call lab scoops, not realizing it's a brand.

feintruled 5y ago
Love the product description! "Works great for scientists or people working with small amounts of the powder "

tinus_hn 5y ago

I don’t understand why you would sell that; are crack addicts really a worthwhile demographic to attract as costumers?

SturgeonsLaw 5y ago
A glass tube bought for $0.50 and sold for $5.00 is a 1000% ROI
- tinus_hn 5y ago
  But it’s also just $4.50. I wouldn’t like to attract crackheads for that.