Cocaine was first used in the 1880s as an anesthetic and for its ability to constrict blood vessels and limit bleeding. However, many of cocaine’s uses are now obsolete because of the development of safer prescription medications.
Cocaine is the most potent stimulant of natural origin. Cocaine can be snorted, smoked, or injected. When snorted, cocaine powder is inhaled through the nose where it is absorbed into the bloodstream. When injected, cocaine goes directly into the bloodstream. Smoking involves inhaling cocaine vapor into the lungs where absorption into the bloodstream is as rapid as by injection. Each of these methods of administration creates a great risk of cocaine addiction to the user and cocaine rehab treatment may be necessary .
Crack cocaine, is cocaine that has been processed from cocaine hydrochloride to a free base for smoking. Crack cocaine is processed with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water. It is then heated to remove the hydrochloride producing a form of cocaine that can be smoked. Crack cocaine is a highly addictive form of cocaine.
According to the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, approximately 33.7 million Americans ages 12 and older had tried cocaine at least once in their lifetimes, representing 13.8% of the population ages 12 and older. Approximately 5.5 million (2.3%) has used cocaine in the past year and 2.4 million (1.0%) had used cocaine within the past month.5
The 2005 NSDUH results also indicate that there were 872,000 persons aged 12 or older who had used cocaine for the first time within the past 12 months. This is a statistically significant reduction from 2002 when there were more than one million past year cocaine initiates.
Among students surveyed as part of the 2005 Monitoring of the Future study, 3.7% of eighth graders, 5.2% of tenth graders, and 8.0% of twelfth graders reported lifetime use of cocaine. In 2004, these percentages were 3.4%, 5.4%, and 8.1%, respectively.
Approximately 65% of eighth graders, 72.4% of tenth graders, and 60.8% of twelfth graders surveyed in 2005 reported that taking powder cocaine occasionally was a "great risk."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also conducts a survey of high school students throughout the United States, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. Among students surveyed in 2005, 7.6% reported using some form of cocaine at least one time during their life. 3.4% reported being current users of cocaine, meaning that they had used cocaine at least once during the past month.
Approximately 8.8% of college students and 14.3% of young adults (ages 19–28) surveyed in 2005 reported lifetime use of cocaine.
According to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, approximately 46.8% of State prisoners and 43.3% of Federal prisoners surveyed in 2004 indicated that they used cocaine/crack at some point in their lives.
Cocaine is a strong central nervous system stimulant. Physical effects of cocaine abuse include:
- constricted blood vessels
- increased temperature
- increased heart rate
- increased blood pressure
- feelings of restlessness, irritability, and anxiety
Those who smoke or inject cocaine may be at even greater risk of causing harm to themselves than those who snort the substance. For example, cocaine smokers suffer from:
* acute respiratory problems including coughing, shortness of breath, severe chest pains with lung trauma and bleeding. A user who injects cocaine is at risk of transmitting or acquiring diseases (HIV or Hep C) if needles or other injection equipment are shared.
Cocaine is a powerfully addictive drug and
compulsive cocaine use (cocaine addiction) seems to develop more rapidly when the substance is smoked rather than snorted. A tolerance to the cocaine high may be developed and many addicts report that they fail to achieve as much pleasure as they did from their first cocaine exposure.
Smoking crack cocaine delivers large quantities of the drug to the lungs, producing effects comparable to intravenous injection. These effects are felt almost immediately after smoking, are very intense, but do not last long. For example, the high from smoking cocaine may last from 5 to 10 minutes. The high from snorting can last for 15 to 20 minutes.
Cocaine continues to be the most frequently mentioned illicit substance reported to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) by hospital emergency departments (ED) nationwide. During 2002, it was mentioned 199,198 times and was present in 30% of the ED drug episodes during the year. While cocaine ED mentions were statistically unchanged from 2001 to 2002, they have increased 47% since 1995 when there were 135,711 mentions.
Of an estimated 106 million emergency department (ED) visits in the U.S. during 2004, the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) estimates that 1,997,993 were drug-related. DAWN data indicate that cocaine was involved in 383,350 ED visits.
If you are looking for an effective dual diagnosis treatment program, addiction treatment program, detox, drug rehab or alcohol rehab call Lakeview Health Systems now at 1-800-231-2950. All calls are completely confidential and our staff is available to assist you 24 hours a day. |
From 1994 to 2004, the number of admissions to addiction treatment programs or drug rehab for cocaine decreased from 297,408 in 1994 to 256,387 in 2004. Cocaine drug rehab admissions represented 17.8% of the total drug/alcohol admissions to addiction treatment programs during 1994 and 13.7% of the addiction treatment or drug rehab admissions in 2004.
Broken down by type of cocaine, the number of addiction treatment admissions for non-smoked cocaine decreased from 76,794 in 1994 to 71,438 in 2004 and admissions to drug rehab for smoked cocaine decreased from 220,614 in 1994 to 184,949 in 2004. The average age of those admitted to addiction treatment program and drug rehab for cocaine in 2004 was 38 years for smoked cocaine, compared with 34 years for non-smoked cocaine admissions.
Although many insurance carriers do not like to reimburse drug rehab or addiction treatment programs for detox from cocaine addiction or crack addiction, most addiction treatment professionals find that cocaine addicts and crack addicts require detox and structure to begin recovery from their drug addiction and prevent relapse.
When the compulsive use of crack cocaine or cocaine is discontinued, the addict will almost always experience intense cravings, mood swings and have a multitude of medical and psychological issues to deal with. For these reasons, recovery from cocaine addiction should begin in a drug rehab or addiction treatment program capable of providing the patient with a safe, medically monitored detox program. After the individual has completed detox, the determination as to which level of care, in the drug rehab or addiction treatment program, they should attend should be discussed.
The individual should not assume that they can recover on their own. They have a chronic, progressive disease that will require ongoing addiction treatment services with their drug rehab or with an outside addiction treatment provider. In addition to attending ongoing addiction treatment services, everyone is encouraged to attend 12 step support groups.
Cocaine is extracted from the leaves of the coca plant, which is indigenous to the Andean highlands of South America. According to interagency estimates, potential cocaine production in the Andean region of South America (Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru) accounts for virtually all worldwide cocaine production.
Much of the cocaine available in the United States is transported from South American nations, particularly Colombia, through the Mexico-Central America Corridor. Recent data suggests that a rise in retail-level cocaine prices and a decrease in retail-level cocaine purity may have occurred during the period of February through September 2005, indicating a potential decrease in the availability of cocaine at the retail level in domestic drug markets.
Prices for powder cocaine range from $60 per gram in New York to $75–$150 in Detroit. One gram of powder cocaine usually sells for $100 in most cities. Crack cocaine tends to be sold in 0.1 and 0.2 gram rocks that generally sell for $10, but prices can range from $2–$40 depending on the size of the rock.
Cocaine was first Federally-regulated in December 1914 with the passage of the Harrison Act. This Act banned non-medical use of cocaine; prohibited its importation; imposed the same criminal penalties for cocaine users as for opium, morphine, and heroin users; and required a strict accounting of medical prescriptions for cocaine. As a result of the Harrison Act and the emergence of cheaper, legal substances such as amphetamines, cocaine became scarce in the U.S. However, use began to rise again in the 1960s, prompting Congress to classify it as a Schedule II substance in 1970. Schedule II substances have a high potential for abuse, a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States with severe restrictions, and may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence. Cocaine can currently be administered by a doctor for legitimate medical uses, such as a local anesthetic for some eye, ear, and throat surgeries.
If you are looking for an effective dual diagnosis treatment program, addiction treatment program, detox, drug rehab or alcohol rehab call Lakeview Health Systems now at 1-800-231-2950. All calls are completely confidential and our staff is available to assist you 24 hours a day. |
