Cocaine is an illegal, mood-altering drug. It is a fine white powder consisting of cocaine hydrochloride from the leaves of the coca shrub and other compounds. The shrub is indigenous to Peru and Bolivia. There are an estimated five million users of cocaine in the United States. Use of the drug can lead to serious physical and/or psychological problems, sometimes resulting in death.
Surgeons used cocaine as a local anesthetic over a century ago. Today, except in certain kinds of nose and throat surgery, the use of cocaine in surgery has been replaced by synthetic, local anesthetics. The use of cocaine as an illegal stimulant of the central nervous system, however, has grown to alarming proportions in recent years, prompting drug enforcement officials to redouble their efforts in combating the growth, importation, distribution, and sale of the drug.
Cocaine gained widespread acceptance in the 1970’s when it was viewed as a harmless “recreational” drug that produced the desired “high” without the danger of addiction or typical drug-related side effects. Many persons in the public eye—movie stars and sports heroes, for example—were users of cocaine. It quickly became fashionable in other sectors of society, especially among those who could easily afford its once high price. Before the price came down, cocaine use was directly associated with wealth and success. Those who used the drug claimed that the cocaine rush not only produced the intended euphoric “high,” but also resulted in higher levels of performance in whatever activity they happened to be engaged in.
Addiction
Since the 1970’s and early 1980’s, scientific research and painful experience have demonstrated that cocaine, far from being a harmless recreational drug, is not only highly addictive, but also very dangerous, even potentially lethal. Further, the much-touted euphoria and elevation of performance levels have turned out to be either transitory or illusory.
