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Background
Cocaine is a drug made from the leaves of the coca plant. This plant is processed in different ways to make different types of cocaine.
Cocaine is a stimulant drug this means it speeds up the brain and the nervous system.
It was first used medically in 1884 by Carl Koller, an Austrian ophthalmologic surgeon for operations involving the eyes, the nose and the throat. Newer local anaesthetics have supplanted most medical uses of cocaine. Since 1912, cocaine production and sales has been controlled by International Treaties, but is sold illegally through much of the world. Due to its relative scarcity and high price, its abuse was first confined to the upper classes as a status symbol, and not accessible to the man on the street.
Cocaine usage increased during the 1980's, its use sharply climbed through the early 1990's. It was first introduced to South Africa in 1992. Since 1994 South Africa experienced a drastic increase in the import of Cocaine. Presently South Africans have the one of the highest rates of the abuse of cocaine in the world after Mexico, Columbia, West and Central Africa. These countries, other than South Africa, are currently in control of the cocaine market.
Origin of cocaine
Coca plant leaves were used by the Incas of South America as a traditional medicine and also as a stimulant. The Coca plant grows in rich soil, in areas between 500 up to 1 500 m above sea level. In certain countries in South America the climate is ideal for the cultivation of the coca plant.
Organised crime syndicates of South America (Peru, Bolivia and Columbia) are cultivating the plants and processing cocaine from the leaves in their laboratories, by means of chemical methods. Cocaine is controlled by the richest drug syndicates in the world.
Social ills:
The social ills of cocaine include violent crime among dealers. The sale of cocaine becomes a money game where the unscrupulous dealers mix the pure cocaine with cheaper powders eg. household scouring powders, baking powders, ephedrine, teething powder, heroin; in order to make larger profits. There is NO guarantee of the quality of the product for the end user and it's use can lead to sudden death or paralysis. The purity of cocaine can also not be guaranteed from dealer to dealer, this can cause a drug taker to use an overdose by only changing to a new dealer.
Cocaine is a highly addictive substance with fairly bad withdrawal symptoms which can include: cravings, anger, tiredness, weakness, vomiting, shaking, disturbed sleep, muscle pain, depression, and suicidal tendencies. Cocaine addiction can lead to crime such as theft and prostitution to support their habit. Because cocaine users can become very aggressive, its use can also lead to assault and even murder.
Small amounts of cocaine can increase the sex drive, which can lead to promiscuous sex, which in itself can lead to unwanted pregnancies and even HIV/Aids. Using cocaine may also increase the chance of losing the baby prematurely. Babies of cocaine using mothers weigh less at birth and may get the same withdrawal symptoms as the mothers. Babies of cocaine using mothers also have a greater chance of having deformities, or disabilities and little is known of the long term effects on the child.
Cocaine can make a person over confident, and this can lead to irresponsible and risky behaviour such as negligent driving. This often leads to fatal accidents!
Many South African youngsters are tricked into attempting to smuggle cocaine into South Africa. This they do entirely at their own risk, to the extent that they could be "dropped" by the contacts in an overseas country where they could face the death penalty for carrying drugs, or they could be used as a decoy, allowing the youngster to be arrested whilst the commotion detracts from another smuggling operation.
Information
Street names: Coke, cocaine, Columbian gold, nose candy, blow
Trade name: Cocaine
Method of use: Snorted, injected and smoked (See Crack Cocaine).
Statistics:
- More than 3% of sudden deaths in Europe are related to cocaine use and many of them are brought on by a "lethal cocktail" of the drug, alcohol and cigarettes, scientists said. (See artcile below)
No such thing as 'safe cocaine'
More than 3% of sudden deaths in Europe are related to cocaine use and many of them are brought on by a "lethal cocktail" of the drug, alcohol and cigarettes, scientists said.
Results of a study on sudden death show there is no such thing as safe recreational cocaine use, the researchers said, and suggest the 12 million Europeans who use cocaine are putting their lives on the line.
"The notion that recreational cocaine use is 'safe' should be dispelled, since even small amounts may have catastrophic consequences, including sudden death," said Joaquin Lucena, head of forensic pathology at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Seville, Spain.
Lethal coctail
Lucena and his team studied sudden deaths in south-west Spain between 2003 and 2006 and found 3.1% of them were related to taking cocaine, which had damaged the heart and arteries.
The researchers also found all the cocaine sudden deaths were in men aged between 21 and 45, and 81% of them also smoked, while 76% had also drunk alcohol.
Ethanol, the intoxicating ingredient in alcohol, enhances the high users get from cocaine and softens the subsequent low. But both smoking and alcohol are also linked with heart disease.
"The combination of cocaine with either or both of these habits can be considered as a lethal cocktail that promotes the development of premature heart disease," Lucena wrote in the study, which was published in the European Heart Journal.
Cocaine use on the increase
Lucena also said he believed his findings could safely be extrapolated to much of the rest of Europe, suggesting cocaine use is a significant public health threat.
"Cocaine abuse is a growing public health issue in Europe and we can only monitor its prevalence by performing these detailed autopsies whenever someone dies suddenly," he wrote.
Experts at the Spanish Institute estimate about 12 million Europeans use cocaine - about 3.7% of the total adult population aged 15 to 64.
More than 5% of adults in Britain, Spain and Italy say they have taken cocaine at least once in their lives and use is higher among those aged between 15 and 34.
"As the estimated number of European young adult cocaine consumers is similar in Spain, UK and Italy, there is no reason to consider that cocaine-related sudden deaths in UK and Italy would be different to what we have found in our research in south-west Spain," said Lucena.
Not a safe party drug
Fotini Rozakeas of the British Heart Foundation charity said the study showed the need "to dispel the myth that cocaine is a 'safe party drug'."
"The potential deadly consequences from cocaine use can happen to anyone who takes it, even in previously young healthy people with no history of heart disease," she said. "The reality is that there are risks every time you use it.
(Kate Kelland/Reuters Health, January 2010)
News24.com - January 14, 2010
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