Indigenous South American tribes have long celebrated the properties of the plant Erythroxylon coca, the leaves of which were chewed by ancient civilizations and continue to be today. Just ask one of the more than 100,000 people admitted to publicly funded substance abuse treatment programs in 2017 who listed cocaine as their primary drug of choice, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - roughly 5 percent of more than 2 million people.Īnd conventional wisdom dictates that none of them did their first line or smoked their first rock thinking, “Man, I can’t wait until this stuff sends me to drug rehab!” So what is cocaine? In films like “Scarface,” “New Jack City” and “Blow,” it’s the substance upon which the empires of gangsters are built.Īmerica, like many other countries, has a torrid love affair with cocaine … but it doesn’t always love us back. It’s often portrayed as a glamorous accoutrement at edgy gatherings in the homes of the rich and famous, or as a “study aid” for college students who need a little something extra to make it through midterms. There are hundreds of people who delightedly indulge when a line is chopped up at a party. So can you be a casual user of cocaine? Sure. A 2017 study by McGill University, published in Science Reports, “suggest(s) that people who consider themselves recreational users could be further along the road to addiction than they might have realized.” According to the medical textbook Merck Manual, while many cocaine users may start experimenting with the drug casually, “25 % (or more) of users meet criteria for abuse or dependence.” “It doesn’t matter whether it’s your hundredth time or your first time, it’s just not safe.”Īnd then there are the psychological factors. Malcolm Thaler, in a 2016 article in the online publication Uproxx, addressed the physical threats of cocaine use, even among those trying it recreationally for the first time: “It only takes one time to get a lethal heart arrhythmia or seizure,” according to Thaler. Don’t take our word for it: Representatives of the medical and substance abuse treatment communities are in agreement as well.ĭr.
If you do any cocaine, you might have a problem.
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