Have we crossed the white line with cocaine?
This weekend George Bush visited Colombia against the background of rising cocaine production despite US aid in excess of $5bn given since 2000 to support the much-vaunted Plan Colombia aimed at reducing the coca crop by 50% in five years.
Last week saw the publication of the Royal Society of Arts report into illegal drugs in the UK, part of which involved commissioning an online poll from YouGov to gauge current attitudes, knowledge and experience of drug use from a sample of the general public, including both users and non-users.
One of the more interesting revelations from the survey which has received no publicity is that notwithstanding the constant hoo-ha about celebrity cocaine use, the drug has quietly become an unremarkable part of going out for a large number of ordinary people. And in the process, cocaine (as opposed to crack) has lost its image as a 'hard drug'.
Despite the use of the terms by YouGov, it is worth reiterating that the concept of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ drugs has no validity either in science or law. The terms have developed as a journalistic and political short-hand that attempts to distinguish those illegal drugs which are deemed to cause the most harm to society and have the highest potential to cause addiction i.e. heroin and cocaine, from other illegal drugs.
Cocaine is a Class A drug, attracting the most stringent penalties for possession and supply and a drug classically defined as ‘hard’. Back in the 1980s and in the wake of a significant increase in heroin use, the government of the day launched the UK’s first anti-drugs campaign under the banner ‘Heroin Screws You Up’. The follow-up survey revealed that public attitudes had not been changed much by the campaign. Most people were antipathetic to heroin and cocaine before the campaign and remained so
But since the early 1990s, the statistics of cocaine use tell the tale. There has been more cocaine seized than heroin by weight, the number of cocaine seizures went up by a factor of four while the price has fallen by half in the last five years down to £30 a gram in some places.
Even if use of cocaine has become more acceptable, the dangers still exist. Some doctors believe that cocaine is the primary reason for the rise in heart attacks and strokes in young people – and because the effects of the drug wear off quickly, a regular cocaine habit is still expensive despite the fall in price.
But it may be that increasing numbers of people believe that occasional use of cocaine is not causing significant problems for themselves or their friends, and so their attitudes to the drug are changing accordingly. Back in 1995, the World Health Organisation conducted the largest international review ever on cocaine and concluded that across the world, occasional use was 'the most typical pattern of cocaine use, in which the drug is used as an aid in social intercourse and that 'there are generally few problems associated with this pattern of use'. (1) The results so infuriated the Americans that they refused to allow the report to be published officially and threatened to withdraw funding.
In the YouGov survey, half of the drug users believed it was possible ‘for some people to use some so-called ‘hard drugs’ quite safely without doing themselves and those around them any more harm than drinking or smoking in moderation.
Over 60% said they had moved on from ‘soft’ drugs to ‘hard drugs’ as an experiment while over 50% said it because they were socialising with people who used 'hard drugs’. But this could only apply to powdered cocaine because if we look at the declared drug experiences of this group, we find that cocaine powder is the most used illegal drug behind cannabis followed by ecstasy with everything else a long way behind. Only 1% say they have tried crack and nobody admitted to using heroin, the other ‘hard’ drug, at all.
2 comments:
And in the process, cocaine (as opposed to crack) has lost its image as a 'hard drug'.
From a nuanced perspective, cocaine can be said to be a hard drug or not, based on route of use.
Injecting, smoking = hard
Snorting, oral(concentrated) = moderate
Caffeine-like diluted liquid(alone), coca leaf = soft
Some doctors believe that cocaine is the primary reason for the rise in heart attacks and strokes in young people
That doesn't convey how dangerous it is. If heart attacks are extremely rare in young people, and just rare after cocaine use among young people, then it's still a low risk. To inject some concrete info, the conclusion of the 1999 US (flawed, IMHO) study in Circulation that cocaine increases heart
attack risk 24-fold in the hour after use is often cited. Not conveyed is the estimation in the same paper that this translates to an absolute risk of 30 heart attacks per million users per hour i.e. 999,970 users won't get one (the flaws being that route of use was not recorded; 63% of victims were African-American, possibly overrepresenting crack users, average age was 44, alcohol co-use toxicity was not factored in..etc. The main flaw being that risk depends on use and personal variables and that there is no such meaningful thing as cocaine heart attack risk. If I were to inject a high dose of caffeine, I'm reasonably certain that we would see a significantly elevated risk of heart attacks but it would be misleading to report that caffeine increases MI risk n-fold.)
– and because the effects of the drug wear off quickly, a regular cocaine habit is still expensive despite the fall in price.
Thank Prohibition. Prices have been falling but they are still quite higher than would be otherwise.
More importantly, powder cocaine leads to binges because the rate of offset is high, rather than the short duration of the effect (Smoked DMT wears off more quickly, but binging isn't a problem there).
Methylphenidate, used for ADHD, shares a very similar psychopharmacology with cocaine, but its offset rate is slower, leading to a more gradual comedown. But most important, people need not snort powder up their noses, at all. Coca beverages (and maybe, gum) are safer and much preferred, but they can't gain traction under prohibition.
I think that people are more accepting of coke because more and more celebrities are being open about drug use, i.e pete doherty and kate moss, etc etc. Also from a drug abuser perspective cocaine is so common in pubs and clubs etc most people are doing it and dont realise they have a 'weekend' 'recreational' problem so you kid yourself and say its not a problem but guaranteed people will come to friday night and think they need to buy coke to have a good night. I see it every weekend and its very sad people think they are in control and they are'nt. I do agree that heart attacks and strokes in younger people could be linked to coke abuse because majority of users work, can afford it i see it sold for as cheap as 20 for half a gram! unless you have a large amount in your possession people just get cautioned or fined. I think the Governemnt need to address the way this country looks at drugs and addiction and also drug education in schools. What is the point telling children about drug addiction etc etc if the reason they may try a drug and become addicted isnt explained to them aswell, its more that just saying no!
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