Cocaine, despite its relatively high cost to the consumer, is rapidly becoming the preferred drug of an increasing number of affluent drug-users in North and South America and in Europe. The increased production of cocaine and a reduction in market price have enabled a much larger number of people to have access to it. As a consequence, the use of cocaine has spread to Europe and many other countries, making it an international problem (Nahas, 1989). There is no doubt about the seriousness of the problems of cocaine use. Free-base smoking, sniffing, and intravenous injection of cocaine hydrochloride are known to be extremely dangerous habits. Besides the host of physical and psychological effects that cocaine has on the human body, there are the innumerous dangers of the legal and social nature that can endanger the social standing of the cocaine user. In addition to this, there are the obvious dangers that the cocaine user faces when dealing with the "second economy" of the cocaine distribution and crime world. This research will deal with the physical and psychological effects of cocaine use as well as its incidence and costs. In doing so, the problem of addiction will often be reviewed as the worst possible cocaine use situation, as it generally leads to a host of social, psychological, and physical problems. Also to be discussed, is the second economy of the cocaine distribution world as well as the efforts to control it. In conclusion, there will be an overview of the problem and a discussion of the future of the cocaine problem.
The chewing of the coca plant dates back to very ancient times in South and Central America (Arif, 1987, p. 1). However, just chewing the coca leaves, while it does have negative side effects, does not lead to the large number of deleterious effects that can be caused by modern cocaine hydrochloride and other cocaine products. Because of the modern techniques of refining coca into cocaine,...