Crack Cocaine Addiction in Adolescents

The teen years present young people with many challenges which must be coped with in order to successfully make the transition to adulthood. Teenagers are searching for their own unique identity, and the process of finding the self is often painful and confusing. Adolescence is a time of accelerated growth which is characterized by physical changes in the body, the development of sexuality, and changes and developments on the cognitive level (Rubin and McNeil, 1981, p. 385). Because of this rapid growth, young people experience "what is probably the adolescent's central psychological challenge: the formation of a stable sense of identity" (p. 386). The psychologist Erik Erikson has added a great deal to the literature on identity formation in adolescence. According to Erikson, adolescence is a time to overcome and go beyond the roles of childhood and "emerge with a clearly defined sense of self" (p. 389). However, this search for identity is often very confusing and difficult:

The rapid physical changes and sexual awakening of adolescence may often lead young people to be confused about the continuity between their past and their present. And the rapid changes taking place in today's society only serve to compound the difficulty. It is no wonder, therefore, that many adolescents fail to establish a clear identity and instead suffer what Erikson calls role co

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enous to the South American Andes mountains region, has existed since ancient times, and is believed even to "predate the appearance of man" (Gold, 10988, p. 41). It was used for centuries as a mild stimulant by the Inca Indians, who chewed the leaves of the plant to obtain the desired effect (Florida Cocaine Task Force Report, 1986, p. 15). This was a much less harmful form of cocaine than today's highly refined version, and the plant itself was viewed as sacred. In the mid-1700's, coca leaves were brought to Europe from South America for scientific study. By 1855, the German scientist Friedrich Gaedcke created the first refined version of cocaine by isolating the cocaine alkaloid from the raw leaf (Gold, 1988, p. 43). Soon afterwards, an elixir known as "Vin Mariani" which contained cocaine was created and distributed to the public on a widespread level. Vin mariani was promoted as a health tonic and was praised by its adherents, who included such luminaries as Thomas Edison and Pope Leo XIII (p. 43). Even Sigmund Freud became an early experimenter; like many of his day, Freud believed that cocaine could have therapeutic uses. In the United States during the late nineteenth century, various cocaine-based elixirs were create
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