Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is
obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. It is a stimulant of the
central nervous system and an appetite suppressant, creating what has
been described as a euphoric sense of happiness and increased energy.
Though most often used recreationally for this effect, cocaine is also a
topical anesthetic that was used in eye and throat surgery in the 19th
and early 20th centuries. Cocaine is an addictive substance, and its
possession, cultivation, and distribution are illegal for non-medicinal
/ non-government sanctioned purposes in virtually all of the world.
In most Western countries, cocaine is a popular
recreational drug. In the United States, the introduction of “crack”
cocaine introduced it to a generally poorer inner-city market. Use of
the powder form has stayed relatively constant, experiencing a new
height of use during the late 1990s and early 2000s in the USA, and has
become much more popular in the last few years in the UK.
Cocaine use is prevalent across all socioeconomic strata, including age,
demographics, economic, social, political, religious, and livelihood.
Cocaine in its various forms comes in second only to cannabis as the
most popular illegal recreational drug in the United States, and is
number one in street value sold each year.
The estimated U.S. cocaine market exceeded $35 billion in street value
for the year 2003, exceeding revenues by corporations such as AT&T and
Starbucks. There is a tremendous demand for cocaine in the U.S. market,
particularly among those who are making incomes affording luxury
spending, such as single adults and various professionals. Cocaine’s
status as a club drug shows its immense popularity among the “party
crowd”. Cocaine’s high revenues may be due to the drug’s psychologically
addictive nature, which makes the cessation of use quite difficult when
compared to less addictive illegal drugs such as marijuana. It has
become much more popular as a middle class drug in the United Kingdom in
recent years.
