Cocaine Use
For as long as humans have been around there have been problems with
addictions of various kinds. There has also been a fascination with
those substances that are found to intensify the good things about the
human experience.
Three thousand years before the birth of Christ the coca plant was
hailed as a gift from God and chewing the leaves for their inebriating
effect was commonplace among the natives that lived in the high
mountain ranges of South America. The coca was a stimulant that was
particularly well suited to those who lived at these high altitudes
where oxygen was scarce.
Chewing the plant intensified the
respiratory response and led to the assimilation of more oxygen. This
allowed the workers to work with increased energy for longer periods of
time.
In the 1500's coca plantations dotted the South American highlands and
silver mine workers were fed the stuff to keep them diligently at their
work for grueling long hours.
In the 1800's people got wise to the trick of extracting the essential
ingredient out of the coca leaves and, in 1862, Merck proudly produced
1/4 pound of cocaine. This was the beginning of a long and
controversial relationship with the drug.
You see the world of the 1800s was not for the faint hearted. Drug use
and abuse was considered normal and was rampant across all social
classes. The attitude towards cocaine, heroin and opium was not what it
is today. Many of the rich, famous and beautiful were known to indulge
without apology to authorities that had not yet learnt to care.
The first big name to give cocaine the big nod was Herr Sigmund Freud
himself, the man who set himself up as the psychoanalyst of a society
and its several generations. He recommended it as a safe and useful
remedy for things like depression and sexual impotence. The man was an
authority, few would dare gainsay him.
In 1886 John Pemberton proudly launched Coca Cola the drink that proved
irresistible to the public for some very obvious reasons. It was laced
with cocaine. Thomas Edison, the light bulb man and famous silent movie
stars like Sarah Bernhart were high profile advocates of the drug.
Hollywood in typical style rode the bandwagon with aplomb and promoted
narcotics for a heady number of years when they were considered a
regular part of the high life, if you'll pardon the pun.
In the early 1900s cocaine, opium and heroin could be found in many of
the "cure all" tonics that were administered liberally to people of all
ages including children and the elderly.
So what changed all of this? To what do we owe today's serious legal
and societal drug taboos? The realization process was a slow one.
Cocaine as we know it had been around for over 50 years before the
dangers of the drug were fully acknowledged and acted upon.
The term "dope fiend" was developed to describe the crazed behavior of
the cocaine addict. Because it is such a powerful stimulant it would
keep people awake and lead to a serious loss of appetite. Society was
beginning to notice the presence of these haunting, ghoulish victims of
the drug. It did not escape attention that some of the revered beauties
and talented writers, poets and actors were succumbing to its deadly
grip.
As the problem grew so did social awareness. Public pressure forced the
inventor of the hugely popular drink, Coca Cola, to remove cocaine
permanently from the recipe. The social use of drugs like cocaine was
banned and by 1920 the drug was added to the list of narcotics outlawed
by the Dangerous Drug Act.
Some argue that this was too little too late. The market had already
been established and endorsed by the kinds of icons that are
trendsetters for decades too come.
Cocaine is now recognized by the NIDA (National Institute On Drug
Abuse) as a powerfully addictive stimulant capable of causing
"acute cardiovascular or cerebrovascular emergencies that could result
in sudden death".
Cocaine, in the powdered or crystal form, interferes with the
re-absorption process of dopamine that is associated with pleasure and
movement. The euphoria experienced is caused by the buildup of excess
dopamine that causes the continuous stimulation of "receiving" neurons.
Increased usage of the drug creates a tolerance that forces the user to
step up the dosage. This tolerance is paralleled by an increasing
sensitivity to cocaine's physical effects. This combination is thought
to be the cause of deaths occurring after low doses of cocaine.
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By:Jim Posted: Dec 28 2007 01:53:59 PM