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COCAINE

Description/Overview
Control Status
Street Names
Short-Term Effects
Long-Term Effects
Trafficking Trends
Use/User Population
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DESCRIPTION/OVERVIEW
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse, Research Report - Cocaine Abuse and Addiction, www.nida.nih.gov/researchreports/cocaine/cocaine.html.
  • Drug Enforcement Administration, Office of Diversion Control, www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drugs_concern/cocaine/cocaine.htm.
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse, InfoFacts: Crack and Cocaine, www.drugabuse.gov/Infofacts/cocaine.html. Snorting is the process of inhaling cocaine powder through the nose, where it is absorbed into the bloodstream through the nasal tissues. Injecting is the use of a needle to release the drug directly into the bloodstream; any needle use increases a user’s risk of contracting HIV and other blood-borne infections. Smoking involves inhaling cocaine vapor or smoke into the lungs, where absorption into the bloodstream is as rapid as by injection.
CONTROL STATUS
  • Today, cocaine is a Schedule II drug under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, meaning that it has high potential for abuse, but can be administered by a doctor for legitimate medical uses, such as local anesthesia for some eye, ear, and throat surgeries.
STREET NAMES
  • Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Cocaine Street Terms
SHORT-TERM EFFECTS
LONG-TERM EFFECTS
TRAFFICKING TRENDS
USE/USER POPULATION
ARRESTS/SENTENCING
DEA DRUG SEIZURES
  • In 2005, the DEA seized 118,270 kgs of cocaine. For prior years, click here.
LEGISLATION
  • USDOJ/OIG Special Report, THE CIA-CONTRA-CRACK COCAINE CONTROVERSY: A REVIEW OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT’S INVESTIGATIONS AND PROSECUTIONS (December, 1997), www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/9712/.
  • The Controlled Substances Act of 1970.
  • Dr. Peter G. Bourne, a drug expert who would later become President Carter's Special Assistant to the President on Health Issues, wrote in 1974: "Cocaine ... is probably the most benign of illicit drugs currently in widespread use .... Short acting -- about 15 minutes -- not physically addicting, and acutely pleasurable, cocaine has found increasing favor at all socioeconomic levels in the last year." Peter G. Bourne, "The Great Cocaine Myth," Drugs and Drug Abuse Education Newsletter 5: 5 (1974). See also, F.H. Gawin and H.D. Kleber, "Evolving Conceptualizations of Cocaine Dependence," Yale Journal of Biological Medicine 61: 123-136 (1988).
  • USDOJ/OIG Special Report, THE CIA-CONTRA-CRACK COCAINE CONTROVERSY: A REVIEW OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT’S INVESTIGATIONS AND PROSECUTIONS (December, 1997), www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/9712/.
TREATMENT RESOURCES
PHOTOS
RELATED NEWS RELEASES
USEFUL LINKS

 

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Last updated: March 2010

 

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