Cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine
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Cocaine comes from the coca plant, Erythroxylum coca.
"Cocaine is the single most addicting drug known to mankind" ~ Alan I. Lashner, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) director.
Mother have given up their babies to get it. Not only they have surrendered their babies for money to buy drugs, but people across all lines of race, gender, and economic status have given up their money, their mental well-being, their physical health, and even their lives to feed an addiction to cocaine or crack. None is immune. Even those whose lives seem to be perfect can fall victim to the trap of cocaine and crack abuse.
A chilling example was 22-year-old American university student Len Bias. The day after being selected in the first round of the 1986 NBA, draft by Bistib Cektucsm - a dream come true for college basketball players, Bias died of a cocaine overdose in his college dorm room.
Crack and cocaine addicts so many different types of people because they are easy to get, produce an almost immediate sense of well-being, and are relatively inexpensive. But the drugs' effects are a threat that doesn't just affect the individual user.
In a 1994 study done by the NIDA, the number of pregnant women using crack, marijuana heroin, or a psychedelic drug was estimated at 221,000. 20% of the group inhaled or injected cocaine, and 15% smoked crack. These crack babies are often born premature and the cost of hospital care for the babies can range from 2,500 to 5,000$ per day.
With so many sad examples and staggering statistics of the widespread abuse of crack and cocaine, many wonder how this will ever be solved. But strides are being made every day to teach children and adults the danger of drugs.
This volume in THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS takes in-depth, and current treatments and therapies that are being implemented to improve everyone's lives of users as well as those of their family and friends.
Pablo Escobar
Pablo Escobar
On December 2 of 1993, Colombian soldiers shot and killed Pablo Escobar, the multi-billion-dollar international criminal organization's leader who was found. He had various nicknames: ‘Don Pablo’, other monikers ranged from El Padrino ("The Godfather"), El Patrón ("The Boss") and El Señor ("The Lord") to El Mágico ("The Magician"), El Pablito ("little Pablo") and El Zar de la Cocaína ("The Tsar of Cocaine").
Under his leadership, his minions imported tons of cocaine into the US, virtually controlling the flow of drugs into cities like New York and Miami. Police and military increased once his men brought more violence and terrorism to the country, providing cash to leftist guerillas.
Leftist guerilla/guerilla warfare are groups of combatants that employ military tactics, such as ambushes and sabotage.
His underlings began to be arrested and killed by the police. Some were turned into informers, to help police track down other drug traffickers. Finally, in late 1991, Escobar was captured and held in a luxury prison built specially for him as a part of his surrender deal where he continued to run his drug operations in prison before escaping in July 1922. He made a fatal mistake by calling a radio station to protest the fact that officials wouldn't let his family leave the country and police managed to trace the call to a house in Medellin. He was finally killed when he tried to escape with his bodyguards when police surrounded his house. But, his demise didn't disrupt Colombia's flow of cocaine.
Cocaine importing to US
Cocaine importing to US
Most of the world's cocaine supply comes from South America. The coca plant is cultivated in the Pery's mountain valleys. Colombia, and Brazil and processed in laboratories (mainly Colombia). For many rural farmers, the cocaine industry is their only reliable source of income.
Coca plant has been grown and cultivated in Central and South America for thousands of years. Incas and other native cultures either chewed the leaves or used them for brew a form of tea in order to receive the plant’s stimulating effects. Experts found that coca leaves have significance amounts of calcium, iron, phosphorus, and vitamins B, A, and E. Coca plant also reduced Indians’ desire for food and increased their ability to work energetically in high altitudes. It’s also easier to carry than bulky foods (bananas, beans, meat, eggs, or potatoes).
Coca leaves are mostly made into a paste in Bolivia or Peru, then smuggled to Colombia or overland in a variety of transport (car, truck, or ships).
Smuggle: illegally importing/exporting goods between countries.
Cities in Colombia largely have cocaine pastes processed into cocaine powder in
laboratories for easier transportation.
Cocaine is imported into the US either by land, sea, or air, hidden in many items (teddy beras, golf cart, box of snacks). Some known as “couriers” have even packets of cocaine surgically implanted under the skin of their thighs or have swallowed balloons filled with the drug, which can later be purged from the system. This method is deadly in many cases; if the balloon bursts in the courier’s stomach, the large amount of drug inside poisons them instantly.
Ruined Lives
Ruined Lives
Comedian Christ Farley, athlete Len Bias, and actor Robert Downey Jr. have all a thing in common: each one's life has been changed, tragically by cocaine.
Chris Farley deeply admired the late comedian John Belushi and was often called as the "Next Blushi" by fans. They had so much in common that they both suddenly died from cocaine overdose when his career started to peak at age 33. Farley became an audience favorite in 1900. Fans could always count on him for a wild, hilarious performance. Along with weighing 300 pounds and reaching 5 ft, his struggle with cocaine and heroin addiction frightened his friends the most. The host of the show he's part of, Saturday Night Live (SNL) had to suspend him twice from the show and advised him to seek help for drug and alcohol problems. He began his film career and left the SNL in the mid-90s.
Following the completion of his film, Almost Heroes, his brother discovered his body in his apartment in 1997. He died of a heart attack and an autopsy confirmed what many had suspected: the death was caused by a drug overdose. Test found cocaine and morphine in Farley's blood; atherosclerosis. Flarley was unaware that Belushi also met the same fate.
Basketball star Len Bias was a positive example to everyone who knew him. His dream came true when he was chosen second overall by the Boston Celtics in the NBA. The dream ended the next day, when he was found dead of a cocaine overdose at the age of 22.
Oscar-nominated actor Robert Downey Jr. has appeared in many successful movies and is considered one of the best actors of his generation. A few years prior, he had cocaine and other drug problems that have attracted as much as attention as his films.
Downey has attempted to end his drug habit several times--without success.
In 1996, he was arrested thrice within a month on drug-related charges. He was arrested again on June for speeding and discovered cocaine, heroin, and an unloaded. He was arrested again for allegedly entering a neighbor's home, where he was discovered asleep in a child's bed. He was arrested for the third time for leaving a drug treatment center, where he had been placed by court order. In November 1996 Downey was sentenced to three years probation and placed under 24-hour surveillance at the Exodus Recovery Center.
As said earlier, it grows from the coca plant, in the Andes Mountains of South America.
Coca plant leaves can be chewed, although this method is generally limited to native South American populations. It's estimated that as many as 90 percent chew these to combat fatigue and hunger. Coca leaves effects only last one or two hours.
Cocaine hydrochloric powder is the form most frequently found in the US. This white powder has a salty or slightly bitter taste that numbs the tongue and lips. It's usually inhaled through the nostrils or dissolved in water and injected into the body with a needle. Cocaine powder is prepared by placing coca leaves in a press with sulfuric acid, kerosene, or gasoline and crushing the mixture.
Another commonly used form in the US is "crack", a cocaine alkaloid that's formed by mixing coca mash, hydrochloric salt, and baking salt. Cracks look like small lumps of soap. Like salt cocaine, its effect hits quickly once smoked. Like all illegal drugs, it has a variety of street names: "cokes", "C", "snow", "flakes", "sugar", and "The Lady".
It's usually imported from South America in two forms: rock cocaine (resembles to pebbles and is roughly 70% pure) and flake cocaine (100% pure).
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