Cocaine is a strong stimulant mostly used as a recreational drug. It is the most potent stimulant of natural origin. It is extracted from the leaves of the coca plant which grows on the mountain slopes of the Andes Mountains of South America. Illegal cocaine is usually distributed as a white crystalline powder or as an off-white chunky material. Cocaine base is converted into the powder form, which is usually cocaine hydrochloride, by diluting it with other substances. The substances most commonly used in this process are sugars, such as lactose and mannitol, and local anesthetics. Some other names for cocaine that people may or may not know are, coke, crack, coca, blow, and powder. …show more content…
The damaging effects of cocaine and its destructive influences in Western society were first observed over 100 years ago. They led to the national and international establishment of strict legal controls to limit the use of cocaine to medical applications only. For fifty years, from 1910 to 1960, such regulations along with social disapproval were sufficient to curtail cocaine use to a very small group of high class society. Now, cocaine is used by all levels of society. It can be found in the executive suite, the suburban living room for cocktail hour, the college dorm, and the high school locker …show more content…
Perhaps even more unfortunate, however, are the negative effects of cocaine on society. The effects of cocaine on society can be seen in the user’s families, communities, and workplaces. Domestic violence and random acts of violence are often fueled by cocaine or crack cocaine use. Children are often the victims of cocaine or crack cocaine using parents. Children born to cocaine users suffer from the harmful pre-natal exposure to the drug and are often times subjected to parental abuse by their addicted
Drug enforcement agencies throughout North America spend over 40 billion tax dollars annually on their government funded war on drugs. The DEA currently classifies cocaine as an addictive and dangerous, schedule-two drug. Around the 1880’s, however, cocaine was celebrated in the United States for its “magical, medicinal purposes” (New Ulm Weekly Review). The miracle medicine of the late 19th century, cocaine, is derived from the coca plant native to South America, more specifically, the Andes Mountains. South Americans chewed the coca leaves for thousands of years to counter the nauseating effects of living in thin mountain-air environments and to stimulate their heart and breathing rates for hunting purposes.
With cocaine, it is extremely expensive, around $70 per gram. Only celebrities and wealthy people could use cocaine, because of its exorbitant price. However, with the creation of crack cocaine, the price was able to go down a little bit, so it became more accessible for drug gangs and
Inasse Slaoui Bernadette Varela AP English Language 23 February 2023 A Modest Proposal: For preventing drug abuse and overcrowding in prison the United States of America must legalize all drugs. The War on Drugs was declared by the United States in 1973, and like the similarly unsuccessful War on Terror, it was riddled with inconsistencies and hampered by irrational policy goals. Forty plus years and a trillion dollars later, the U.S. has the largest prison population in the world and a racist two-tiered judicial system under which teenaged blacks caught with a few crack rocks do hard time in state prisons, while the bankers who launder the Mexican cocaine cartel’s blood-stained billions simply pay fines.
His particular approach based on the chronological series of historic events clearly explains the process that transformed cocaine from being a medical commodity to an illicit drug. In “Andean cocaine”, nothing is left to chance, the author is able to clearly explain the causes and the consequences that connect all the events, countries and people in the infamous history of coke. What I found extremely captivating of the book was its relation to several study fields: from medicine to anthropology, or from history to geography, without forgetting to mention branches of politics and sociology, “Andean Cocaine” offers readers from different backgrounds an enriching reading. The book by Gootenberg represents an incredible useful source of knowledge not only for a novice reader who is looking for an introduction to the history of cocaine, but also for a specialist in the field who wants to have a more general overview on how different agents, countries and time periods are all connected to coke’s marketisation process. My opinion on the book in conclusion is genuinely positive.
Mandatory sentencing began in October 27 1986 Reagan signed a law Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. Frontline writes that the law allocated funds to new prisons, drug education, and treatment. But its main result was to create mandatory minimum sentences. The harsh sentences on crack cocaine use disproportionately affect African-Americans April 22, 2014.
Correct the misinformation from the U.S. Congress to the relative extreme harmful effects with the use of crack cocaine as compared with powder cocaine; Inform the legislator to review the reports of the USSC regarding the previous actions in the case of crack cocaine criminal penalties. Sentencing penalties for possessing specific `drugs, must not be singled out as more dangerous, until the data has been reviewed. Correct and prevent the claims to the seriousness for the majority of crack cocaine offenses, without providing the data demonstrating the adequate proportionality. Their unfounded claims to the severity of the drug mostly impacted minorities.
The opioid crisis in the United States has been a problem since the late 1970’s. The use of cocaine started increasing by the early 80’s. In this time, many considered cocaine to be the drug for the famous. At one point, it was called “the champagne of drugs,” which made people feel like they were living like the rich and the high-line people. All celebrities and famous athletes would take cocaine, therefore, all their fans followed in their footsteps.
Imagine you are walking to your car from a restaurant and a homeless man limps towards you and begs for 20 dollars. It’s late and you’re all alone. You give him the money and he limps away toward an alley. You wonder, how exactly did this man end up like this?
Methamphetamine and cocaine are both in the same category of drugs known as stimulants. Meth is completely man-made and is manufactured using common household and industrial ingredients such as over-the-counter cold/allergy medicines, drain cleaner, battery acid, gun cleaner, gasoline additives, muriatic acid, ammonia, lye, acetone and litter. Cocaine on the other hand is naturally occurring and is harvested from the leaves of the cocoa plant. While they are two entirely different drugs, both meth and cocaine have risks associated with their use, and have very high rates of dependence, abuse, and addiction. However, there are very distinct differences between cocaine and meth, in terms of how these drugs affect the individual both physically and psychologically.
“No one paid any attention, as everyone was busy going through their own withdrawal stages in different ways”(Beah 169). Ishamael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone, shares his experience as a boy soldier using cocaine in the Sierra Leone War. As young soldiers, the boys were introduced to many different drugs and stimulants which quickly turned into their heavy dependence on them to be strong soldiers. Among these drugs were cocaine, “a stimulant drug that is derived from the South American coca plant”(Miller). Cocaine affects your dopamine levels, causing feelings of euphoria and bursts of energy.
Also cocaine is known as a stimulant drug and it is a schedule II narcotic. Cocaine is also known to be called C, coke, white dust and snow. Cocaine has 2 main forms that it can be used in. The forms that cocaine can be used in are, crack cocaine and cocaine hydrochloride (powder cocaine). Crack cocaine can be known as rock or crack on the streets as well.
The place where coca leaves naturally grow is south america. The first time cocaine was extracted from the leaves was in 1859. Cocaine started to popularize around the late 1880ś. The person who first extracted it was Albert Niemann. He was also a german chemist.
The use of narcotics like cocaine, claimed many lives and earned widespread coverage by media and news. Following this Nancy Reagan began the “War on Drugs”, a campaign to combat pre-existing drug usage and prevent future
Negative effects of Cocaine Sujith Poobalasingam Matthew Hack Drugs in Canada GNED-1316-AA1 Cocaine is known to being one of the most dangerous substance’s discovered by mankind. Although this drug is used in surgeries as anesthetics, it is still established as an illegal narcotic. The substance has populated around for several thousand years but still remains one of the most abused and popular drug today.
Drug abuse is caused by psychological, genetic as well as environmental factors and can have significant damaging effects on health. Psychological factors are associated with the development of drug abuse. Drug abuse often occurs