Basic HTML Version
From Trickle to Torrent
effort will eventually
fail.
"lt's greed," said
a senior U.S.
government drug
enforcement agent.
"Cocaine is . .. polluting
all levels of society, from
the lower classes to the
very affluent.''
illegal in the South
American nations where it
grows best, such
production is estimated by
sorne authorities to account
for large segments of the
monetary value of these
nations' exports.
worth half the sale of its
coffee crop. Peru's cocaine
trade is thought to be
worth more than any of
Today's hopelessly
incurable drug crisis is jusi
one more reason this
world desperately needs
the prophesied restoration
of the government of God
with the full authority of
Jesus Christ- to achieve
what human governments
at times try but fail to
do-to put down deeply
entrenched wrong ways of
living and replace them
with right and beneficia!
ways of living!
the country's legitimate
exports.
lt is also
lust.
Lust in
the user-greed in the
drug merchants and
producers.
Even though nonmedical
cocaine production is
The value of Bolivia's
illicit cocaine is estimated
to surpass the value of the
country's largest legal
industry, tin. Colombia's
cocaine exports are
The government of
Colombia renewed war on
the nation's major drug
producers. But many feel
that drug production is so
lucrative and weaved
into the fabric of the
nation 's economy that the
for the most part, attracted to illicit
street drugs. But many women,
aware of dangers with such drugs
and also popular tranquilizers, have
been captivated by the status
appeal and false propaganda about
cocaine. Middle-class women are
now estitnated to be around half of
all cocaine addicts.
One professional woman with a
successful career tearfully revealed
how she had a loving husband, a
beautiful daughter anda marvelous
home. But she found her work and
life filled with pressure. She was
told by a friend that coke would
help her face the world, so why not
take advantage of it.
"Within four years, cocaine cost
me my job, my husband, my self–
respect, even my daughter," she
confessed. "When my habit grew
so 1 could no longer get enough
from friends, 1 found a part-time
dealer where 1 worked.... One day
I just exploded and walked away
from everything."
Another woman said after her
first use of coke, " 1 was fi lled with
the most incredible feeling 1 have
ever known. lt was absolute eupho–
ria. l felt beautiful, sexy, impor–
tant, totally in control and at the
top of my world. What 1 didn't
reali ze is that 1 had become
addicted in those 30 seconds. From
that moment on, my entire life was
focused on cocaine."
A TV producer said, "1 needed
something to increase my physical
e ndur ance. But once yo u ' r e
hooked, you find all sorts of reasons
for using it. You need coke to be
more creative. Soon, you begin to
January
1985
develop this hip superiority. Every–
thing you do is terrific."
But is the work really terrific?
Medical authorities now confirm
through controlled tests that
cocaine is a
destroyer
of talent–
not an enhancer. "Coke just gives
users the
perception
of being more
creative," says one famous Holly–
wood star. "The users think they
are doing their best work, but they
are literally giving you gibberish."
So widespread is cocaine use
among TV and movie producers
and actors that insiders say it is one
reason for so many poor quality
programs.
Coming down from a cocaine bigb
commonly causes such deep gloom in
many regular users that they feel
impelled to use more cocaine as a
remedy. Bigger doses often follow,
and soon the urge becomes a total
obsession. Medica! personnel now
report increasing numbers of cocaine
addicts are turning to free-basing
(smoking a purified form of cocaine)
or intravenous injection in attempts
to recapture sorne former euphoric
high.
Cocaine addiction can happen
quickly or take sorne time. Many
users believe they can handle tbe
drug if they use it sparingly and
infrequently. But the catch is there
is no way to know for sure who will
become quickly addicted. Differ–
ences in individual constitutional
chemistry can cause one person to
become more rapidly addicted and
crave the drug (or any drug) than
anotber person using it similarly.
And individual mind-set at time of
use is very, very critica!.
. These persons often lack a back–
ground of proper adult example or
training in control of emotions and
alcohol or drugs. They automati–
cally grab for and abuse any chem–
ical substance that temporarily
gives them a high and relieves them
of thei r problems. Others lose con–
trol by using drugs or alcohol a
little more and more.
Mate cocaine addicts often turn
to embezzlement and women
addicts to prostitution. One woman
says she would have done anything
for cocaine- even killed for it.
Road to Flnanclal Disast er
Accounts of financia! ruination
among successful people hooked on
cocaine are numerous. Many mid–
dle-class and millionaire addicts
have been reduced to ruin.
One middle-class woman se–
cretly drew out thousands of dollars
from the children's college educa–
tional fund to support her craving
for cocaine, nearly ruining the chil–
dren's educat ional opportunities.
An upper-middle-class business–
roan spent $1,200 a week on
cocaine, but lost his business after
five months. " 1 started having a lot
of problems with people, yelling at
customers.... 1 was taking my
profits, selling my merchandise,
selling my equipment, selling
everything to huy coke. I've literal–
ly blown a fortune."
One rock star squandered mil–
lions of dollars on cocaine.
It
was
"all smoked up," said a friend. A
movie starlet spent a million dollars
on cocaine befare breaking her hab–
it.
By the time she sought help her
25