Basic HTML Version
body was wasted to less · than a
hundred pounds.
Another hooked female co-star
of a popular TV situation comedy
couldn't remember her lines or
stand throughout a simple scene.
She became like a cadaver and had
to be fired.
Soaring Treatment Demand
So rapid has the cocaine catastro–
phe exploded on the modern scene
in the United States that a 24-hour
National Cocaine Hotline service
has been set up to provide informa–
tion, advice and treatment referrals
for what is described as an out–
of-control drug problem. The toll
free number is 800-COCAINE (or
800-262-2463).
Since its inception a year and a
half ago, the National Cocaine
Hotl ine has received between 500
and 1,000 calls for help a day. Pub–
líe and prívate treatment agencies
are also being deluged with desper–
ate requests for information and
help with cocaine problems.
Adulterants and Disease
Virtually all street cocaine is not
pure. I t is cut and adulterated
many t imes over as it passes from
dealer to dealer in order to increase
profits. A user cannot possibly
know what he or she is taking with–
out elaborate tests. Dealer-users on
the stre.et often themselves cut
their supplies (with who knows
what) in order to finance their own
drug habit. Frequently used to cut
cocaine concentration is the simple
sugar lactose.
Also commonly used as cheaper
adulterants are lidocaine, procaine,
caffeine, amphetamines (pep pills)
and other drugs that give sensations
similar to cocaine, but which can
cause their own specific damages to
human tissues and organs...lnject–
ing street cocaine is absolutely cra–
zy," wrote one cocaine connoisseur.
The chronic cocaine sniffer is
easy prey for bacteria! infections in
the nose and throat. This is because
the cilia, the tiny hairlike filaments
of the nose and respiratory organs,
are paralyzed, inhibiting the proper
flow of protective mucus to mem–
branes. Many coke users seem to
have perpetua! colds, nagging
infections or respiratory problems.
Cocaine also constricts the blood
26
vessels that supply oxygen to living
tissues. This constriction common–
ly causes an ulcer that wears
through the cartilage between· the
nostrils, causing a large hole. With–
out cartilage the nose becomes mis–
shapen. Sometimes the nose bridge
of a coke addict becomes so weak–
ened it collapses under pressure
and has to be restored surgically.
Cocaine increases the heart and
blood pressure. Persons with heart
problems or high blood pressure,
especially those who don't realize
they bave such conditions, could
kili themselves by using cocaine.
Coke races the metabolism.
It
rap–
idly burns energy and depletes crit–
ica! vitamin and mineral reserves.
H eavy cocaine users risk cardiac
arrest or convulsions, the latter a
form of interna! suffocation, be–
cause the victim cannot breathe
fast enough to replace the oxygen
being used up by the body.
Cocaine addicts often desperate–
ly try to reduce the comedown
crash after use of the drug. Sorne
combine it with sedating drugs like
heroin (called speed-balling). This
roller-coaster effect was the ride
that killed John Belushi, the well–
known American actor. Others try
to escape the grip of cocaine by
using alcohol or other drugs, but
instead become hooked on them.
Mixing cocaine with alcohol is
particularly dangerous. Police re–
port sorne heavy drinkers use
cocaine to keep awake while they
drive borne. Unfortunately the coke
often wears off midway borne,
causing the high alcohol content of
the blood to suddenly produce a
blackout and an accident.
Don't Make Others' Mlstake
There is a reason why drug tragedy
after drug tragedy bits our modern
world! We live in a drug-inundated
world. We have been bombarded
by modern advertising, taught by
social, perhaps even parental and
peer examples to look to drugs to
solve our mental and personal dis–
tresses. We have been Ied to believe
that somewhere there is a magical
pill or powder that will relieve us of
all our pain and discomfort and
make us happy again.
Drug after drug- illicit but also
frequently licit-is ballyhooed as
an effective way to cope with Iife-
only to turn out after a period of
use to be something that injures,
affiicts with undesirable or tragic
side effects, or even kills.
There is a time in our world
when certain me9ical drugs save
lives. But we all need to be edu–
cated to a professionally known
maxim about all drugs: There is no
such thing as an absolutely safe
drug. All drugs carry with them
undesirable risks and dangers as
well as desirable features.
Even the most skillfully trained
medica! practitioner knows he must
balance desired reactions noted for
any drug against potential adverse
side effects of the drug. Because of
differences and changes in human
metabolism, the best medica! drug
treatment is as much experimenta–
tion and guesswork as a science.
Imagine, then, the horrible con–
sequences when millions carelessly
assume they can pop, inject or
inhale any cbemical or drug into
their bodies just because others are
doing it , and it is the popular thing
todo.
Almost all drug abusers or
addicts started out reasoning,
..
1
can handle it. I'm more clever than
the others." But once they get
hooked, they commonly lament,
"It
got heavier and beavier and I didn' t
know
1
was hooked until it was too
late!"
Cocaine use will not make any–
one truly or lastingly successful. l t
will only make drug dealers and
smugglers temporarily rich as it
deceives, maims, kills and destroys
thousands of users' lives.
Teenagers are not the only ones
pressured to join the drug-taking
scene by peers. With a flood of
drugs of so many different kinds
available, everyone, including the
most successful social or business
person, has to be well informed to
avoid the pit of careless drug exper–
imentation.
Anyone who has carefully
researched the true effects of any
drug discovers the tragic conse–
quences that befall many experi–
mental drug takers.
lsn't it time to make sure you're
not becoming careless about any
drug? Don't unwittingly become a
tragic statistic in the cocaine catas–
trophe or any other drug catastro–
phe!
o
The
PL.AIN TRUTH