Features Reporter
In 1886, an American pharmacist named John Pemberton included coca leaves in his recipe for a new soft drink, Coca Cola. The consumer experienced euphoric and energizing effects, which promoted the consumption of Coca Cola exceptionally. Coca may not be a part of the Coca Cola recipe anymore, but it is still known worldwide for its psychoactive chemical compound: cocaine
Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud used cocaine in the 1800s for personal use and promoted it as a tonic to cure depression and sexual impotence. These days, cocaine is often associated with the young adult crowd who uses it to enhance their partying experience.
“It’s fun. That’s the main thing,” a CMU student, hereby referred to as “Mark,” said. “I use it mainly for partying or doing something fun, but also sometimes for important things. Since it’s not a drug that’s gonna make you all silly in the brain, like pot or something, you could go to work or even school maybe.”
Mark is 24 and tried cocaine for the first time when he was 16. He started using coke regularly after high school, when he was around 21-years-old. “Regularly” to him means at least on a weekly basis.
“If you’re drinking, it kind of helps you stay sober so you can party longer without getting sloppy,” Mark said. “As far as smoking pot, the cross is a pretty good feeling. I don’t do it alone often.”
According to the National Institute for Drug Abuse, cocaine is “a powerfully addictive stimulant drug that produces short-term euphoria, energy, and talkativeness in addition to potentially dangerous physical effects like raising heart rate and blood pressure.” Mark’s personal description was a little more illustrative.
“Just like any stimulant, you have a bunch of energy,” he said. “You almost, in a way, feel smarter because your brain is going faster; pretty much everything in your body is going faster. You have a euphoric feeling.”
Although Mark’s reasons for doing cocaine are obvious, he acknowledged that just because a drug makes you feel amazing doesn’t mean it comes without a downside.
“Obviously when you come off of the drug, those awesome things aren’t happening, so that’s just depressing in general,” Mark said. “I’m pretty sure that when you do drugs that speed your body up, it’s going to take a while to regain everything that you’ve lost. If you do a lot, you can be stuck in bed for the next day.”
The 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that cocaine use among people aged 18 to 25 was 1.1 percent. Although that number seems relatively low, an article from the Huffington Post stated that Colorado drug use is higher than the national average. Regardless, cocaine is still one of the top three substances used among young adults, along with marijuana and methamphetamine.
Cocaine is most commonly snorted unless being used in the form of crack cocaine, which is cheaper and smoked with a pipe. Snorting the drug takes about ten minutes to truly affect the user, whereas smoking crack cocaine hits the brain in a matter of seconds.
“The first time I tried it I did like the feeling,” Mark said, “but putting it up my nose then and the first many times was not enjoyable. And there’s this thing called the drip, where the chemical taste goes down and you taste it and it just ruins your night.”
Mark accepts that he is probably addicted to the drug on some level. But despite the negative aspects of cocaine use, he still believes that it’s fun and, if used in the right situations and not too often, worth giving a try.
“I think that in moderation it can be used and not be too dangerous to your body, as long as it’s not overused,” he said. “And since we are young, I do think that most people should try it. I think that people should try it at least once.”
aildefonso@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
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