Increase in the use of cocaine by students and celebrities

While overall cocaine use has declined over the past two decades, recent surveys show an increase in its use on college campuses and by many people, including celebrities in their early 20s. About 1.5 million Americans over the age of 12 now use cocaine. Of those, about 20 percent have used crack cocaine in the past month, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 2019 report on drug use.

A recent article titled “Cocaine Epidemic Panic As Cocaine Deaths Nearly Double in Florida Over the Past 5 Years” appeared on the ‘’Medical News Today’’ website. Not surprisingly, the information in this article was quite disconcerting. For example, one of the key points of the article was that cocaine use is increasing among students with disposable income, as well as high-profile celebrities. Perhaps more important, however, are two facts associated with increased cocaine use: increased cocaine-related emergency room visits and increased cocaine-related deaths. In fact, cocaine-related deaths in Florida have nearly doubled in the past 5 years, according to Florida drug authorities.

Why people use cocaine

Why do many people use cocaine? Cocaine gives a person a sense of euphoria, energy and sometimes an incredible, almost superhuman sense of control and dominance. For example, some people who have used cocaine jumped out of windows or roofs, thinking they can fly or jump dozens of feet without getting hurt. However, there is a physiological reason why people continue to use cocaine after their first encounter. Cocaine depletes dopamine, a “feel-good” neurotransmitter, which requires even more use. In short, and from a physiological standpoint, cocaine use perpetuates increased cocaine use.

Deaths and cocaine use

To better understand the ultimate danger of cocaine use, i.e., death, we must focus on the timing of its potentially lethal effects. To do this, cocaine use will be compared to prescription drug abuse.

Overuse of prescription drugs such as Oxycontin, Vicodin, and Adderall can cause sudden cardiac or respiratory arrest at the time of the abuse. Therefore, the critical and fatal period during which prescription drug abuse occurs is primarily “short term.” In contrast, because of the snowballing effects of cocaine, including damage to blood vessels that increase the risk of stroke or heart attack with age, users can die suddenly years after their cocaine abuse begins. Therefore, the critical and fatal period for cocaine use, as opposed to the same measure for prescription drug abuse, is generally “long term.”

Why is cocaine use increasing?

Why is cocaine use increasing? One reason is that celebrity cocaine addicts have become “walking advertisements for cocaine” and, as a result, may have negatively affected others, such as students, who have access to relatively large disposable incomes.

The need for intervention and education

Florida drug experts say that increased drug education and intervention should take place in schools, colleges, and local communities across the country to help prevent a full-blown cocaine epidemic. I agree, but to be effective, I argue that the intervention and education strategy must include facts that challenge the lifestyle of celebrities who use cocaine. Let me explain. Students must be aware that they are seeing a “snapshot in time” that does not reveal “the rest of the story,” as Paul Harvey would say. In other words, students who are impressed by heavy cocaine users need to learn to see through the VIP facade and realize that the rich and famous cocaine addicts are “selling” them the wrong stuff.

Many celebrities are in or approaching middle age. As a result, most, if not all, high-profile cocaine addicts have learned first-hand the consequences of their drug lifestyle. On the other hand, most “traditional” college students are teenagers or very young adults. However, due to the cumulative effects of cocaine use, students who continue to use cocaine are essentially playing Russian roulette with their short and long-term futures.

The rest of the story

Students need to be aware that the celebrity cocaine abusers who impress them are actually loose ends that can explode into oblivion at any moment due to their drug lifestyle. This “last” and fatal consequence, however, does not tell the whole story. In fact, the “rest of the story” also focuses on the short and long-term health consequences of cocaine use.

Short- and long-term effects of cocaine use

What impressionable students haven’t seen are the friends of celebrities who have died from cocaine-related cardiac arrest, seizures, strokes and respiratory failure. In addition, the vulnerable students were not told about the “cocaine accident,” which certainly left some of the rich and famous depressed, irritable, and tired.

Not only that, but the easily influenced students were not informed of the loss of smell, swallowing problems, and nosebleeds experienced by some of the rich and famous who got their cocaine “buzz” from snorting. In addition, the “receptive” students were unaware of the strange, unpredictable, and sometimes violent behavior of many heavy gamblers who took increasing doses of cocaine to get the desired effect.

Also, suggestible students were not informed about the abdominal pain and nausea experienced by some of the celebrities who used cocaine. Similarly, the impressionable students were not informed of the paranoid psychosis and auditory hallucinations experienced by several VIPs who abused cocaine, i.e., they were taking more frequent and higher doses of the drug at the same time.

In addition, vulnerable students were not informed of the fever, seizures, blurred vision, muscle spasms, and coma experienced by some of the cocaine-using VIPs or by some of their friends who “party” with them. Similarly, impressionable students did not realize the massive weight loss, malnutrition, and loss of appetite experienced by many celebrities who were chronic cocaine users. And finally, the sensitive students were not told about the severe chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath, and bleeding in the lungs experienced by some of the celebrities who got their cocaine “buzz” from smoking.

Conclusion

Students should be aware of the immediate and long-term health problems experienced by virtually all chronic cocaine users, including celebrities, over time. In addition, they need to be aware of their vulnerability to cocaine use due to the fact that, statistically speaking, the 18-25 age group currently has the highest rate of cocaine use compared to other age groups. However, until students can “see” the contradictions and harmful effects inherent in the questionable lifestyles of famous cocaine addicts, some will continue to follow the destructive paths of famous cocaine addicts.