Cocaine and Colorado Drug Rehab
Cocaine is a significant drug threat to Colorado.
Powdered cocaine is readily available throughout Colorado, and crack cocaine is available in urban population centers, especially Denver. Cocaine is the drug most often associated with violent crime in Colorado, principally because cocaine distributors frequently resort to violence to protect their distribution operations and to collect debts. Mexican DTOs and criminal groups transport wholesale quantities of powdered cocaine into Colorado in private or rental vehicles and distribute the drug at the wholesale level. Hispanic and African American street gangs distribute powdered and crack cocaine; some gangs distribute powdered or crack cocaine at the wholesale and retail levels, while others distribute crack at the retail level only. Local independent dealers also distribute powdered and crack cocaine at the retail level. Retail distributors in Colorado typically convert powdered cocaine into crack on an as-needed basis and sell the drug at open-air markets or from crack houses. All of this is to say, if someone in Colorado wants cocaine, it is available and this holds true for Denver as well as rural Colorado. Drug Rehab Centers in Colorado do not meet the need for the level of cocaine addiction seen in the state, but since the opening of the biophysical program in Fort Collins, we have been pleased with their ability to handle what was before being done in Texas or California.
As mentioned on the home page, Colorado is the only state that is consistently in the highest percentage ranking on 21 of the of the 23 categories that describe the severity of substance abuse, addiction, drug dependency and other similar markers, by states. Colorado Drug Rehab has years of data related to the drug rehab field in Colorado and, over the past twenty years, the use of drugs has increased and the availability to drug treatment has declined. This paradox illustrates the denial of the funding sectors, like the Colorado Single State Agency, but more importantly, the politicians who do not rank drug rehab as a priority in the funding schemes. Denver still has a significant powdered cocaine problem as well as many that are using crack cocaine. We don't find as high a percentage of use in other Colorado metropolitan areas.
The Facts About Cocaine are comprehensively covered in an article by "Random Facts" entitled "41 Random Facts About Cocaine" it is worth your time to link to that article from HERE or read a reprint of their article at the bottom of this page. Then to come back here and contiue learning about cocaine and have the benefit of calling about your specific problem at 888.781.7060 or sending in your question via our submission form located on the homepage or the Contact Us page.
Cocaine is frequently abused in Colorado. The percentage of Colorado residents who report having abused cocaine in the past year is higher than the percentage nationwide. According to the 1999 and 2000 NHSDA, 2.5 percent of Colorado residents age 12 and over reported having abused cocaine in the year prior to the survey compared with 1.6 percent nationwide. (NDIC)
Cocaine is frequently abused in Colorado. The percentage of Colorado residents who report having abused cocaine in the past year is higher than the percentage nationwide. According to the 1999 and 2000 NHSDA, 2.5 percent of Colorado residents age 12 and over reported having abused cocaine in the year prior to the survey compared with 1.6 percent nationwide. The number of calls coming to Colorado Drug Rehab about cocaine problems is a firm indicator of this statistic. Most calls from Colorado are requesting state-funded residential drug rehab, but in following up with these calls, it is found that there is usually a two to three week waiting list to get into a cocaine drug rehab in Colorado that is state-funded. There are private beds in Colorado that are available for immediate care. The Colorado Single State Agency, ADAD, reports: despite the fact that cocaine is readily available and frequently abused, cocaine-related treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities in Colorado are declining. This information confirms the problem of a two to three week waiting list.
Cocaine is a significant drug threat to Colorado. Powdered cocaine is readily available throughout Colorado, and crack cocaine is available in urban population centers. Cocaine is the drug most often associated with violent crime in the state, principally because cocaine distributors frequently resort to violence to protect their distribution operations and to collect debts. Mexican DTOs and criminal groups transport wholesale quantities of powdered cocaine into Colorado in private or rental vehicles and distribute the drug at the wholesale level. Hispanic and African American street gangs distribute powdered and crack cocaine; some gangs distribute powdered or crack cocaine at the wholesale and retail levels, while others distribute crack at the retail level only. Local independent dealers also distribute powdered and crack cocaine at the retail level. Retail distributors in Colorado typically convert powdered cocaine into crack on an as-needed basis and sell the drug at open-air markets or from crack houses. (NDIC)
Colorado Violence Related to Cocaine:
Cocaine is the drug most often associated with violent cocaine crime in Colorado. Law enforcement officials in Colorado report that there has been an increase in the number of gang-related violent crimes such as assault, carjacking, drive-by shooting, and homicide as street gangs distributing cocaine protect their drug operations and attempt to collect drug debts. Cocaine abusers also are prone to violence but to a lesser extent than methamphetamine abusers.
In August 2001 an investigation into two Crips street gangs distributing crack cocaine in Denver led to the arrests of 20 suspects and the seizure of 48 firearms, described as "weapons of war" by Denver's Metro Gang Task Force. The weapons that were seized included an M-60 machine gun with 3,000 rounds of ammunition, M-16 assault rifles with attached grenade launchers, several AK-47 assault rifles, Tek-9 machine pistols, and a .50 caliber machine gun with armor-piercing rounds.*
Cocaine enforcement activities reflect a steady supply of cocaine coming into and through Colorado. Cocaine trafficking organizations with sources of supply in Mexico or along the Southwest Border often deal in multi-kilogram amounts. Crack is available in the larger metropolitan areas of Colorado, generally in street level amounts. Cocaine is trafficked by Mexican poly-drug organizations typically capable of distributing other drugs as well.
Transportation of Cocaine in and through Colorado:
Mexican DTOs and criminal groups are the principal transporters of wholesale quantities of powdered cocaine into Colorado. These groups transport most of the powdered cocaine available in Colorado from Mexico primarily through Texas, but also through California and Arizona. Cocaine typically is transported into Colorado in private and rental vehicles on interstate highways, particularly I-25 and I-70. The Colorado State Patrol seized 41 kilograms of cocaine from highway interdictions in 1999, 41 kilograms in 2000, and 58 kilograms in 2001. Cocaine also is transported into and through the state by couriers aboard commercial aircraft. In May 2000, 5 kilograms of cocaine were seized at Denver International Airport from a courier on a flight originating in Los Angeles and destined for New York City. Shipments may contain 1 to 12 kilograms of compressed powdered cocaine. According to the Denver Police Department, drug couriers traveling to or transiting Denver International Airport frequently use discount air carriers to take advantage of cheaper rates.
Colorado also serves as a transshipment area for cocaine destined for drug markets throughout the Rocky Mountain region and the Midwest. In March 2002 the Front Range Task Force in Arapahoe and Douglas Counties dismantled a Mexican criminal group that was linked to the Arellano-Felix DTO. The criminal group transported multikilogram quantities of cocaine to Denver, then distributed the drug locally and in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Durango, which is located in the Four Corners area--where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet--is a major transit point for cocaine transported from California and Arizona. Much of the cocaine interdicted in the Four Corners area is destined for Boston, Chicago, and New York City.
Properties of Cocaine:
Cocaine is a powerfully addictive drug of abuse. Once having tried cocaine, an individual cannot predict or control the extent to which he or she will continue to use the drug. Cocaine is often thought of as being a drug of the 80's and has been replaced by crack, but Colorado Drug Rehab receives many calls from people throughout Colorado that are snorting cocaine and report that they don't do crack because of its addiction potential. We have found that there is an abundance of misinformation about addiction by most users and even though crack does lead very quickly to a strong and highly compulsive addiction, cocaine is not much less addicting if used on a frequent basis.
The major routes of administration of cocaine are sniffing or snorting, injecting, and smoking (including free-base and crack cocaine). Snorting is the process of inhaling cocaine powder through the nose where it is absorbed into the bloodstream through the nasal tissues. Injecting is the act of using a needle to release the drug directly into the bloodstream. Smoking involves inhaling cocaine vapor or smoke into the lungs where absorption into the bloodstream is as rapid as by injection.
There is great risk whether cocaine is ingested by inhalation (snorting cocaine), injecting cocaine, or smoking cocaine. It appears that compulsive cocaine use may develop even more rapidly if the substance is smoked rather than snorted. Smoking allows extremely high doses of cocaine to reach the brain very quickly and brings an intense and immediate high. The injecting drug user is at risk for transmitting or acquiring HIV infection/AIDS if needles or other injection equipment are shared.
Cocaine is a strong central nervous system stimulant that interferes with the reabsorption process of dopamine, a chemical messenger associated with pleasure and movement. Dopamine is released as part of the brain's reward system and is involved in the high that characterizes cocaine consumption.
Characteristics of Cocaine Consumption in Colorado:
Physical effects of cocaine use include constricted peripheral blood vessels, dilated pupils, and increased temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. The duration of cocaine's immediate euphoric effects, which include hyper-stimulation, reduced fatigue, and mental clarity, depends on the route of administration. The faster the absorption, the more intense the high. On the other hand, the faster the absorption, the shorter the duration of action. The high from snorting may last 15 to 30 minutes, while that from smoking may last 5 to 10 minutes. Increased use can reduce the period of stimulation.
Users of cocaine report feelings of restlessness, irritability, and anxiety. An appreciable tolerance to the high may be developed, and many addicts report that they seek but fail to achieve as much pleasure as they did from their first exposure. Scientific evidence suggests that the powerful neuropsychologic reinforcing property of cocaine is responsible for an individual's continued use, despite harmful physical and social consequences. In rare instances, sudden death can occur on the first use of cocaine or unexpectedly thereafter. However, there is no way to determine who is prone to sudden death.
High doses of cocaine and/or prolonged use can trigger paranoia. Smoking crack cocaine can produce a particularly aggressive paranoid behavior in users. When addicted individuals stop using cocaine, they often become depressed. This also may lead to further cocaine use to alleviate depression. Prolonged cocaine snorting can result in ulceration of the mucous membrane of the nose and can damage the nasal septum enough to cause it to collapse. Cocaine-related deaths are often a result of cardiac arrest or seizures followed by respiratory arrest.
Added Danger: Mixing with Alcohol
When people mix cocaine and alcohol consumption, they are compounding the danger each drug poses and unknowingly forming a complex chemical experiment within their bodies. NIDA-funded researchers have found that the human liver combines cocaine and alcohol and manufactures a third substance, cocaethylene, that intensifies cocaine's euphoric effects, while possibly increasing the risk of sudden death.
Cocaine Drug Rehab in Colorado: Call 888.781.7060
History of Cocaine Use In America
In 1860 cocaine was isolated in pure form, but there isn’t any significant reports of its use until 1883 when Dr. Theodor Aschenbrandt, a German military physician, secured a stable supply and issued it to the Bavarian soldier during maneuvers and noted the beneficial effect of suppressing fatigue.
Aschendrandt’s writings on cocaine caught the fascination of a young Viennese neurologist, Sigmund Freud, who was suffering from chronic fatigue, depression and various neurotic symptoms. Freud tried the drug as well as giving it to a colleague who was suffering from a nervous disease and morphine addiction and to a patient with gastric disorders. Freud found the initial results to be favorable and wrote that cocaine was a “magical drug”. In 1884, Freud wrote to his fiancée about his experiences with cocaine:
“If all goes well I will write an essay on it and I expect it will win its place in therapeutics by the side of morphine and superior to it. I have other hopes and intentions about it. I take very small doses of it regularly against depression and against indigestion, and with the most brilliant success…. In short it is only now that I feel that I am a doctor, since I have helped one patient and hope to help more.”1
After pushing the drug on more patients and colleagues, Freud had a following of believers, but within a few years, there were an increasing number of reports of compulsive use, drug abuse, addiction and undesirable side effects.
When this information hit the patent medicine industry in the United States, the benefits of an unregulated drug, cocaine, quickly became a major ingredient in most of the over-the-counter medications. Again, cocaine became the “magical drug” and was touted for treating everything from alcoholism and alcohol abuse to venereal disease, but mainly as a cure for addiction to other patent medicines. Since the cocaine produces a level of euphoria, the patent medicine industry experienced its golden age of popularity. Once the patent medicine industry was closed due to legislation restricting drugs of pleasure, cocaine didn’t have much effect in America until the later half of the twentieth century when drug abuse and addiction was becoming a major treatment issue in the country.
1, Ernest Jones, The life and work of Sigmund Freud, vol. 1 (New York: Basic Books, 1953), 81; Freud’s paper “Uber Coca” (On Coca) as been reprinted in cocaine papers by Sigmund Freud, ed. Robert Byck (New York: New American Library, 1975), 49-73.
41 Random Facts About . . .Cocaine
Printed by permission from Random Facts... http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/07/09_cocaine.html
1. Cocaine is an extraction of the leaves of the Erythroxylon coca bush, which is indigenous to the Andean highlands of South America. Most of the cocaine available in the U.S. is transported from the country of Colombia.e
2. Cocaine comes in two main forms, powder and crystalline. The crystal rock form, commonly known as crack or freebase, is cocaine that has not been neutralized by an acid.b
3. Approximately 35.9 million Americans aged 12 and older have tried cocaine at least once in their lifetime, according to a national survey, and about 2.1 million Americans are regular users.e
4. Drug enforcement personnel estimate that about 2,500 Americans every day try cocaine for the first time.e
5. After marijuana, cocaine is the second most commonly used illicit drug in the United States.bCocaine causes three times more deaths than any other illegal drug
6. Cocaine is the most frequently reported illicit substance associated with drug abuse fatalities and causes three times more deaths than any other illegal drug.f However, prescription drug abuse has recently passed cocaine abuse as the leading cause of all drug-related deaths.a
7. Cocaine may be administered by snorting through the nose, injecting into the bloodstream with a needle, or smoking to produce vapors. Powder cocaine is generally snorted or mixed with water and injected, while crack cocaine is most commonly smoked.b
8. Of the more than two million Americans that currently use cocaine, just over 700,000 are users of freebase or crack cocaine.e
9. Cocaine is the most powerful central nervous stimulant found in nature. Its physical effects include constricted blood vessels and increased temperature, heart rate, and blood flow. Users of the drug experience greater alertness, energy, self-confidence, and even power after administration.f
10. Cocaine produces its euphoric effect by activating the nerve cells in the brain that release dopamine, a chemical associated with pleasure and mental alertness. The drug then inhibits neural transporters from "mopping up" the dopamine and storing it for a later time. The longer the dopamine stays active, the longer the sense of euphoria lasts.f
11. Coca leaves, the source of pure cocaine, have been chewed and ingested for thousands of years for the euphoric effects of the drug. They were first used by members of the Inca civilization in the Andes mountains, who believed the coca plant was a gift from the gods.c
12. Pure cocaine was first extracted from the leaves of the coca plant in 1859 and was marketed in a fortified wine in France as early as 1863.c
13. Cocaine was first used in the U.S. in the 1880s, where it was applied as an anesthetic in eye, nose, and throat operations. This use has since become obsolete with the development of safer drugs.g
14. In 1884, William Stewart Halsted, a famous American physician, performed the first surgery using cocaine as an anesthetic. Subsequently, Halsted became the first cocaine-addicted physician on record.g
15. Cocaine hydrochloride, the purified chemical from the leaves of the coca plant, was the main active ingredient in several tonics and elixirs produced for a variety of illnesses in the early 1900s. One product, Tucker's Asthma Specific, contained 420 milligrams of cocaine per ounce of the medicine.g
16. The soft drink Coca-Cola originally contained an estimated nine milligrams of cocaine per serving, which combined with caffeine to create the drink's powerful stimulating effects. While cocaine was officially removed from the drink's ingredients in 1903, a cocaine-free version of the coca leaf is still used as a flavor additive in the soda.g
17. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud is one of the more famous proponents of cocaine. After trying the drug for the first time in 1884, he recommended it as a useful treatment for depression, alcoholism, and morphine addiction.g
18. The famous nineteenth-century literary character Sherlock Holmes was a frequent user of cocaine, and he is often described in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tales as indulging in cocaine when no stimulating cases were present to excite his mind.g
19. Cocaine was first regulated under federal law by the Harrison Act of 1914. The act banned nonmedical use of the drug and imposed the same criminal penalties for cocaine use and possession as already in place for opium, morphine, and heroine.g
20. After cocaine was outlawed in 1914, use of the drug dropped dramatically until it rebounded in the 1960s. By the late 1970s, it was commonly used by middle and upper-middle class Americans and it became known as the drug of the 1970s and 1980s.d
21. Crack cocaine appeared in the mid 1980s and became an instant "hit" among poor and young users, due to its relatively inexpensive street price and quick euphoric effects.d
22. Common street names for cocaine include coke, blow, C, marching powder, and nose candy, among dozens of others that signify cocaine and cocaine mixtures with other recreational drugs.b
23. Cocaine is nearly always diluted by dealers in order to increase the overall quantity and maximize profits. Common additives in cocaine include lactose, lidocaine, cornstarch, talcum powder, and sugar.b
24. Because cocaine enters the bloodstream much faster when it is smoked, smoking crack cocaine can bring users to a euphoric state twice as fast as when the drug is snorted. Since the onset of the drug is faster and more intense, the subsequent "crash" after use is also more extreme for users of crack cocaine.b
25. Average street price for a gram of pure cocaine in the U.S. currently is between $80 and $100. The average price for a rock of crack cocaine is $10 to $25.b
26. In 2007, nearly 50,000 kilos of cocaine were seized in the U.S. during drug arrests. The wholesale street value of this amount of cocaine was approximately $1.5 billion.h
27. In the year 2007, nearly 12,000 offenders in the U.S. were sentenced to prison time on cocaine-related charges. More than 95% of the cocaine cases sent to federal courts involved trafficking of the drug.e
28. The highest rates of cocaine use in the U.S. are among adults aged 18 to 25, with about 5% of Americans in this age group admitting current use of the drug.e
29. Cocaine is extremely addictive, and frequent users generally require more and more hits to produce the same high. When the drug is smoked, as in the form of crack cocaine, addiction tends to develop more quickly.f
30. Babies born to mothers who used cocaine during the pregnancy tend to be born prematurely, have low birth weights, and suffer from brain damage. The risk of spontaneous abortion is also greatly increased with cocaine use during pregnancy.f
31. More than 400,000 babies are born addicted to cocaine each year in the U.S.f
32. Men are more likely to use cocaine than women, as the drug is associated with living dangerously and wildly, but the gender gap is beginning to decrease. According to 2007 statistics, there are approximately 700,000 new male users each year in the U.S. and about 500,000 new female users.e
33. Men tend to feel the effects of cocaine faster than women and report more episodes of euphoria and dysphoria (intense bad feelings) related to the drug than women do.f
34. When cocaine is used in combination with alcohol, the body converts the two substances into cocaethylene. This toxic combination causes a greater duration of drug effects in the brain and is the cause of more deaths than any other drug combination.f
35. Between 30% and 60% of users combine cocaine with alcohol. This concurrent use is the cause of nearly 75% of cocaine-related fatalities in the U.S., and a cocaine user is 25 times more likely to experience sudden death when combining it with alcohol.f
36. Approximately one third of the deaths associated with cocaine use are caused by the direct pharmacological effects of the drug itself. The vast majority of deaths related to cocaine are caused by homicide, suicide, and motor vehicle collisions as a result of the drug's mind-altering properties.f
37. Cocaine overdose is the most common reason for drug-related visits to the emergency department in the U.S., causing 31% of such visits. In 1978, cocaine accounted for only 1% of drug-related emergency room visits.a,e
38. Approximately 10% of people who begin using cocaine will immediately progress to serious, heavy use of the drug.f
39. Cocaine users tend to have higher rates of antisocial personality disorder, depression, anxiety, and multi-substance abuse than the general population. These traits are also more common among their immediate-family relatives.f
40. According to one study, trace amounts of cocaine can be found on four out of every five dollar bills in circulation. However, because cocaine is a fine powder and is easily spread around, presence of the drug does not necessarily mean the bill was used as a snorting straw.d
41. Worldwide, the use of cocaine has been reported in more than two thirds of all countries. The U.S. has the highest incidence of cocaine abuse, with New Zealand, Mexico, and Colombia following behind. The lowest rates of cocaine use are found in Asia.c
-- Posted July 9, 2009. Updated December 29, 2009.
References
a Centers for Disease Control. "Overdose Deaths Involving Prescription Opioids Among Medicaid Enrollees - Washington, 2004--2007." Accessed: December 28, 2009.
b Connolly, Sean. 2009. Cocaine. St. Louis, MO: The Saunders Group, Inc.
c Gootenberg, Paul. 1999. Cocaine: Global Histories. New York, NY: Routledge.
d Musto, David. 2002. Drugs in America: A Documentary History. New York, NY: New York University Press.
e Office of National Drug Control Policy. "Cocaine Facts & Figures." Accessed: June 2, 2009.
f Platt, Jerome J. 1997. Cocaine Addiction: Theory, Research, and Treatment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
g Spillane, Joseph F. and Barry E. Kosofsky. 2002. Cocaine: From Medical Marvel to Modern Menace in the United States, 1884-1920. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
h U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "Stats & Facts." Accessed: June 2, 2009.
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