Cocaine increased popularity

The higher than expected frequencies of alcohol PCP - and heroin PCP-related deaths also would have occurred if the combinations were preferred by the users. The motivation may involve the injection of heroin to moderate the adverse effects of PCP, or the use of PCP to ease the pain of heroin withdrawal. Another explanation assumes a stimulant effect of PCP. The use of stimulants, especially cocaine, with heroin is increasingly popular among heroin users (Kozel et al. 1982). 

Crack, an inexpensive but powerfully addictive form of smokable cocaine, becomes increasingly popular. Meanwhile, heroin becomes less popular as fear of overdoses and AIDS make needle use seem much more risky. 

The MDA cluster is presented here as the first of five psychedelic clusters that are more exotic—at least in the sense of being used by fewer people than LSD, mescaline, marijuana and psilocybian mushrooms. It should be emphasized that now we begin to depart from consensus on what s truly "psychedelic. Effects from members of the MDA-duster can easily be likened, and thereby denigrated in the minds of many, to those of cocaine or amphetamine. Although the MDA-like compounds are increasingly popular, their subdued effects couple them with the subtlety of marijuana for some. 

For recreational use, cocaine (hydrochloride salt) is often administered by nasal insufflation ( snorting ) or less frequently, intravenously. Cocaine is more volatile when converted from the salt to the freebase therefore freebase cocaine may be inhaled by smoking. This latter route of administration results in a rapid onset of action. It has gained increased popularity owing to the ready availabihty of the freebase cocaine form known as crack. Consequently the number of emergency room admissions related to cocaine toxicity has increased. 

Cocaine enjoyed a short popularity in human medicine as a local anesthetic, but the primary concern today is that cocaine s CNS effects appeal to many people, and cocaine is presently a major drug of abuse. Its popularity boomed in the 1980s when free base cocaine, known as crack, became available. The ability to achieve rapid, high brain levels of cocaine by smoking crack has greatly increased its abuse potential and also its toxicity. 

Both Valente et al. and Baumgartner et al. note that the popular technique of pulverizing hair samples to a fine powder with a pestle and mortar does not increase the amount of isolated cocaine analyte. However, pulverizing is commonly used by many laboratories performing mass-production hair analyses. 

Rush, Roll, Higgins, 1998). The combination of cocaine (or amphetamine) and heroin (or other opiate) is called a speedbair and is particularly popular among heroin addicts. Morphine and cocaine combinations have been studied in the laboratory, and as with alcohol, morphine appeared to enhance the pleasurable effects of cocaine but also increased the cardiovascular effects. Combinations of cocaine and heroin have sometimes been blamed for drug overdose deaths (as in the deaths of comedian John Belushi and actor River Phoenix), and the synergistic effects on blood pressure and heart rate may be a factor (Foltin Fischman, 1992 Rush et al., 1998). 

Cocaine has a very interesting history. The coca plant was used by South American Indians for religious and mystical purposes and as a stimulant both to increase endurance and to alleviate hunger. It was introduced into Europe during the 1800s, and at the end of the 19th century, cocaine use was popular and socially acceptable. Various cocaine-containing preparations were available, and it also was used to fortify wines (e.g., Vin Coca). For a period of approximately 20 years, until just after the turn of the century, it was a constituent of the soft drink Coca-Cola. Additionally, cocaine was used for therapeutic reasons but was later supplanted by amphetamine. 

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