Drug Facts
A Short History of Cocaine
In the early 1500s, the Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci, introduced Europeans to the Inca’s use of coca leaves. The Andean region’s indigenous cultures had been chewing the leaf for centuries as a remedy to alleviate hunger, fatigue and sadness. While...
Modern Cocaine Use
Unfortunately, America’s collective memory from its first experiences with cocaine addiction would fade into the recesses of history. Decades later in the 1970s when the U.S. drug culture was flourishing, mostly through marijuana and less so with LSD, cocaine’s sudden...
Enter the Colombian Cartels
Before cocaine became illegal in the first decade of the 20th century, its raw material came from countries over 10,000 miles away. Yet, since the 1970s, getting cocaine to the U.S. has been as short as a 1,400-mile flight from...
Prescription Opiates Overview
Under their more commonly known brand names like Oxycontin and Vicodin, the misuse of prescription opiates, like oxycodone began to surge in the U.S. in the late 1990s. Opiate overdoses are now the leading cause of injury-related fatalities in the...
Cocaine on the Decline in the U.S.?
Much has been made of the recent decline in cocaine consumption in the U.S. by 50% from 2007 – 2012. The most compelling arguments of cocaine’s decline attribute the reduction to better strategies by the U.S. and Mexican governments to...