Cocaine: Deadly "Snow"

Vacations can be wonderful things. In addition to taking you away from your "must do" tasks of life, you get a chance to observe things you may not have noticed before. I had one of those "ah, ha!" moments several years ago in Europe, but it wasn't so "ah, ha!" at the time. It was more like, "I wonder why..."

Walking down one of the main streets in Dublin, Ireland near the large park in town, I noted in the crowds of people passing by a number of young men and women who appeared to have had strokes. Some of them were in wheelchairs and others walked with canes or crutches. None of them could have been older than 23 or so. It was curious that so many young people seem to have suffered from this condition. Granted, I may have misperceived and jumped to a conclusion that wasn't warranted, but it just looked like stroke to me.

Back home, I began to continue to wonder what could have caused so many strokes in young people and my search led me to something I had seen years before. I had gone to a professional seminar where the topic was cocaine and whether or not it was addictive. Now that question sounds so pedestrian I can't even imagine we ever wondered if it weren't. Some people, however, still cling to the hope that it's not and point to its positive qualities.

Let me go back in history to the early 20th Century, a time when cocaine was considered not only good, but provided a beneficial push to one's energy and motivation to succeed in their careers. Freud found it incredibly useful in making him more productive. He even wrote an entire book on it (The Cocaine Papers). That is until one of his closest associates died from an overdose of this wondrous elixir.

It was commonly used as a means of helping patients recover from their addiction to morphine and opera singers used it prior to performances. How could this be bad for you? Didn't they put it in over-the-counter medications, soda and cigarettes? Hadn't Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, or so the story goes, use it as one of his characters most useful preparations? The character in question is Sherlock Holmes.

I began to speak to colleagues about the seminar at that time and they told me about their perceptions of cocaine. They'd seen young people brought into ERs with cocaine overdose symptoms and, in fact, one colleague had seen twin brothers die there. Heart failure and stroke were among the most prevalent problems of this "wonder" drug.

So, what would make anyone want to use it? How, with all the knowledge could anyone still use it as a "recreational" or stimulant drug for massive work output? Did these young people in Ireland suffer from the effects of too many Saturday nights with this new-found "snow?" I don't know the answer to the latter question and I still don't know if there's a greater number of young people in Dublin with stroke, but I did see an awful lot of them walking on that street that day.

Cocaine remains one of those substances that promise relief from the cares of the world, but weaves a web that strangles those who use it. I've seen it bring careers to a halt and police blotters begin to fill up with those who have tried to obtain it. One young man who had a major career in TV in his future saw it all end with a purchase just a few blocks from the studio.

Is it worth it? I don't think so.

Related Topics: Fewer Teens Report Risky Behavior, Herb Use Linked to Drug Abuse


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