The Effects of Cocaine
There is widespread belief that cocaine in general and crack cocaine in particular causes crime to go up at a tremendously increased rate. There are mainly three kinds of crimes associated with cocaine: systemic crime, psychopharmacologically driven crime, and economically compulsive crime. Cocaine contributes to systemic crime is because of its underground system. One expert at the Sentencing Commission hearing on crack explains that “in an underground economy, you can’t sue. So you use violence to enforce your breaches of contract or perceived breaches of contract” ( qtd. in “Cocaine and Crime”). It is illegal to produce, sell, and use cocaine in the United States, so the whole system of cocaine associated with production, trafficking, and use is an underground system. In this underground system, if one dealer has conflicts with another, one can not go to court to ask for help; all he can do is use violence to settle this conflict. Violence is a tool for the drug dealers to maintain discipline, resolve disputes, and enforce control. According to U.S. Sentence Commission, a 1990 study by Jeffrey Fagan and Ko-lin Chin found evidence that violence is associated specifically with the economic regulation and control of the cocaine marketplace. The study compared results for crack and powder cocaine sellers and found that significant percentages of both regularly engaged in a range of violent interpersonal conflicts associated with selling (qtd. in “Cocaine and Crime”). A lot of time, the drug dealers will assault the drug users to collect debts, fight with other sellers over drug quality and territories, killing informers, and so on. Cocaine contributes to the crimes is because its underground system. The drug dealers need the tool of violence to regulate the disputes between each other.
Cocaine contributes to the crime also because of its psychopharmacologically driven force. Goldstein in U.S. Sentence Commission explains, “[D]rugs may have a psychopharmacological effect if they are used to boost courage to commit crimes, either because they affect the brain in this manner directly or because the user expects the drugs to have this effect” (qtd. in “Cocaine and Crime”). Drug use may contribute to a person behaving violently or it may alter a person’s behavior in such a manner as to bring about that person’s violent victimization. After the use of cocaine, the user will be excitable, irrational, and violent. The effect of cocaine will directly impact the behavior of a user, one consequence of which is criminal conduct.
Cocaine contributes to the crime also because of its economically impulsive force. Goldstein in U.S. Sentence Commission notes, “Economically compulsive crime is committed by persons who are financially driven to the criminal activity by financial needs brought about by drug consumption – for example, robbery that is committed by drug users in order to support costly drug use” ( qtd. in “Cocaine and crime”). Cocaine has really strong addiction to the users. If the cocaine users do not have enough money to purchase the cocaine that they need, by the effect of addition they will tend to whatever that can to get some money. Committing a crime, like go the steal or rob for money is the easiest way for the cocaine users to get money.
According to a study in U.S. Sentence Commission, the vast majority of crime that engaged in cocaine,- more than 98 percent, – were retail drug sales. Most of these cocaine users reported that some of their living expenses and over 90 percent of their drug use were financed by crime, showing that street users rely on frequent, relatively small drug sales to support their cocaine habit. The study also shows that “48 percent of the men and 62 percent of the women committed, on average, one ‘petty property crime’ (e.g., shoplifting) per week, and some 69 percent of women users ‘were trading sex for money or drugs’, or helping a prostitute partner do so” (qtd. in “Cocaine and crime”). This information shows that cocaine users greatly relates with crimes by financial situation. Addiction to cocaine is so strong that it will force the users to do whatever they can to get money to support their use of cocaine.
Cocaine not only contributes a bad effect in increasing the crimes, but also has seriously negative effects on human being. One is cocaine can affect users’ brains. According to Neil Swan, Dopamine has impacts to human brain’s functions, but cocaine has negative effects on it. Once in the brain, it works in large part by occupying, or blocking, dopamine transporter sites in the terminal buttons of neurons in the brain. This prevents the reuptake of dopamine by the neurons that release it, allowing higher concentrations of dopamine to remain in the synapse for an extended period of time. This abnormally long presence, and high concentration, of dopamine in the synapse is believed to cause the high effects associated with cocaine use. Dopamine has been implicated in several important functions, including movement, attention, learning, and the reinforcing effects of drug use. Therefore, its extended presence in high concentrations will be effective in the particular parts of the brain that control these functions, such as the basal ganglia and the limbic system (“Brian Scans”). Cocaine’s negative impacts on dopamine mean that it gives negative influences on human brain’s functions.
Cocaine can also affect users’ physical bodies. According to NIDA, people who use cocaine often do not eat or sleep regularly. They can experience increased heart rate, blood pressure, blood vessels, temperature, and muscle spasms. If they snort cocaine, they can also permanently damage their nasal tissue (“NIDA InfoFacts”). Cocaine can also can strokes on human body. Steven Stocker explains that “cocaine-related strokes became more frequent, particularly in the mid-1980s after the advent of crack cocaine. These strokes involved sudden dramatic reductions in blood flow to areas of the brain, resulting in neurological symptoms, such as paralysis, loss of speech, and dementia” ( “Cocaine Abuse”). According to Steven Stocker, cocaine can also reduce the blood supply to various brain regions (“Cocaine Abuse”). From these facts, we can see that cocaine has negative effects on human physical body.
Cocaine affects users’ emotions. According to NIDA, the users of cocaine always feel paranoid, angry, hostile, restless, irritable, and anxious even when they are not high (“NIDA InfoFacts”). When the regular cocaine users do not have cocaine, they will have sleep and eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and the mental craving for the drug, which always forces them to use the cocaine again. After use cocaine for certain times, users of cocaine will have a strong psychological rely on cocaine. The users suffer serious depression when they run of out their cocaine. They will be really down until they can use cocaine again (“Information of drugs: cocaine”). From the facts above, we can also tell that cocaine has really bad influences on human’s emotion.
Cocaine is one of the most addictive drugs. According to ACCG, cocaine interferes with the way one’s brain processes chemicals that create feelings of pleasure, so one need more and more of the drug just to feel normal. Cocaine’s addiction is so strong that it tends to control users’ lives. People who become addicted to cocaine start to lose interest in other areas of their life, like school, friends, and sports (“Cocaine abuse general”). When not taking cocaine, many the cocaine users can not even sleep and eat well. The website sponsored by Syswllt notes that, “Experiments with animals have suggested that cocaine is perhaps the most powerful drug of all in producing psychological dependence” (“Information about drugs: cocaine”). Cocaine has really bad effect on human body; however, it is hard to get rid of after the first use because of such strong addiction.
Cocaine can kill people too. Taking over lager amount of cocaine can kill a person. According to NIDA, some cocaine users use a large amount of cocaine in order to increase the intensity of euphoric effects; however, after taking certain amount cocaine, the tolerance of the user will be built up too. The users of cocaine will be more sensitive to cocaine’s anesthetic and convulsant effects without increasing the does taken. The increased sensitivity always will cause the users’ deaths while the users do not even realize (“NIDA InfoFact”). Cocaine’s effects are so bad that it can even cause the users’ deaths.
Not only the cocaine will have great harms to human body but also has negatives effects on society. The first effect that cocaine has on society is it increases the crimes engaged with cocaine, which threatens the safety of people. Because of the strong addictive force of cocaine, the users who lack of money for cocaine will tend to commit a crime like stealing or robbing in order to gather money for the purchase of cocaine. A lot of innocent people will get hurt from cocaine users’ action. According to a recent study by Inciardi and Pottieger in U.S. Sentence and Commission, a lot of cocaine users also earn money for purchase of cocaine by doing small drug sale (qtd. in “Cocaine and Crime”). Those selling actions are illegal itself and also directly help support the illegal drug market. The available access to cocaine will always increase the possibility for people to use cocaine, which indirectly hurt the users themselves too. The increased crimes and illegal sale actions of cocaine has threatened the safety of people.
Cocaine cost society great amount of money because of the drug treatments and crimes. According to the Treatment Episode Data Set, cocaine was the third most common illicit drug responsible for treatment admissions in 2000, accounting for 13.6% of all drug treatment admissions (qtd in “Cocaine November 2003”). From the data we can see, government has to put a lot of money that they should have not put into to the treatments of cocaine users. Because of the crimes that caused by cocaine, government has to put money in to security, courts, prisons for the illegal actions in order to prevent those from happening. Every year it costs U.S. government millions of dollars for cocaine crimes and treatments.
Cocaine also ruins the people who should have done some contribution to the society. The people who have addicted to cocaine are not interested in their jobs, schools, sports, friends, and families any more. All that they have in their minds are cocaine. 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health in article “Cocaine November 2003” shows that, “During 2000, there were an estimated 2,707,000 chronic cocaine users and 3,035,000 occasional cocaine users in the United States” (qtd in “Cocaine November 2003). The data shows us that there is a huge number of cocaine users who are suppose to do contribution to the society; however, they are addicted to cocaine and not interested in anything else. It is a great loss to the society for losing labors who use cocaine.
Cocaine has some positive effects in the anesthesia over a period of time in the history; however, overall cocaine’s effects on increasing and negative effects on human body badly impact the society.
Works Cited
“Cocaine”. Wikipedia. 14 March 2005. 14 March 2005. .
“Cocaine abuse general”. ACCG (Associates counseling and child guidance). 14 March, 2005. .
“Cocaine And Crime”. WE THE PEOPLE. 1996. 14 March 2005. .
“Information about drugs: cocaine”. Cyswllt Ceredigion Contact. Homepage. 14 March, 2005. .
“NIDA InfoFacts: Crack and Cocaine” NIDA(National Institution on Drug Abuse). September 2004. 14 March 2005. .
Stocker, Steven. “Cocaine Abuse May Lead To Strokes and Mental Deficits” July 1998. NIDA(National Institution on Drug Abuse). 14 March 2005. .
Swan, Neil. “Brain Scans Open Window to View Cocaine’s Effects on the Brain”. NIDA(National Institution on Drug Abuse). Homepage. July, 1998. 14 March 2005. .
