DRUGS IN AND AROUND THE OU CAMPUS:

Cocaine's Use Has Declined on Campus, Though It's Still Being Used

Editor's note: The stories on this page represent the final
installment of a series about drug use on and around the Ohio
University campus.

The ancient Inca civilization of Peru considered it a "gift from the
gods." Centuries later, it made the list of ingredients in various
wines and Coca-Cola. Author Robert Lewis Stevenson wrote "The Strange
Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" on a six-day binge. And even Sigmund
Freud, one of its most famous fans, conducted studies on it,
declaring it good for fighting depression, asthma and digestive
disorders, among other ailments.

The "it" is cocaine, a powdery white substance that the German
chemist Friedrich Gaedcke isolated as the active ingredient in coca
leaves in 1855. Until a 1915 law made cocaine illegal, it was used
regularly as an anesthetic in the United States.

Today, the drug isn't nearly as popular, either at Ohio University or
elsewhere. Cocaine saw its highest chance at a return during the
1980s and '90s. Tabloids then ran photos of strung-out actors, and
many people viewed snorting lines at a party as glamorous.

"People considered it more of a status symbol," confirmed Terry
Koons, assistant director of health education and wellness at OU.

Koons teaches a recreational-drug class for students who have been
referred by OU Judiciaries. In his four years here, he said he has
only seen people referred for marijuana use, never cocaine.

In a 2005 alcohol and drug survey undertaken by Health Education and
Wellness, only 4 percent of the 1,000 OU student respondents said
they had used cocaine. That figure equaled Ridalin use. Meanwhile, 8
percent said they had taken painkillers for something other than
their intended use, and 35 percent admitted to marijuana usage.

Koons said cocaine's popularity has dropped because it's "just not
socially acceptable anymore." Intense educational movements pushed
the drug into the shadows of dark alleys and street corners to the
extent that now people take prescription drugs such as Adderall, what
Koons calls the "poor man's cocaine," for the same purposes.

Drugs such as Adderall, which are used to treat Attention Deficit
Disorder, are legal if prescribed by a physician, he said.
Consequently, people consider them safer for consumption than
cocaine. However, he added, these drugs too take an immense toll on
human systems when consumed in high amounts and for the wrong reasons.

Chad Scott, a counselor at Health Recovery Services in Athens, said
treatment for cocaine differs depending on the person's level of
addiction. Often when they come in, he said, they are taking a
combination of substances. Those who experience withdrawal for
cocaine specifically, though, are put under medical attention because
symptoms can be severe.

People often seek the drug because they want to slow their racing
minds and give themselves a window of opportunity to calm down enough
to bring their thoughts to a focus. Withdrawal has the opposite
effect and is usually quite intense.

In many cases, people feel as if bugs are crawling over their skin,
due to an over-stimulation of the senses, said Koons. When this
happens, they can tear at their skin in attempts to cure the itching.
People also become extremely nervous and anxious without the cocaine,
which calms nerves and enables them to focus on one detail at a time.

Scott said cocaine users also are given drug education and group and
individual counseling, where they work toward the typical 12-steps of
sobriety found in recovery programs.

"With cocaine, treatment differs slightly because the addiction
cycles through intense cravings at times," Scott said. Those cravings
occur as the result of peoples' brain chemistry.

Criminal penalties for selling all but the smallest amounts of
cocaine, which is considered a Schedule II drug, are severe, with
significant jail-time mandated. The length of prison time depends on
how much cocaine was sold and whether death or injury resulted from
the sale. Possession of bulk amounts (over 25 grams) also carries
mandatory prison time.

OU's Student Code of Conduct calls for penalties ranging up to
expulsion for either the possession or sale of cocaine.

While the ancient Incas and Freud may have touted cocaine as a wonder
drug, the majority of people today tend to think otherwise, turned
off by side effects that include heart attack and stroke. Use at OU
currently reflects national rates, which are low at best.