WHITE NOISE: COCAINE IS BACK ON THE SCENE

When you think of drug use among university students you probably think of
lots of beer and marijuana. One imagines alcohol as the major
stress-relieving tool on campus, with a joint getting rolled every now and
then at a party. But this is not the full picture according to researchers.
More and more of you may start hearing about the return of a certain disco
favourite. Cocaine is making its way back into the mainstream.

On Tuesday, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health released the
findings of their bi-annual drug survey on Canadian adolescents. One of the
trends of the past few years is the rise of cocaine as a recreational drug
among youth. While marijuana use has stayed relatively level, cocaine use
has steadily been rising from one per cent of students having used it in
1991 to five per cent in 2003. The survey was comprised of almost one
million Ontario students in grades 7 to 12 in the spring of 2003.

At the press conference, Doctor Edward Adlaf from CAMH spoke about the
increased availability of crack and cocaine. He said that fewer students
disapprove of cocaine because the perceptions of the risks are weakening.
"The increase in cocaine is the dominant increase of the past year," said
Adlaf. The doctor attributes this to the fact that the use of ecstasy is on
the decline for the first year. "The decrease in the use of ecstasy is a
reaction to the media portrayal of the risks. Ecstasy is being viewed as a
risky venture. Perhaps a substitution is occurring." In terms of
harmfulness, Adlaf said that cocaine and ecstasy are very different and
it's hard to compare them. The risks of cocaine are mainly related to the
cardiovascular system.

Cocaine causes blood pressure to surge and at the same time it constricts
the blood vessels. The possible dangers of abusing this drug are an
increased risk of a heart attack or a brain hemorrhage.

So does this growing gang of coke-snorting high school students mean that
coke exists only on the other side of the post-secondary divide? Evidence
shows that some of their older brothers and sisters in university have
already shown their fondness for the stuff. The latest available statistics
about university students from The Centre for Adiction and Mental Health
are from 1998, and show that five per cent of students nationwide have used
cocaine before and that 1.6 per cent had used it in the past year. Ontario
was also the second highest region for overall illicit drug use after
British Columbia.

None of this sits well with the city's law enforcement agents. One
constable from the Toronto Drug Squad who asked not to be named is appalled
by the use of cocaine. "Get your kicks elsewhere" is his message to
students. "Don't do it. It's a frightening step in the wrong direction. To
be a drug addict is a ruined life because you're forever seeking it." The
constable is sure that coke is as readily available as ever. "Anyone who
wants to get it can get it." Compared to other drugs cocaine is also quite
expensive. The constable put the price of a gram at between $100-$125. One
of his major concerns is that cocaine use is a mere stop on the road to
crack. "Cocaine is not as addictive to crack but crack is cheaper and it's
stronger." The downward spiral in such a lifestyle might then entail
frightening prospects. "I find it very scary. You see what it does to
people. Once you're started, look out!" he warned. "First it seems like a
lark but then it isn't. With women it can mean turning to prostitution and
for men it could be stealing to supply the habit."

If that's not scary enough then there's always the simple fact that you
might be getting cheated when you hand over your hard earned money for a
bag of coke. It's a case of "buyer beware" suggested the constable. The
purity of what you are paying for is not assured. "When we get large
amounts we send it off to be tested. Only 25 to 30 per cent of it is
actually cocaine. The rest is baking soda or some chemicals. You don't know
the level of the rush...you don't know what's in it." At all the levels of
production and distribution there are opportunities for the cocaine to
become diluted, thereby destroying the purity of the final product.

So, if cocaine is addictive, expensive and potentially harmful, why bother
with it? One U of T student who has been using cocaine recreationally for
more than a year said that she now uses it about once every other month.
"It's better than any other drug I've done," she said. "It's my drug of
choice." She says that most people that she knows have done it at one point
or another with a handful of her friends doing it on a regular basis. "It
seems normal," she commented. Saying that she started mainly out of peer
pressure, she was at first nervous about a drug that seemed so strong.
"Before I did coke it sounded like it would be intense. I would have
equated it with heroine. But now it doesn't seem that big of a deal."
Seeing the drugs' effects on her friends, "it didn't seem that extreme."
The student found that coke made her more energetic and talkative. "It's a
party drug."

Although cocaine has been a largely positive experience for her, the
student expressed a concern that she could see a tendency for it to become
addictive. A few people were perhaps using it too much. "Some I'm worried
about. They do it all the time and then they lie about it." She has seen
the results in others to be mixed. "Nobody's jumped off a roof, although
some people's marks have dropped." Personally, cocaine has also given her
an ache in the jaw the next day from grinding her teeth together. "You feel
shitty the next day. It also has a really yucky taste," she admitted,
describing the unpleasant way that the drug drips down into the mouth after
snorting.

Above all, it seems baffling that a substance that one equates with the
affluence of the 1980s is making its way into the lives of a student
population that is supposedly hard up for cash. "I can't explain it," she
commented, but added that the people she knows who use it on a regular
basis are quite wealthy.

Cocaine could continue to appeal to student consumers or it may fade away
with the eighties revival. Doctor Adlaf says that, as was the case with
ecstasy, the key to reducing cocaine use may be simply paying attention to
it. "We've gone through it already with cocaine...these things are
cyclical" he said. "There will never be a time when we are completely drug
free. There will always be something."