Cocaine Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Cocaine i s a natural plant alkaloid produced by the coca plant (Erythroxylon spp.), a shrub native to the lower eastern Andean slopes and domesticated by Andean farmers. Benezoylmethyl ecgonine (C17H21NO4), orcocaine, comprises .5 to 2 percent of coca leaves. While the genus Erythroxylon contains 17 species, only two (E. coca and E. novogranatense) produce sufficient cocaine to process into street drugs. Most coca for traditional use and the drug industry is grown in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.

Coca leaves have been an important part of Andean cultures for over 3,000 years. Inca state and religious rituals used coca leaves. Today, Andean people chew coca by holding a wad mixed with alkaline lime or ash in their jaw. Coca leaves are a mild stimulant and appetite suppressant. They provide critical nutrients and cure digestive and respiratory ailments. Tourists drink coca tea to combat altitude sickness. In Andean communities, sharing and chewing coca is an important social ritual. Leaves are used in religious divination and offerings to mountain spirits.

A Welcome Drug Turns Sour

German chemists first isolated and extracted cocaine in the 1850s. It soon was added to medicinal tonics, wine, and a new drink, Coca-Cola. Scientists discovered that cocaine could be a surgical anesthetic, and Sigmund Freud advocated using it to treat medical and psychological problems. Tests also proved that the drug increased endurance. By the turn of the century, the chemical company Merck was producing around three tons of cocaine annually. The U.S. and European governments urged Andean countries to increase production and exported coca to grow in Javanese plantations.

The early 1900s saw a quick shift in the United States toward condemnation and illegalization of cocaine, as doctors diagnosed numerous cocaine addictions and negative side effects. In 1914, the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act prohibited cocaine use except as an anesthetic. Under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, cocaine became a Schedule II substance, making it illegal to sell, buy, or possess without a medical license or prescription.

Today, cocaine production, trafficking, and retail is associated with drug cartels and street gangs. Latin American coca is shipped to Colombia to extract cocaine, a multistep process that uses sodium bicarbonate, kerosene, and sulfuric acid to produce cocaine powder. Drug traffickers smuggle powder into consumer countries, where it is “cut” with fillers such as cornstarch before being sold for $50 to $150 per gram. Cocaine users snort powder, allowing mucus membranes to absorb the salt cocaine hydrochloride. Consumers also dissolve powder in water and inject it. Within consumer countries, cocaine powder may be processed further to produce freebase or crack, base forms of cocaine. Crack costs $5 to $20 to for a .1 to .5 gram “rock.” Freebase and crack are smoked. Heat vaporizes the cocaine, which consumers inhale. Crack gets its name from the crackling sound the rock makes when heated.

Cocaine and the Nervous System

Cocaine stimulates the central nervous system by interfering with dopamine cycling. Dopamine stimulates neurons in the brain, allowing people to experience pleasure. Normally, dopamine is active only briefly before being carried away by a dopamine transporter. Cocaine binds to dopamine transporters, so dopamine continues to stimulate neurons and drug users experience prolonged euphoria. Smoking crack produces an intense high that lasts 5 to 10 minutes. Snorting cocaine powder produces a less intense high that lasts 15 to 40 minutes. Signs of cocaine high include hyperactivity, decreased appetite, and dilated pupils.

Cocaine is a neuropsychologically rather than physiologically addictive stimulant. Its short euphoria may be followed by depression and an intense craving to experience the high anew. Persistent users build up tolerance, requiring greater doses at more frequent intervals. However, they also develop sensitivity to side effects. Excessive dosage or prolonged use can cause irritability, paranoia, and hallucinations. Cocaine can cause death by heart attack and stroke. An estimated 34.9 million Americans over the age of 12 have used cocaine at least once in their lifetime, including 2.7 million chronic users. Currently, there is no pharmacological addiction treatment. Social impacts of cocaine use include devastated families, drug trade violence, risk of disease from needle sharing, and associated theft and prostitution as users try to pay for their habit.

Cocaine production causes environmental and social problems in Andean countries, as well. Illegal coca farms have little long-term stability combined with a strong incentive for maximizing productivity. Resultant environmental impacts include forest cover loss, soil erosion, and water pollution from processing chemicals. Drug cartels in Colombia are associated with violence and political corruption.

Drug control in the United States involves border patrols, seizing cocaine stashes, and mandatory yet unequal drug sentencing. Possessing five grams of crack incurs the same five-year sentence as possessing 500 grams of cocaine powder. The justification for this policy is the greater violence associated with the crack trade. Detractors complain of racial and class discrimination, as crack use is associated with minorities and low-income neighborhoods.

In Andean countries, cocaine control has involved downing suspected drug planes, destroying processing labs, eradicating coca fields, and promoting substitute crops. These efforts are costly and may have little impact on cartel leaders. In coca eradication, crop-dusters spray herbicides over coca fields. Collateral damage includes food crops and biodiversity destruction. Crop substitution has not been successful, since producing coca earns households many times more than substitute crops such as coffee or pineapple. Moreover, many farmers produce coca under threat of violence. Controlling drug trade and cocaine addiction while maintaining Andean cultural heritage rights to traditional coca use has been difficult to accomplish.

Bibliography:

Celerino III Castillo, Dave Harmon, Dave Harmon, Powderburns: Cocaine, Contras and the Drug War (Mosaic Press, 1994);
Paul Gootenberg, Cocaine: Global Histories (Taylor & Francis, 1999); Roger D. Weiss, Steven M. Mirin, Cocaine (Random House, 1987).