Cocaine​—Dangerous Drug or Innocent Pastime?

IT “SATISFIES the hungry, gives new strength to the weary and exhausted and makes the unhappy forget their sorrows.” The writer, Garcilaso de la Vega, a 16th-century Spanish historian, was referring to the leaves of a bush that grows on the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains​—Erythroxylon coca. The effects he described came from one of the alkaloids found in the coca leaves​—the drug cocaine.

Many users of cocaine today​—an estimated 20 million in the United States alone—​regard it much the same. As 23-year-old ex-drug-addict Scott expressed it: “It puts you above what you really are. It makes you think you can do no wrong. Nothing else matters.”

Considered by most users to be a safe drug, in recent years it has become the drug of choice for recreational use. Touted as the “caviar of drugs,” “the ambrosia of the aristocrats” and “the rich man’s high,” using cocaine has become socially accepted as the fun thing to do. Millions consider it a respectable and innocent pastime.

Expensive and Seductive

So widespread has cocaine use become that estimates of sales (over $30 billion in the United States) place the cocaine trade among the very top of money-making businesses. At prices sometimes exceeding $2,500 an ounce,a cocaine is several times the price of gold.

“There has been an explosive increase in the use of cocaine by Americans in the last few years,” states Dr. William Pollin, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. He adds: “Even though cocaine is not physiologically addicting, I find this a very dangerous increase because we’re talking about a drug that may be the most seductive, intense and threatening drug we know.”​—Italics ours.

What are some of the arguments that cocaine users present to justify its use, even though banned by law? They contend that these laws were based on incorrect information and prejudice. They point out that the law lists cocaine as a narcotic, whereas it is in reality a stimulant. They say it is no more dangerous than alcohol or tobacco, which are used legally. Moreover, they feel that it is not physically addictive, is relatively harmless and that it is unlikely that one will die from it. They believe they have control and can stop using cocaine whenever they wish.

Is It Addictive?

But can they break the habit whenever they wish? One user wrote: “I used to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day. I broke that habit the first time. I tried to get off coke 32 times.” While using cocaine may not technically be considered physically addicting, there is rising evidence of psychological addiction.

Says Dr. Robert L. DuPont, Jr., former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse: “Of all the drugs, it is the most powerful in conveying a feeling of well-being. A cocaine user wants more of it all the time, and when he stops taking it, he feels depressed and exhausted. So he tries to go on redoubling what he takes.” The mental and physical letdown that occurs when the drug wears off exerts a tremendous motivation to repeat the use of it. Cocaine can become severely habit forming.

Writer Tom Henderson, once addicted to cocaine himself, explains: “Coke tickles those pleasure centers like almost nothing else, and once they’ve been so tickled, they take over.” Dr. David Smith of San Francisco stated: “Addiction is compulsion . . . and continued used in spite of the consequences. Cocaine is very addicting.” (Time, April 11, 1983) There are many cases of persons who just cannot give up their frequent use of cocaine, even though it may mean loss of job and financial ruin. Says Dr. Charles Schuster, head of the University of Chicago’s Drug Abuse Research Center: “This is an extremely seductive drug. It’s so good that you shouldn’t even try it once.” But is it physically dangerous?

Is It Dangerous?

“Don’t be deceived that cocaine is a safe drug,” Dr. Schuster warns. Even those who use and favor the drug will admit to certain discomforting symptoms, such as nervousness, shaking, runny nose, bleeding and vomiting. And while the use of cocaine may curb the body’s desire for food and sleep temporarily, it does not offset the need for such. It just knocks out nature’s warning system and gives a false feeling of excellence. Eventually the body has to come down or crash. Physical exhaustion and collapse are the result.

“A lot of people look at cocaine and think that the use of it has no consequences, you don’t have to pay the devil his due,” says Dr. Everett Ellinwood, expert on drug abuse. He continues: “You can develop paranoia, deep-seated suspicion and then go into hallucinations, delusions of grandeur and manic depression. A strong enough dose can make you psychotic and an overdose can kill you.”

Don, 36-year-old paramedic and ex-cocaine user, supports this conclusion, saying: “I was suffering from hallucinations and saw apparitions. At the time I was also delving into the occult. Under the influence of cocaine I had contact with personages and heard voices. I can see now how easily drugs and demonism can become intertwined.”

Sexual behavior can change as well. “It leads you to bizarre behavior,” said one female user of cocaine. “I did threesomes, foursomes, things I’d never do normally. You think you are fulfilling fantasies, but in the end they are unfulfilling. You have no soul.”

Under the headline “Heavy Use of Cocaine Is Linked to Surge in Deaths and Illnesses,” The New York Times report stated: “Cocaine . . . is sending more and more users to the emergency room or the morgue.” In one study of 68 deaths associated with the use of cocaine, 24 were due directly to its toxic effects.

Reports also tell how cocaine use alters the personality and sociability of those using it and leads them into self-destructive behavior. Besides becoming distrustful and paranoid, some become so totally obsessed with the drug that they abandon everything that formerly had meaning for them in life and become totally preoccupied with it.

While it is true that the effects of using cocaine vary, depending on the dose and individual body chemistry, the dangers are real. And they increase with the amount used. Most common is “snorting,” the inhalation of cocaine into the nose where it is absorbed through the mucous membranes. Besides giving the user a clogged and runny nose, this weakens and destroys the nasal tissue, resulting in bleeding and eventually a perforated septum​—a hole in the membrane dividing the nasal passages.

The “snorting” method can lead to the other common forms of use, injection and smoking, in order to get a bigger, better and faster “high.” These forms are considered the most dangerous and addicting, as the drug quickly makes its way to the brain. Although a rapid “high” is produced, it is often followed by a crash, or a period of extreme discomfort. Then more has to be taken to relieve the discomfort. Or a heroin habit may be started to bring the user down and relieve the irritability. Or both cocaine and heroin will be mixed in a process called “speedballing.” Death may ensue, as there is a great danger of overdose because of the uneven cutting and mixing that takes place several times before the drug reaches the user.

Cocaine Use and the Bible

The Bible warns that in “the last days” of this world’s present system of things, men would become “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, . . . without self-control, . . . lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God.” (2 Timothy 3:1-4) Today we live in a pleasure-bent world. More and more are seeking an escape from reality in the pleasurable stimulation of their senses. Cocaine gives them this intense feeling of euphoria. But concerning lovers of self and pleasure, the Bible counsels: “From these turn away.”​—2 Timothy 3:5.

How appropriate for those living in the last days is the Bible’s advice: “Keep strict watch that how you walk is not as unwise but as wise persons, buying out the opportune time for yourselves”! (Ephesians 5:15, 16) It would be unwise, then, to be lulled into becoming an uncaring, irresponsible individual just focusing on selfish pleasure. Yet, this is a pitfall of cocaine use. Says Dr. Schuster: “One of cocaine’s biggest dangers is that it diverts people from normal pursuits; it can entrap and redirect people’s activities into an almost exclusive preoccupation with the drug.”

While we are still in this present system of things, the Bible tells us to “repudiate ungodliness and worldly desires and to live with soundness of mind and righteousness and godly devotion,” at the same time being “obedient to governments and authorities as rulers.” (Titus 2:12; 3:1; see also Romans 12:2, 3.) In line with this counsel, one would certainly not want to engage in doing anything that is illegal or that involves contact with the criminal world.

Cocaine use does not produce “soundness of mind.” “It makes you feel that no matter what comes up, you can handle it,” said young Alvin, a former cocaine user. But the feelings cocaine gives of improved intellectual and physical abilities are deceptive. Says Newsweek: “Like most mind drugs, cocaine deals in illusions, not reality​—it is not very good at all in giving people qualities that they don’t already have.”

How to Stop

Clearly, cocaine is not an innocent pastime. But how does an individual stop using it? For those addicted to it, this is a very difficult problem. But it can be done.

One vital step is: Avoid like the plague those who use cocaine. Don’t even talk about it, for this may trigger a desire to use it again. Joan, former drug user, put it this way, “Just smelling drugs now is dangerous for me​—it seems to trip the sensations. In drug jargon ‘it gives you a buzz.’”

Most important: Recognize the dangers, the hold and effects of cocaine on you, and be determined to stop. Since the pull of cocaine is so strong, you need an overpowering reason not to use it. This must be strong enough to keep you away from it permanently, for it is so easy to revert. Don, previously quoted, found a powerful motivation: “I realized I was going to be dead soon if I did not taper off.” With Bible backing he dropped the habit.

Yes, the desire to please and serve God according to the Bible can be a most powerful deterrent, for godly devotion “holds promise of the life now and that which is to come.” (1 Timothy 4:8-10) This desire to live forever in God’s righteous new system of things to come can provide the needed motivation.

Even now you will reap benefits. Says former cocaine addict Tom Henderson: “I can’t describe how exciting it was to sleep at night. How nice it was to wake up alert. How nice it was to get hungry and eat. How nice it was to have my nasal passages stop draining for the first time in 18 months. How nice it was to have no fear of police and busts and prisons.” Yes, if you are using this dangerous, seductive drug, now is the time to stop. Cocaine is not an innocent pastime.

[Footnotes]

[Blurb on page 13]

“It makes you think you can do no wrong. Nothing else matters”

[Blurb on page 14]

‘I broke the cigarette habit the first time. I tried to get off coke 32 times’

[Blurb on page 14]

“This is an extremely seductive drug. . . . You shouldn’t even try it once”

[Blurb on page 15]

You need an overpowering reason not to use it. What can give you this motivation?