Cocaine Comeback

November 15, 2006

A new study shows cocaine is making a major comeback as a killer of college-age students and people with a lot of disposable income. New data from the University of Florida and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement shows that cocaine is increasingly cited as the cause of death in coroner’s reports. Experts like UF researcher Mark Gold fear students with lots of spending cash, and professional adults, are driving cocaine’s resurgence.

Gold: “We’re in the early stages of a new cocaine epidemic, that’s being led by the rich and famous, and students with large amounts of disposable income. And it’s responsible for more emergency room visits, and cocaine-related deaths.”

Experts say the spike in deaths could serve as a wake-up call around the nation, prompting more drug education in schools.

Gold: “With adequate warning and prevention we could both help current users realize this is an acquired, chronic, relapsing, lifelong disorder without a cure, and it’s going compromise their ability to function over the short term and then their ultimate longevity is in question.”

The number of cocaine deaths per hundred-thousand people in the state of Florida alone has nearly doubled in the past five years.

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