Abstract This paper discusses the genesis of cocaine. The paper begins by examining the demographic origin of cocaine. Next the paper looks at the making and production of cocaine. The paper then examines the short- and long-term effects of cocaine, including deaths associated with the use of cocaine. The paper also mentions street terms for cocaine. The paper concludes with a discussion of the danger cocaine imposes on society.
From the Paper "The Office of the National Drug Control Policy reports that about million Americans have tried cocaine at least once in their lifetimes, which is roughly around ..."
Abstract This paper discusses how, historically, punishments for convicted users and sellers of the drugs cocaine and crack have differed. Penalties are more severe for those individuals who use crack, although it is merely the solid form of essentially the same drug. These disparate penalties may result from several things. The paper further discusses how the most prevalent of these causes seems to be that of race. The powdered form, cocaine, is more popular among Caucasians. In addition, cocaine appears to be the drug of choice for the middle-class and above. The dangers associated with either cocaine or crack seem to differ greatly.
Abstract This paper takes a look at cocaine abuse and how it effects the individual. The author looks at what cocaine is composed of, its short-term and long- term effects and how it effects the brain.
From the Paper "Although it is known that cocaine became popular on the street, especially in big cities of the United States in the1970s and 1980s, it has a fairly long history. In fact, cocoa leaves (raw ingredient for cocaine production) have been used for more than five thousand years as a mild stimulant by some South American tribes. In the middle of the 19th century, cocaine was first extracted from cocoa leaves in South America. In the U. S., it was legal and widely used as an ingredient in medicines. Cocaine was introduced as an ingredient of Coca-Cola in 1888, though it was removed and replace with another stimulant, caffeine, in 1903. Today, cocaine is completely illegal in the U.S. except for medical uses such as a local anesthetic."
Abstract The introduction of highly addictive crack cocaine in the 1980s caused widespread devastation in inner city communities. Under a tough 1986 crack law, vast numbers of black males are serving long prison sentences, yet crack sales and crack addiction have not decreased. Despite the failure of the War on Drugs to reduce drug use or crime in inner city neighborhoods, protests that the crack law targets blacks for prosecution and long prison sentences, and evidence that the CIA was involved in introducing crack cocaine into inner city neighborhoods, the government has refused to change its tactics and take measures to actually help the black community recover from the crack epidemic.
Abstract This paper provides a brief history of cocaine use and an overview of the disparity between powdered cocaine users and crack cocaine users and will enumerate the reasons for the disparity. The paper also looks at the disparity between the sentencing of powdered cocaine users and crack cocaine users.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Review of Related Literature
Cocaine: Facts and History
Effects of Cocaine History of Cocaine Use
Social Classes of America
Upper Class
Middle Class
Working Class
Lower Class
Crack vs. Powdered Cocaine Powdered Cocaine Crack Cocaine Class Disparity on Powdered Cocaine and Crack Cocaine Use
Introduction of Cocaine to the Capitalist Economy
The Disparity of Crack vs. Cocaine Use
Sentencing Policy on Cocaine and Crack Cocaine Racial Disparity
Legislative History
Litigation
Conclusion
From the Paper "In the case United States v. Armstrong, four defendants in Los Angeles charged with trafficking crack cocaine filed a motion for discovery or dismissal, alleging that they were victims of "selective prosecution" by race. This motion was made after the federal public defender's office found that all 24 crack cocaine cases closed in Los Angeles in 1991 involved blacks. The district court and the circuit court upheld the motion, but the federal prosecutor refused to comply. The government then appealed to the Supreme Court, which decided in favor of the government."
Tags: history class race violence, sentencing policy
Abstract This paper discusses the problem of cocaine abuse. Cocaine is a highly potent and addictive stimulant drug obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. It looks at how cocaine abuse and addiction constitute deviant behavior that has widespread repercussions on both the individual and on other members of society. It shows how although most people addicted to cocaine are aware of the ill effects of long-term usage, certain societal causes such as labeling do play a part.
Outline
Introduction
How Cocaine is Used
How Cocaine Abuse has Become Entrenched in our Ideas of Social Deviance
An Essentialist and Constructionist View of Cocaine Abuse
Etiology of Cocaine Addiction
Signs and Symptoms of the Condition
How Cocaine Use and Abuse Impacts Society
Future Implications for Cocaine Abuse and Impact on Society
Theories that Explain the Causes of Cocaine Abuse
Conclusion
From the Paper "In addition to smoking, inhalation and injection, cocaine can also be absorbed through the skin if it is rubbed on mucous tissues, and it can also be consumed by chewing the leaf of the coca plant. Once it enters the body through any of these alternate routes, cocaine passes readily into the brain. Cocaine is known to increase levels of the brain chemical dopamine. It causes a buildup of dopamine in the brain, and the high levels of dopamine continuously stimulate nerve cells, causing the euphoria, which the individual can experience within a few seconds of having consumed the drug. Prolonged use of the drug may however reduce dopamine levels, making it harder for abusers to experience positive feelings. The euphoric state thus induced usually lasts for 3 to 5 minutes when crack cocaine is used, but can be made to go on up to 30 to 60 minutes by snorting or injecting the drug. Thenceforth, the user begins to experience intense craving for the drug."
Abstract After a decade of contentious debate regarding the federal sentencing disparities between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, a number of significant initiatives to reform current policy have recently emerged. These include legislation introduced in Congress and a series of hearings resulting in recommendations by the United States Sentencing Commission. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the sentencing disparities with regard to crack cocaine as compared to powder cocaine. It examines the development of federal legislation creating greater criminal penalties for crack cocaine than powder cocaine and assesses recent developments, studies, and research in an effort to resolve the sentencing disparities. Finally, it offers recommendations to resolve this sentencing issue for future legislation, law enforcement agencies, and federal and local governments.
Paper Outline
Executive Summary
Introduction
Background of Cocaine Statement of the Problem
Impact of Disparity in Sentencing
Demographic Profile of Federal Cocaine Offenders
Operational Assumptions
Statistical Analysis
Significance of the Research
Review of Related Literature
Recommendations and Hypothesis
Proposed Methodology
Proposed Data Collection
Research Findings
Results
Recommendations
Conclusion
Bibliography
From the Paper "A possible question for policy makers is whether the career offender guideline, especially as it applies to repeat drug traffickers, clearly promotes an important purpose of sentencing. Unlike repeat violent offenders, whose incapacitation may protect the public from additional crimes by the offender, criminologists and law enforcement officials have noted that retail-level drug traffickers are readily replaced by new drug sellers so long as the demand for a drug remains high. Incapacitating a low-level drug seller prevents little, if any, drug selling; the crime is simply committed by someone else."
Abstract This paper explains that cocaine is an alkaloid drug processed from the leaves of the coca shrub, which creates a feeling of well-being, self-confidence, and alertness that lasts for between ten and thirty minutes. The author points out that crack cocaine magnifies the effects of cocaine, making it quicker to have an effect, and the effects are likely to be much stronger. The paper stresses that most drug-related visits to the emergency room are caused by cocaine.
Table of Contents
What is Crack Cocaine?
Who Uses Crack Cocaine?
Popularity of Cocaine Drug Use Comes in Waves
Still a Drug of Choice for a Lot of People
From the Paper "McCaffrey's report found that cocaine use had stabilized or declined in many cities. It also noted that today's crack users are the "aging" and the ?sick,? contrasting with the legions of healthy young people who started using it in the mid-1990s. A Department of Justice official noted that perhaps today's young people had witnessed the havoc crack had brought to their friends and families and decided against that path.
Tags: alertness, stronger, emergency, cheap, party
Abstract This research proposal suggests the conduction of a quantitative research study through cluster sampling, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of the state of Texas, specifically related to testing correlation between the factors of the adult abuser of cocaine and violent crimes in the area. The literature review in this work provides an overview of the drug trade environment in the Dallas-Fort Worth area as well as statistical data for factors in the cocaine drug business and the lives of those who abuse cocaine in that area. Recommendations of this study are that more research should be conducted relating to the links between violent crimes and adult cocaine abuse in Dallas-Fort-Worth Texas.
Outline:
Abstract
Objective
I. Introduction
Background of the Study
Statement of the Problem
Research Questions and Hypotheses
Purpose of the Study
Rationale
Significance of the Study
Study Variables
Definition of Terms
Assumptions and Limitations
II. Literature Review
Precise Pharmacology of Cocaine as Related to Violence
Review of the Literature of this Study
Summary of Literature
III. Methodology
Population and Sampling
Gathering of Data
Instruments to be Used in the Gathering of Data
Data Analysis
Statement of Consent of Permission
Recommendations
Appendixes
Bibliography
From the Paper "AADAC reports in Developments Vol. 18 Issue 9 Cocaine that: "Over the last 10 years, AADAC has seen a gradual, steady rise in the proportion of clients who name cocaine as their primary drug of concern. In 1997-98, over 3,600 AADAC clients (11.1%) said cocaine was the drug they used most frequently during the previous year." (Developments, 1999) The AADAC reports that: "Cocaine is a fast-acting drug with effects of short duration. It has a half-time for elimination of about one hour (the body has lost half of it an hour after administration). While most drugs are broken down by the liver, cocaine is broken down in the blood. Breakdown by the liver happens gradually: only about 15% of the blood passes through the liver each time the heart beats, thus the remainder of the blood still carries the unmetabolized drug. In contrast, breakdown in the blood happens constantly. This means that cocaine is quickly converted to an inactive form." (Developments, 1999)"
Abstract This paper discusses the tremendous growth of the cocaine business over the past two centuries. The writer explains that it started out as a medicinal drug and developed into a major part of an illegal underworld that has affected many lives and enriched those who realized the marketability and profitability of its potent and addictive nature. The paper relates that cocaine became immensely popular in the 70's disco era as it was thought not to be as harmful as speed or heroine, and it was believed to have a stimulating effect on the brain. The paper then shows how this led to cartels being set up in Columbia, bringing drug dealers huge profits from the drug trade throughout the 70s and 80s and even to the present. This paper includes tables.
Outline:
Cocaine's Early History on the Drug Market
A Very Sellable, But Illegal Drug
Reasons for Cocaine's Popularity
Cocaine and the Brain
From the Paper "Realizing cocaine's addictive nature and growing market value, The United States Government made its manufacturing and distribution illegal with The Controlled Substances Act of 1970. It was also in this decade that the cocaine trade took off as the drug became a very popular part of the culture in the United States. Understanding the drug's growing popularity, cocaine once again became a huge business beginning in South American countries, especially Columbia, and finding its way to the drug market in the United States."
Tags: cocoa, Coca Cola, Studio 54, compulsion narcotics addiction
Abstract This paper begins by providing an introduction and description of the plant cocaine. It then describes how cocaine is used today in society and its manner of production. The writer discusses how cocaine has become entrenched into the mindset of social deviance and the etiology of the addiction to this drug. It lists signs and symptoms of cocaine addiction and discusses the way that the addiction has impacted society.
From the Paper "Cocaine is a highly potent and addictive stimulant drug obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. It was first extracted from the leaf of the Erythroxylon coca plant, in the mid-19th century. This bushy plant is native to the Andes of South America, and is found predominantly in Peru and Bolivia. However, close to seventy five percent of the world's annual yield of cocaine is produced in Colombia, which is the world's leading producer of cocaine. (Cocaine, 2003). In the early 1900s, cocaine was used in tonics or elixirs, to treat a wide variety of illnesses. Even today, cocaine is used in local anesthetics for surgery of the ear, nose or throat."
Abstract This paper examines how both alcohol and cocaine are addictive drugs, which exert negative effects on the in both physical and mental well-being. It looks at how alcohol has a more significant physiological effect and can cause more significant long-term physical consequences than can cocaine; alcohol tends to age the body more and cause more lasting physical effects than does cocaine. It shows how, in both cases, the substances may be associated with co-morbid or pre-morbid depression, only in the setting of a comprehensive treatment program can either the alcoholic or the cocaine addict truly seek meaningful sobriety.
From the Paper "In contrast to alcohol, cocaine is an amphetamine drug which is taken in by smoking or injection or by absorption through mucus membranes such as the inside of the nose or the lips and mouth. As an amphetamine, cocaine produces an opposite effect to the sedative properties of alcohol. The cocaine user will have a sensation of euphoria and extreme well being associated with heightened sensation and increased heart and respiratory rates as well as blood pressure. While it takes several hours to overcome the effects of alcohol, the "high" achieved from cocaine use is relatively short ? usually 30 minutes to one hour in duration depending on frequency and amount used. The effect on the cardiovascular system and the central nervous system ends when the high ends and a cocaine addict usually experience no physiological withdrawal and does not require any medical support for the post-use period."
Abstract In this article, the writer notes that medical science has shown that the use of drugs by a woman who is pregnant has a profound effect upon the fetus both during pregnancy and after the birth of the child. The writer then explains that the objective of this work is to research prenatal development of the fetus and the effects that the mother's use of cocaine has upon the fetus. The writer maintains that cocaine-exposed infants prior to their birth are more likely to be low birth weight, shorter in length, have behavioral problems, be born much earlier than normal, as well as experience structural abnormalities and to have respiratory problems and complications related to heart deformities. The writer concludes that cocaine use during pregnancy by the pregnant woman creates a significant risk for the fetus.
Outline:
Introduction
Reproductive Risks of Cocaine Teratogens
Summary and Conclusion
From the Paper "Hepper states that three major principles guide the development of the fetus which are: (1) development proceeds in a cephalocaudal direction, or from head to foot; (2) development proceeds from the basic to the more specialized; and (3) development proceeds in order of importance. The most critical time for exposure during the embryonic period or the period of "organogenesis" as this is the period when the formation of the main organs of the body begins. Exposure during the fetal period, which is from around nine weeks from the conception cause delay and impairments in the fetus' growth. It is interesting to note that ..."
Abstract This paper argues that racial discrimination in the sentencing of blacks has taken away judicial discretion and created an expensive and regretful policy of imprisoning large numbers of blacks, who might have been better off given second chances. The author points out that the passage of the crack cocaine law in 1986 made black defendants much more liable to spend time in prison if they were street dealers of crack cocaine rather than if they were dealing powder cocaine, which is essentially the same drug. The paper emphasizes that crack cocaine sentences are the largest factor in racial disparity in federal sentencing. Includes charts.
From the Paper "The cocaine sentencing debate that followed the implementation of the 1986 law has shown the depth of the impact of crack sentencing disparity. In the 1980s, crack cocaine use was covered widely by the press, due to its rapid growth in the drug market. For the first time cocaine was made available to a wider economic class because of its cheap price. By taking powder cocaine, cooking it with baking soda and water, a hard rocky substance is created that can be cracked into smaller pieces called "Crack." These "rocks" are then sold in small quantities."
Abstract This paper discusses whether crack and cocaine are "proletariat hunger killers," meaning the drugs are used by the public as a necessary food source, or "genussmittels," or whether they are recreational drugs, free of any valuable sustenance. The author points out that there is a close connection between cocaine and crack use and crime, which more directly reflects the proletariat hunger-killer analogy than the genussmittels terminology, although recreational cocaine users become addicted, and the drug may replace their hunger, but this is from the biological nature of the drug. The paper states that policy should focus, first, on the proletariat hunger-killer model to stop drug use in its most harmful beginning.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Drugs
The Effects
Impact and Analysis
From the Paper "In the end, that is why the proletariat hunger killers model is more useful: More people in crime-infested areas are affected by cocaine and crack as life substitutes. They lose interest in all else, whether family, job or friends, and they focus only on the drug. In fact, they care not about the recreational aspect, as per the genussmittels model either: The highs garnered from the drug take a backseat to the fuel the drugs act as for the livelihood of the users."
