Although we don't hear as much about drug abuse as we used to, it's still a problem. Take cocaine for example. More than 22 million Americans have used cocaine, and there are about 5 million regular users with the number increasing daily. Every day some 5,000 neophytes sniff a line of coke for the first time. No wonder there have already been hundreds of cocaine-related deaths.
Cocaine is a drug designed for energetic people.
Unlike most other drugs, cocaine is a stimulant and an ego builder. And while the cocaine confidence makes you feel indestructible, the crash from coke leaves you depressed, paranoid, and searching for more. Until recently, people speaking of cocaine dependence would never call it an addiction. Cocaine's withdrawal symptoms are not physically wrenching like those of heroin and alcohol. Yet cocaine involves compulsion, loss of control and continued use in spite of the consequences.