Talk:Cocaine/Archive 1

message: If Crack is so much cheaper, i suppose there is a good reason why people still buy cocaine. Unfortunately, that is not made clear in the according part of the article.--84.172.246.69 21:16, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Crack and Cocaine 

message: The disambiguation page for crack indicates that crack cocaine gets its name from the chemical process of "cracking" molecules to get the drug; however, the crack section of the cocaine page indicates that the drug gets its name from the Rice-Krispies-esque cracking noise it makes when it is smoked.
Any firm conclusions here?
:Hi there, according the "The Book of Useless Information" crack gets its name because it crackles when you smoke it. Thanks, 12:17, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Crack means... 

message: I've heard that chewing the coca leaf also supresses the appetite, not necesarily satiates it.  Also, I've heard that it is used to make a soothing tea.  Can anyone verify this?
I thought that General Motors had revenues higher than 35 billion dollars.  Am I correct?
The term 'crack' does not come from the sound of the mixture when it is combined with baking soda. It does come from the sound made when smoking it. Any futher questions can be answered by me at beyerangelic@comcast.net
:*Yes, originally the coca leaf was chewed on. But as man learned chemistry it was refined into the active chemical. I dont know approxomate dates of when this occured however.  JedOs   09:43, 9 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: leaf-chewing

message: uhm, c'mon wouldnt it be easier to list who HASN'T used cocaine?   it's like making a list f people who have smoked pot... i feel some deserve to be  there.. but if we have whitney houston and the singer from linking park we might as well just say "an estimated 80% of the music industry" freud deserves to be there.. because he was a real head, same ith the pope and other people who wouldnt have been expected to be users.. but rock musicians?
Potential side effects of cocaine usage are aggression, depression, and paranoia, which are all rarely seen.
"which are all rarely seen" is a pretty broad statement. This need info to back it up. - Efghij 03:34 23 Jul 2003 (UTC)
Shouldn't there be something about cocaine addiction here, or in the linked stub I just created? --Uncle Ed 16:37, 8 Sep 2003 (UTC)
thread_title: list of notable cocaine users?

message: The following paragraph in the article (as it exists today) looks like it could have been lifted.
: "Crack" is the street name given to cocaine that has been processed from cocaine hydrochloride to a ready-to-use free base for smoking. Rather than requiring the more volatile method of processing cocaine using ether, crack cocaine is processed with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and water and heated to remove the hydrochloride, thus producing a form of cocaine that can be smoked. What this does is that it removes the impurities from the cocaine and allows one to see how much pure cocaine is actually there. This is why people started mixing it with ammonia in the first place, to test the purity of their product. The term "crack" refers to the crackling sound heard when the mixture is heated. 
Compare to this article on the NIH website.  The above paragraph seems to be include the entirety of a paragraph in the NIH document, with the addtion of a couple of sentences and the phrase "ready-to-use" . Maybe the use is permitted as it is a publication from a government agency, but does it need to be attributed?
FelineAvenger 21:08, 17 May 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Possible plagiarised paragraph?

message: I've removed the history from the article as it reads more like a history of the usage of all recreational drugs. I doubt there is need for such a thing as a "history of cocaine abuse". porge 07:13, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  cocaine abuse, a history 

message: It wouldn't surprise me in the least if GW was fond of the powder at some point in his life - in fact, it would surprise me more if he wasn't.  There has been a great deal of anecdotal evidence and innuendo suggesting that this was indeed the case.  This article states, however, that "even President George Bush has admitted to prior cocaine usage."  I do not believe this fact (that he has admitted to prior cocaine usage) to be true.  Anyone?  --AStanhope 19:37, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Good work.  --AStanhope 23:40, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)

text: Of course, the president doing cocaine indicates that its use is pretty prevalent.  This is not politically motivated speculation; it is a fact based on real occurrences during the 2000 election.  Bush was pressed on the cocaine issue and pointedly refused to address it (because he was a notorious coke user).  I'm reverting. --csloat 18:53, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  George "Vision Dreams of Passion" Bush? 

message: I know this question might sound stupid, but what does cocaine taste like? In lots of crime/thriller films the cops rip open plastic bags, put their finger in it, put that in their mouth and say: "cocaine!" The article only mentions the bitter taste when he first produced it, could that be it? Lots of things taste bitter though. (clem 21:54, 5 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  taste? 

message: It lists Master of Puppets as a song about cocaine. I was always under the impression that it referred more to heroin than anything. Should the reference be left or kept? Tmrobertson 03:15, 6 June 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Music 

message: The article claims that cocaine is still used as a topical anesthetic in dentistry and opthamology. However I have been unable to find any information at all regarding current medical use. Furthermore, the rxlist.com monograph for cocaine says the following: "Cocaine causes sloughing of the corneal epithelium, causing clouding, pitting, and occasionally ulceration of the cornea. The drug is not meant for ophthalmic use."
I don't think that cocaine is used at all in opthamology and have my doubts as to whether it is used presently at all in modern medicine. --Bk0 5 July 2005 02:49 (UTC)
:Yes, cocaine is hardly ever used in eye surgery anymore in Western medicine, however, this may not be as true in less developed countries, and surgeons who have been trained using cocaine as an anaesthetic in the past may choose not to switch to newer drugs, since they are able to predict the effects of cocaine more reliably from their experience. In addition, cocaine is used to a slightly larger extend in dentistry and the fact that it is in Schedule II, not Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, indicates that the DEA still believes that it has legitimate use in modern medicine. --Aramգուտանգ 7 July 2005 03:03 (UTC)
::Do you have any evidence that it is used currently in dentistry? I can find no information that is manufactured by any pharmaceutical company (at least in the US) or is available at all commercially (expect as a research chemical for, eg, receptor assays, etc). It seems to me that it is a Schedule II drug only for historical reasons. --Bk0 7 July 2005 03:16 (UTC)
:::I myself have not seen much solid evidence of cocaine use in dentistry, except the rxlist description of its applications and other less reputable sites. There is some anecdotal evidence that some family dentists use it with children so that they would enjoy their dentist visits more, but this does not come from reputable sources. I would say that the fact that doctors tend to stick with things they've used in the past and know how they work should not be underestimated. Less developed nations are also likely to use it more often, since I assume that it's cheaper than any synthesized substitutes. Knowing the DEA, I would also assume that they would be quick to jump at a chance to put cocaine into Schedule I, if its legitimate uses were truly that minuscule. As for cocaine production, there's the fact that Coca-Cola imports tonnes of coca leaves, which are decocainised in the US, and it's likely that some of the extracted material is then purified and sold to or by pharmaceutical companies, however this is just conjecture. Overall, I think there's enough, if little, evidence to argue that there is still some legitimate cocaine use in the medical world. --Aramգուտանգ 7 July 2005 06:44 (UTC)
::::I've edited the section on medical use to be hopefully more accurate. Ideally there would be more information about medical use in non-Western medicine but information on it is hard to come by. --Bk0 7 July 2005 12:59 (UTC)
:The PI for Neo-Synephrine mentions cocaine as being used in an opthalmologic setting. --RingMaruf 13:56, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Cocaine is still used in medical practice.  It is used in the surgical specialty otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat surgery).  There are many articles on current medical use including “Medicinal use of cocaine: a shifting paradigm over 25 years.” in the journal Laryngoscope, 2004 Sep;114(9):1625-9.  You can view the abstract of this article through www.pubmed.gov.  I work as an anaesthetist in Australia and see it used in this setting.  Ben Di Luca 11:06, 28 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Use in Opthamology & Modern Medicine 

message: A good picture of someone snorting cocaine would be really good for the top of the article. A sexy rockstar-looking person or someone really coked-up looking, if we're going for stereotypes. If someone wants to avoid legal problems, use some other powder. --Taejo 15:34, 8 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I just uploaded this. It's pretty basic, but there's no illustration on the page regarding "lines" or the like, wheras there is one with a crack pipe. At least it provides a visual reference for the description in the "insufflation" section. Addmittedly it's not cocaine; I don't know how we would go about captioning this; do we say "insufflation of caffeine" which would be something of a non-sequiter. Maybe our best bet is just to say "powder insufflation" or "insufflation of powder." If a reader wants more details, they can click the image to see what the powder is. --AK7 05:01, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  A good picture 

message: I'm  wondering, is it possible for example a policeman to instantly recognize that some white powder is cocaine or does he have to wait for lab tests before he can tell?
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It depends. Some police officers are issued a drug test kit. If they think that white powder is cocaine, they put a sample in a tube, add few drops of some liquid, and it turns blue (cocaine). Sometimes they will be told by the suspect that it is not cocaine, but something else, in which case they need to test it (sometimes they test it anyway). If the police officer does not have a test kit, he can call in the K-9 Unit for a test.
In Austin (at least from 1986 to 1993), they had to call in a K-9 unit for the test kit. I'm sure it varies everywhere. But yes, there is a test kit, and it is an immediate change in color of the liquid and cocaine.
Actually, the test kit will only tell them if it's either cocaine, methamphetamine, codeine, hydromorphone (dilaudid), psylocibin (mushrooms) or one of many other drugs/compounds.... that gives just cause to take the person/evidence into custody and get a lab test run on it....
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However, cocaine has a noticably distinct odor as well as taste.  Certainly there are plenty of cops who would have come to know this in one way or another.
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Agreed. Cocaine has a very definate taste, and if it's strong it has an immediate numbing effect.
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Everybody knows that cops identify cocaine by stabbing their bowie knives into a brick of uncut powder, then rubbing a tiny bit off the top onto their gums. Watch any movie featuring a cop and cocaine and you will see this happen. Ralphredimix 14:00, 17 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Instantly recognizable? 

message: I once had something labeled coca tea, which a student of mine had brought back from Peru, having bought it at the supermarket.  Can this be substantiated by someone who has actually been to Peru themselves? --McDogm 16:39, 28 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  Yes, tea is made from the plant in Peru, and is perfectly legal (or was the last time I was there). Obviously it's effects are nowhere near as potent as, say, snorting cocaine. It does have some stimulant properties, and was recommended to me as a means of adjusting to the altitude. -- Ncsaint 01:40, 14 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Peruvian Supermarkets 

message: removed this line: "A currently popular name for the use of cocaine is, strangely, “kitten splitting”."
i edited some of the mechanism of action stuff, it was confusing and while the content was basically correct some of the wordinf made it inaccurate.  Amutepiggy 05:34, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Edits 

message: The list of songs about cocaine has already been shipped off to list of songs about drugs, and now it's starting to grow again, like an incompletely excised tumor.  Does anyone else find it an eyesore?  It never stays alphabetical, and it's kind of a red link party.  There are also just hundreds of songs about cocaine, and no reasonable standard for which ones to include in this article, when they should really all be kept in one place, I would think.  I'm thinking of deleting it down to just the  template, but thought I'd post here first for consensus. -GTBacchus(talk) 10:11, 4 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Agreed. I think also the television shows should be removed completely, the movie section trimmed to those which are primarily concerned with cocaine, and the book section trimmed a little. porges 07:50, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Songs 

message: I read the article on Elimination half life which is mentioned in this article and several other drug articles, essentially it links to a dissambiguation of the process of decomposiotion Half-life. Does this mean that if i keep cocaine for 72 hours half of it would have turned into another substance? And does it also emit radiation? 86.129.68.14 19:47, 10 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: In pharmacology, half life generally means the time it takes for plasma levels of a certain substance to drop by 50%. --Bk0 (Talk) 19:58, 10 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Elimination half life

message: The current article includes "yay" and "yayo" as nicknames for crack cocaine.  I believe these are actually street names for powder cocaine, not crack, and should be removed.  Tkessler 05:09, 14 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Slang for Crack 

message: I changed the the phrase "people of color" in the crack section to "black people". It has since been reverted. "People of color" is nothing more than a conjugate of "colored people" or simply "colored", which I think most people agree is antiquated at the least and at worst offensive. I was under the impression that it had gone the way of "coloreds only" drinking fountains, and so I was surprised to see it on Wikipedia. In this particular instance, it seems it is a vague, diluted euphemism whose overwrought purpose is to not step on any toes (I feel the same way about "African-American" as well). Further, it is such a broad description that it could include Arabs, Latins, Pakistanis, Samoans, etc. What's wrong with simply "black"? It's part of the real living language, unlike "people of color", and it has been in the popular lexicon for hundreds of years, not as a derogation but a descriptor. 
Thoughts? Feline Nursery 15:59, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  "People of Color" vs. "Black People" 

message: Drive by comment here. I think the crack cocaine epicemic of the 1980s deserves its own article. MPS 23:02, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Crack revisited

message: Not sure if it is preferable to have this text in the article: 
:"cocaine, also known as "coke", "wem", "stardust", "snow", "white lady", "dragon", "nose candy", "llello (Spanish)", "yeyo", "yams", "yayo", "yola", "three bottow", "chowda", "yowder", "yizzle", "wire", "fire", "white", "guy", "blah", "jake", "lightning", "Texas Death Rails (TDRs)" [see: acronyms], "Colombian gold", "special", "spesh", "the junk", "snarf (1970s popularization)", "chach" and "blow",..."
The information in the context of the rest of the paragraph doesn't add much, and the information can be/should be found here:List of street names of drugs. --Alexander 007 17:53, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  five or so alternate names would do, and then refer them to the longer list. I would say coke, nose candy, blow, and snow would be the most common. MPS 20:57, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with only having five or so, though I'd add yayo to the list of most common names --The Way 06:17, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Colloquial terms for Cocaine

message: The article says at one point "Cocaine is frequently adulterated or “cut” with various powdery fillers to increase its surface area" , to increase its surface area? What does this mean? I thought it was just to make more money for the (greedy) cocaine dealers! Could someone explain this better in the article? cheers
:I think you pretty much got it; the point of fillers is to increase volume& weight, since it's sold by weight of the cocaine+adulterants (contrast this with prescription pills or anabolic steroids, where the cost is based on the dose of the active ingredient). However, i think there may perhaps be some storage issues, as well (have no experience or special knowledge of the subject, so I'm winging it). By adulterating the cocaine, it may become less suseptible to clumping when moist, particularly when the adulterating agent is a dessicant of some sort. On the other hand, I shudder to think what a dessicant does to one's nasal membranes... --AK7 06:28, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  cuting 

message: When I  go to this article I get a message that "Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name." instead of the article. But if I hit the edit button I can see the correct article, and if I view the history the current revision is the article. What's going on? --64.107.192.24 23:26, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Server issues; give it a few minutes. -GTBacchus(talk) 23:28, 5 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Error Message? 

message: When was this removed? I had to go to a past revision to split it off into a new article :/ porges 04:59, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Legal status section? 

message: This is a great picture.  However, I am not convinced of the statement reflected when one clicks on the image: 
"a woman smoking crack"
I believe that this is, indeed, a MAN smoking crack.   However, he is wearing womenly garb, as would often be suspected of someone engaged in such a dubious profession and engaging in such profound crack smokery.  
'''
 Dude looks like a lady! 
'''
*Believes you me, she was a lady ... but coke does have a way of draining the femininity out of a woman. --Mesolimbo 04:45, 25 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Picture of Prostitute Smoking Crack 

message: See http://drugabuse.gov/pdf/monographs/13.pdf and http://www.eyeanesthesia.org/pdf/OASIS04Spring.pdf porges 04:22, 29 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  A couple of good references that are useful for this page