The White House, in declaring a "war on drugs," has drawn attention to the public health hazards of drug use, admitting that without reducing demand, enforcement alone will not win.
"The time has come to give notice that individual drug use is threatening the health and safety of all our citizens," said President Reagan on July 30. "We must make it clear that we are no longer willing to tolerate illegal drugs, or the sellers, or the users."
Even the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has established a Demand Reduction Section, devoted to preventing the use of illicit drugs. And the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the leading federal agency for drug abuse research, has made drug abuse prevention a priority.
In 1980, alcohol abuse cost our society $89.5 billion and drug abuse $46.9 billion, according to a report by the federal Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA). More than half of these costs were attributed to reduced productivity in the workplace. On a pragmatic level, the costs due to lost employment - actual missed days due to hospitalization or sickness - were much lower, with alcohol and drug abuse responsible for losses of $4.1 billion and $312 million, respectively. Treatment costs, represented by inpatient and outpatient services, totaled $9.5 billion for alcohol abuse and $1.2 billion for drug abuse. Premature death caused by alcohol abuse was set at a cost of $14.5 billion, of which $5.9 billion was related to motor vehicle deaths, $3.4 billion to cirrhosis of the liver, and $2.4 billion to homicide. The only cited cause of drug abuse fatalities was accidental overdoses, which cost $2 billion in lost lives.
What are the most significant drugs of abuse today - their effects, long- and short-term, and their treatments?
Cocaine can kill
The drug that has emerged as the most popular is cocaine. Mounting concern is not hype. Between 1981 and 1984, emergency-room visits and autopsy reports due to cocaine tripled, according to federal statistics, galvanizing health officials into action against use of this drug.
"Most who try cocaine believe addiction is not something that can happen to them," said Donald Ian MacDonald, M.D., administrator of ADAMHA. "The myth of cocaine's non-addicting nature has been demonstrated conclusively in the laboratory and now unfortunately in humans who are showing up in increasing numbers for treatment."
On June 19, Len Bias, a 22-year-old basketball player from the University of Maryland, died from cocaine intoxication, and on June 27, 23-year-old Don Rogers of the Cleveland Browns football team met the same fate. Following Bias' death, cocaine treatment centers were reportedly deluged by callers who wanted to know if a snort of cocaine would kill them. The word from drug abuse experts is: It's possible.
Cocaine's short-term effects can be lethal. In July, top public health officials in Washington gathered to tell reporters that one dose of cocaine can indeed kill. How?
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