Cocaine Use Down

CokeSpoon

Cocaine has recently been in the news since the coroner’s office found the drug in singer Whitney Houston’s system and linked it to her death.  While cocaine use remains a public health issue in the United States, levels of its use have dropped significantly in the past few years. The number and percentage of persons aged 12 or older who were current users of cocaine

• 2005 2.4 million (1.0 percent)
• 2006 2.4 million (1.0 percent)
• 2007 2.1 million (0.8 percent)
• 2008 1.9 million (0.7 percent)
• 2009 1.6 million (0.7 percent)
• 2010 1.5 million (0.6 percent)

For more information on trends and data in cocaine use, visit the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) at:  http://www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH.aspx.

Animal Study Suggests Common Med May Combat Cocaine Addiction

Animal Study Suggests Common Med May Combat Cocaine Addiction

A new finding, albeit in animal research, suggest a common medication could be used as a treatment for cocaine addiction.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee discovered a common beta blocker, propranolol, frequently used to treat people with hypertension and anxiety, is effective in preventing the brain from retrieving memories associated with cocaine use in animal-addiction models.