Coca-paste Smoking in Some Latin American Countries: A Severe and Unabated Form of Addiction

• NCJ Number: 119796
• Journal: Bulletin on Narcotics Volume: 36 Issue: 2 Dated: special issue (April-June 1984) Pages: 15-31
• Author(s): F R Jeri
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: Austria
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Special issue on cocaine

Annotation

This article describes coca-paste smoking, a use of cocaine that has reached epidemic proportions over the past ten years in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru.

Abstract

Coca paste contains 40 to 91 percent cocaine. Addiction to coca paste develops in a few months and results in four distinct and successive phases of mental disorder: euphoria, dysphoria, hallucinosis, and paranoid psychosis. Because the craving created by coca-paste smoking is so strong, cure and rehabilitation are difficult. Treatment of the addiction includes detoxification, support therapy, self-control therapies and abstinence programs. Addicts have been known to relapse into coca-paste smoking after years of abstinence. Patients who have acceptable school or work adjustments and strong supportive families have the best prognosis for long-term drug-free lives. 58 references. (Author abstract modified)