Special Report
- The average wholesale price for cocaine in Europe for the year 2006 was $46,939 (USD per kilogram).
- Prevalence rates for lifetime use of cocaine are typically between one and three per cent in developed countries, with higher rates in the United States and in the producer countries of South America.
- Mixing cocaine with alcohol is a dangerous cocktail and can greatly increase the chances of sudden death. In fact, it is the most common two-drug mixture when sudden death occurs.
- According to a U.S. 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, approximately 36.8 million Americans aged 12 and older have tried cocaine at least once in their lifetimes, representing 14.7% of the population aged 12 and older. Approximately 5.3 million (2.1%) had used cocaine in the past year and 1.9 million (0.7%) had used cocaine within the past month. In the United States in 2008, there were 722,000 persons aged 12 or older who had used cocaine for the first time within the past 12 months; this averages to approximately 2,000 initiates per day. This estimate was significantly lower than the number in 2007 (906,000). The annual number of cocaine initiates declined from 1.0 million in 2002 to 722,000 in 2008. The majority of cocaine used in the U.S. comes from Columbia.
- Cocaine was first used in the U.S. in the 1880s, where it was applied as an aesthetic in eye, nose, and throat operations. In 1884, William Stewart Halsted, a famous American physician, performed the first surgery using cocaine as an aesthetic. Subsequently, Halsted became the first cocaine-addicted physician on record.
Top 5 facts sources: United Nations World Drug Report 2008, Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).