Cocaine The Big Lie

What are some of the problems that may arise surrounding cocaine use, specifically, pregnant mothers?

Cocaine, which is a derivative of the Coca leaf, is from the South America Andean culture. It is a drug that can improve short term fatigue, depression and other neurotic symptoms as well as relief from hunger. This was what Sigmund Freud was referring to when he treated himself with the drug. He gave cocaine the favorable dubbing, the "magical drug".

Cocaine has a long history other than the epidemic problem that it has been in recent years. The problem of cocaine goes as far back as the late 1800's when the drug began showing up in medicines that major pharmaceutical companies such as Parker, Davis& Co.

produced and distributed, the cocaine epidemic had begun; branded as "the wonder elixir".

In 1860 chemist Albert Niemann was able to isolate the active ingredient n the coca leaf, cocaine. This led to the drug being used in many and more destructive ways. Many American companies began to market, distribute and sell the so-called wonder elixir. The most famous of those American Companies, Coca-Cola, used cocaine as part of their formulas.

Cocaine as it became more visible and more highly used became known as the rich man's drug, showing up in high society, among the rich and as well as the famous from entertainers to dignitaries.

What we see today with the cocaine "epidemic" is a very highly addictive and seductive drug that causes long-term affects on the brain, central nervous system and the heart. The interest in this paper is to look at the affects that this drug has on pregnant mothers and what the consequences of this drug has not only on the mother but also on the unborn child.

The children or unborn babies of cocaine or crack addicted mothers has had a wide variety of studies done. From the early onset of studies the problem was deemed as a legal issue versus a social issue. Do we criminalize those that are addicted or do we see this as a social welfare issue that requires treatment vs. incarceration. The beginning process of this was to criminalize the situation because of the studies that showed cocaine and crack addicted women who gave birth were either unable or unwilling to care for the child once it was born.

Woman in many states were placed on trial and convicted under the guise of child abuse, child neglect and child endangerment. Some woman were accused, tried and convicted of either manslaughter or in extreme cases, murder.

In these and all other cases, through the appeals process a high percentage of those cases were overturned. We see today that the problem of cocaine has no discriminatory exclusion that all people no matter their race, sex or social status are subject to the debilitating and destructive path that cocaine certainly is.

As we look at cocaine we have to look at the impact it has on society and certain cultures, we know that its effects are long reaching. The effect of cocaine from inner city to the big city, as well the small town has taken its toll. The emergence of crack in the 1980's