History of Cocaine Use and Distribution
Cocaine is an alkaloid (nitrogen-based chemical) derived from the Coca leaf. The coca leaf was chewed on as a stimulant and appetite suppressant by native populations in South and Central America for many years preceding the arrival of European settlers. When the Spanish arrived, they banned its usage among enslaved natives as well as their own populations. However, they found the native population so addicted that the slaves could hardly work the fields without a regular high. Upon this realization, the coca plant was raised by the Catholic Church. The practice of chewing solely on the leaf to release the cocaine still continues today in that region’s more isolated areas. However, in urban areas all over the globe, the leaves have been purified into cocaine.
The process of this isolation was first developed and popularized in Germany in the 1850’s. The resultant drug was spread almost everywhere – sometimes added to other consumable goods like wine and cigarettes (Coca-Cola gets its name from cocaine being the primary stimulant when the drink first started out; Coca-Cola replaced cocaine with caffeine in 1904). Doctors, desperate for a solution to morphine addiction, prescribed it often; many of their patients unfortunately combined the addictions. As time went on and usage spread, those addictive properties became seen a moral crisis by reformers who were getting more aware of the condition of their societies around the globe.
With the turn of the 20th century, the world saw cocaine criminalization and enforcement of preexisting criminalization by modernized governments around the world. This has continued until present day, but conditions have been far from consistent.
Large quantities of illicit cocaine were first brought to Ontario in the 1970’s by plane, cocaine cartel extensions out of Detroit, and, surprisingly, motorcycle gangs. By the 1980’s the cocaine trade had topped organized crime in Canada. The South American government-pushed exportation drive during the 80’s established cocaine cartel extensions in major Canadian cities. Since then, cocaine has been established as a ‘club drug’ among the ‘party crowd;’ because of this, it has had sustained percentages of use, but spiked in the late 1990’s as cocaine usage equalized between inner cities and smaller towns.
Recently, however, annual rates have stabilized throughout the region: in 2003, 7% of Ontario adults said they had used cocaine at least once in their lifetime while 2% had used it within the last year. These rates are increased among the young: in 2005, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health reported that more than 4% of students in grades 7 to 12 had use cocaine at least once in the past year.
The drugs are reaching these populations in much more complex ways than they ever have before: cartels are bringing cocaine to Canada from the US, Europe, and China. They depend on the use of their own equipment as well as syndicate members among other professions such as trucking and airlines. Distribution among motorcycle gangs still persists as one of the largest methods of transporting smaller shipments. One of the largest Ontario busts in history came from the gang ‘Hells Angels’ in 2006.
If you have problems with cocaine addiction. Call our helpline and get yourself in a cocaine treatment program in Ontario.
Reference: http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0605/the_coca_plant_paradox.shtml
blog comments powered by Disqus