Don’t Blow It
I watched him tell his mother he loved her, promise he was being safe, and that he’d call later that night, hang up the phone, and rub his hands together with determination.
“Alright, who wants some?”
I peeked from the edge of the hotel room bed, sitting and staring, unblinking. It was not my first time at a fraternity formal, but it was certainly my first encounter with some of the party favors it awarded. I adjusted myself and leaned forward in an attempt to see beyond the moving, busy bodies. Training my eyes on the small clear bag, I witnessed the white powder pour out from it, seemingly multiplying in size.
I’d never seen cocaine in person.
Even so, I did know that of all the substances, it’s the purest in appearance, texture, and — if made correctly — potency.
Cocaine — infamous for being the party favorite of Jordan Belfort and the investment favorite of screwy politician Pablo Escobar — first made a name for itself in the land of the free and the home of stimulant production: Colombia. From there it traveled to 1970's Miami, where citizens found themselves enamored and addicted. Finally, it made its way into the hands of college students all over the nation, many of whom manage the substance regularly as an extracurricular.
“I’m sorry. I’m being so inconsiderate. You want a bump?”
The powdered lines were laid out neatly, dusting the hotel room dresser like a fresh coat of snow.
“I’m all right, thank you.”
He shrugged and used a credit card with a woman’s name engraved in silver to perfect the line. He then paused for a moment, rolled up a twenty-dollar bill, and snorted. Power surged through his veins and exploded as he let out a loud roar.
“That’s what I’m talking about!”
While marijuana distribution and binge drinking gone wrong make headlines regularly, cocaine manages to slip between the cracks. Though abused, it is not advertised. While the nurse’s office and academic buildings are riddled with poster warnings about safe drinking habits and the effects which smoking has on depression, cocaine receives little press.
Immediately upon use, cocaine gives you a quick kicker of a fifteen-minute high. Heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature increase. Pupils dilate and breathing speeds up as a feeling of invincibility fills your system. A surge of energy overwhelms your body and you begin to believe you are “on top of the world.” In the words of a friend familiar with the high:
“It makes you feel whatever you can’t feel sober. If you don’t feel confident, it gives you confidence. If you don’t feel happy, it makes you happy.”
I asked her if she thought the drug was overrated.
“Well the high is great. You do get chills throughout your entire body and feel no desire to eat at all. But the feeling is indescribable.”
I then asked if she thought it was possible to use the substance regularly without being addicted.
“It’s possible, but good luck.”
Though introduced as a glamorous drug, the long-term effects of cocaine were quickly discovered to be unflattering to say the least. According the National Institute of Drug Abuse, delirium or psychosis, severe depression, liver, kidney, and lung damage are merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to side effects of cocaine abuse. Cocaine abuse results in the long-term depletion of dopamine in the brain, making pleasure a memory from the past rather than a regular experience (“What are the long-term effects of cocaine use?,” n.d.).
Notorious for inducing euphoria, producing energy, and heightening focus, cocaine has been a party favorite of many college students. According to a longitudinal study conducted by Sarah J, Kasperski done with college students over the span of four years, 36% percent of students in the sample had been offered cocaine at least once in their lifetime, and 13% of the students had used cocaine (2011).
I performed an investigation on cocaine use at Stetson University. I made calls to Residential Life, Conduct and Community Standards, the Psychology Department, and the Health and Wellness Center. I was directed to a surprising place: the Hollis Center — more specifically, the Director of Wellness and Recreation: Melissa Mesman.
I set up an interview with her and presented her with questions about cocaine use at Stetson. She told me my best resource would be the American College Health Association survey conducted at the university every two years. Surveys were administered anonymously, and prizes were awarded. 544 students completed it in total. These numbers were then generalized against national numbers.
Concerns may arise due to the fact that surveys are self-reported, so honesty is to the discretion of the participant. The most recent survey presents a large gap between the perceived use of substances by college students and the actual use. It is perceived by students that 55.8% of their peers use cocaine in any form (crack, rock, or freebase) but only 5.2% of students at Stetson University actually do. Furthermore, only 1.3% of students reported used cocaine in the past 30 days. Ms. Mesman reassured me that Stetson statistics were “comparable to national numbers.”
If these numbers are true, I must have been with all 5.2% that day in the hotel room at formal.
I decided to interview one of my friends who I know has dabbled in the substance among other drugs.
I asked her if cocaine use on campus surprised her.
She explained: “It’s understandable, it’s a smaller college so word gets around faster, so people who don’t want their reputation ruined don’t do it. But people that don’t care, do”
I asked her if the users she knows that abuse the substance use it regularly.
“It’s hard to say,” she explained. “When I do it, it’s at a date function or formal. I’ve done it randomly, but usually it’s for a ‘special occasion’. There are probably people you know that do it regularly, you just don’t know about it.”
I asked her if cocaine is readily available, or a more difficult substance to get a hold of. “You have to know certain people to get it.”
She described the high: “You’re energetic. You just want to do everything and anything. If you’re drinking, you want to drink more. If you’re running, you want to run faster.”
I asked her if she could hang out with her friends who do it comfortably without participating.
“I don’t want to feel lame. I feel obligated because it’s their lifestyle.”
I proposed a metaphor: “So it’s like having a drink with someone in their home because they made a toast and it’s the polite thing to do?”
“That’s exactly how I’d put it.”
She elaborated: “Cocaine is that drug that you know you’ll get addicted to if you don’t stay away from it.”
“That being said, if you could do it again…would you?”
“I’m not really in that lifestyle anymore…but if you asked me a month ago, I would’ve definitely said yes. Without hesitating.”
“And now.”
“I want to say no.”
She paused for a moment.
“Yeah. I think I would say ‘no.’”
Kasperski, Sarah J. et al. “College Students’ Use of Cocaine: Results from a Longitudinal Study.” Addictive behaviors 36.4 (2011): 408–411. PMC. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.
“What are the long-term effects of cocaine use?” Drugabuse.gov. National Institute of Drug Abuse, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.
