Cocaine Use Wanes In Miami

MIAMI, Sept. 15 (UPI) — Cocaine use is on the decline in Miami, where it was once rampant, The Miami Herald reports.

The soft economy in a state with 10 percent unemployment has made the long-popular drug a “pricey extravagance,” the newspaper said.

At the same time, the drug war has reduced the purity of cocaine, meaning users pay more and get less of the drug, and drug users are increasingly turning to cheaper prescription drugs that are easier to get, experts say.

Cocaine is “not disappearing, but it’s definitely declining,” said James N. Hall, director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Substance Abuse at Nova Southeastern University.

“People are getting half of what they used to get — and this is occurring in the middle of the economic downturn. Cocaine, the most expensive drug on a per-dose basis, is costing more,” Hall said.

In a report on drug-abuse trends, Hall found cocaine-related deaths in Miami-Dade County began a steady decline in 2007.

The number of patients treated in emergency rooms for cocaine overdoses has also fallen recently, and the number of people seeking treatment for cocaine addiction fell to 549 last year from 918 the previous year, a 41 percent decline, Hall found.

But prescription drug use has been on the rise, the Herald said.

Among 9,000 people who died of drug-related causes statewide in 2010, 6,090 had used benzodiazepines and Oxycodone.

Cocaine ranked fifth in causes of drug deaths, behind crystal methamphetamine and alcohol, the Herald said.