The abuse of cocaine is a major public-health problem in the United States. In the 1970s, people began taking cocaine as a recreational drug. Experts believed that cocaine was harmless. Many movies and books from this decade show cocaine use as a popular, sophisticated social activity. By the mid-1980s, when many people were using cocaine in large quantities, experts and the public began to recognize the drug's dangers. Cocaine use can cause severe medical and psychological problems.

Cocaine (also known as "coke," "snow," "lady," "crack," and "ready rock"), is an alkaloid that can act both as a local anesthetic and as a stimulant. Users generally take cocaine in binges: They take the drug repeatedly for several days, and then use no cocaine for several days or weeks. Many users resist getting treatment. Users caught possessing or selling cocaine face stiff criminal penalties, but these punishments have not...