A Humanity statement about Cocaine Rehabilitation

The rehabilitation of Cocaine has become a humanitarian statement according to Shared Responsibility. Shared Responsibility is a Colombia-led initiative for illicit-drug producing and consuming countries to work on shared solutions to the threat that Cocaine production, trafficking and abuse poses to the world. By informing the public about the social and environmental effects of cocaine, it may give impetus to those who want to quit Cocaine and to those who are thinking of trying it. While the majority of Cocaine is shipped to the US , the European market is expanding. That is why Shared Responsibility has brought its message to Europe .

Cocaine rehab treatment services unfortunately, are poorly developed across Europe . While in the US where Cocaine rehab treatment is easily available, the number of admissions to treatment has gone down. In 1994 treatment admissions for Cocaine Addiction was 297,408 when the population was 262 million, and in 2004, treatment admissions went down to 256,387 and the population expanded to 293 million. Between October 1, 2004 and September 30, 2005, the US Federal Government sentenced 10,838 for cocaine-related charges of which 97% involved trafficking. Enhanced treatment programs and curbing Cocaine trafficking are really helping. However, we can hope that informing the public about the people that are hurt throughout the process of Cocaine production, trafficking and abuse and the consequences of the environmental devastation will also bring down Cocaine use, especially now that information is more readily available with today’s technology.

What kind of information would be able to dissuade someone from using cocaine? As we have heard in the past, the very personal complications are usually the first ones thrown at us. We usually hear about the people who use Cocaine will talk a lot, become restless, have irritability, their heart rate and blood pressure increase, and they have delusions and antisocial behavior. They become nervous, fearful, and paranoid. Their central nervous system becomes depressed, and they experience nausea, fatigue, depression and insomnia. To some people this would be enough information to stay away. Another aspect would be the financial future of such an under taking. The problem with this is that people really don’t think that they would throw their money away that should be spent on normal things until it’s pointed out to them and by that time it’s to late. Hey, what is $50 a day, or $100 a day, or $500 for the weekend. Six months later, they cannot even tally up what was spent. Chilling. The other part of the financial discussion that is never broached due to etiquette has to do with all of the cocaine/crack users and dealers that end up resorting to crime. Some of the common ones are assault and robbery, theft, home invasions, auto theft, domestic violence and prostitution. Now if you would have told any of these addicts prior to them ever getting high that if they ever tried Cocaine even once, they would end up stealing, threatening or even hurting and killing somebody. Well they would have looked at you and said, “Are you mad! I would never ever do any thing criminal to someone else. That’s just sick!” Ah, life before cocaine, it made sense.

Maybe you just have to catch the right person, with the right piece of info, at just the right time. If someone is repulsed by war for any reason then you could inform him or her that for each dollar of Cocaine sold in the streets of the world, 10 to 15 cents end up in the hands of Columbia ’s armed groups to continue financing the war. Moreover, in the last 4 years 3,400 assassinations occurred in Columbia by terrorist groups financed by Drug trafficking. If you know someone that is, environmentally concerned for the future of our planet you could say that in order to produce 2.2 pounds of Cocaine you need to use 440 pounds of environmentally harmful chemicals. In addition, in the last three years 429,954 acres of forest have been burned and logged in order to grow coca. When your friend, who cares so much about the rights of children, thinks about going to try something new to unwind, you can explain how seven thousand children have been recruited by force by groups financed by trafficking. Moreover, that in Columbia accidents by land mines are taking place at a rate of four a day and that 65% of them are children, of course, the reason for the landmines is to protect the coca plants and the armed groups.

For those that need to have it served up large you can tell them that in Columbia , due to the criminal activity of the Cocaine trade, two million people have been forced to leave their homes.