Crack cocaine has given the media material for many sensational stories. This supposed inherently evil substance very quickly became the scourge of the nation by the late 1980s. The white powder that is being converted into "rocks" has been given exclusive credit for the social and personal downfall of "inner city" (a term that has become synonymous with "black") youth. Although most Americans ...

We describe an unusual case of acquired anterior staphyloma in a patient addicted to crack cocaine. At the beginning of his crack cocaine abuse, he noticed redness and irritation of his eyes. Over the next 4 months, the patient also noticed the onset of decreasing visual acuity in his right eye (OD). Initially, his visual acuity was light perception in OD, and slit-lamp examination revealed a c...

The objective of this survey was to identify the lifetime use of alcohol and drugs and the need for implementation of brief intervention for problems related to the use of these substances among users of the Family Health Strategy of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro. A sample of 1031 individuals answered a sociodemographic information form and completed the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Inv...

Despite a growing body of research on moral panic theory, this framework has been largely inattentive to the role of race and class in the creation of moral panics over drug abuse. Using a content analysis of 124 newspaper articles, this study extends moral panic theory by examining whether the race and class of crack cocaine and methamphetamine users and traffickers shaped the print media’s de...

This study investigated whether alcohol use affects baseline characteristics and treatment outcome in 128 adults who participated in a randomized trial of cognitive behavioral vs. 12-step treatment for crack cocaine abuse. Assessments were taken at baseline and weeks 4, 8, 12, and 26 on biologically-verified cocaine abstinence and psychometric measures. Alcohol use was measured at intake and su...

Cardiovascular complications of cocaine use have been ever more widely recognized and include the acceleration of atherosclerosis, coronary artery spasm, acute myocardial infarction, myocarditis, dilated cardiomyopathies, and cardiac arrhythmias. Less well known is the potentially lethal complication of aortic dissection. In the present issue of Circulation, Hsue and colleagues1 report on their...

OBJECTIVE To measure the occurrence and correlates of food insufficiency among HIV-infected crack-cocaine users in Atlanta and Miami, USA. DESIGN Non-probability cross-sectional sample. SETTING Inner-city hospitals in Atlanta and Miami. SUBJECTS Two hundred and eighty-seven HIV-infected crack users. RESULTS One-third (34 %) of respondents experienced food insufficiency within 30 d of in...

BACKGROUND Cocaine use in the United States has reached epidemic proportions, and increased availability of "crack" since 1983 has noticeably increased the incidence of neurovascular complications. In this report, we examine the relationship between cocaine use and ischemic infarct. SUMMARY OF COMMENT This study reports 18 cases of ischemic cerebrovascular events, which occurred among 15 men ...

The crack epidemic, now a decade old, disabused neurologists of the idea that cocaine was a relatively safe drug. Acute neurologic complications of cocaine intoxication such as headaches, delirium, seizures, and strokes have now been amply delineated. Less clear is whether long-term cocaine use, uncomplicated by acute problems, can lead to structural or functional changes in the human brain. Br...