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Cocaine use is on the increase — and it’s costing the American economy billions of dollars.
A white substance was found in the West Wing at the White House on Sunday evening, leading to an evacuation. The results of a lab test released Wednesday confirmed that the white powder was — as suspected — cocaine, according to multiple published reports. The cocaine was discovered in a common area of the West Wing where staff, visitors and even some tourists pass through and often leave personal items. So it could have been left by anyone.
The Biden family was not home when the cocaine was found, the White House said, but people were nonetheless shocked and, in some cases, entertained by the news. Some people made light of the news. “Cocaine in The White House sounds like an unreleased Lana Del Rey track,” writer Hannah Tindle said on Twitter. “This is pretty wild,” Andrea Mitchell, an anchor on MSNBC, told a guest on Wednesday. Perhaps, but it should not be surprising.
Cocaine use had been falling in the years leading up to 2012, but over the last decade it has been on the rise — at least, judging by the number of deaths related to cocaine overdoses. However, cocaine-related fatalities in the U.S. fell from 2006 to 2012, but began increasing again in 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost 16,000 Americans died in 2019 from an overdose involving cocaine, up 9% year-over-year.
“Almost 16,000 Americans died in 2019 from an overdose involving cocaine, up 9% year-over-year.”
Non-Hispanic Black persons experienced the highest death rate for overdoses involving cocaine, the CDC added. What’s more, the opioid epidemic in the U.S. and other drugs appear to go hand-in-hand. In a CDC study covering 10 U.S. states, almost 57% of people who died from an overdose tested positive for fentanyl and fentanyl analogs also tested positive for cocaine, methamphetamine or heroin.
There are signs of improvement in overall drug-related fatalities. Provisional data for fatal drug overdoses released by the CDC in May said there were 109,680 predicted overdose deaths in the 12-month period ending in December 2022, which Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, described as a sign that fatal drug poisonings in the U.S. had flattened in 2022 after a period of sharp increase from 2019 to 2021.
The American Civil Liberties Union said there are over 1.35 million arrests per year for drug possession, with 500,000 arrests for marijuana alone — people of color are often targeted. “Every 25 seconds a person is arrested for possessing drugs for personal use, and on average, a Black person is 3.64 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person, even though Black and white people use marijuana at similar rates,” the ACLU said in a 2021 report. “At least 130,000 people are behind bars in the U.S. for drug possession.”
Dr. Ashish Bhatt, medical content director at the Addiction Center, an informative web guide on addiction and recovery, told MarketWatch, “Unfortunately, many drugs now are being ‘cut’ or mixed with other agents or illicit drugs for purposes of increasing bulk or furthering the drug’s potency; especially with the introduction of synthetics like fentanyl and Xylazine, with opioids like heroin, and with stimulants like powdered cocaine.”
“These illicit combinations are most often not standardized and lead to unpredictable outcomes,” he added. “Those who may think they know what they are getting, are unable to predict or judge what the outcome of their use will be, leading to negative outcomes beyond the ‘high’ like overdose or death.”
The cost of America’s drug epidemic
In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs. He called illegal drugs “Public Enemy No. 1.” Since then, the U.S. has spent more than $1 trillion fighting the epidemic, according to estimates from the University of Pennsylvania, and contributes to the strain on hospitals across the U.S. The federal government has enlisted over a dozen federal agencies to address the impact and prevention of drug misuse across the land.
Treating and helping to prevent addiction and the overdose epidemic costs the U.S. economy billions of dollars every year. President Biden’s 2022 budget supports an investment of $41 billion for National Drug Control Program agencies, an increase of nearly $670 million over the prior year. “The largest increases in funding are requested to support access to critical public health interventions like treatment and prevention services,” the White House said last year.
So why the increase in cocaine use? Higher levels of availability and a reduction in price, studies conclude. Researchers attribute this to increased supply to more efficient cultivation of coca in Colombia, and the resulting production of cocaine. The opioid epidemic, largely due to the availability of prescription drugs, has also provided a “gateway” to other drugs, including cocaine, once synonymous with rich, white Wall Street types in the 1980s.
“Biden’s 2022 budget earmarked $41 billion for National Drug Control Program agencies, up nearly $670 million over 2021.”
“Previously, the threat was primarily concentrated in traditional cocaine markets, such as Florida, New York, Massachusetts and Maryland; however, it has now moved beyond cocaine-dominated areas into states with high opiate proliferation, such as Ohio and West Virginia,” according to the National Drug Enforcement Administration. It cited Arkansas, Washington, and Missouri, which have not been regarded as traditional cocaine markets.
West Virginia has the highest rate of drug use in the U.S., recent analysis carried out by online recovery resource Addiction Treatment Magazine found. Researchers crunched data from the CDC and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. They took into account the percentage of the population who took drugs in the past year, drug deaths per 100,000 people and opioid-specific deaths, and people killed in driving-under-the-influence accidents per 100,000.
Cocaine is used by 2.08% of the population versus 11.4% of marijuana (which is legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia), but the prevalence of drug misuse varies across the U.S. “West Virginia is the state with some of the worst drug issues in America,” the Addiction Treatment Magazine researchers said. It has the most deaths from all drugs — 90 per 100,000 people. West Virginia was followed by Montana, Oregon, Vermont, Maine, Alaska, and New Mexico.
An Addiction Treatment Magazine spokesperson said: “Addressing drug use in America requires a comprehensive approach that goes beyond punitive measures and addresses the root causes of drug addiction. This includes investing in education, prevention, and treatment programs, as well as addressing the underlying social and economic factors that contribute to drug use.” The spokesperson said it affects families, communities — and society as a whole.
“We know that in the 80’s and 90’s, powdered cocaine was used by those who could afford it, while unfortunately and inadvertently being glamorized in the club and party scene, thus being viewed as a drug of the rich and famous or corporate ‘power players,’” Dr. Bhatt said. But the truth is quite the opposite, he added. “Cocaine especially is notorious for causing a wide array of symptoms from paranoia, to cardiovascular issues including myocardial infarction, stroke, and even death. It’s a very dangerous drug that we cannot overlook.”
