Cocaine
Stimulants (Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Prescription Stimulants)
Stimulants encompass a group of both legal and illicit drugs that share similar physiological mechanisms of action. When ingested, stimulants lead to an increase in alertness, attention, and energy while also elevating blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration. Stimulants raise levels of dopamine in the brain which can lead to feelings ranging from pleasure to intense euphoria. The three stimulant drugs associated with the greatest levels of problematic use are cocaine, methamphetamine, and prescription stimulants such as Ritalin or Adderall.
Cocaine
The two most common forms of cocaine are powder cocaine and crack cocaine. Although powder cocaine can be injected, it is most often snorted or inhaled. Crack cocaine is cocaine that has been processed into a rock crystal and is typically heated in a glass pipe with the vapors produced being inhaled by the user. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) provides estimates of past-year cocaine use among persons 12 years of age and older for both Indiana and the U.S. Estimates of the percentage of U.S. and Indiana residents using cocaine in the past year can be viewed for the overall population and by individual age groups.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) provides estimates of the percentage of high school students in the 9th through 12th grade who have ever used cocaine in their lifetime. Estimates can be viewed by gender, race, and grade level for Indiana and the U.S.
Information on persons entering substance abuse treatment related to cocaine use is available from the Treatment Episode Data System (TEDS). The TEDS provides the number of persons entering substance use treatment, the drugs they are using at the time of admission, the primary drug for which they are seeking treatment, as well as basic demographic information. TEDS data are available for both Indiana and the U.S.; however, TEDS data for Indiana do not reflect all persons in substance abuse treatment but only those in treatment at facilities that receive funds from the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addictions. TEDS data related to cocaine use can be viewed by age, race, and gender. The percent of treatment admissions related to cocaine can be viewed across the state for the past 10 years and trend data are available for each of Indiana’s 92 counties.
Cocaine - Primary Substance
The following visualizations provide information on individuals entering substance abuse treatment primarily for the use of cocaine.
Data on legal consequences related to cocaine use are available through the Uniform Crime Reporting system (UCR) maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). It should be noted that data related to cocaine arrests are combined with those related to heroin. UCR data related to cocaine/heroin contains arrests for the possession of cocaine/heroin and for the sale of cocaine/heroin. Data on the rate of cocaine/heroin-related arrests for each offense for the past 9 years are available for Indiana and the U.S. as well as for Indiana counties. The map provides information on the rate of each cocaine/heroin-related offense throughout the state for the past 9 years. Trend data for each county are also available.