European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Nadine Brozan new York times the nationwide epidemic of cocaine addiction appears to have caught in its sweep women at All socioeconomic ranging from those who use the drug regularly to those who use it Only More women Are turning up at drug treatment centers and self help groups looking for a Way the motivations for using cocaine and the repercussions of its use appear in some ways to be dramatically different for women than for but physicians and social workers Are just beginning to undertake clinical and the picture of the female abuser that is emerging is often despite the preliminary nature of these and even though no one yet knows exactly How Many Ameri can women Are using the the results indicate that cocaine abuse is a growing problem for even some of the Street names for cocaine Dama Blanca link the drug to according to Ronald director of the chemical abuse recovery service at Benjamin Rush hos a psychiatric institution in 53 per cent of the women referred for treatment for cocaine abuse Are less than 30 years compared with 25 per cent of the women there also tend to use it in greater Between and Worth a compared with for women Start earlier and Are into larger said who is also medical director of an outpatient Center in we Are very concerned about females and said Blanche chief of epidemiology for the new York state division of substance abuse with increasing and increasing women Are getting into trouble with the with their employ and with their in most areas of the to physicians and other drug treatment the with its image of Glamour and appeals mainly to Middle and upper income mostly under the age of Well educated and involved in de we women Start earlier and use larger amounts of cocaine than Page 14 the stars and stripes manding but it also appeals to financially Comfort Able Hou wives who Are dissatisfied with their according to these women  do heroin because its but cocaine is he added most women dont inject cocaine they snort or freebase it is something the Jet set the experts who described cocaine As an increasing threat to women spoke at a recent conference in new York City and in Telephone the entitled women and was conducted by women in an organization sponsored by the project re turn a human services which includes among its programs a drug therapy though most often associated with people of Middle and High cocaine use by women is reaching Down the socioeconomic Arnold research director for a National Telephone help attributed that trend to a recent drop in the Price of it has gone from to a Gram a year to to he the Price is a major contrib uting Factor to the use by women who earn less Money than Washton is also director of drug abuse treatment at the Regent a private psychiatric Hospital in when the matrix 90 percent of whose patients Are cocaine was opened two years ago in Beverly we expected to get the Rich Hollywood Richard the but he were seeing a Cross Section of the including More people from the Blue Collar and Lowe class sections of los we Are hearing from women who Tell us they have cashed in their food spent their welfare and have no Money with which to feed their children and Are beaten up by their angry unlike their More affluent these Rawson obtain their own cocaine because inexpensive sources Are proliferating in we have a Phenon Omenson Here called Rock where people sell freebase cocaine already prepared in rocks for he freebasing is a method of distilling the essence of cocaine by cooking it is then smoked in a this procedure produces a far More potent effect than inhale the rocks eliminate the need for equipment and cooking they Are simply put into the the Issue of Rawson is not women versus but the fact that people without much Money can buy it for been no comprehensive National Survey on cocaine Lise among but Small scale studies Indi Cate that it is for women accounted for 33 percent of the More than callers who telephoned the National cocaine help line 800cocaine from May 1983 to May since women have made up Between 40 per cent and 50 percent of the no total figures have been tabulated since but the Calls average a according to in new York the household a ran Dom Sample taken every few years by the division of substance abuse showed that in 2 percent of the female respondents Between the Ages of 18 and 34 had used cocaine at least once in the six months before the in the last year the Survey was 6 percent of the 903 women in the 1834 age category had taken cocaine tall women were interviewed in that in a 1982 study by the women constituted 20 percent of the admissions to state financed programs in new York City for treatment for cocaine in 25 percent of and in the first nine months of 27 percent of the admin with research on All aspects of cocaine still in prelim Inary Little emphasis has been placed on questions of but it is known that both sexes experience heightened Energy and sensuality at first then when the drug becomes diminution of nervous inability to Isola Tion and Sei nearly All cocaine abusers Are believed to be addicted to other usually or other drugs that Are used to level off the effect of according to the number of employed women who use cocaine is four times As great As those who do not work outside the there Are More women in male in medi in in he so they have become targets for cocaine the uncertainty of the Job mar Ket is a along with the multiple roles women Dpi photo juggling being a wife and Mother with performing on the in women Are rebelling against the March cocaine deep in the Moat peasants stamp on coca leaves soaked in kerosene and Calcium the White paste that seeps out is treated with Sulu rec then filtered and after several More Steps with More it becomes about 300 pounds of leaves produce one Pound of 81 82 new York times psychological problems linked to cocaine abuse incidence of cocaine associated problems among 500 users who called the National cocaine a Telephone advisory service with Headquarters at fair Oaks depression anxiety j irritability 82 apathy 66 paranoia 6 difficulty concentrating 65 m e m o by p Robe m s 57 l o s s o i be x d r i v e 53 panic attacks 50 attempted suicide 9 double Standard that once prohibited them from indulging in certain now they have Access to the drug and the income to pay for Nannette a psychotherapist and founder of a counselling service called creative who often works with her in treating addicted said she had seen single women who have totally Given up on having a relationship and a devote themselves to having a career and depend on cocaine to fill the but she also knows House wives who meet in groups in the laundry room to do cocaine it makes them feel As if they were in the Jet not the laundry she some she give up cocaine during preg Nancy and resume it after some even time their use of it around breastfeeding there appear to be contradictions in the characteristics common to Middle and upper income cocaine Abus As described by the professionals who work with the women tend to be Sel Suffi career oriented but they depend on men to Supply the and thus often become involved in destructive despite their image of even the most self sufficient women tend to be dependent on men to sustain their habit they also tend to judge the men with whom they become involved solely on the basis of their ability to provide cocaine has replaced Candy and Flowers in Washton reporting on a Survey of 165 women who called the cocaine help line from january through March he said 87 percent of the women had been introduced to cocaine by men and 65 percent were continuing to receive it As gifts from a Man gets cocaine with Money he pm or Dougherty or most of get it through and they Are More dependent on men than Are other but seems to be when i first started working in the Field of drug abuse five years said ton formerly an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of who is doing research on most women were involved As appendages of male they were living with working for and getting it from i think More women arc using it Independent of Rawson said the lower socioeconomic women Are introduced to the drug by other women and they pay for it so they Are not getting into harmful relationships because of cocaine per but they Are also not upwardly a primary initial attraction of cocaine is that it intensifies sexual so cocaine becomes a method of barter in arranging Ive heard men i could never pick up women before now i just offer them said and Ive heard Young women Tell me that they Are willing to be with men who otherwise repulse them for that has a Devastino effect on a woman self esteem ultimately she will need to Deal with the reality that she is functionally a that is a he obscured by her addiction to if used More than cocaine has the reverse effect on sexuality women can become non orgasmic and men Robert director of the alcohol and drug abuse service at the Payne Whitney clinic of the new York Hospital Cornell medical said a Little bit of cocaine increases the libido in both men and but extended use decreases sensation and the ability to another effect of cocaine is one that Many women consider a Bonus its effectiveness in suppressing Appe it is the Ideal drug for anorexics or Dougherty they dont have to Binge and and they can lose Between 15 and 100 pounds in six the damage cocaine does to experts is far More profound in women than in As Rawson put it women end up with a far greater problem of men Haven had to do the degrading and compromising things that women have so women do not come Forth so readily for help because of that More Calls from women were being logged by the National help line simply indicates the rising number of women using and not necessarily their desire for Washton in he women have family responsibilities and Many fear abandonment by their partner if they 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